An initial assessment of the effectiveness of cast iron inoculation, performed by the method of impulse introducing the master alloy into

cast iron, is presented. The experiment was concerned with the hypoeutectic gray cast iron inoculated with either the Alinoc or the Barinoc

master alloy by means of an experimental device for pneumatic transportation. Examinations involved pneumatic injection of the

powdered inoculant carried in a stream of gaseous medium (argon) into the metal bath held in the crucible of an induction furnace. It was

found that the examined process is characterised by both high effectiveness and stability.

The computational intelligence tool has major contribution to analyse the properties of materials without much experimentation. The B4C particles are used to improve the quality of the strength of materials. With respect to the percentage of these particles used in the micro and nano, composites may fix the mechanical properties. The different combinations of input parameters determine the characteristics of raw materials. The load, content of B4C particles with 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% will determine the wear behaviour like CoF, wear rate etc. The properties of materials like stress, strain, % of elongation and impact energy are studied. The temperature based CoF and wear rate is analysed. The temperature may vary between 30°C, 100°C and 200°C. In addition, the CoF and wear rate of materials are predicted with respect to load, weight % of B4C and nano hexagonal boron nitride %. The intelligent tools like Neural Networks (BPNN, RBNN, FL and Decision tree) are applied to analyse these characteristics of micro / nano composites with the inclusion of B4C particles and nano hBN % without physically conducting the experiments in the Lab. The material properties will be classified with respect to the range of input parameters using the computational model.

The effect of the compaction rate on the structure, microstructure and properties of Fe-Al sinters obtained during the SHS reaction is presented in this paper. It was found that increasing the uniaxial pressing pressure led to the increase of the contact area between iron and aluminium particles, which improved the conduction and lowered heat losses during the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) reaction and thus result with a sintered material with an improved phase homogeneity. On the other hand, an increase in the pressing pressure causes air be trapped in the pores and later on reacts with iron and aluminium to form oxides. In this work, the shrinkage course was analysed at six different pressing pressures: 50, 100, 150, 200, 300 and 400 MPa. The green compacts were then subjected to the PAIS process (pressure-assisted induction sintering) at a temperature of 1000°C under a load of 100 kN for 5 min. Such prepared samples were subjected to density, porosity, and microhardness (HV0.1) measurements. X-ray diffraction phase analysis and SEM observations were performed together with EDS chemical composition measurements. For studied chemical composition of the samples and sample geometry, 200 MPa compacting pressure was found to be optimal in order to obtain the best sample homogeneity.

The paper presents the results of research on the production and application of sintered copper matrix composite reinforced with titaniumcopper intermetallic phases. Cu- Ti composites were fabricated by powder metallurgy. The starting materials for obtaining the sintered composites were commercial powders of copper and titanium. Experiments were carried out on specimens containing 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 % of titanium by weight. Finished powders mixtures containing appropriate quantities of titanium were subjected to single pressing with a hydraulic press at a compaction pressure of 620 MPa. Obtained samples were subjected to sintering process at 880 °C in an atmosphere of dissociated ammonia. The sintering time was 6 hours. The introduction of titanium into copper resulted in the formation of many particles containing intermetallic phases. The obtained sinters were subjected to hardness, density and electrical conductivity measurements. Observations of the microstructure on metallographic specimens made from the sintered compacts were also performed using a optical microscope. An analysis of the chemical composition (EDS) of the obtained composites was also performed using a scanning electron microscope. Microstructural investigations by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) showed that after 6 hours of sintering at 880°C intermetallic compounds: TiCu, TiCu2, TiCu4, Ti2Cu3, Ti3Cu4 were formed. The hardness increased in comparison with a sample made of pure copper whereas density and electrical conductivity decreased. The aim of this work was to fabricate copper matrix composites reinforced with titanium particles containing copper- titanium intermetallic phases using powder metallurgy technology and determine the influence of the titanium particles on the properties of the sintered compacts and, finally, analyse the potentials application for friction materials or electric motors brushes.

