Soft magnetic powder materials are used throughout industries such as motors and power converters. When manufacturing Fe-based soft magnetic composites, the size and shape of the soft magnetic powder and the microstructure in the powder are closely related to the magnetic properties. In this study, Fe-Si-Al-P alloy powders were manufactured using various manufacturing process parameter sets, and the process parameters of the vacuum induction melt gas atomization process were set as melt temperature, atomization gas pressure, and gas flow rate. Process variable data that records are converted into 6 types of data for each powder recovery section. Process variable data that recorded minute changes were converted into 6 types of data and used as input variables. As output variables, a total of 6 types were designated by measuring the particle size, flowability, apparent density, and sphericity of the manufactured powders according to the process variable conditions. The sensitivity of the input and output variables was analyzed through the Pearson correlation coefficient, and a total of 6 powder characteristics were analyzed by artificial neural network model. The prediction results were compared with the results through linear regression analysis and response surface methodology, respectively.
Aluminum-based powders have attracted attention as key materials for 3D printing owing to their low density, high specific strength, high corrosion resistance, and formability. This study describes the effects of TiC addition on the microstructure of the A6013 alloy. The alloy powder was successfully prepared by gas atomization and further densified using an extrusion process. We have carried out energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to investigate the effect of TiC addition on the microstructure and texture evolution of the A6013 alloy. The atomized A6013-xTiC alloy powder is fine and spherical, with an initial powder size distribution of approximately 73 μm which decreases to 12.5, 13.9, 10.8, and 10.0 μm with increments in the amount of TiC.
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In this paper, a durability study is presented to enhance the mechanical properties of an Fe-Si-Al powderbased magnetic core, through the addition of graphite. The compressive properties of Fe-Si-Al-graphite powder mixtures are explored using discrete element method (DEM), and a powder compaction experiment is performed under identical conditions to verify the reliability of the DEM analysis. Important parameters for powder compaction of Fe-Si-Algraphite powder mixtures are identified. The compressibility of the powders is observed to increase as the amount of graphite mixture increases and as the size of the graphite powders decreases. In addition, the compaction properties of the Fe-Si-Al-graphite powder mixtures are further explored by analyzing the transmissibility of stress between the top and bottom punches as well as the distribution of the compressive force. The application of graphite powders is confirmed to result in improved stress transmission and compressive force distribution, by 24% and 51%, respectively.
Recently, interest in technology for eco-friendly energy harvesting has been increasing. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is one of the most fascinating materials that has been used in energy harvesting technology as well as micro-filters by utilizing an electrostatic effect. To enhance the performance of the electrostatic effect-based nanogenerator, most studies have focused on enlarging the contact surface area of the pair of materials with different triboelectric series. For this reason, one-dimensional nanofibers have been widely used recently. In order to realize practical energy-harvesting applications, PVDF nanofibers are modified by enlarging their contact surface area, modulating the microstructure of the surface, and maximizing the fraction of the β-phase by incorporating additives or forming composites with inorganic nanoparticles. Among them, nanocomposite structures incorporating various nanoparticles have been widely investigated to increase the β-phase through strong hydrogen bonding or ion-dipole interactions with -CF2/CH2- of PVDF as well as to enhance the mechanical strength. In this study, we report the recent advances in the nanocomposite structure of PVDF nanofibers and inorganic nanopowders.
The directed energy deposition (DED) process of metal 3D printing technologies has been treated as an effective method for welding, repairing, and even 3-dimensional building of machinery parts. In this study, stainless steel 316L (STS316L) and Inconel 625 (IN625) alloy powders are additively manufactured using the DED process, and the microstructure of the fabricated STS316L/IN625 sample is investigated. In particular, there are no secondary phases in the interface between STS316L and the IN625 alloy. The EDS and Vickers hardness results clearly show compositionally and mechanically transient layers a few tens of micrometers in thickness. Interestingly, several cracks are only observed in the STS 316L rather than in the IN625 alloy near the interface. In addition, small-sized voids 200–400 nm in diameter that look like trapped pores are present in both materials. The cracks present near the interface are formed by tensile stress in STS316L caused by the difference in the CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) between the two materials during the DED process. These results can provide fundamental information for the fabrication of machinery parts that require joining of two materials, such as valves.
