Electroless plating is widely utilized in engineering for the metallization of insulator substrates, including polymers, glass, and ceramics, without the need for the application of external potential. Homogeneous nucleation of metals requires the presence of Sn-Pd catalysts, which significantly reduce the activation energy of deposition. Therefore, rinsing conducted during Sn sensitization and Pd activation is a key variable for the formation of a uniform seed layer without the lack or excess of catalysts. Herein, we report the optimized rinsing process for the functionalization of Sn-Pd catalysts, which enables the uniform FeCo metallization of the glass fibers. Rinsing enables good deposition of the FeCo alloy because of the removal of excess catalysts from the glass fiber. Concurrently, excessive rinsing results in a complete removal of the Sn–Pd nucleus. Collectively, the comprehensive study of the proposed nanomaterial preparation and surface science show that the metallization of insulators is a promising technology for electronics, solar cells, catalysts, and mechanical parts.

We investigate the effect of phosphorous content on the microstructure and magnetic properties of Fe83.2Si5.33-0.33xB10.67-0.67xPxCu0.8 (x = 1–4 at.%) nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloys. The simultaneous addition of Cu and P to nanocrystalline alloys reportedly decreases the nanocrystalline size significantly, to 10–20 nm. In the P-containing nanocrystalline alloy, P atoms are distributed in an amorphous residual matrix, which suppresses grain growth, increases permeability, and decreases coercivity. In this study, nanocrystalline ribbons with a composition of Fe83.2Si5.33-0.33xB10.67- 0.67xPxCu0.8 (x = 1–4 at.%) are fabricated by rapid quenching melt-spinning and thermal annealing. It is demonstrated that the addition of a small amount of P to the alloy improves the glass-forming ability and increases the resistance to undesirable Fex(B,P) crystallization. Among the alloys investigated in this work, an Fe83.2Si5B10P1Cu0.8 nanocrystalline ribbon annealed at 460oC exhibits excellent soft-magnetic properties including low coercivity, low core loss, and high saturation magnetization. The uniform nanocrystallization of the Fe83.2Si5B10P1Cu0.8 alloy is confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis.

Aluminum (Al) - based powders have attracted attention as key materials for 3D printing because of their excellent specific mechanical strength, formability, and durability. Although many studies on the fabrication of 3Dprinted Al-based alloys have been reported, the influence of the size of raw powder materials on the bulk samples processed by selective laser melting (SLM) has not been fully investigated. In this study, AlSi10Mg powders of 65 μm in average particle size, prepared by a gas atomizing process, are additively manufactured by using an SLM process. AlSi10Mg powders of 45 μm average size are also fabricated into bulk samples in order to compare their properties. The processing parameters of laser power and scan speed are optimized to achieve densified AlSi10Mg alloys. The Vickers hardness value of the bulk sample prepared from 45 μm-sized powders is somewhat higher than that of the 65 μm-sized powder. Such differences in hardness are analyzed because the reduction in melt pool size stems from the rapid melting and solidification of small powders, compared to those of coarse powders, during the SLM process. These results show that the size of the powder should be considered in order to achieve optimization of the SLM process.

In this study, two types of SKD61 tool-steel samples are built by a selective laser melting (SLM) process using the different laser scan speeds. The characteristics of two kinds of SKD61 tool-steel powders used in the SLM process are evaluated. Commercial SKD61 tool-steel power has a flowability of 16.68 sec/50 g and its Hausner ratio is calculated to be 1.25 by apparent and tapped density. Also, the fabricated SKD61 tool steel powder fabricated by a gas atomization process has a flowability of 21.3 sec/50 g and its Hausner ratio is calculated to be 1.18. Therefore, we confirmed that the two powders used in this study have excellent flowability. Samples are fabricated to measure mechanical properties. The highest densities of the SKD61 tool-steel samples, fabricated under the same conditions, are 7.734 g/cm³ (using commercial SKD61 powder) and 7.652 g/cm3 (using fabricated SKD61 powder), measured with Archimedes method. Hardness is measured by Rockwell hardness testing equipment 5 times and the highest hardnesses of the samples are 54.56 HRC (commercial powder) and 52.62 HRC (fabricated powder). Also, the measured tensile strengths are approximately 1,721 MPa (commercial SKD61 powder) and 1,552 MPa (fabricated SKD61 powder), respectively.

