In this study, different amounts of tantalum carbide (TaC) powders (5, 10 and 15 wt.%) are added to Vanadis 4 Extra steel powders. The composite powders are sintered at 1260, 1280, 1300, 1320, 1340 and 1360°C for 1 h, respectively. The experimental results showed that good mechanical properties (hardness 79.7 HRA, TRS 2246 MPa) were obtained by the addition of 10% TaC sintered at 1320°C for 1 h. Furthermore, the optimal sintered V4ES/TaC (Vanadis 4 Extra steel / TaC) composites after sub-zero treatment possess the highest hardness (80.9 HRA) and transverse rupture strength (TRS) values (2445 MPa), as well as a better polarization resistance (658.99 Ω·cm2). After sub-zero treatment, the VC carbides decompose and re-precipitate refined VC carbides within the grains (VC carbides are formed in steel powder); moreover, the TaC particles are still uniformly distributed around the grain boundaries, which results in dispersion strengthening and precipitation hardening. The results clearly reveal that sub-zero heat treatment effectively improves the microstructure and strengthens the V4ES/TaC composite.

In this work, nanosized Ni (nNi) powders of 50 nm are mixed with Cr and Ni submicron-powders (600 nm) to fabricate ­Cr-50 mass% Ni alloys by vacuum hot pressing. In order to evaluate the influence of the nanosized Ni powders, different amounts of nanosized Ni powders are added to produce the Cr-(50-x) mass% Ni-x mass% nNi alloys (x = 0, 10, 20 , and 30). The hot pressing was maintained at 1275°C, 48 MPa for 1 h. The microstructure evaluation, mechanical, and electrical properties were performed. The results reveal that mechanical and electrical properties are enhanced when increasing the nNi addition. The Cr-20 mass% ­Ni-30 mass% nNi presents the highest relative density of 96.53% and the electrical conductivity of 2.18×104 Scm–1, moreover, the hardness and transverse rupture strength values increase to 76.1 HRA and 1217 MPa, respectively. Moreover, a more homogeneous microstructure and a decrease in the mean grain size to 3.15 μm are acquired. Significantly, this fabrication procedure (adding 30 mass% nanosized nickel powders) results in the optimal microstructure, electrical and mechanical properties of submicron-structured Cr-(50-x) mass% Ni-x mass% nNi alloys.

This study mixes four different powders to produce Ti-6Cu-8Nb-xCr3C2 (x = 1, 3, and 5 mass%) alloys in three different proportions. The experimental results reveal that when 5 mass% Cr3C2 was added to the Ti-6Cu-8Nb alloys, the specimen possessed optimal mechanical properties after sintering at 1275°C for 1 h. The relative density reached 98.23%, hardness was enhanced to 67.8 HRA, and the transverse rupture strength (TRS) increased to 1821.2 MPa, respectively. The EBSD results show that the added Cr3C2 in situ decomposed into TiC and NbC during the sintering process, and the generated intermetallic compounds (Ti2Cu) were evenly dispersed in the Ti matrix. Furthermore, the reduced Cr atom acts as a β-phase stabilizing element and solid-solution in the Ti matrix. Consequently, the main strengthening mechanisms of the Ti-6Cu-8Nb-xCr3C2 alloys include dispersion strengthening, solid-solution strengthening, and precipitation hardening.