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Powder metallurgy (PM) offers cost-effective potential for manufacturing titanium and titanium alloys. High oxygen content on titanium powder surface is a key problem affecting the mechanical properties of PM Ti alloys. Therefore, this study proposes a chloro-deoxidation method to reduce the oxygen content of titanium powder via introducing stannous chloride (SnCl2) into titanium powder. In the sintering process, SnCl2 reacts with the surface oxide on titanium powder to remove the oxide film, and thus forms gas TiClxOy escaping from Ti matrix, resulting in the decrease of oxygen content. With ~ 2.5 wt.% SnCl2 addition, the oxygen content reduces from 0.6 wt.% to 0.5 wt.%. Accordingly, the elongation of as-sintered Ti-SnCl2 sample significantly increases from 4.8% to 11% (increasing by 129%), while the tensile strength decreases from 815 MPa to 788 MPa. After HIP treatment, the elongation increases from 11% to 13%, and the strength is about 765 MPa. Although same Sn content (5 wt.%) is added in Ti samples, Ti-SnCl2 sample shows higher elongation value of 9.4% compared to Ti-Sn sample (3.6%), due to lower oxygen content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High oxygen Ti6Al4V alloys are fabricated by vacuum sintering and hot rolling using hydrogenation-dehydrogenation Ti6Al4V powder and ZrO2 powder as raw materials. The complete dissolution of oxygen and zirconium atoms results in an increase in lattice constant and strength. As-rolled Ti64-ZrO2 sample exhibits a bimodal structure with a fine acicular α phase of around 1 μm. Ti64-0.75 ZrO2 alloy with equivalent oxygen content close to 0.6 wt.-% presents a good combination of the high tensile strength (1180.2 MPa) and sufficient elongation (7.3%). Therefore, the critical oxygen content for the ductile-to-brittle transition of powder metallurgy Ti6Al4V alloy can be improved by suitable preparation methods. The formation of a fine β transformation structure may be one of the reasons for maintaining sufficient ductility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, phosphorus-containing Fe-5 wt.% Si silicon steel sheet was prepared by powder loose sintering followed by hot rolling. Defect-free sheet with high P content was achieved. The study found that P effects on sintering promotion and processing deterioration were significantly suppressed by the presence of Si in steel. Appropriate P content would significantly improve the mechanical and magnetic properties of the sample. Under a comprehensive consideration, P content of 0.3-0.5 wt.% was suitable for silicon steel. Compared with P-free silicon steel, with 0.3 wt.% P addition, the tensile strength of silicon steel increased from 521 MPa to 680 MPa. As to the magnetic performance, the sample with 0.5 wt.% P had B8 of 1370.5 mT, and W10/50 0f 1.16 W·kg−1, while those for P-free sample were 1332.3 mT, and 1.46 W·kg−1, respectively. FeP phase with special morphology would be precipitated in samples with P addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an effective surface modification method for Li-rich layered oxide (LLO, Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2) with Al2O3 coating. Strong organic acid TFBDC (2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-1,4-phthalic acid) accumulates near alkali metal oxide LLO to form uniform Al-TFBDC coating. Al-TFBDC modified LLO is subjected to heat treatment to form Al2O3 coating on the surface of LLO. This uniform coating protects LLO from direct contact with electrolyte and does not block the migration of Li+. Meanwhile, F− is successfully doped into LLO particles. The LLO coated with doping has clear layer structures, and its electrochemical properties have been significantly improved. The rate performance is increased by 66% at 10 C. After 150 cycles, its capacity retention rate is 92.5%, while that of uncoated LLO is only 55.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Powder metallurgy high-silicon steel strip (Fe–6.5 wt-% Si) was prepared by directly sintering followed by rolling using gas atomised powder with low oxygen content. Due to its poor formability, the gas atomised powder was directly sintered with something heavy of 1 kg overlaid on powder top. The relative density of sintered samples was about 94.1% and the porosity was 5.9%. The pore pinning effect prevented the formation of extremely large grains during sintering, which was beneficial for subsequent rolling. The grain size was controlled in the range of 100–300 μm. After cold rolling, a large number of sub-grain boundaries and deformation bands were generated, which increased the strength to 1190 MPa. It was worth noting that these two would