The effects of processing parameters on the flow behavior and microstructures were investigated in hotcompression of powder metallurgy (P/M) Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The alloy was fabricated by a blended elemental (B/E)approach and it exhibited lamellar α+β microstructure. The hot compression tests were performed in the range of tem-perature 800-1000℃ with 50℃ intervals, strain rate 10−4-10 s−1, and strain up to 0.5. At 800-950℃, continuous flowsoftening after a peak stress was observed with strain rates lower than 0.1 s−1. At strain rates higher than 1 s−1, rapiddrop in flow stress with strain hardening or broad oscillations was recorded. The processing map of P/M Ti-6Al-4V wasdesigned based on the compression test and revealed the peak efficiency at 850℃ and 0.001 s−1. As the processing tem-perature increased, the volume fraction of β phase was increased. In addition, below 950℃, the globularization of phaseat the slower strain rate and kinking microstructures were found. Based on these data, the preferred working conditionof the alloy may be in the range of 850-950℃ and strain rate of 0.001-0.01 s−1.

Fabrication of reaction-bonded Al2O3 (RBAO) ceramics using Al-Zn-Mg alloy powder was studied in order to improve traditional RBAO ceramic processing using Al powder. The influence on reaction-bonding and microstructure, as well as on physical and mechanical properties, of the particulate characteristics of the Al2O3-Al alloy powder mixtures after milling, was revealed. Variation of the particulate characteristics of this Al2O3-Al alloy powder mixture with milling time was reported previously. To start, the Al2O3-Al alloy powder mixture was milled, reaction-bonded, post-sintered, and characterized. During reaction-bonding of the Al2O3-Al alloy powder mixture compacts, oxidation of the Al alloy took place in two stages, that is, there was solid- and liquid-state oxidation of the Al alloy. The solid-state oxidation exhibited strong dependence on the density of surface defects on the Al-alloy particles formed during milling. Higher milling efficiency resulted in less participation of the Al alloy in reaction-bonding. This was because of its consumption by chemical reactions during milling, and subsequent powder handling, and could be rather harmful in the case of over-milling. In contrast to very little dependence of oxidation of the Al alloy on its particle size after milling, the relative density, microstructure, and flexural strength were strongly dependent on particle size after milling (i.e., on milling efficiency). The relative density and 4-point flexural strength of the RBAO ceramics in this study were ~98% and ~365 MPa, respectively, after post-sintering at 1,600˚C.

Fe-Cr-Al powder porous metal was manufactured by using new electro-spray process. First, ultra-finefecralloy powders were produced by using the submerged electric wire explosion process. Evenly distributed colloid(0.05~0.5% powders) was dispersed on Polyurethane foam through the electro-spray process. And then degreasing andsintering processes were conduced. In order to examine the effect of cell size (200 µm, 450 µm, 500 µm) in process,pre-samples were sintered for two hours at temperature of 1450˚C, in H₂ atmospheres. A 24-hour thermo gravimetricanalysis test was conducted at 1000˚C in a 79% N₂ + 21% O₂ to investigate the high temperature oxidation behavior ofpowder porous metal. The results of the high temperature oxidation tests showed that oxidation resistance increased withincreasing cell size. In the 200 µm porous metal with a thinner strut and larger specific surface area, the depletion ofthe stabilizing elements such as Al and Cr occurred more quickly during the high-temperature oxidation compared withthe 450, 500 µm porous metals.

A powder-in-sheath rolling method was applied to a fabrication of a carbon nano tube (CNT) reinforcedaluminum composite. A STS304 tube with an outer diameter of 34 mm and a wall thickness of 2 mm was used as asheath material. A mixture of pure aluminum powders and CNTs with the volume contents of 1, 3, 5 vol was filled inthe tube by tap filling and then processed to 73.5% height reduction by a rolling mill. The relative density of the CNT/Al composite fabricated by the powder-in-sheath rolling decreased slightly with increasing of CNTs content, but exhib-ited high value more than 98. The grain size of the aluminum matrix was largely decreased with addition of CNTs; itdecreased from 24 µm to 0.9 µm by the addition of only 1 volCNT. The average hardness of the composites increasedby approximately 3 times with the addition of CNTs, comparing to that of unreinforced pure aluminum. It is concludedthat the powder-in-sheath rolling method is an effective process for fabrication of CNT reinforced Al matrix composites.

A powder in sheath rolling method was applied to the fabrication of a carbon nano tube (CNT) reinforced aluminum composite. A 6061 aluminum alloy tube with outer diameter of 31 mm and wall thickness of 2 mm was used as a sheath material. A mixture of pure aluminum powder and CNTs with a volume content of 5% was filled in the tube by tap filling and then processed to an 85% reduction using multi-pass rolling after heating for 0.5 h at 400˚C. The specimen was then further processed at 400˚C by multi-pass hot rolling. The specimen was then annealed for 1 h at various temperatures that ranged from 100 to 500˚C. The relative density of the 5vol%CNT/Al composite fabricated using powder in sheath rolling increased with increasing of the rolling reduction, becoming about 97% after hot rolling under 96 % total reduction. The relative density of the composite hardly changed regardless of the increasing of the annealing temperature. The average hardness also had only slight dependence on the annealing temperature. However, the tensile strength of the composite containing the 6061 aluminum sheath decreased and the fracture elongation increased with increasing of the annealing temperature. It is concluded that the powder in sheath rolling method is an effective process for fabrication of CNT reinforced Al matrix composites.