The main purpose of the work was to determine the powder influence of the powder preparation on the microstructure and properties of iron-based sinters used as a metallic-diamond matrix. The sinters obtained from a mixture of comercial powders were used for research. A mixture of powders was selected for the tests, in which the mass fractions of individual powders were as follows: 60% Fe, 23.8% Cu, 4.2% Sn and 12% Ni. The powders were pre-mixed in a Turbula mixer and next a part of material was subjected to milling in a ball mill. Sintering was performed using hot-pressing technique in a graphite mould. The investigated properties of the sinters were concerned density, porosity, hardness, oxygen content, static tensile test and analysis of microstructure. Spot chemical analysis revealed the presence of Fe solution, Cu solution and the presence of iron oxides oxides. Nickel atoms were present throughout the sinter volume. The obtained test results showed that the presented sinter has good functional properties (hardness and thermal expansion) and can be used as a diamond-metal composite matrix in diamond tools.The microstructure and mechanical properties of sinters were investigated.

The mechanical and tribological properties of the Al/CNT composites could be controlled and improved by the method of its fabrication process. This research article deals with the optimization of mechanical and tribological properties of Al/CNT composites, which are fabricated using the mechanical alloying process with the different weight percentage of multi-walled CNT reinforcement. The phase change and the presence of CNT are identified using the X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The influence of mechanical alloying process and the multi-walled CNT reinforcement on the mechanical, and tribological behaviours of the Al/CNT composites are studied. The optimal mechanical alloying process parameters and the weight percentage of multi-walled CNT reinforcement for the Al/CNT composite are identified using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM), which exhibits the better hardness, compressive strength, wear rate and Coefficient of Friction (CoF). The Al/CNT composite with 1.1 wt.% of CNT has achieved the optimal responses at the milling speed 301 rpm and milling time 492 minutes with the ball to powder weight ratio 9.7:1, which is 98% equal to the experimental result. This research also reveals that the adhesive wear is the dominant wear mechanism for the Al/CNT composite against EN31 stainless steel but the optimal Al/CNT composite with 1.1 wt.% of multi-walled CNT has experienced a mild abrasive wear.

This study evaluated the effect of milling speed and compaction pressure on the densification and morphology of the CuZn-Gr composite. The composite was prepared by using the powder metallurgy technique. The effect on the microstructural and compaction was determined based on different milling speeds. The different milling speeds involved were 175, 200, 225, and 250 rpm. Meanwhile, the different compaction pressures used in this study were 127, 250, 374, and 500 MPa. The properties of the milled powder gave the result to green density and densification parameters. The XRD pattern of Cu and Zn broadened as milling time increased.

Slags issued from base metal smelting industry constitute a serious environmental problem in Upper and Lower Silesia (Poland). The waste is located in heavily urbanized areas, covers large surfaces and still may contain large quantities of potentially toxic metallic trace elements. This review paper summarizes all the major problems related to slag storage in Upper and Lower Silesia, including: (i) detailed characteristics of the studied slags, (ii) potential release of toxic elements and (iii) related risks for the surrounding areas and (iv) applications of slags for commercial purposes.

The aim of the study was to indicate the influence of consolidation processes on microstructure and selected mechanical properties of powder metallurgy Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr alloy, which was produced by blending of elemental powders method. Morphology of the mixture and its ingredients were examined using scanning electron microscopy. The consolidation of powders mixture was conducted using two approaches. The first consisted of the uniaxial hot pressing process, the second included two steps – uniaxial cold pressing process and sintering under argon protective atmosphere. Microstructural analysis was performed for both as-pressed compacts using light microscopy. Additionally, computed tomography studies were carried out, in order to examine the internal structure of compacts. Chosen mechanical properties, such as Vickers hardness and compression strength was also determined and compared. The conducted research proves that the proposed production method leads to obtain materials with no structural defects and relatively low porosity. Moreover, due to the proper selection of manufacturing parameters, favorable microstructures can be received, as well as mechanical properties, which are comparable to conventionally produced material with the corresponding chemical composition.

