To improve the mechanical properties of aluminum, graphene has been used as a reinforcing material, yielding graphene-reinforced aluminum matrix composites (GRAMCs). Dispersion of graphene materials is an important factor that affects the properties of GRAMCs, which are mainly manufactured by mechanical mixing methods such as ball milling. However, the use of only mechanical mixing process is limited to achieve homogeneous dispersion of graphene. To overcome this problem, in this study, we have prepared composite materials by coating aluminum particles with graphene by a self-assembly reaction using poly vinylalcohol and ethylene diamine as coupling agents. The scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy results confirm the coating of graphene on the Al surface. Bulk density of the sintered composites by spark plasma sintering achieved a relative density of over 99% up to 0.5 wt.% graphene oxide content.

In this study, the electroless nickel plating method has been investigated for the coating of Ni nanoparticles onto fine Al powder as promising energetic materials. The adsorption of nickel nanoparticles onto the surface of Al powders has been studied by varying various process parameters, namely, the amounts of reducing agent, complexing agent, and pH-controller. The size of nickel nanoparticles synthesized in the process has been optimized to approximately 200 nm and they have been adsorbed on the Al powder. TGA results clearly show that the temperature at which oxidation of Al mainly occurs is lowered as the amount of Ni nanoparticles on the Al surface increases. Furthermore, the Ni-plated Al powders prepared for all conditions show improved exothermic reaction due to the selfpropagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) between Ni and Al. Therefore, Al powders fully coated by Ni nanoparticles show the highest exothermic reactivity: this demonstrates the efficiency of Ni coating in improving the energetic properties of Al powders.

A high thermal conductive AlN composite coating is attractive in thermal management applications. In this study, AlN-YAG composite coatings were manufactured by atmospheric plasma spraying from two different powders: spray-dried and plasma-treated. The mixture of both AlN and YAG was first mechanically alloyed and then spray-dried to obtain an agglomerated powder. The spray-dried powder was primarily spherical in shape and composed of an agglomerate of primary particles. The decomposition of AlN was pronounced at elevated temperatures due to the porous nature of the spray-dried powder, and was completely eliminated in nitrogen environment. A highly spherical, dense AlN-YAG composite powder was synthesized by plasma alloying and spheroidization (PAS) in an inert gas environment. The AlN-YAG coatings consisted of irregular-shaped, crystalline AlN particles embedded in amorphous YAG phase, indicating solid deposition of AlN and liquid deposition of YAG. The PAS-processed powder produced a lower-porosity and higher-hardness AlN-YAG coating due to a greater degree of melting in the plasma jet, compared to that of the spray-dried powder. The amorphization of the YAG matrix was evidence of melting degree of feedstock powder in flight because a fully molten YAG droplet formed an amorphous phase during splat quenching.

Aluminum nitride (AlN) powders were prepared by the chemical vapor synthesis (CVS) process in the system. Aluminum chloride () as the starting material was gasified in the heating chamber of . Aluminum chloride gas transported to the furnace in atmosphere at the gas flow rate of 200-400ml/min. For samples synthesized between 700 and , the XRD peaks corresponding to AlN were comparatively sharp and also showed an improvement of crystallinity with increasing the reaction temperature. In additions, the average particle size of the AlN powders decreased from 250 to 40 nm, as the reaction temperature increased.

The densification behavior of Al-20Si-5.5Fe-1.2Mg-0.5Mn powders was investigated through micro-structure analysis of sintered specimens. The specimens sintered in vacuum or in high purity (99.999%) nitrogen showed porous near-surface microstructures. The densification of near-surface part was enhanced by means of ultra-high purity (99.9999%) nitrogen atmosphere. The relationship between slow densification and oxide surfaces of Al alloy powders was discussed. And the effects of Mg addition, nitrogen gas, and humidity on densification were discussed. In addition, the rapid growth of primary Si crystals above the critical temperature was reported.

Gas release behavior from aluminum and Al 7075 alloy powders during heating in argon was investigated by in-situ gas chromatography. Water vapor, hydrogen, carbon mono-oxide were detected as individual evolution spectra against heating temperature and time. The mechanisms of water and hydrogen evolutions were studied in detail for the determination of effective degassing condition. Magnesium in the alloy powder was found to lower the hydrogen evolution temperature to enhance overall hydrogen release.

A new approach to sintering loose packed, coarse aluminum alloy powder to full or near full density is presented. A controlled amount of water vapor is introduced into the sintering atmosphere, which disru pts the oxide film and allows metallurgical contact between particles. In addition, supersolidus liquid phase sintering is used to sinter the part to full density. Since the method is particularly applicable to uncompacted powders, it is potentially useful for sintering aluminum powder preforms manufactured by 3DPrinting and powder injection molding.

A formation of aluminum hydroxide by hydrolysis of nano and micro aluminum powder has been studied. The nano aluminum powder of 80 to 100 nm in diameter was fabricated by a pulsed wire evaporation (PWE) method. The micro powder was commercial product with more than in diameter. The hydroxide type and morphology depending on size of the aluminum powder were examined by several analyses such as XRD, TEM, and BET. The hydrolysis procedure of micro aluminum powder was different from that of nano aluminum powder. The nano aluminum powder after immersing in the water was transformed rapidly to a nano fibrous boehmite, accompanying with a remarkable temperature increase, and then further transformed slowly to a stable bayerite. However, the micro powder was changed to the stable bayerite slowly and directly. The formation of fibrous aluminum hydroxide from nano aluminum powder might be due to the fine cracks which were formed by hydrogen gas pressure on the surface hydroxide layer during hydrolysis. The nano powder with large specific surface area and small size reacted more actively and faster than the micro powder, and transformed to meta-stable hydroxide in relatively short reaction time. Therefore, the formation of fibrous boehmite is special characteristic of hydrolysis of nano aluminum powder.

An experimental study on the combustion of superfine aluminum powders (average particle diameter, a: ∼0.1 ) in air is reported. The formation of aluminum nitride during the combustion of aluminum in air and the influence of the combustion scenario on the structures and compositions of the final products are in the focus of this study. The experiments were conducted in an air (pressure: 1 atm). Superfine aluminum powders were produced by the wire electrical explosion method. Such superfine aluminum powder is stable in air but once ignited it can burn in a self-sustaining way due to its low bulk: density (∼0.1 g/㎤) and a low thermal conductivity. During combustion, the temperature and radiation were measured and the actual burning process was recorded by a video camera. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and chemical analysis were performed on the both initial powders and final products. It was found that the powders, ignited by local heating, burned in a two-stage self-propagating regime. The products of the first stage consisted of unreacted aluminum (-70 mass %) and amorphous oxides with traces of AlN. After the second stage the AlN content exceeded 50 mass % and the residual Al content decreased to ∼10 mass %. A qualitative discussion is given on the kinetic limitation for AlN oxidation due to rapid condensation and encapsulation of gaseous AlN.N.

Aluminum was deposited on aluminum oxide powders using a fluidized bed reactor at atmospheric pressure. The aluminum oxide powders were irregular flakes with acute angles and the average particle size was 26 . The fluidized bed was formed by flowing argon gas at the velocity of 60 cm/sec. The optimal fluidization condition was obtained with the reactor designed to be tapered so that the fluid velocity decreases as the fluidizing gas goes up along the reactor. Aluminum was deposited by flowing TiBA(Triisobutylaluminum) evaporated at through the fluidized bed reactor heated to 350~. The result from the analysis by XRD and EDAX confirmed the coating of aluminum and an SEM micrograph showed the conformality.