The milling and particulate characteristics of Al alloy-Al2O3 powder mixtures for a reaction-bonded Al2O3 (RBAO) process were studied. A commercially available prealloyed Al powder with Zn, Mg, Cu and Cr alloying elements (7475 series) was mixed with a calcined sinter-active Al2O3 powder and then milled in centrifugal milling equipment for ~48 hrs. The Al alloy-Al2O3 powder mixtures after milling were characterized and evaluated in various ways to reveal their particulate characteristics during milling. The milling efficiency of the Al alloy increased with a longer milling time. Comminution of the Al alloy particles started with its elongation, showing a high aspect ratio. With a longer milling time, the elongated Al alloy particle changed in terms of its shape and size, becoming equiaxially fine particles. Regardless of the milling efficiency of the Al alloy particles, all of the Al alloy particles repeatedly experienced strong plastic deformation during milling, giving rise to higher density of surface defects, such as microcracks, and leading to higher residual microstress within the Al alloy particles. The chemical reactions, oxidation behavior and hydration behavior of the Al alloy particles and the hydrolysis characteristics of their reaction with the environment were also observed during the milling process and during the subsequent powder handling steps.

In the present work, 6061 Al-B4C sintered composites containing different B4C contents were fabricated and their characteristic were investigated as a function of sintering temperature. For this, composite powders and their compacts with B4C various contents from 0 to 40 wt.% were fabricated using a planetary ball milling equipment and cold isostatic pressing, respectively, and then they were sintered in the temperature ranges of 580 to 660o C. Above sin- tering temperature of 640o C, real density was decreased due to the occurrence of sweat phenomena. In addition, it was realized that sinterability of 6061Al-B4C composite material was lowered with increasing B4C content, resulting in the decrease in its real density and at the same time in the increment of porosity.

The study of grinding behavior characteristics on aluminum powders and carbon nano tubes (CNTs) has recently gained scientific interest due to their useful effect in enhancing advanced nano materials and components, which significantly improves the property of new mechatronics integrated materials and components. We performed a series of dry grinding experiments using a planetary ball mill to systematically investigate the grinding behavior during Al/CNTs nano composite fabrication. This study focused on a comparative study of the various experimental conditions at several variations of rotation speeds, grinding time and with and without CNTs. The results were monitored for the particle size distribution, median diameter, crystal structure from XRD pattern and particle morphology at a given grinding time. It was observed that pure aluminum powders agglomerated with low rotation speed and completely enhanced powder agglomeration. However, Al/CNTs composites were achieved at maximum experiment conditions (350 rpm, 60 min.) of this study by a mechanical alloy process for Al/CNTs mixed powders because the grinding behavior of Al/CNTs composite powder was affected by addition of CNTs. Indeed, the powder morphology and crystal size of the composite powders changed more by an increase of grinding time and rotation speed.

A new manufacturing process of Fe-Cr-Al powder porous metal was attempted. First, ultra-fine fecralloy powders were produced by using the submerged electric wire explosion process. Evenly distributed colloid (0.05~0.5% powders) was dispersed on PU (Polyurethane) foam through the electrospray process. And then degreasing and sintering processes were conduced. In order to examine the effect of sintering temperature in process, pre-samples were sintered for two hours at temperatures of , , , and , respectively, in atmospheres. A 24-hour TGA (thermo gravimetric analysis) test was conducted at in a 79% +21% to investigate the high temperature oxidation behavior of powder porous metal. The results of the high temperature oxidation tests showed that oxidation resistance increased with increasing sintering temperature (2.57% oxidation weight gain at sintered specimen). The high temperature oxidation mechanism of newly manufactured Fe-Cr-Al powder porous metal was also discussed.

Optimal conditions for HA plasma spray-coating on Ti6Al4V alloy were investigated in order to obtain enhanced bone-bonding ability with Ti6Al4V alloy. The properties of plasma spray coated film were analyzed by SEM, XRD, surface roughness measurement, and adhesion strength test because the film's transformed phase and crystallinity were known to be influential to bone-bonding ability withTi6Al4V alloy. The films were formed by a plasma spray coating technique with various combinations of plasma power, spray distance, and auxiliary He gas pressure. The film properties were analyzed in order to determine the optimal spray coating parameters with which we will able to achieve enhanced bone-bonding ability with Ti6Al4V alloy. The most influential coating parameter was found to be the plasma spray distance to the specimen from the spray gun nozzle. Additionally, it was observed that a relatively higher film crystallinity can be obtained with lower auxiliary gas pressure. Moderate adhesion strength can be achievable at minimal plasma power. That is, adhesion strength is minimally dependent on the plasma power. The combination of shorter spray distance, lower auxiliary gas pressure, and moderate spray power can be recommended as the optimal spray conditions. In this study, optimal plasma spray coated films were formed with spray distance of 70 mm, plasma current of 800 A, and auxiliary gas pressure of 60 psi.