The friction characteristics of Al-Fe alloy powders are investigated in order to develop an eco-friendly friction material to replace Cu fiber, a constituent of brake-pad friction materials. Irregularly shaped Al-Fe alloy powders, prepared by gas atomization, are more uniformly dispersed than conventional Cu fiber on the brake pad matrix. The wear rate of the friction material using Al-8Fe alloy powder is lower than that of the Cu fiber material. The change in friction coefficient according to the friction lap times is 7.2% for the Cu fiber, but within 3.8% for the Al- Fe alloy material, which also shows excellent judder characteristics. The Al-Fe alloy powders are uniformly distributed in the brake pad matrix and oxide films of Al and Fe are homogeneously formed at the friction interface between the disc and pad, thus exhibiting excellent friction and lubrication characteristics. The brake pad containing Al-Fe powders avoids contamination by Cu dust, which is generated during braking, by replacing the Cu fiber while maintaining the friction and lubrication performance.

A metal mesh TCE film is fabricated using a series of processes such as UV imprinting of a transparent trench pattern (with a width of 2-5 μm) onto a PET film, filling it with silver paste, wiping of the surface, and heatcuring the silver paste. In this work nanosized (40-50 nm) silver particles are synthesized and mixed with submicron (250-300 nm)-sized silver particles to prepare silver paste for the fabrication of metal mesh-type TCE films. The filling of these silver pastes into the patterned trench layer is examined using a specially designed filling machine and the rheological testing of the silver pastes. The wiping of the trench layer surface to remove any residual silver paste or particles is tested with various mixture solvents, and ethyl cellosolve acetate (ECA):DI water = 90:10 wt% is found to give the best result. The silver paste with 40-50 nm Ag:250-300 nm Ag in a 10:90 wt% mixture gives the highest electrical conductance. The metal mesh TCE film obtained with this silver paste in an optimized process exhibits a light transmittance of 90.4% and haze at 1.2%, which is suitable for TSP application.

Solder paste is widely used as a conductive adhesive in the electronics industry. In this paper, nano and microsized mixed lead-free solder powder (Sn-Ag-Cu) is used to manufacture solder paste. The purpose of this paper is to improve the storage stability using different types of solvents that are used in fabricating the solder paste. If a solvent of sole acetate is used, the nano sized solder powder and organic acid react and form a Sn-Ag-Cu malonate. These formed malonates create fatty acid soaps. The fatty acid soaps absorb the solvents and while the viscosity of the solder paste rises, the storage stability and reliability decrease. When ethylene glycol, a dihydric alcohol, is used the fatty acid soaps and ethylene glycol react, preventing the further creation of the fatty acid soaps. The prevention of gelation results in an improvement in the solder paste storage ability.

A cold-work tool steel powder is used to fabricate 3-dimensional objects by selective laser melting using a high-pressure gas atomization process. The spherical powder particles form continuous carbide networks among the austenite matrix and its decomposition products. The carbides comprise Nb-rich MC and Mo-rich M2C. In the SLM process, the process parameters such as the laser power (90 W), layer thickness (25 μm), and hatch spacing (80 μm) are kept fixed, while the scan speed is changed from 50 mm/s to 4000 mm/s. At a low scan speed of 50 mm/s, spherical cavities develop due to over melting, while they are substantially reduced on increasing the speed to 2000 mm/s. The carbide network spacing decreases with increasing speed. At an excessively high speed of 4000 mm/s, long and irregularly shaped cavities are developed due to incomplete melting. The influence of the scan pattern is examined, for which 1 × 1 mm2 blocks constituting a processing layer are irradiated in a random sequence. This island-type pattern exhibits the same effect as that of a low scan speed. Post processing of an object using hot isostatic pressing leads to a great reduction in the porosity but causes coarsening of the microstructure.

