Infiltration is a popular technique used to produce valve seat rings and guides to create dense parts. In order to develop valve seat material with a good thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient, Cu-infiltrated properties of sintered Fe-Co-M(M=Mo,Cr) alloy systems are studied. It is shown that the copper network that forms inside the steel alloy skeleton during infiltration enhances the thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient of the steel alloy composite. The hard phase of the CoMoCr and the network precipitated FeCrC phase are distributed homogeneously as the infiltrated Cu phase increases. The increase in hardness of the alloy composite due to the increase of the Co, Ni, Cr, and Cu contents in Fe matrix by the infiltrated Cu amount increases. Using infiltration, the thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient were increased to 29.5 W/mK and 15.9 um/moC, respectively, for tempered alloy composite.

The activation energy to create a phase transformation or for the reaction to move to the next stage in the milling process can be calculated from the slop of the DSC plot, obtained at the various heating rates for mechanically activated Al-Ni alloy systems by using Kissinger's equation. The mechanically activated material has been called “the driven material” as it creates new phases or intermetallic compounds of AlNi in Al-Ni alloy systems. The reaction time for phase transformation by milling can be calculated using the activation energy obtained from the above mentioned method and from the real required energy. The real required energy (activation energy) could be calculated by subtracting the loss energy from the total input energy (calculated input energy from electric motor). The loss energy and real required energy divided by the reaction time are considered the “metabolic energy” and “the effective input energy”, respectively. The milling time for phase transformation at other Al-Co alloy systems from the calculated data of Al-Ni systems can be predicted accordingly.

A lean alloy is defined as a low alloy steel that minimizes the content of the alloying elements, while maintaining the characteristics of the sintered alloy. The purpose of this study is to determine the change in microstructure and mechanical properties due to the addition of silicon or tin in Fe-Mo-P, Fe-Mn-P, and Fe-Mo-Mn-P alloys. Silicon- or tin-added F-Mo-P, Fe-Mn-P, and Fe-Mo-Mn-P master alloys were compacted at 700 MPa and subsequently sintered under a H2-N2 atmosphere at 1120oC. The sintered density of three alloy systems decreases under the same compacting pressure due to dimensional expansion with increasing Si content. As the diffusion rate in the Fe- P-Mo system is higher than that in the Fe-P-Mn system, the decrease in the sintered density is the largest in the Fe-PMn system. The sintered density of Sn added alloys does not change with the increasing Sn content due to the effect of non-dimensional changes. However, the effect of Si addition on the transverse rupture strengthening enhancement is stronger than that of Sn addition in these lean alloys.

The addition of a large amount of alloying elements reduces the compactibility and increases the compacting pressure, thereby shortening the life of the compacting die and increasing the process cost of commercial PM steel. In this study, the characteristic changes of Fe-Mo-P, Fe-Mn-P, and Fe-Mo-Mn-P alloys are investigated according to the Si contents to replace the expensive elements, such as Ni. All compacts with different Si contents are fabricated with the same green densities of 7.0 and 7.2 g/cm3. The transverse rupture strength (TRS) and sintered density are measured using the specimens obtained through the sintering process. The sintered density tends to decrease, whereas the TRS increases as the Si content increases. The TRS of the sintered specimen compacted with 7.2 g/cm3 is twice as high as that compacted with 7.0 g/cm3.

A metallic oxide layer of a heat-resistant element contributes to the high-temperature oxidation resistance by delaying the oxidation and has a positive effect on the increase in electrical resistivity. In this study, green compacts of Fecralloy powder mixed with amorphous and crystalline silica are oxidized at 950oC for up to 210 h in order to evaluate the effect of metal oxide on the oxidation and electrical resistivity. The weight change ratio increases as per a parabolic law, and the increase is larger than that observed for Fecralloy owing to the formation of Fe-Si, Fe-Cr composite oxide, and Al2O3 upon the addition of Si oxide. Si oxides promote the formation of Al2O3 and Cr oxide at the grain boundary, and obstruct neck formation and the growth of Fecralloy particles to ensure stable electrical resistivity.

The Fe-Cr-Al alloy system shows an excellent heat resistance because of the formation of an Al2O3 film on the metal surface in an oxidizing atmosphere at high temperatures up to 1400oC. The Fecralloy needs an additive that can act as a binder because of its bad compactability. In this study, the green compacts of STS434L and Al powder added to Fecralloy are oxidized at 950oC for up to 210 h. Fecralloy and Al is mixed by two types of ball milling. One is vented to air and the other was performed in a sealed jar. In the case of Al addition, there are no significant changes in the electrical resistance. Before the oxidation test, Al oxides are present in the Fecralloy surface, as determined from the energy dispersive spectroscopy results. The addition of Al improves the compactability because of an increased density, and the addition of STS434L increases the electrical resistivity by forming a composite oxide.

