Papers by Author: Herbert Danninger

Abstract: Sinter hardening is a powder metallurgy processing route that combines the sintering and the heat treating processes in one step by gas quenching the components immediately after they have left the high temperature zone of the furnace. It is both economically attractive and ecologically beneficial since it renders deoiling processes unnecessary. The slower cooling rates associated with gas compared to oil quenching however requires special alloy concepts different to those known from wrought steels. In the present study it is shown that by admixing atomized masteralloy powders consisting of suitable combinations of Mn, Cr, Si, Fe and C to base iron or pre-alloyed steel powders, sinter hardening PM steel grades can be produced that transform to martensitic microstructure at cooling rates of 2-3 K/s as typical for industrial sinter hardening. This is confirmed by CCT diagrams and hardness measurements. However, metallographic investigations are also necessary because in sintered steels, the cores of the largest base powder particles are alloyed very slowly during sintering and therefore tend to result in soft spots in the sinter hardened microstructure which are mostly not discernible in the CCT diagrams. Here, even slight pre-alloying of the base powder with Mo and/or Cr is helpful, both increasing the hardenability of the steels compared to base plain iron and avoiding soft spots in the microstructure.

Abstract: Among the various alloying techniques used in powder metallurgy, the masteralloy concept has been known for a long time. However, its use for production of ferrous precision parts has been hampered by several obstacles such as poor output of the useful fine fractions, high tool wear and slow homogenization kinetics of the alloy elements in the matrix. On the other hand, the masteralloy concept is particularly interesting for introducing cost-effective alloy elements such as Cr, Mn and Si since the masteralloy approach at least alleviates the problems caused by the high oxygen affinity of these elements. In the present study it is shown that recent developments have given a boost to this classical concept, one of these developments being powder manufacturing by high pressure water atomization which dramatically increases the yield of fine masteralloy fractions. The other progress is availability of thermodynamic software that enables defining masteralloy compositions with low melting range and thus fast homogenization also at moderate sintering temperatures. Combined, these new developments open the door for implementation of the masteralloy route in large scale PM parts production.

Abstract: The application of “masteralloys” as alloying carriers in Powder Metallurgy (PM) steels enables the introduction of highly oxygen‑sensitive alloying elements for advanced PM‑steels, by using a tailored liquid phase. The characteristics of the liquid and its interaction with the iron base powder are determining factors for final microstructure and dimensional behaviour. In this study, theoretical calculations and experimental findings are presented for the masteralloy systems Fe_Mn_Si_C, Fe_Cr_Si_C and Fe_Mn_Cr_Si_C. Lowered melting temperatures and narrow melting temperature intervals could be achieved. The interaction between Fe base material and the masteralloys was studied by infiltration and DTA experiments. It was found that by adjusting the C and Si content in the masteralloy, liquids with widely varying properties could be obtained. This might be a key for tailoring microstructures, properties and dimensional stability of advanced PM‑steels.

Abstract: Liquid phase sintering is most widely known in its variant „persistent liquid phase sintering“, in which case the liquid phase is present in constant quantity during the entire isothermal period. There is however also the variant „transient liquid phase“, the melt being present only for a short period in the first stage of sintering and then solidifying through diffusional processes. In this presentation, the preconditions for both variants are presented, in particular with regard to the starting materials. The benefits of transient liquid phases are described, both for sintering – to accelerate material transport, contact formation and microstructural homogenization compared to standard solid state sintering – and for transient liquid phase bonding, a brazing variant which is an attractive method for joining porous powder compacts. Both techniques are highly useful in particular for ferrous powder metallurgy precision components, etc.

Abstract: In real industrial environment there is always a difference between ideal theoretical condition and real production condition which bears the risk of producing defective or low quality parts. Getting closer to this ideal situation requires more effort and investment which tends to increase the production cost. In the P/M production lines, the sintering stage is one of the most critical processes. Maintaining an open continuous sintering furnace in an ideal condition is a challenge, and this issue gets more pronounced when using alloy powder containing oxygen-sensitive elements such as Cr or Mn which provide good hardenability at low cost but on the other hand form stable oxides that weaken the sintering contacts if they are not reduced properly. In the present study, using a carbon master alloy as a sintering enhancer in the sintering process of Cr-Mo alloyed powder compacts has been investigated. For clearly depicting the effect of carbon master alloy addition on carbon dissolution and deoxidation, sintering was done in argon as inert atmosphere to avoid other reducing agents such as H₂. The physical and mechanical properties of the sintered specimens were investigated, and thermal chemical analysis by DIL/MS and carbon/oxygen measurements were performed. The experiments showed that adding iron-carbon masteralloys promote the sintering processes such as reduction of oxides and carbon dissolution in the early stages of sintering, resulting in better properties after final sintering.

