Abstract

The densification of the compacts of pure Co, Fe+50%.Co and Fe+25% Co sintered under H_2 gas or in vacuum was investigated. The effects of AL, Nb, Ti, and V additions on the densification were also studied. The sintered compact of Co was fully-dense when the density of the compact was lower than Dgc. However, above Dgc, it was never fully-dense regardless of sintering atmosphere, temperature, and time. The densification of sintered compacts of Fe-50% Co and Fe-25% Co were always incomplete. While the addition of AL made all compacts fully-dense, the addition of Ti was effective for the compacts of Co and Fe-25% Co. V was effective only for the Fe-25% Co. These results tell us that the particle size of Co powder, the amount of Fe, and the amount of additives forming stable oxides play on important role for the complete densification. Therefore it is desirable to reduce or eliminate the equilibrium pressure of H_2O or CO in isolated pores to obtain a fully-dense sintered compact.