An experimental study was performed to assess the influences of aluminum content on the porosity, microstructure and mechanical properties of powder metallurgy steels. Optical microscope equipped with the image processing software and the scanning electron microscope were employed to study the microstructure of investigated specimens. In order to find mechanical properties of specimens, Vickers hardness and compression tests were conducted. By increasing the aluminum content (from 0 to 4 wt. %), the porosity increases (from 6.01% to 8.43%). The microstructure of specimens contains aluminum phase distributed between the boundaries of agglomerated iron particles, ferrite, and pearlite. By increasing the aluminum content, stress-strain curves shift significantly downwards, and the modulus of elasticity, elongation, yield stress, and Vickers hardness reduce from 1.82 to 0.86 GPa, 32.1 to 17.8%, 138.1 to 28.2 MPa, and 127.7 to 26.8 HV, respectively.

In the present paper, elemental Fe, Cr and Ni powders were used to fabricate nano-structured duplex and ferritic stainless steel powders by using high energy planetary ball milling. We have studied the effect of milling atmosphere like wet (toluene) and dry (argon) milling of elemental Fe-18Cr-13Ni (duplex) and Fe-17Cr-1Ni (ferritic) powders for 10 h in a dual drive planetary mill. Stearic acid of 1wt. % was added during milling to avoid agglomeration. The dry and wet milled duplex and ferritic stainless steel powders were characterized by XRD, SEM and particle size analysis techniques. We have found that both the milling atmospheres have great influence in controlling the final particle morphology, size and phase evolution during milling. It was reported that dry milling is more effective in reducing particle size than the wet milling. The Nelson-Riley method of extrapolation was used to calculate the precise lattice parameter and Williamson-Hall method was used to calculate the crystallite size and lattice strain of both the stainless steel milled in argon atmosphere. Dry milled duplex and ferritic stainless steel were then consolidated by conventional sintering method at 1100, 1200 and 1300°C temperatures under argon atmosphere for 1 hour.

The objective of the present research is to develop new admixed lubricants which can be used for high-density sintered iron when processed using warm die and warm compaction. Depending on various lubricants, the effect of compaction temperature on the ejection behavior and sintered properties was studied. Lubricants were prepared by mixing of Zn-stearate and ethylene bis stearamide (EBS) in various compositions. The iron powders blended with lubricants were compacted under the pressure of 700 MPa at various temperatures. The green compacts were sintered at 1120°C for 30 min. Microstructure, density, hardness, and transverse rupture strength of sintered materials with different lubricants were investigated in detail.

This paper presents a method based on the use of fuzzy logic for the rapid selection of optimal induction sintering parameters. The prepared fuzzy controller uses expert knowledge developed from the results of induction sintering tests of Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr alloy green compacts produced from a mixture of elemental powders. The analysis of the influence of the applied sintering parameters on the material characteristics was based on the evaluation of the microstructure state and the measurement of the relative density of the samples after sintering. In this way, a universal tool for estimating the sintering parameters of titanium powder-based green compacts was obtained. It was shown that with the help of fuzzy logic it is possible to analyze the influence of the parameters of the manufacturing process of metal powder materials on the quality of the obtained products.

The present research addresses the low-temperature sintering of 4% kaolin clay reinforced aluminium composite using susceptor-aided microwave sintering at 2.45 GHz frequency. Kaoline clay the naturally available mineral in the north-eastern regions of india. The study aims to convert this kaoline clay into the value added product with enhanced mechanical properties. The Al-x% Kaolin (x = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) composite was fabricated through the powder metallurgy process by the application of 600 MPa compaction pressure. The composite corresponding to optimum ultimate tensile strength (U.T.S) was subjected to single-mode cavity microwave-assisted sintering by varying the sintering temperatures as 500°C, 550°C and 600°C. The effect of incorporating kaolin clay on the dielectric characteristics of composite powders, as well as the effect of sintering temperature on the microstructural changes and mechanical characteristics of Al-4%Kaolin composites were also examined. Results concluded that the addition of 4 wt% kaolin powder improves the dielectric characteristics of the composite powder. The maximum Hardness. Compression strength and U.T.S of 97 Hv, 202 MPa and 152 MPa respectively achieved for the Al-4% Kaolin composite sintered at 550°C. The higher fracture toughness of 9.56 Ma. m1/2 reveals the ductile fracture for the composite sintered at 550°C.

