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The effects of warm compaction on the green density and sintering behaviour of aluminium alloys were investigated. Particular attention is paid to prealloyed powders, i.e. eutectic and hypereutectic Al-Si alloys, regarding their potential applications in the automotive industry. The effects of chemical composition, alloying method, compacting temperature and the amount of powder lubricant were studied. The compaction behaviour was examined by an instrumented die enabling simultaneous measurement of density, die wall friction coefficient, the triaxial stresses acting on the powder during the course of compaction and ejection pressure. The sintering behaviour was studied via dilatometeric... 

This paper presents experimental results on the foaming behavior and compressive properties of AlSi7-3 vol.% SiC metal foam. Elemental powders of Al, Si, SiC and TiH2 were mixed, hot compacted and foamed at 750, 780 and 810 °C. It was shown that the addition of fine SiC particles (mean diameter of 3 μm) increases the melt expansion and improves the stability of AlSi7 foam. A less drainage in the cell structure was also noticed. Meanwhile, large irregular cells in the macrostructure and a slight degradation of the mechanical properties under compressive load were observed. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved  

Several metals and alloys can be used to enhance the mechanical and physical properties of micro parts and components for micromechanical, micro-chemical or sensor applications. Such parts can be produced in series by the powder metallurgical process of micro metal injection moulding (μ-MIM). This paper describes a novel manufacturing route for metallic multi-material micro components, two-component micro metal injection moulding (2C-μ-MIM). Similar to "two-colour" injection moulding of plastics, the process allows the integration of multiple functions in a micro part by simultaneously injecting and joining two materials in one mould. Net-shape parts with solid material interfaces are... 

An instrumented die was used to investigate the behaviour of metal powders during cold (ambient temperature) and warm (up to 140°C) compaction. This instrument enables simultaneous measurement of density, die wall friction coefficient, the triaxial stresses acting on the powder during the course of compaction and ejection pressure. Commercial iron, titanium, aluminium, 316L stainless steel (SS) and aluminium-silicon powders were employed for investigation. The results demonstrated the advantages of powder preheating on the compaction behaviour of metal powders concerning green density, dimensional changes, frictional behaviour, ejection characteristics and compactibiiity. However, the... 

Direct Metal Laser Sintering has real potential for rapid-manufacture applications in the PM arena, reducing lead times and cutting costs. But it has been hampered by the limited range of suitable powders available and their cost. A research group led by Fraunhofer scientists made their own powders and took a closer look.... © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved  

The compressibility behavior of Al-AlN nanostructured composite powder with different amount of reinforcement content was studied. The composite powder was synthesized by blending and high-energy milling process for 25 h. Williamson-Hall method was applied to determine the crystallite size after milling process. To investigate the role of reinforcement particles in consolidation of composite powders, monolithic aluminum powder was examined. Samples were made at different pressures and relationships were established between the compaction pressure and the density of the compacts. The modified Heckel equation was used to assume the pressure effect on yield strength and then was compared with... 

In this paper, the computational aspects of large deformation frictional contact are presented in powder forming processes. The influence of powder-tool friction on the mechanical properties of the final product is investigated in pressing metal powders. A general formulation of continuum model is developed for frictional contact and the computational algorithm is presented for analyzing the phenomena. It is particularly concerned with the numerical modeling of frictional contact between a rigid tool and a deformable material. The finite element approach adopted is characterized by the use of penalty approach in which a plasticity theory of friction is incorporated to simulate sliding... 

In this paper, the influence of powder-tool friction on the mechanical properties of the final product is investigated in pressing metal powders. A computational algorithm is presented for simulation of frictional contact in the compaction process of powder. The large deformation finite element (FE) formulation is characterized by the use of penalty approach in which a plasticity theory of friction is incorporated to simulate sliding resistance at the powder-tool interface. The constitutive relations for friction are derived from a Coulomb friction law. A double-surface cap plasticity model is employed together with the nonlinear contact friction behavior in numerical simulation of powder... 

The constitutive modeling of powder is clearly a keystone of successful quantitative solution possibilities. Without a reasonable constitutive model, which can reproduce complicated powder behavior under loading conditions, the computations are worthless. In this paper, a three-invariant cap plasticity model with isotropic-kinematic hardening rule is presented for powder materials. A generalized single-cap plasticity is developed which can be compared with some common double-surface plasticity models proposed for powders in literature. The hardening rule is defined based on the isotropic and kinematic material functions. The constitutive elasto-plastic matrix and its components are derived... 

In this paper, a new computational technique is presented based on the extended arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element model (X-ALE-FEM) in plasticity forming of powder compaction. An arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) technique is employed to capture the advantages of both Lagrangian and Eulerian methods and alleviate the drawbacks of the mesh distortion in Lagrangian formulation. In order to remove the limitation of the mesh conforming to the boundary conditions in this process, the extended finite element method (X-FEM) is implemented by incorporating discontinuous fields through a partition of unity method. The implementation of X-FEM technique in the framework of ALE model is... 

The densification response of aluminum powder reinforced with 5 vol.% nanometric alumina particles (35 nm) during uniaxial compaction in a rigid die was studied. The composite powder was prepared by blending and mechanical milling procedures. To determine the effect of the reinforcement nanoparticles on the compressibility of aluminum powder, monolithic Al powder, i.e. without the addition of alumina, was also examined. It was shown that at the early stage of compaction when the rearrangement of particles is the dominant mechanism of the densification, disintegration of the nanoparticle clusters and agglomerates under the applied load contributes in the densification of the composite powder... 

