Ni coated composite was successfully Prepared by the electroless deposition Process. The average size of Ni particles coated on the matrix powder was about 20 nm. It was hard to find any reaction compound as an impurity at interface between and Ni particles after sintering. The characterization of microstructure crystal structure and fracture behavior of the sintered body were investigated using XRD, TEM and Victors hardness tester, and compared with those of the sintered monolithic body. Many dislocations were observed in the Ni phase due to the difference of thermal expansion coefficient between and Ni phase, and no observed microcracks at their and Ni interface. In the /Ni composite, the main fracture mode showed a mixed fracture with intergranular and transgranuluar type having some ,surface roughness. The fracture toughness was slightly increased due to the plastic deformation mechanism of Ni phase in the /Ni composite.

Aluminum-based composites were fabricated by a powder-in sheath rolling method. A stainless steel tube with outer diameter of 12 mm and wall thickness of 1 mm was used as a sheath. A mixture of aluminum powder and particles of which volume content was varied from 5 to 20%, was filled in the tube by tap filling and then rolled by 75% reduction in thickness at ambient temperature. The rolled specimen was then sintered at 56 for 0.5 h. The mixture of Al powders and particles was successfully consolidated by the sheath rolling. The composite fabricated by the sheath rolling showed a recrystallized structure, while unreinforced Al powder compact fabricated by the same procedure showed a deformed structure. The unreinforced Al powder compact was characterized by a deformation (rolling) texture of which main component is {112}<111>, while the composite showed a mixed texture oi deformation and recrystallization. The sintering resulted in recrystallization in Al powder compact and grain growth in the composite.

The recent trend of miniaturization and high performance of vehicle engines has put an urgent necessity for the development of valve seats which can operate under more severe conditions. In order to develope valve seat material that has the most excellent wear resistance at operating temperature of engine through improvement of the progress of work. the effects of mixing ratio of the milled powder on sintered and Cu-infiltrated properties of sintered valve seats have been studied. The resultant radial crushing strength and hardness of sintered specimens were gradually increased with increasement of volume of milled powders. It is because increasement of sintering density by increasing of surface diffusion. The hardness of Cu-infiltrated specimens became lower than that of the commercial powders as the increasement of volume of milled powders. It was due to the decrease of the amount of the martensite. By results of this research, It has been found that martensite is formed around of the Cu-infiltrated site and the decrease of the amount of the martensite is due to decrease of the amount of the Cu-infiltrated site by the decrease of gas channel.

Al-l4wt.%Ni-l4wt.% Mm(Mm=misch metal) alloy powders rapidly solidified by the gas atomization method were subjected to mechanical milling(MM). The morphology, microstructure and hardness of the powders were investigated as a function of milling time using scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and Vickers microhardness tester. Microstructural evolution in gas-atomized Al-l4wt.%Ni-l4wt.% Mm(Mm=misch metal) alloy powders was studied during mechanical milling. It was noted that the as-solidified particle size of decreases during the first 48 hours and then increases up to 72 hours of milling due to cold bonding and subsequently there was continuous refinement to on milling to 200 hours. Two microstructurally different zones, Zone A, which is fine microstructure area and Zone B, which has the structure of the as-solidified powder, were observed. The average thickness of the Zone A layer increased from about 10 to in the powder milled for 24 hours. Increasing the milling time to 72 hours resulted in the formation of a thicker and more uniform Zone A layer, whose thickness increased to about . The TEM micrograph of ball milled powder for 200 hours shows formation of nano-particles, less than 20 nm in size, embedded in an Al matrix.

Hybrid ceramic particle reinforced 6061 and 5083 Al composite powders were prepared by the combination of twin rolling and stone mill crushing process, followed by consolidating processes of cold compaction, degassing and hot extrusion. The composite bar consists of lamellar structure of ceramic particle rich area and matrix area, in which the hybrid was decomposed into each TiC of about and particles of about in diameter. It also found that fine precipitates of about 30 nm were embedded in the matrix, which have grains of about 3 . Higher UTS was measured at the 5083 composite bar compared to the conventionally fabricated composite, due to again refinement effect by the rapid solidification. No particle was shown to form in the interface between the matrix and reinforcement, whereas carbon was diffused into the matrix.

The microstructures and properties of TiC dispersed nickel-base alloy were studied in this work. The alloy prepared by powder metallurgical processing was solution treated, 1st-aged at for 16 hours, and then 2nd-aged at for 4 hours. Microstucture of sintered specimen showed that TiC particles are uniformly dispersed in Ni base alloy. In the specimen aged at for 8 hours, the fine (Al,Ti) precipitates with round shape are observed and the very fine (Al,Ti) particles with round shape are precipitated in the specimen aged at for 4 hours. The presence of precipitates in TiC/Ni base alloy increased the hardness and wear resistance of the specimen. The hardness and wear resistance of the Ni-base with TiC are higher than those of conventional Ni-base superalloy X-750 because of dispersion strengthening of TiC particles. The hardness, transverse rupture strength and resistance of the specimen 2nd-aged at for 4 hours are higher than those of 1st-aged specimen due to ultrafine (Al,Ti) precipitates.

Recently, the fabrication process of the W-Cu nanocomposite powders has been studied to improve the sinterability through the mechanical alloying and reduction of W and Cu oxide mixtures. In this study. the W-Cu composites were produced by mechanochemical process (MCP) using mixtures with two different milling types of low and high energy, respectively. These ball-milled mixtures were reduced in atmosphere. The ball-milled and reduced powders were analyzed through XRD, SEM and TEM. The fine W-Cu powder could be obtained by the high energy ball-milling (HM) compared with the large Cu-cored structure powder by the low energy ball-milling (LM). After the HM for 20h, the W grain size of the reduced W-Cu powder was about 20-30 nm.

Processing and properties of composites with Ni-Fe content of 10 and 15 wt% were investigated. Homogeneous powder mixtures of /Ni-Fe alloy were prepared by the solution-chemistry route using , and powders. Microstructural observation of composite powder revealed that Ni-Fe alloy particles with a size of 20nm were homogeneously dispersed on powder surfaces. Hot-pressed composites showed enhanced fracture toughness and magnetic response. The properties are discussed based on the observed microstructural characteristics