disappear after annealing. Instead, ordered B2 and D03 phases were formed, and the texture of high-silicon steel was mainly {100}<110>. A low iron loss W10/50 value of 0.55 W kg−1 was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel W and TiO2 synergistic strengthened copper matrix nanocomposite was prepared by a powder metallurgy route with a mechano-chemical method and subsequent consolidation. Nano-sized W and TiO2 particles in the composite powder were fabricated by solid-phase reaction during the mechanical alloying procedure. The average sizes of W and TiO2 particles were only 51 and 171 nm, far finer than single-phase particle-strengthened composites. It was found that the nanoparticles effectively resisted the grain coarsening in the copper matrix, containing the grains with an average size of 350 nm. The ultimate tensile strength and electrical conductivity of the copper composite are 520 MPa and 74 IACS%, achieve an ideal trade-off between them. The observations suggested that the nanoparticles were highly uniformly dispersed in the copper matrix, and the particle coarsening was restrained as the results of the interaction effects between W and TiO2 nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, powder metallurgy (PM) H13 steels were investigated based on the characterisation of water atomised H13 powders. Vacuum sintering was carried out from 1150 to 1265°C for sintering densification. The relative density of the as-sintered sample reached to 95% and mechanical properties were released above 1200°C. To eliminate the residual pores, subsequent forging was performed. The relative density increased to above 99%. As the concentration of Si elements on the powder surface was higher than the nominal composition, there was Si segregation in the form of silicon oxides (1–3 μm). Although oxide particles such as SiO2 were inevitable, the mechanical performance of PM H13 steels was still comparable to that of ingot metallurgy products. The tempered PM H13 steels exhibited high tensile strength of 1460 MPa in YS, 1737 MPa in UTS and 8.7% in elongation. Besides, the impact toughness was as high as 14.7 J cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel and quick process combining self-propagating reaction with vacuum-expendable pattern casting is presented to accomplish integrated preparation of millimeter-thick TiCp/Al composite coatings on the Al substrate. Titanium and graphite powders were mixed with the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) additive and pasted on the expendable polystyrene (EPS) followed by compaction. Al components with in situ TiCp/Al composite coating were simultaneously synthesized at a relatively low temperature of molten Al, which was poured into the assembly of EPS and powder compact inside the silica sands. Differential scanning calorimetry, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy were used to systematically investigate the thermodynamic characteristics of the reaction, the phase constituents, microstructure and tribological properties of the coatings. The infiltration model describing the densification of the reaction coatings was also developed for the critical wetting condition. The wear characteristics were assessed using a pin-on-disk tribometer with various loads. Results showed that uniform TiC particles stimulated by the PTFE-activated self-propagating reaction afforded superior mechanical properties and wear resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microstructure evolution and variations in mechanical properties of Al-Al2O3 nanocomposite produced by powder metallurgy were investigated and compared with commercially pure aluminum (Al-1050) after furnace annealing. Fine gas-atomized Al powder compacts were first sintered in flowing nitrogen, subsequently consolidated into wires by rotary swaging and eventually annealed at 300 and 500 °C for 24 h each. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy was utilized to document the microstructure evolution. Rotary swaging was proven to lead to a marked decrease in grain size. After heavy swaging to true deformation degree of φ = 6 and annealing at 500 °C, obvious recrystallization was observed at Al-1050’s existing grain boundaries and the crystals began to grow perpendicular to the flow direction. In the Al-Al2O3 nanocomposite, fabricated from d50 = 6 μm Al powder, recrystallization partially occurred, while grains were still extremely fine. Due to the dual role of fine-grained Al2O3 dispersion strengthening, the nanocomposite showed improved mechanical performance in terms of tensile strength, approximately twice higher than Al-1050 after annealing at 500 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]