Abstract: In this study, we investigated the adhesion strength of SiO₂/SiN/TiW/Cu film stacks on silicon by the use of cross-sectional nanoindentation (CSN) technique. The delamination occurred along the SiN/TiW interface as determined by means of SEM and EDX analysis. The critical energy release rate was determined as a quantitative measure of the adhesion strength by application of analytical models as well as Finite Element Method (FEM). Comparative measurements on samples of the same layer composition using the well-established four-point bending (4PB) technique were performed to validate the results of the CSN measurements. FEM was performed to calculate the loading conditions and stress distribution in the samples. The calculations also allowed separating the contribution of plastic and elastic energy in the metallization layers during delamination testing and thereby estimating the value of the interfacial adhesion energy. The experimental results show the good applicability of both the 4PB and CSN method for determining quantitative values of the fracture toughness of thin-film interfaces found in microelectronic components and indicate a good agreement between the two methods.

Abstract: In the automotive industry there is a clear trend towards alternative drivetrain systems, away from the classical internal combustion – gasoline or diesel - engines. This poses a challenge to the traditional markets of powder metallurgy, the ferrous precision parts for automotive engines and transmissions which form the major tonnage of today’s powder metallurgy [1, 2], but also the hardmetal tools for machining automotive components from stock material or for finishing [3]. To counter these trends, powder metallurgy can rely on its high flexibility regarding materials, geometries, processing and properties and finally applications, which enables PM to adapt itself to changing requirements in a changing industrial environment [4]. In the present article, examples are given both for PM precision parts and hardmetals but also functional materials such as soft magnetic composites. It is shown that the potential of ferrous PM parts regarding mechanical performance is still higher than currently used, high and graded density being attractive ways [5]. Also the use of advanced alloying systems offers economical and technical advantages and should enable PM to enter non-automotive markets for precision parts. In the hardmetal branch, non-automotive applications, e.g. in construction and mining, should be considered while from the material viewpoint replacing tungsten and in particular Co as binder metal are intensely studied. PM functional materials such as Fe-Ni, Fe-Co and in particular soft magnetic composites will find markets in electrical drive systems [6], enabling new designs for electric motors. On the other end of the spectrum, superhard rare earth magnets are regularly produced by the powder route. Finally, the multitude of additive manufacturing techniques offers chances for powder metallurgy since most of these processes start from metal powders [7]. In addition to the well known laser and electron beam based “direct” AM systems, also indirect, binder-based, variants are attractive, avoiding many problems encountered with the direct systems and enabling transfer of knowhow accumulated in metal injection moulding. In general, future will show how many other technologies and products has to offer in addition to the classical press-and-sinter routes which however will remain for their specific product groups. when designing your figures and tables, etc

Abstract: The adhesive strength of ceramic - copper interfaces was measured in four point bending using a central notch for crack initiation. According to our method, plastic deformation may occur during the delamination process. FEM simulations were employed in order to separate elastic and plastic contributions to the energy consumption of the experiment. In conclusion, a novel delamination criterion based on the stress intensity at the crack tip was established. Here, the stress invariant J₃ is used as indicator for delamination of the interface. Agreement between experiments and theoretical interpretation is demonstrated for copper layers directly bonded to aluminum oxide.

Abstract: Powder metallurgy products may be started from powders with widely varying oxygen affinity. Thus the natural oxygen content of the powder compacts also varies in reducibility in the early stages of sintering. Here it is shown that prealloyed powders containing Cr require higher temperatures for oxygen removal than e.g. unalloyed or Ni-Cu alloyed grades. In case of powder mixes of base iron powder with Cr, Mn or Si, oxygen transfer from Fe to the additive powders may occur during heating up to sintering temperature, the “internal getter effect”. A similar effect can be observed in Cr prealloyed powders in which iron oxides initially present on the powder surfaces are transformed to more stable oxides in a fairly early stage of heating. Finally, also the formation of CH₄ observed when sintering alloy steels containing Si, Mn or Cr in H₂ can be attributed to an oxygen transfer effect.

Abstract: The high cycle fatigue response of Ti-45Nb alloy was investigated by using an ultrasonic fatigue testing system. The effect of notch geometry on the fatigue response was studied on samples with different circumferential grooves. The experiments showed a decrease of fatigue notch sensitivity with decreasing the notch radius. Finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted for calculation of the stress distribution in the samples and interpretation of the experimental results. Further, the lifetime of the alloy showed a strong dependency on the location of the defects and microstructural inhomogeneities. It was observed that at the same stress amplitude, early failure was caused by surface defects, while those with a longer lifetime failed due to cracks originating from internal flaws.