The effect of sublimable vehicle composition in the camphor-naphthalene system on the pore structure of porous Cu-Ni alloy is investigated. The CuO-NiO mixed slurries with hypoeutectic, eutectic and hypereutectic compositions are frozen into a mold at -25°C. Pores are generated by sublimation of the vehicles at room temperature. After hydrogen reduction at 300°C and sintering at 850°C for 1 h, the green body of CuO-NiO is completely converted to porous Cu-Ni alloy with various pore structures. The sintered samples show large pores which are aligned parallel to the sublimable vehicle growth direction. The pore size and porosity decrease with increase in powder content due to the degree of powder rearrangement in slurry. In the hypoeutectic composition slurry, small pores with dendritic morphology are observed in the sintered Cu-Ni, whereas the specimen of hypereutectic composition shows pore structure of plate shape. The change of pore structure is explained by growth behavior of primary camphor and naphthalene crystals during solidification of camphor-naphthalene alloys.
Citations