Through the powder metallurgy technique, alloys of the eutectic composition of the Zn-Al system were manufactured (22.3 wt.%Al), reinforced with Ag additions (0.5, 1, 2.5, 5 wt.%), with subsequent annealing heat treatment at three different temperatures; 100, 150 and 200°C for 1 hr. X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy and mechanical tests were performed on the resulting samples. The addition of Ag favors the formation of alpha and beta compounds with Al and Zn respectively, which improves the compressive strength of the alloy. However, with the presence of Ag the hardness is decreased. On the other hand, the application of an annealing heat treatment, shows no significant effect on the evaluated properties of the alloy. The microstructure of the alloys resulted in the presence of very small grains smaller than 1 mm and with rounded morphology.

Nowadays, titanium is one of the most popular materials for aeronautical applications due to its good corrosion resistance, formability and strength. In this paper, rutile reinforced titanium matrix composites were produced via powder metallurgy. The steps included high energy ball milling of raw titanium and rutile powders in a planetary ball mill, which was followed by cold-pressing and sintering without external pressure. For the characterization of the milled powders and the sintered composites, scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and compressive strength examinations were carried out. The results showed that the rutile has a strengthening effect on the titanium matrix. 1 wt% rutile increased the compressive strength compared to the raw titanium. Increasing the milling time of the metal matrix decreased the compressive strength values.

Currently, the world of material requires intensive research to discover a new-class of materials those posses the properties like lower in weight, greater in strength and better in mechanical properties. This led to the study of light and strong alloys or composites. This study focuses to produce current novel aluminium composite with an appreciable density, good machinable characteristics, less corrosive, high strength, light weight and low manufacturing cost product. In this research, an aluminium metal matrix composites (AMMC) (Al-0.5Si-0.5Mg-2.5Cu-15SiC) was developed using the metallurgical powdered method and subjected to the investigation of erosion wear characteristics. Here the solid particle erosion test was conducted on AMMC samples. The article presents, the design of Taguchi experiments and statistical techniques of erosion wear characteristics and the behaviors of the composite. The rate of erosion wear found to decrease with increasing impact angle, regardless of the rate of impact. With higher impact velocity erosion rate increases but decreases with stand of distance.

The Nb-Si based in-situ composite was produced by resistive sintering (RS) technique. In order to identify present phases, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was used on the composite. XRD analysis revealed that the composite was composed of Nb solid solution (Nbss) and α-Nb5Si3 phases. The microstructure of the composite was characterized by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was performed for the micro-analysis of the chemical species. SEM-EDS analyses show that the microstructure of composite consists of Nbss, Nb5Si3 and small volume fraction of Ti-rich Nbss phases. The micro hardness of constituent phases of the composite was found to be as 593±19 and 1408±33 Hv0.1, respectively and its relative density was % 98.54.

Traditional press and sinter processes have gained in the last decades more and more importance in the manufacturing of high volume and precise mechanical components especially in the field of iron based powders. In recent years, the reductions of processing times and temperatures were spotted as critical targets to increase productivity and reduce energy consumption. Electric current assisted sintering (ECAS) technologies have always been seen as an alternative to traditional furnace based sintering techniques and have been the target of different researches with the specific purpose of reducing both operational times and costs. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of an innovative process called Electro Sinter Forging (ESF) applied to CuSn15 powders. Thanks to a very short processing time (less than 1 second to densify loose powders), this process is able to retain a very small grain size, thus enhancing mechanical properties of the processed materials. Furthermore, to the authors knowledge, cold – rolled electro – sinter – forged alloys has never been investigated before. First of all, bars were electro – sinter – forged and subsequently characterized in the as sinter – forged condition. The observation of microstructure evidenced an extremely fine microstructure and a reduced degree of porosity. Afterwards, bars were cold rolled after different reduction ratios; macrostructural integrity of the rolled bars was assessed before evaluating the effects of cold rolling on the sinter – forged microstructure.

The prediction of equilibrium components for chemical reactions is a considerable section in the metallurgical industry. According to the ion and molecule coexistence theory (IMCT), a modified mass action concentration model based on a thermodynamic database is proposed in this paper, which complys with the law of mass conservation and can be applied in the batching process for Al-Ti-Ca-oxide system that originates from SHS (Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis) metallurgy. The trend for slag and alloy component under different batching conditions are in good agreement with experiment, while the difference between the theoretical calculation and experiment can be attributed to the deviation from the thermodynamic equilibrium. The modified mass action concentration model with melts and slag can be used to predict the composition and content of the system when equilibrium is achieved at a certain temperature under a specific material ratio, which is conducive to reducing the cost of the experiment and predicting the operability of the actual process. Moreover, it is believed that this thermodynamic insight may has certain application prospects in these metallurgical procedure based on the equilibrium process.

