Plasma Sintering of the Steel Reinforced with Nanostructured Carbides

Abstract:

Particle reinforced metal matrix composites have received considerable interest over many years and continue still under constant development to gain wider industrial applications. New technique of production of carbetos of refractory metals (WC, NbC, TaC, Ta_xNb_y) has been developed, synthesizing nanostructured carbides that show improvement of diverse properties of the materials to the gotten ones for the conventional processes. The properties of sintered composites are determined not only by the nature and quality of the raw materials employed but also by microstructure and porosity resulting from the processing techniques e sintering method. In this study, additions of 20 wt% NbC nanoparticles or micro-particles in the ferrite matrix were performed with the aim of improving the mechanical and use properties. Ancorsteel Fe 1000B powder from Hoengans Corp. was used together with the graphite, and a small amount of Fe₃P, to induce liquid phase sintering. NbC nanoparticles or micro-particles were inserted into the Fe 1000B matrix by wet grinding (acetone) in a mill of planetary type of high energy. The angular velocity of the mill was kept constant at 300 rpm with milling time of 10 hours. The composites powders milled were annealed at 900 ° C for 1 hour under flowing hydrogen e argon, and a priori were pressed into cylindrical pellets under 600 MPa and sintered the plasma. Finally, the sintered pellets were evaluated through the testing: SEM, microhardness and density. It was noticeable the behavior of the composites Fe 1000B - NbC was affected by the content of nanoparticles of NbC added as well as by processing parameters, particularly plasma sintering.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 727-728)
• Pages: 456-461
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.727-728.456
• Online since: August 2012
• Authors: Ariadne de Souza Silva, Edalmy Oliveira de Almeida, Uilame Umbelino Gomes, José F. Silva Jr, Indira Aritana Fernandes de Medeiros
• Keywords: Nanostructured Carbides, Particle Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites, Plasma Sintering

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