The fabrication of complex-shaped parts out of Co-Cr-Mo alloy and 316L stainless steel by three-dimensional printing (3DP) was studied using two grades of each alloy with average particle size of 20 and , respectively. To produce sound specimens, the proper 3DP processing parameters were determined. The sintering behavior of the powders was characterized by dilatometric analysis and by batch sintering in argon atmosphere at for 2h. The 3DP process has successfully produced complex-shaped biomedical parts with total porosity of 12-25% and homogenous pore structure, which could be suitable for tissue growth into the pores.

Powder library of pseudo four components Li-Ni-Co-Ti compounds were prepared for exploring the composition region with the single phase of the layer-type structure by using combinatorial high-throuput preparation system "M-ist Combi" based on electrostatic spray deposition method. The new layer-type compounds were found wider composition region than the previous report. This process is promising way to find multi component functional materials.

3D printing of NiTi alloys has been successfully achieved. A novel printing process has been developed and used, which consists in selective deposition of a solvent on a granule bed. The granules are composed of metal powders and thermoplastic binder, which are mixed and sieved by conventional methods. A sound green strength is obtained after solvent evaporation. Sintered parts exhibit good density, proper phase composition and shape memory behaviour.

New powder compaction process, in which a Bingham semi-solid/fluid mold is utilized, is developed to fabricate micro parts. In the present process, a powder material is filled as slurry in a solid wax mold, dried and compressed. The wax is heated during compaction and becomes semi-solid state, which can acts as a pressurized medium for isostatic compaction. Since the compacted micro parts are very fragile, the mold's temperature is controlled to higher than its melting point during unloading, to avoid breakage of the compacts. To demonstrate effectiveness of this process, some micro compacts of alumina are shown as examples.

The behaviour of steel powder compacts during sintering has been investigated by dilatometry and X-ray computed microtomography. Dilatometry measurements showed that the anisotropic deformation results from various phenomena arising at different moments of the cycle including the delubrication stage. Microtomography provided 3D images of the microstructure induced by prior die pressing and its changes throughout sintering. Finally a schematic description of the main phenomena responsible for the deformation of metal powder compacts during sintering is proposed.

The free sintering of metallic powders blended with non sintering inclusions is investigated by the Discrete Element Method (DEM). Each particle, whatever its nature (metallic or inclusion) is modeled as a sphere that interacts with its neighbors. We investigate the retarding effect of the inclusions on the sintering kinetics. Also, we present a simple coarsening model for the metallic particles, which allows large particles to grow at the expense of the smallest.

The directions of further developments in the modeling of sintering are pointed out, including multi-scale modeling of sintering, on-line sintering damage criteria, particle agglomeration, sintering with phase transformations. A true multi-scale approach is applied for the development of a new meso-macro methodology for modeling of sintering. The developed macroscopic level computational framework envelopes the mesoscopic simulators. No closed forms of constitutive relationships are assumed for the parameters of the material. The model framework is able to predict the final dimensions of the sintered specimen on a global scale and identify the granular structure in any localized area for prediction of the material properties.

We present a systematic study of the heating and pre-sintering behavior of porous copper powder metal compacts. We employ a TE102 single mode microwave system to position the samples in the separated electric field (E) or magnetic field (H) anti-node of the cavity. We observe significant differences in the heating, pre-sintering, and microstructure evolution of the samples due to the individual fields. We note that sample history (whether heated first in the E-field or H-field) greatly effects a difference in heating trends and subsequent heating behavior and does not appear to be solely a thermal process.

Preparation processing of sintered silicon nitride ceramics was emphatically investigated with Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesis (SHS) of silicon nitride prepared by ourselves as raw material. The results indicate that good sinter ability can be obtained with cheaply SHS of silicon nitride preparing silicon nitride materials. The cost of silicon nitride materials will be lowered.

Nd-Fe-B type powder was sintered using spark plasma sintering method. Fabricated compact sintered at the temperature of , is found to be a composite magnet with Nd-Fe-Co-B and . The compact sintered at shows slightly low coercivity and large remanent magnetization comparing to the compact sintered at due to the formation of phase, resulting in the large maximum energy product. Maximum energy product tends to decrease with decreasing thickness of sintered compacts below 0.5 mm in thickness.

A new process of pulsed electric current sintering was developed. It combines compaction with activated sintering effectively and can manufacture bulky nano-crystalline materials very quickly. A nano-structured steel is obtained with high relative density and hardness by this process. The average grain size of iron matrix is 58nm and the carbide particulate size is less than 100 nm. The densification temperature of ball-milled powders is approximately lower than that of blended powders. When the sintering temperature increases, the density of as-sintered specimen increases but the hardness of as-sintered specimen first increases and then decreases.