A lean alloy is defined as a low alloy steel with a minimum amount of the alloying element that maintains the characteristics of the sintered alloy. It is well known that the addition of elements such as Cr, P, Si, or Mn improves the mechanical characteristics of the alloy, but decreases the sinterability. The mother alloy is used to avoid an oxidation reaction with the alloying elements of Cr, P, Si or Mn. The purpose of this study is to determine the change in the mechanical properties of Fe-P-Mo and Fe-P-Mn alloys as a result of the addition of Si. In this article, the Fe-P-Mo and Fe-P-Mn alloys to which Si is added are compacted at 7.0 g/cm3 and then sintered in H2-N2 at 1120℃. The P around the macropores and large grains reduces due to the formation of SiO2 as the Si content increases. This is caused by the increase in strength owing to reducing intergranular fracture by suppressing the reaction with oxygen.

In order to improve the high-temperature oxidation stability, sintered 434L stainless steel is studied, focusing on the effect of the addition of metallic oxides to form stable oxide films on the inner particle surface. The green compacts of Fecralloy powder or amorphous silica are added on STS434L and oxidized at 950oC up to 210 h. The weight change ratio of 434L with amorphous silica is higher than that of 434L mixed with Fecralloy, and the weight increase follows a parabolic law, which implies that the oxide film grows according to oxide diffusion through the densely formed oxide film. In the case of 434L mixed with Fecralloy, the elements in the matrix diffuse through the grain boundaries and form Al2O3 and Fe-Cr oxides. Stable high temperature corrosion resistance and electrical resistivity are obtained for STS434L mixed with Fecralloy.

As wrought stainless steel, sintered stainless steel (STS) has excellent high-temperature anti-corrosion even at high temperature of 800ºC and exhibit corrosion resistance in air. The oxidation behavior and oxidation mechanism of the sintered 316L stainless was reported at the high temperature in our previous study. In this study, the effects of additives on high-temperature corrosion resistances were investigated above 800ºC at the various oxides (SiO2, Al2O3, MgO and Y2O3) added STS respectively as an oxidation inhibitor. The morphology of the oxide layers were observed by SEM and the oxides phase and composition were confirmed by XRD and EDX. As a result, the weight of STS 316L sintered body increased sharply at 1000oC and the relative density of specimen decreased as metallic oxide addition increased. Compared with STS 316L sintered parts, weight change ratio corresponding to different oxidation time at 900oC and 1000oC, decreased gradually with the addition of metallic oxide. The best corrosion resistance properties of STS could be improved in case of using Y2O3. The oxidation rate was diminished dramatically by suppression the peeling on oxide layers at Y2O3 added sintered stainless steel.

Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) has been widely used for the development and fabrication of nano-powder with various morphologies such as particle, wire, rod, and tube. So far, many researchers have reported about shape control and fabrication of AAO films. However, they have reported on the shape control with different diameter and length of anodic aluminum oxide mainly. We present a combined mild-hard (or hard-mild) anodization to prepare shape-controlled AAO films. Two main parameters which are combination mild-hard (or hard-mild) anodization and run-time of voltage control are applied in this work. The voltages of mild and hard anodization are respectively 40 and 80 V. Anodization was conducted on the aluminum sheet in 0.3 mole oxalic acid at 4oC. AAO films with morphologies of varying interpore distance, branch-shaped pore, diameter-modulated pore and long funnel-shaped pore were fabricated. Those shapes will be able to apply to fabricate novel nano-materials with potential application which is especially a support to prevent volume expansion of inserted active materials, such as metal silicon or tin powder, in lithium ion battery. The silicon powder electrode using an AAO as a support shows outstanding cycle performance as 1003 mAh/g up to 200 cycles.

As well-known wrought stainless steel, sintered stainless steel (STS) has excellent high-temperature anticorrosion even at high temperature of 800ºC, and exhibits good corrosion resistance in air. However, when temperature increases above 900ºC, the corrosion resistance of STS begins to deteriorate and dramatically decreases. In this study, the effects of phase and composition of STS on high-temperature corrosion resistances are investigated for STS 316L, STS 304 and STS 434L above 800ºC. The morphology of the oxide layers are observed. The oxides phase and composition are identified using X-ray diffractometer and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The results demonstrate that the best corrosion resistance of STS could be improved to that of 434L. The poor corrosion resistance of the austenitic stainless steels is due to the fact that NiFe2O4 oxides forming poor adhesion between the matrix and oxide film increase the oxidation susceptibility of the material at high temperature.