Porous Cu-14 wt% Co with aligned pores is produced by a freeze drying and sintering process. Unidirectional freezing of camphene slurry with CuO-Co3O4 powders is conducted, and pores in the frozen specimens are generated by sublimation of the camphene crystals. The dried bodies are hydrogen-reduced at 500°C and sintered at 800°C for 1 h. The reduction behavior of the CuO-Co3O4 powder mixture is analyzed using a temperature-programmed reduction method in an Ar-10% H2 atmosphere. The sintered bodies show large and aligned parallel pores in the camphene growth direction. In addition, small pores are distributed around the internal walls of the large pores. The size and fraction of the pores decrease as the amount of solid powder added to the slurry increases. The change in pore characteristics according to the amount of the mixed powder is interpreted to be due to the rearrangement and accumulation behavior of the solid particles in the freezing process of the slurry.
In this study, Al-Si-Mg alloys are additively manufactured using a selective laser melting (SLM) process from AlSi10Mg powders prepared from a gas-atomization process. The processing parameters such as laser scan speed and laser power are investigated for 3D printing of Al-Si-Mg alloys. The laser scan speeds vary from 100 to 2000 mm/s at the laser power of 180 and 270W, respectively, to achieve optimized densification of the Al-Si-Mg alloy. It is observed that the relative density of the Al-Si-Mg alloy reaches a peak value of 99% at 1600 mm/s for 180W and at 2000 mm/s for 270W. The surface morphologies of the both Al-Si-Mg alloy samples at these conditions show significantly reduced porosities compared to those of other samples. The increase in hardness of as-built Al-Si-Mg alloy with increasing scan speed and laser power is analyzed due to high relative density. Furthermore, it was found that cooling conditions after the heat-treatment for homogenization results in the change of dispersion status of Si phases in the Al-Si matrix but also affects tensile behaviors of Al-Si-Mg alloys. These results indicate that combination between SLM processing parameters and post-heat treatment should be considered a key factor to achieve optimized Al-Si alloy performance.
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We report a method for preparing rare earth oxides (RexOy) from the recycling process for spent Ni-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries. This process first involves a leaching of spent Ni-MH powders with sulfuric acid at 90°C, resulting in rare earth precipitates (i.e., NaRE(SO4)2·H2O, RE = La, Ce, Nd), which are converted into rare earth oxides via two different approaches: i) simple heat treatment in air, and ii) metathesis reaction with NaOH at 70°C. Not only the morphological features but also the crystallographic structures of all products are systematically investigated using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD); their thermal behaviors are also analyzed. In particular, XRD results show that some of the rare earth precipitates are converted into oxide form (such as La2O3, Ce2O3, and Nd2O3) with heat treatment at 1200°C; however, secondary peaks are also observed. On the other hand, rare earth oxides, RexOy can be successfully obtained after metathesis of rare earth precipitates, followed by heat treatment at 1000°C in air, along with a change of crystallographic structures, i.e., NaRE(SO4)2·H2O → RE(OH)3 →RexOy.
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The objective of this study is to reveal the sintering mechanism of mixed Ti-6Al-4V powders considering the densification and the homogenization between Ti and Al/V particles. It is found that the addition of master alloy particles into Ti enhances densification by the migration of Al into the Ti matrix prior to the self-diffusion of Ti. However, as Ti particles become coarser, sintering of the powders appears to be retarded due to slower inter-diffusion of the particles due to the reduced surface energies of Ti. Such phenomena are confirmed by a series of dilatometry tests and microstructural analyses in respect to the sintering temperature. Furthermore, the results are also consistent with the predicted activation energies for sintering. The energies are found to have decreased from 299.35 to 135.48 kJ·mol-1 by adding the Al/V particles because the activation energy for the diffusion of Al in α-Ti (77 kJ·mol-1) is much lower than that of the self-diffusion of α-Ti. The coarser Ti powders increase the energies from 135.48 to 181.16 kJ·mol-1 because the specific surface areas of Ti decrease.
Electrical wire explosion in liquid media is a promising method for producing metallic nanopowders. It is possible to obtain high-purity metallic nanoparticles and uniform-sized nanopowder with excellent dispersion stability using this electrical wire explosion method. In this study, Ni-Fe alloy nanopowders with core-shell structures are fabricated via the electrical explosion of Ni-Fe alloy wires 0.1 mm in diameter and 20 mm in length in de-ionized water. The size and shape of the powders are investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and laser particle size analysis. Phase analysis and grain size determination are conducted by X-ray diffraction. The result indicate that a core-shell structured Ni-Fe nanopowder is synthesized with an average particle size of approximately 28 nm, and nanosized Ni core particles are encapsulated by an Fe nanolayer.