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.

Selective laser melting (SLM) can produce a layer of a metal powder and then fabricate a three-dimensional structure by a layer-by-layer method. Each layer consists of several lines of molten metal. Laser parameters and thermal properties of the materials affect the geometric characteristics of the melt pool such as its height, depth, and width. The geometrical characteristics of the melt pool are determined herein by optical microscopy and three-dimensional bulk structures are fabricated to investigate the relationship between them. Powders of the commercially available Fe-based tool steel AISI H13 and Ni-based superalloy Inconel 738LC are used to investigate the effect of material properties. Only the scan speed is controlled to change the laser parameters. The laser power and hatch space are maintained throughout the study. Laser of a higher energy density is seen to melt a wider and deeper range of powder and substrate; however, it does not correspond with the most highly densified three-dimensional structure. H13 shows the highest density at a laser scan speed of 200 mm/s whereas Inconel 738LC shows the highest density at 600 mm/s.

In this study, we report the microstructure and the high-temperature oxidation behavior of Fe-Ni alloys by spark plasma sintering. Structural characterization is performed by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The oxidation behavior of Fe-Ni alloys is studied by means of a high-temperature oxidation test at 1000oC in air. The effect of Ni content of Fe-Ni alloys on the microstructure and on the oxidation characteristics is investigated in detail. In the case of Fe-2Ni and Fe-5Ni alloys, the microstructure is a ferrite (α) phase with body centered cubic (BCC) structure, and the microstructure of Fe-10Ni and Fe-20Ni alloys is considered to be a massive martensite (α’) phase with the same BCC structure as that of the ferrite phase. As the Ni content increases, the micro-Vickers hardness of the alloys also increases. It can also be seen that the oxidation resistance is improved by decreasing the thickness of the oxide film.

Fecralloy coating layer with large surface area is suitable for use as a filter media for efficient removal of hot gaseous pollutants exhausted from combustion processes. For uniform preparation of a Fecralloy coating layer with large surface area and strong adhesion to substrate, electrospray coating and thermal treatment processes are experimentally optimized in this study. A nano-colloidal solution with 0.05 wt% Fecralloy nanoparticles is successfully prepared. Optimized electrospraying conditions are experimentally discovered to prepare a uniform coating layer of Fecralloy nanocolloidal solution on a substrate. Drying the electrospray coated Fecralloy nano-colloidal solution layer at 120oC and subsequent heating at 600oC are the best post-treatment for enhancing the adhesion force and surface roughness of the Fecralloy coating layer on a substrate. An electrospray coating system, consisting of several multi-groove nozzles, is also experimentally confirmed as a reasonable device for uniform coating of Fecralloy nano-colloid on a large area substrate

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.

Niobium is one of the most important and rarest metals, and is used in the electronic and energy industries. However, it’s extremely high melting point and oxygen affinity limits the manufacture of Nb coating materials. Here, a Nb coating material is manufactured using a kinetic spray process followed by hot isotactic pressing to improve its properties. OM (optical microscope), XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), and Vickers hardness and EPMA (electron probe micro analyzer) tests are employed to investigate the macroscopic properties of the manufactured Nb materials. The powder used to manufacture the material has angular-shaped particles with an average particle size of 23.8 μm. The porosity and hardness of the manufactured Nb material are 0.18% and 221 Hv, respectively. Additional HIP is applied to the manufactured Nb material for 4 h under an Ar atmosphere after which the porosity decreases to 0.08% and the hardness increases to 253 Hv. Phase analysis after the HIP shows the presence of only pure Nb. The study also discusses the possibility of using the manufactured Nb material as a sputtering target.