In this work, effect of various process-control agents (PCAs) on the mechanical alloying of amorphous alloy of has been investigated. The dependence of the particle shape, size and crystallization behavior of the amorphous alloy powders on the type of PCAs and their concentrations was investigated by using X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that the additive of toluene could affect positively the amorphization and thermally induced crystallization processes, as well as the size refinement, morphology and particle-size distribution of as-milled powders in comparison with alloy obtained without PCA.

In this study, we attempted to develop a convenient aluminizing process, using Al-Ti mixed slurry as an aluminum source, to control the Al content of the aluminized layer as a result of a one-step process and can be widely adopted for coating complex-shaped components. The aluminizing process was carried out by the heat treatment on disc and rod shaped S45C steel substrates with Al-Ti mixed slurries that were composed of various mixed ratios (wt%) of Al and Ti powders. The surface of the resultant aluminized layer was relatively smooth with no obvious cracks. The aluminized layers mainly contain an Fe-Al compound as the bulk phase. However, the Al concentration and the thickness of the aluminized layer gradually decrease as the Ti proportion among Al-Ti mixed slurries increases. It has also been shown that the Al-Ti compound layer, which formed on the substrate during heat treatment, easily separates from the substrate. In addition, the incorporation of Ti into the substrate surface during heat treatment was not observed.

High-energy mechanical milling (HEMM) and sintering into Al-Mg alloy melt were employed tofabricate an Al alloy matrix composite reinforced with submicron and micron sized Al2O3 particles. Al-basedmetal matrix composite (MMC) reinforced with submicron and micron sized Al2O3 particles was successfullyfabricated by sintering at 1000oC for 2h into Al-Mg alloy melt, which used high energy mechanical milled Al-SiO2-CuO-ZnO composite powders. Submicron/micron-sized Al2O3 particles and eutectic Si were formed by in situdisplacement reaction between Al, SiO2, CuO, and ZnO during sintering for 2h into Al-Mg alloy melt and werehomogeneously distributed in the Al-Si-(Zn, Cu) matrix. The refined grains and homogeneously distributedsubmicron/micron-sized Al2O3 particles had good interfacial adhesive, which gives good wear resistance withhigher hardness.

Using spark plasma sintering process (SPS), Ti-6Al-4V alloy powders were successfully consolidated without any contamination happened due to reaction between the alloy powders and graphite mold. Variation of microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated as a function of SPS temperature and time. Compared with hot isostatic pressing (HIP), the sintering time and temperature could be lowered to be 10 min. and , respectively. At the SPS condition, UTS and elongation were about 890 MPa and 24%, respectively. Considering the density of 98.5% and elongation of 24%, further improving the tensile strength would obtain by increasing the SPS pressure.

The microstructural and mechanical properties of Al-Si alloyed powder, prepared by gas atomization fallowed by hot extrusion, were studied by optical and scanning electron microscopies, hardness and wear testing. The gas atomized Al-Si alloy powder exhibited uniformly dispersed Si particles with particle size ranging from 5 to . The hot extruded Al-Si alloy shows the average Si particle size of less than . After heat-treatment, the average particle size was increased from 2 to . Also, mechanical properties of extruded Al-Si alloy powder were analyzed before and after heat-treatment. As expected from the microstructural analysis, the heat-treated samples resulted in a decrease in the hardness and wear resistance due to Si particle growth. The friction coefficient of heat-treated Al-Si alloyed powder showed higher value tough all sliding speed. This behavior would be due to abrasive wear mechanism. As sliding speed increases, friction coefficient and depth and width of wear track increase. No significant changes occurred in the wear track shape with increased sliding speed.

The vacuum infiltration method is one of the composite producing methods. There are several parameters in composite production by vacuum infiltration. One of them is particle size of reinforcement in particulate reinforced composites. In this study, MgO powder and Al were used as reinforcement and matrix respectively. MgO powders with different size and amount to give same height were filled in quartz tubes and liquid metal was vacuum infiltrated into the MgO powder under same vacuum condition and for same time. Infiltration height was measured and microstructure and fracture behavior of composite were investigated. It has been found that infiltration height and fracture strength were increased with particulate reinforcement sizes. It has also been determined that molten metal temperature facilitates infiltration.

The creep behavior of Al-5vol.% SiC composite was investigated. The composite powder was produced by mechanical milling and hot extruded at at ratio of 16:1. A creep test was carried out at a constant load at 598, 648, and 673 K. Using the steady-state equations, the threshold stress and the stress exponent of the creep as a function of temperature were determined. The stress exponent was found to be 3 at the temperature of 673 K and 8 at 598 and 648 K. The dependency of the threshold stress to temperature obeys the Arrhenius relationship with the energy term of .