Papers by Keyword: Powder Consolidation

Abstract: A novel Zn biodegradable composite was produced by direct extrusion of Zn powders at room temperature. The powders were efficiently consolidated to a high relative density, and the composite reached a UTS higher than 120 MPa and elongation of almost 70%. Microstructural observations showed ultra-fine Zn grains decorated by well-dispersed ZnO clusters at the grain boundaries. The degradation behavior of the composite and an as-cast Zn reference accessed by immersion tests in HBSS for both materials were similar and gave an equivalent corrosion rate. Additional static immersion tests in DMEM + 5% FSB showed a similar corrosion rate (0.015 mm/y), but SEM analysis of the corroded surface suggested that the degradation process of each as-cast or DE consolidated composite differs. MTT assays with extracts of both as-cast and extruded composites showed similar cytotoxicity, which was dependent on the dilution of the extracts. It was concluded that the proposed methodology brings the potential for an interesting solution to produce a sound Zn-ZnO composite with good biocompatibility, satisfactory corrosion rate, and high yield strength.

Abstract: In this work, the consolidation of blended elemental powders of iron, manganese and aluminum (Fe-25Mn-15Al wt.%) was performed by Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP). Samples were consolidated at room temperature in a Φ = 120° die by a single pass and a second pass in route A. Both samples were heat treated at 650 °C and water cooled. Prior to heat treatment, samples presented a dense but chemically inhomogeneous structure. Fe and Al particles were highly deformed, whereas, Mn was almost undeformed. Mn particles were partially shattered by friction with Fe and Al particles. After heat treatment, the samples were characterized by SEM-EDX and presented substantial interdiffusion along the particles interfaces. It is believed that higher deformations by ECAP may improve the sinterability of consolidated samples in order to densify and chemically homogenize it.

Abstract: The consolidation process of agglomerated Cu – γ-Al₂O₃ composite nanopowder was investigated experimentally. Process includes powder compacting by uniaxial cold pressing, sintering in hydrogen atmosphere, and hot extrusion. The interdependence of alumina content, powder agglomeration, green density of compacts, and isothermal sintering behavior of powders was evaluated.

Abstract: In this work, in-situ TiC reinforced Ti matrix composites (TMCs) have been fabricated via blending TiH₂ powder and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) followed by thermomechanical consolidation of the TiH₂/CNTs powder mixture. The dehydrogenation, in situ reaction and consolidation occurred simultaneously and took less than 15 minutes in total. The effect of CNTs content (1 and 3 vol.% (0.56 and 1.69 wt.%)) on the evolution of microstructures and mechanical performances of the extruded samples has been investigated. The results showed that the extruded TMCs had a duplex microstructure consisting of coarse alpha titanium grains and ultrafine grained (UFG) regions, and the in-situ formed TiC particles had a near-spherical shape. The extruded sample with 1 vol.% (0.56 wt.%) CNTs reinforced exhibited a yield strength of 807.3 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 1085.9 MPa and elongation to fracture of 3.3% at room temperature. The mechanism of microstructural evolution and material failure are discussed.e are discussed.

Abstract: Powder compact forging in combination with induction sintering, a field assisted sintering technique (FAST), was used to produce commercially pure (CP) Ti and Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al parts. Green powder compacts with high relative density were manufactured by cold compaction and warm compaction, respectively. During the powder compact forging process, CP titanium powder was consolidated completely to produce a near net shaped top cover for a diving helmet with full density and good mechanical properties. Also, a Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al alloy was fully consolidated into a cylinder using blended elemental powders. As a comparison, raw titanium powder with different oxygen contents was used to make a Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al powder compact forging. Using a starting powder with low oxygen content, a forged cylinder with good mechanical properties was produced.

Abstract: The Cyclic Extrusion – Compression - reciprocating extrusion process (CEC) is one of severe plastic deformation methods (SPD), which allow to produce bulk nanomaterials without changing the initial shape of deformed samples. The results are presented showing that the average grains size and microbands thickness in aluminium alloys decrease below 100 nm. The investigations revealed that the average grains size is about 250 nm and 200 nm in polycrystalline and monocrystalline copper, respectively.The Cyclic Extrusion Compression method is also used to produce bulk materials by powder consolidation. The subgrains/nanograins inside the silver powder particles after the consolidation processes achieved the mean size of about 100 nm. Moreover, it has been found that inside structure observed by TEM, the consolidated powder granules consisted from nanometric twins of about 10 – 20 nm. This silver based powder consolidated by CEC method were extruded by hydrostatic extrusion method. The final product were the wires with a diameter of 3 mm, which were used to electrical contacts production.

