Papers by Keyword: High Energy Milling (HEM)

Abstract: W-Cu composite powders were prepared by high energy milling under two milling environments: cyclohexane and air. Composite particles are formed in both cases. The W particles are fragmented and embedded into the Cu particles. Both, W and Cu, are heavily strained, mainly in the first hours of milling. The composite powder has high homogeneity and is much finer than the original Cu powder. The mean particle size of the powders milled in both conditions is very close, but the wet milling was near 25% longer than dry milling and the size distribution is wider. This is consequence of the higher milling intensity of dry milling.

Abstract: High-energy milling has been used for production of nano-structured WC-Co powders. During the High-Energy Milling, the powders suffer severe high-energy impacts in the process of ball-to-ball and ball-to-vial wall collisions of the grinding media. Hard metal produced from nanostructured powders have better mechanical properties after appropriate sintering process. During the milling the particles size of WC and Co can be reduced and plastic deformed. In the present work, a mixture of WC-10%Co was produced by high energy milling. The starting powders of the WC (0.87 μm - Wolfran Bergau) and Co (0.93 μm - H.C.Starck) were used to produce the hard metal. The influence of the milling time on the particle size distributions and in the lattice strain was investigated. Milling time of the 2, 10, 20, 50, 70, 100 and 150 hours were used. The powders after milling were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM). The results show that 10 h milling were enough to reduce the crystallite size of WC and the increase of the milling time reduces the crystallite size.

Abstract: Roller-ball milling (RBM) or planetary ball milling (PBM) have been used together with the hydrogen decrepitation (HD) process to produce sintered permanent magnets based on a mixture of Pr16Fe76B8 and Pr14.00Fe63.90Co16.00B6.00Nb0.10 magnetic alloys. Five distinct compositions have been studied comparing low- and high-energy milling. Magnets with a particular composition and prepared using these two routes exhibited similar magnetic properties. Modifications have been carried out in the procedure of the HD stage for PBM in order to guarantee a high degree of crystallographic alignment. Pr15.00Fe69.95Co8.00B7.00Nb0.05 magnets showed the best maximum energy product for both processing routes (~ 247 kJm-3). A significant reduction in the milling time (93%) has been achieved with high-energy processing, the greatest advantage over the low-energy route.

Abstract: Nickel powder was dry-milled using a high-energy disc-oscillating mill. The average particle size increases and the specific surface area diminishes with milling time. Crystallite size decreases and microstrains increase, under the same conditions, as shown by X-ray analysis. At 120 min milling time, the crystallite size has a value of 17 nm, i.e., a nanostructured powder, with a perturbed lattice, is obtained. The above results have been compared with published data about the effects of milling on a ceramic powder. There is, in both cases, a general agreement concerning the changes produced in crystallite size. Nevertheless, opposite results are reached regarding particle size and specific surface area.

Abstract: A commercial silicon nitride powder with sintering additives was ground by high-energy milling to reduce particle size. Nanometer sized powder was obtained. The powder was densified for short time by spark plasma sintering to prevent grain growth. Nanometer-grained Si3N4 ceramics were obtained. Plastic deformation of the Si3N4 nano-ceramics has been studied in compression over a wide range of strain rates and temperatures. The experimental results revealed that a transition in stress exponent, n, at each temperature. The n value decreased from ~ 2 to ~ 1 with increasing applied stress. Activation energy was also different for the two regions, decreasing from 858.2 kJ/mol in the n ~ 2 region to 571.8 kJ/mol in the n ~ 1 region. Effect of sintering additives on plastic deformation was also discussed.

Abstract: The powder-in-tube MgB2 wires were prepared by high energy milling of Mg and B powder. The powder was not mechanically alloyed for 2h short milling time. However, the MgB2 grains in wires were very small (20~100nm) and resemble the dimple after post-heat treatment. The clear evidence for transcrystlline fracture was observed. It indicated that the grain connection was greatly improved and the fluxing pinning was significantly enhanced. Another point to view was no intermediate annealing during the whole rolling process. The influence of the post-heat treatment on the transport current density was studied. Despite the lower Tc of about 35K, the transport current density reached to 3×104A/cm2 at 15K and 3.5T for wires sintered at 700°C.

Abstract: The present work studies the influence of high-energy milling (HEM) and sintering cycle of Ti and Al powders on the obtainment of TiAl. This study shows that HEM modifies the diffusion processes during the sintering stage. The ignition temperature of the exothermic reaction (SHS) that occurs between Ti and Al, was considered as the key parameter of the sintering process, leading to the study of sintering cycles that avoid uncontrolled processes caused by the SHS reaction. The samples were obtained by cold uniaxial and isostatic pressing, pre-sintered at different temperatures, and then heated up to the sintering temperature. This study also shows the effect of powder additions processed by HEM on the sintering behavior of blended elemental Ti and Al powder compacts.

Abstract: The development of Fe-based metal matrix composites (MMCs) with high content of hard phase has been approached by combining the use of advanced powder metallurgy techniques like high-energy milling (HEM), cold isostatic pressing (CIP) and vacuum sintering. The most innovative is the use of HEM for the obtaining of a composite powder avoiding the formation of clusters in the microstructure of the sintered material, and the study of hardenability of sintered materials. A 30 % vol. of NbC particles was mixed with Fe powder by HEM in a planetary mill under Ar atmosphere to prevent oxidation. The optimal milling time was determined by sampling every two hours until 10 hours of milling, characterising the powder by the observation of morphology and microstructure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and controlling the carbon content by a LECO analyser. Composite powders were compacted by CIP and then sintered in vacuum at temperatures between 1300 °C and 1375 °C, during 30 min and 60 min. The variation of density, hardness and carbon content with sintering temperature and time, besides the microstructural changes observed, permits to find the optimal conditions of processing. Afterwards, a heat treatment study was performed to study the hardenability of the cermet.

Abstract: Alumina is utilized in many areas of modern industry because of its unique mechanical, electrical and optical properties. Various methods are been employed for produce alumina for different end uses. The preparation of fine and sintering-reactive alumina powders is probably one of the most important steps for production alumina ceramics with controlled microstructure. In this work, it was studied the production of alumina powders by “Pechini” method associated to highenergy milling. For this, it was prepared the resin by Pechini method, using aluminum nitrate nonahydrate. This resin was calcined at 500oC. Then, the calcined powders were submitted a high energy milling for different times. The powders mechanically activated were characterized by x ray diffraction, FT-IR and scanning electronic microscopic. After milling, the powders were calcined at 900oC. The results showed that the alumina phase transitions and powders characteristics were modified when the step of activation mechanical was introduced.

Abstract: Cemented tungsten carbides were produced by liquid-phase sintering. In these work high energy milling (HEM) was used to produce homogeneous and finely grained powder mixtures. The milling effect on the magnetic properties of sintered samples is studied. Different mixtures in same composition (WC-10wt.%Co) were prepared by conventional mixture technique and wet HEM up to 300 hs in Planetary Mill. Magnetic hysteresis measurements on the sintered samples detected a significant increase in the coercitive field and a decrease on the saturation magnetization with milling time increasing. X-ray diffractogram show phase transformations with milling time. The Magnetic properties are correlated with phase relations and microstructural properties of the sintered samples.