The sintering behavior of titanium-titanium nitride nanocomposite powders has been studied by dilatometry. Titanium. titanium nitride nanocomposite powders were produced by the reactive milling of micron sized titanium powder in nitrogen atmosphere. The Ti-TiN nanocomposite powders milled for various durations along with the initial micron sized Ti powders were then sintered in the temperature range of by a constant rate of heating . The linear shrinkage, shrinkage rate, activation energy for sintering and microstructure has been studied and discussed as a function of milling time.

In order to accelerate the sintering of Al-Bronze powder covered with passive oxide film, we focused on the way to add Al-Ca fluoride consisting of and , examined the effect of the mixing rate in Al-Ca fluoride, the amount of the added Al-Ca fluoride and the sintering temperature on sintering properties of Al-Bronze powder and considered the mechanism of the sintering acceleration. Al-Bronze powder was sintered most effectively by adding Al-Ca fluoride with the mixing rate of 20mass%. If the amount of added fluoride was over 0.05mass% and the sintering temperature was over 1123K, the sintering acceleration of the Al-Bronze powder appears. Regarding the mechanism of the sintering acceleration, it was presumed that film on the surface of the Al-Bronze particles was removed in the process of the formation of gaseous AlOF by the reaction with , and the reaction was accelerated further by the presence of the liquid phase which is formed in Al-Ca fluoride.

The increasing demand for automotive industries to reduce the weight of the vehicles has led to a growing usage of Al alloy powder metallurgy (P/M) parts. In order to control the sintered microstructure and mechanical properties of the aluminium alloy powder metallurgical (P/M) parts, it is essential to establish a fundamental understanding of the microstructural development during the sintering process. This paper presents a detailed study of the effect of temperature and initial starting materials on the evolution of microstructure during the sintering of Al-Cu-Mg-Si blends for PM.

Powder grades pre-alloyed with 1.5-3 wt% chromium can be successfully sintered at the conventional temperature although well-monitored sintering atmospheres are required to avoid oxidation. Mechanical properties of the Cr-alloyed PM grades are enhanced by a higher sintering temperature in the range , due to positive effects from pore rounding, increased density and more effective oxide reduction. Astaloy CrM (Fe-3 wt% Cr-0.5 wt% Mo) with 0.6 wt% graphite added obtains an ultimate tensile strength of 1470 MPa and an impact strength of 31 J at density , after sintering at followed by cooling at and tempering.

Densification behavior of nano-agglomerate powder during pressureless sintering of Fe-Ni nanopowder was investigated in terms of diffusion kinetics and microstructural development. To understand the role of agglomerate boundary for sintering process, densification kinetics of Fe-Ni nano-agglomerate powder with different agglomerate size was investigated. It was found that activation energy for densification was lower in the small-sized agglomerate powder. The increase in the volume fraction of inter-agglomerate boundary acting as high diffusion path might be responsible for the enhanced diffusion process.

The nano-sized Fe powders were prepared by plasma arc discharge process using pure Fe rod. The microstructure and the sintering behavior of the prepared nanopowders were evaluated. The prepared Fe nanopowders had nearly spherical shapes and consisted of metallic core and oxide shell structures. The higher volume shrinkage at low sintering temperature was observed due to the reduction of surface oxide. The nanopowders showed 6 times higher densification rate and more significant isotropic shrinkage behavior than those of micron sized Fe powders.

Two approaches for the fabrication of tailored powder composites with specially distributed pore-grain structure and chemical composition are investigated. Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) followed by microwave sintering is employed to obtain functionally graded materials (FGM) by in-situ controlling the deposition bath suspension composition. and zeolite FGM are successfully synthesized using this technique. In order to fabricate an aligned porous structure, unidirectional freezing followed by freeze drying and sintering is employed. By controlling the temperature gradient during freezing of powder slurry, a unidirectional ice-ceramic structure is obtained. The frozen specimen is then subjected to freeze drying to sublimate the ice. The obtained capillary-porous ceramic specimen is consolidated by sintering. The sintering of the graded structure is modeled by the continuum theory of sintering.

[ ] is usually added as shifters in order to move the of to lower temperatures because it is well established that the of decreases linearly with a solid solution of in place of . It is not fully understood yet, however, how influences on the peak value of the dielectric constant at the of . This research reports the effect of addition on εmax at the of ceramics. Based on the chemical composition and the grain size dependence of the dielectric property of ceramics, functionally graded composites were designed and fabricated. Multi-layered composites with a compositional gradient of exhibited a low temperature coefficient and high dielectric constant in a wide temperature range.