Alkoxides are the most common precursors used for the production of alumina nanopowders. These materials are, however, expensive and corrosive. This paper introduces a new method for the production of alumina nanopowders by rapid cooling of a synthetic caustic sodium aluminate solution (Bayer liquor), followed by calcination in the presence of a surface-stabilizing agent like 1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-benzene disulfonic acid disodium salt (Tiron). The powders produced are characterized by differential thermal analysis, XRD, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscope, and Brunauer-Emmet-Teller. A nanopowder of α-alumina with an average crystallite size of 27.7 nm and an average... 

In the present work, the densification and microstructural evolution during direct laser sintering of metal powders were studied. Various ferrous powders including Fe, Fe-C, Fe-Cu, Fe-C-Cu-P, 316L stainless steel, and M2 high-speed steel were used. The empirical sintering rate data was related to the energy input of the laser beam according to the first order kinetics equation to establish a simple sintering model. The equation calculates the densification of metal powders during direct laser sintering process as a function of operating parameters including laser power, scan rate, layer thickness and scan line spacing. It was found that when melting/solidification approach is the mechanism... 

In this paper, the eXtended Finite Element Method (X-FEM) is developed in pressure-sensitive plasticity of powder compaction process. In X-FEM, the need for mesh adaption to discontinuity interface is neglected and the process is accomplished by employing additional functions, which are added to approximate the displacement field of the elements located on the interface. The double-surface cap plasticity model is employed within the X-FEM framework in numerical simulation of powder material. The plasticity model includes a failure surface and an elliptical cap, which closes the open space between the failure surface and hydrostatic axis. The moving cap expands in the stress space according... 

This paper presents the densification and microstructure of bilayer structures made from 316L and 17-4PH stainless steels powders during sintering. The requirements for such objects could be magnetic properties at one area of the part and non-magnetic properties at another area of the object. A pressureless solid state sintering method in conjunction with a powder layering technique was used. The sintering was carried out at temperatures ranging from 1100 to 1340 °C for 120 min in hydrogen and vacuum atmospheres. Non-isothermal sintering behavior was also examined by dilatometric analysis. It was found that the strain rate of 17-4PH stainless steel powder is higher than that of 316L during... 

The thermal decomposition of Aluminum Titanate in exposure to pure Aluminum was examined both in powder and in bulk form. Optical microscopy, FE-SEM, XRD, DSC and TGA examinations were conducted to take the possible chemical reactions between Aluminum Titanate and Al into consideration. It was found that as Aluminum Titanate particles are exposed to Al matrix, the thermal stability of Aluminum Titanate is degraded and its decomposition temperature is reduced from 850°C to 550°C. Also, the chemical reactions between Aluminum Titanate and Al start along the interfaces, and the reaction products, i.e. Al3Ti, Al2O3, TiO2 and O2 gas are left there. A mechanism was suggested to describe the... 

Thermal performance of a novel sintered wick heat pipe was investigated in this study. Two types of sintered wick heat pipes were fabricated and tested at different filling ratios of water, and their thermal resistances in different modes were compared. In the first type, wick was sintered annularly (conventional type), and in the other one (novel type of sintered wick) it was sintered only in one third of cross-section. Results showed that dry-out occurs at higher heat input by an increase in the filling ratio. Moreover, the best filling ratio is 20% for both heat pipes. Thermal resistances of the partly sintered wick heat pipe are approximately 28%, 17% and 47% lower than those of the... 

The nitrate-citrate gels exhibit auto-catalytic behavior, which can be used to synthesize the nanocrystalline YIG powders. In this study yttrium iron garnet (Y3Fe5O12) nanocrystalline powders were prepared by a sol-gel auto-combustion process. The influence of pH value of the precursor solution on the combustion behavior and the garnet phase formation of synthesized powders were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal analysis (DTA/TGA), infrared (IR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). The results show that with increasing pH value, the combustion rate increases. The as-burnt powder prepared with pH 1 yielded a single phase YIG after calcination at 800... 

In this study, structural and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline Fe-Si-Ni powders produced by mechanical alloying (MA) have been investigated. The samples with different chemical compositions and milling times were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The alloy powders with average grain size 8-19 nm were synthesized by milling for 35-100 h. Coercivity (Hc) and crystallite size exhibited a similar decrease by increasing the mechanical alloying time. Maximum saturation magnetization (Ms) and minimum Hc were obtained at the composition of Fe87Si10Ni5 after 70 h milling. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved  

The rheological behaviour of powder injection moulding feedstock comprising of 316L stainless steel and 3 wt-%TiC powders was studied using a capillary rheometer. The flowability and the sensitivity of viscosity to shear rate and temperature of the feedstock were investigated and compared with those of the binder system and the 316L SS PIM feedstock. The general rheological indexes were examined through relevant equations and the influence of TiC addition on the mouldability of the 316L SS feedstock was determined. It was found that all the feedstocks are basically pseudoplastic but the values of flow behaviour index n are influenced by the TiC addition, the solid volume fraction and the...