Electrode induction melting gas atomization (EIGA) is a newly developed method for preparing ultra-clean metal powders, and is a completely crucible-free melting and atomization process. Based on conducted several atomization experiments, we found that the fine powder yields obtained during the EIGA process were greatly affected by the status of metal melt flow. While, continuous metal melt flow was beneficial for the yield of fine powders, it was in conflict with the principle described for the vacuum induction melting inert gas atomization (VIGA) process. To understand the critical role of continuous metal melt flow in the EIGA process, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach was developed to simulate the gas atomization process. The D50 particle size of powder prepared by atomization under continuous liquid metal flow was about 70 μm, while that obtained by atomization under non-continuous liquid metal flow was about 100 μm. The diameter distribution results of numerical simulations agreed well with the experimental measurements, which demonstrated the accuracy of our simulation method. This study provides theoretical support for understanding the critical role of continuous metal melt flow and improving fine powder yields in the EIGA process. PACS: 02.60.Cb; 43.28.Py; 41.20.Gz; 81.20.Ev

The preliminary results of the application of open-celled glassy-carbon foam (Cof) in magnesium matrix composites processed by the powder metallurgy method were presented. For the component consolidation, compaction with vertically-torsional vibration and hot-pressing were applied. For the material characterization, the microstructure examination LM and SEM with EDS was employed and also, the porosity and microhardness were measured. An influence of the carbon foam cells’ size on the composite porosity and microhardness was revealed. Additionally, a generation of a few micrometer thin and differently shaped MgO inclusions was observed. Differences in the oxide phase amount, size and shape in the magnesium matrix measured by the quantitative metallography method in the cross-sectioned composite elements were stated. With an increase of the distance from the composite roller top, an increase of the MgO content and microhardness was noticed.

Hot Isostatic Pressing elaboration of Norem02, an austenitic-ferritic hypereutectoid stainless steel, leads to the formation of an austenitic matrix with a mixture of acicular M7C3 and globular M23C6 carbides. The sintering tests, carried out by using an AISI 304L container, showed that the final microstructure and the carbides’ distribution of the HIPed Norem02 are strongly influenced by the process parameters (heating and cooling rate, sintering time, holding temperature and pressure) and by the particles’ size, microstructure and phase distribution of the initial powder. The morphological, crystallographic and chemical analysis of the sintered samples were completed by comprehension of the diffusion phenomena at the Norem02/304L interface, enabling the establishment of a correlation between elaboration process and final microstructure.

The research focuses on assessing the metal content, mainly copper, lead, iron and also silver in metallurgical slag samples from the area

where historical metallurgical industry functioned. In the smelter located in Mogiła, near Krakow (southern Poland), whose operation is

confirmed in sources from 1469, copper was probably refined as well as silver was separated from copper. Based on the change of

chemical and soil phase content and also taking cartographic and historical data into account, considering the restrictions resulting from

the modern land use the area was determined whose geochemical mapping can point to the location of the 15th century Jan Thurzo’s

smelter in Mogiła near Krakow. Moreover, using the same approach with the samples of this kind here as with hazardous waste, an

attempt has been made to assess their impact on the environment. Thereby, taking the geoenvironmental conditions into account, potential

impact of the industrial activity has been assessed, which probably left large scale changes in the substratum, manifested in the structure,

chemical content and soil phase changes. Discovering areas which are contaminated above the standard value can help to identify

historical human activities, and finding the context in artefacts allows to treat geochemical anomalies as a geochronological marker. For

this purpose the best are bed sediments, at present buried in the ground, of historical ditches draining the area of the supposed smelter.

Correlating their qualities with analogical research of archeologically identified slags and other waste material allows for reconstructing

the anthropopressure stages and the evaluation of their effects. The operation of Jan Thurzo’s smelter is significant for the history of

mining and metallurgy of Poland and Central and Eastern Europe.