In this study, ultra-fine soft-magnetic micro-powders are prepared by high-pressure gas atomization of an Fe-based alloy, Fe-Hf-B-Nb-P-C. Spherical powders are successfully obtained by disintegration of the alloy melts under high-pressure He or N2 gas. The mean particle diameter of the obtained powders is 25.7 μm and 42.1 μm for He and N2 gas, respectively. Their crystallographic structure is confirmed to be amorphous throughout the interior when the particle diameter is less than 45 μm. The prepared powders show excellent soft magnetic properties with a saturation magnetization of 164.5 emu/g and a coercivity of 9.0 Oe. Finally, a toroidal core is fabricated for measuring the magnetic permeability, and a μr of up to 78.5 is obtained. It is strongly believed that soft magnetic powders prepared by gas atomization will be beneficial in the fabrication of high-performance devices, including inductors and motors.
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In this study, the electroless nickel plating method has been investigated for the coating of Ni nanoparticles onto fine Al powder as promising energetic materials. The adsorption of nickel nanoparticles onto the surface of Al powders has been studied by varying various process parameters, namely, the amounts of reducing agent, complexing agent, and pH-controller. The size of nickel nanoparticles synthesized in the process has been optimized to approximately 200 nm and they have been adsorbed on the Al powder. TGA results clearly show that the temperature at which oxidation of Al mainly occurs is lowered as the amount of Ni nanoparticles on the Al surface increases. Furthermore, the Ni-plated Al powders prepared for all conditions show improved exothermic reaction due to the selfpropagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) between Ni and Al. Therefore, Al powders fully coated by Ni nanoparticles show the highest exothermic reactivity: this demonstrates the efficiency of Ni coating in improving the energetic properties of Al powders.
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In this study, H13 tool steel sculptures are built by a metal 3D printing process at various laser scan speeds. The properties of commercial H13 tool steel powders are confirmed for the metal 3D printing process used: powder bed fusion (PBF), which is a selective laser melting (SLM) process. Commercial H13 powder has an excellent flowability of 16.68 s/50 g with a Hausner ratio of 1.25 and a density of 7.68 g/cm3. The sculptures are built with dimensions of 10 × 10 × 10 mm3 in size using commercial H13 tool steel powder. The density measured by the Archimedes method is 7.64 g/cm3, similar to the powder density of 7.68 g/cm3. The hardness is measured by Rockwell hardness equipment 5 times to obtain a mean value of 54.28 HRC. The optimum process conditions in order to build the sculptures are a laser power of 90 W, a layer thickness of 25 μm, an overlap of 30%, and a laser scan speed of 200 mm/s.
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Y2O3–H3BO3:Eu3+ powders are synthesized using a mechanical alloying method, and their photoluminescence (PL) properties are investigated through luminescence spectrophotometry. For samples milled for 300 min, some Y2O3 peaks ([222], [440], and [622]) and amorphous formations are observed. The 300-min-milled mixture annealed at 800°C for 1 h with Eu = 8 mol% has the strongest PL intensity at every temperature increase of 100°C (increasing from 700 to 1200°C in 100°C increments). PL peaks of the powder mixture, as excited by a xenon discharge lamp (20 kW) at 240 nm, are detected at approximately 592 nm (orange light, 5Do → 7F1), 613 nm, 628 nm (red light, 5Do → 7F1), and 650 nm. The PL intensity of powder mixtures milled for 120 min is generally lower than that of powder mixtures milled for 300 min under the same conditions. PL peaks due to YBO3 and Y2O3 are observed for 300-min-milled Y2O3–H3BO3 with Eu = 8 mol% after annealing at 800°C for 1 h.
Pt has been widely used as catalyst for fuel cell and exhausted gas clean systems due to its high catalytic activity. Recently, there have been researches on fabricating composite materials of Pt as a method of reducing the amount of Pt due to its high price. One of the approaches for saving Pt used as catalyst is a core shell structure consisting of Pt layer on the core of the non-noble metal. In this study, the synthesis of Pt shell was conducted on the surface of TiO2 particle, a non-noble material, by applying ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Anatase TiO2 particles with the average size of 20~30 nm were immersed in the ethanol dissolved with Pt precursor of H2PtCl6∙6H2O and exposed to UV irradiation with the wavelength of 365 nm. It was confirmed that Pt nano-particles were formed on the surface of TiO2 particles by photochemical reduction of Pt ion from the solution. The morphology of the synthesized Pt@TiO2 nano-composite was examined by TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy).
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