Al-Si-SiC composite powders with intra-granular SiC particles were prepared by a gas atomization process. The composite powders were mixed with Al-Zn-Mg alloy powders as a function of weight percent. Those mixture powders were compacted with the pressure of 700 MPa and then sintered at the temperature of 565-585˚C. T6 heat treatment was conducted to increase their mechanical properties by solid-solution precipitates. Each relative density according to the optimized sintering temperature of those powders were determined as 96% at 580˚C for Al-Zn-Mg powders (composition A), 97.9% at 575˚C for Al-Zn-Mg powders with 5 wt.% of Al-Si-SiC powders (composition B), and 98.2% at 570˚C for Al-Zn-Mg powders with 10 wt.% of Al-Si-SiC powders (composition C), respectively. Each hardness, tensile strength, and wear resistance test of those sintered samples was conducted. As the content of Al-Si-SiC powders increased, both hardness and tensile strength were decreased. However, wear resistance was increased by the increase of Al-Si-SiC powders. From these results, it was confirmed that Al-Si-SiC/Al-Zn-Mg composite could be highly densified by the sintering process, and thus the composite could have high wear resistance and tensile strength when the content of Al-Si-SiC composite powders were optimized.

Metal foams have a cellular structure consisting of a solid metal containing a large volume fraction ofpores. In particular, open, penetrating pores are necessary for industrial applications such as in high temperature filtersand as a support for catalysts. In this study, Fe foam with above 90% porosity and 2 millimeter pore size was suc-cessfully fabricated by a slurry coating process and the pore properties were characterized. The Fe and Fe2O3 powdermixing ratios were controlled to produce Fe foams with different pore size and porosity. First, the slurry was preparedby uniform mixing with powders, distilled water and polyvinyl alcohol(PVA). After slurry coating on the polyure-thane(PU) foam, the sample was dried at 80℃. The PVA and PU foams were then removed by heating at 700℃ for 3hours. The debinded samples were subsequently sintered at 1250℃ with a holding time of 3 hours under hydrogenatmosphere. The three dimensional geometries of the obtained Fe foams with an open cell structure were investigatedusing X-ray micro CT(computed tomography) as well as the pore morphology, size and phase. The coated amount ofslurry on the PU foam were increased with Fe2O3 mixing powder ratio but the shrinkage and porosity of Fe foams weredecreased with Fe2O3 mixing powder ratio.

This research presents a preparation method of dental components by metal injection molding process (MIM process) using titanium scrap. About 20 μm sized spherical titanium powders for MIM process were successfully prepared by a novel dehydrogenation and spheroidization method using in-situ radio frequency thermal plasma treatment. The effects of MIM process parameters on the mechanical and biological properties of dental components were investigated and the optimum condition was obtained. After sintering at 1250oC for 1 hour in vacuum, the hardness and the tensile strength of MIMed titanium components were 289 Hv and 584 MPa, respectively. Prepared titanium dental components were not cytotoxic and they showed a good cell proliferation property.

Fe foam with above 90% porosity and 2 millimeter pore size was successfully fabricated by a slurry coating process. In this study, the binder contents were controlled to produce the Fe foam with different pore size, strut thickness and porosity. Firstly, the slurry was prepared by uniform mixing with Fe powders, distilled water and polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) as initial materials. After slurry coating on the polyurethane(PU) foam the sample was dried at 80oC. The PVA and PU foams were then removed by heating at 700oC for 3 hours. The debinded samples were subsequently sintered at 1250oC with holding time of 3 hours under hydrogen atmosphere. The three dimensional geometries of the obtained Fe foams with open cell structure were investigated using X-ray micro CT(computed tomography) as well as the pore morphology, size and phase.

The effect of particle size distribution on green and sintered properties of Fe-Cr-Mo prealloy powder was investigated in this study. For the study, prealloyed Fe-Cr-Mo powders with different particle sizes were mixed as various ratios and cold compacted at various pressure and sintered at for 30 min, atmosphere in the continuous sintering furnace. The results shows that the powders with large particle size distribution have high compressibility and low ejection force. However the green strength are much less than those with small particle size distribution. Tensile prperties of the sintered specimes with large particles size also have high strength and elongation.