Abstract: Discs of monolithic AA6061 and AA6061 reinforced with SiC_p were processed via combination of hot compaction of the mixed powders followed by high pressure torsion (HPT). HPT processing was investigated using incremental revolutions up to four, under pressures of 1 and 3 GPa. Structural evolution of the powders before and after HPT processing was investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM). HPT processing of AA6061 discs produced a trimodel structure with micron-scale grains, subgrains and nanoscale substructure of 29, 1.9 μm, and 250 nm, respectively. Reinforcement with SiC_p resulted in a refined structure with micron-scale grains, subgrains and nanoscale substructure of 25, 1.9 μm, and 184 nm respectively. The presence of SiC_p at the triple junctions and along the grain boundaries enhanced the rate of strain hardening of the Al-matrices and significantly refined the grain size. More pronounced refinements of the grains, subgrains, and substructures were observed with increasing the HPT pressure up to 3 GPa.

Abstract: Utilization of titanium components made by powder metallurgy methods has had limited acceptance largely due to the high cost of titanium (Ti) powder. There has been renewed interest in lower cost economical powders and several Ti reduction methods that produce a particulate product show promise. This talk summarizes work done at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to consolidate these economical powders into mill products. Press and sinter consolidation, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and direct roll consolidation to make sheet have been explored. The characteristics of the consolidated products will be described as a function of the consolidation parameters.

Abstract: Powder compact forging was used to produce bulk consolidated titanium and Ti-6Al-4V (wt %) and Ti-47Al-2Cr (at%) alloy disks from hydrogenated and dehydrogenated (HDH) and gas atomised powders (GA) powders (in the case of titanium and Ti-6Al-4V) and a mechanically milled powder (in the case of Ti-47Al-2Cr alloy). The bulk titanium and Ti-6Al-4V (wt %) alloy have been produced by forging of the powder compacts. The Ti-47Al-2Cr (at %) alloy was produced using canned powder compact forging of a Ti/Al/Cr composite powder. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the deformation and fracture behaviour of the bulk consolidated as-forged materials, by conducting tensile testing at room temperature (RT) and examination of the fractured specimens which had near-α, α + β and  phase structures, respectively. It was found that as-forged bulk titanium disk produced using HDH powder showed a yield point with a yield strength of ~700 MPa and with a considerable amount of ductility. While the as-forged Ti-6Al-4V (wt %) alloy produced using HDH powder, fractured prematurely without any yielding. On the other hand yielding was observed in the as-forged Ti-6Al-4V (wt %) alloy produced using GA powder, showing a yield strength of ~970 MPa and a considerable amount of plastic strain to fracture. The bulk consolidated Ti-47Al-2Cr (at %) alloy also fractured prematurely with fracture strength of ~125 MPa. The mechanical behaviour of the as-forged bulk materials was found to be dependent on several factors such as initial powders used, green density of the powder compact, forging parameters used during forging. It was expected that the entrapped gas in green compacts, absorbed oxygen, porosity and inter-particle bonding play an important role on the quality of the as-forged material, which in turn affected the mechanical behaviour of the bulk material.

Abstract: Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is the one of the promising methods of severe plastic deformation to obtain bulk ultrafine grain structures. However, ECAP can also be used for powder consolidation. In the present study, fully dense bulk AA 4032 alloy was consolidated from nanocrystalline and microcrystalline powders. These materials were processed by ECAP until four passes at ambient temperature. It is observed that hardness and densification increased significantly with increase in number of ECAP passes. Transmission electron microscopic and scanning electron microscopic examinations evidenced that crystallite size of the nanopowders are unaltered, however a significant crystallite size reduction from around 50 µm down to submicron size is observed. Moreover, higher densification is achieved in microcrystalline powders than nano powders, whereas higher hardness in the case of nanopowders compared to microcrystalline powders.