Electrical wire explosion in liquid media is a promising method for producing metallic nanopowders. It is possible to obtain high-purity metallic nanoparticles and uniform-sized nanopowder with excellent dispersion stability using this electrical wire explosion method. In this study, Ni-Fe alloy nanopowders with core-shell structures are fabricated via the electrical explosion of Ni-Fe alloy wires 0.1 mm in diameter and 20 mm in length in de-ionized water. The size and shape of the powders are investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and laser particle size analysis. Phase analysis and grain size determination are conducted by X-ray diffraction. The result indicate that a core-shell structured Ni-Fe nanopowder is synthesized with an average particle size of approximately 28 nm, and nanosized Ni core particles are encapsulated by an Fe nanolayer.

In this study, bulk nickel-carbon nanotube (CNT) nanocomposites are synthesized by a novel method which includes a combination of ultrasonication, electrical explosion of wire in liquid and spark plasma sintering. The mechanical characteristics of the bulk Ni-CNT composites synthesized with CNT contents of 0.7, 1, 3 and 5 wt.% are investigated. X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy techniques are used to observe the different phases, morphologies and structures of the composite powders as well as the sintered samples. The obtained results reveal that the as-synthesized composite exhibits substantial enhancement in the microhardness and values more than 140 HV are observed. However an empirical reinforcement limit of 3 wt.% is determined for the CNT content, beyond which, there is no significant improvement in the mechanical properties.

Effect of oxygen content in the ultrafine tungsten powder fabricated by electrical explosion of wire method on the behvior of spark plasma sintering was investigated. The initial oxygen content of 6.5 wt% of as-fabricated tungsten powder was reduced to 2.3 and 0.7 wt% for the powders which were reduction-treated at 400˚C for 2 hour and at 500˚C for 1h in hydrogen atmosphere, respectively. The reduction-treated tungsten powders were spark-plasma sintered at 1200-1600˚C for 100-3600 sec. with applied pressure of 50 MPa under vacuum of 0.133 Pa. Maximun sindered density of 97% relative density was obtained under the condition of 1600˚C for 1h from the tungsten powder with 0.7 wt% oxygen. Sintering activation energy of 95.85kJ/mol-1 was obtained, which is remarkably smaller than the reported ones of 380~460kJ/mol-1 for pressureless sintering of micron-scale tungsten powders.

Al-Cu alloy nano powders were produced by the electrical explosion of Cu-plated Al wires. The composition and phase of the alloy could be controlled by varying the thickness of Cu deposit on Al wire. When the Cu layer was thin, Al solid solution and were the major phases. As the Cu layer becomes thicker, Al diminished while phase prevailed instead. The average particle size of Al-Cu nano powders became slightly smaller from 63 nm to 44 nm as Cu layer becomes thicker. The oxygen content of Al-Cu powder decreased linearly with Cu content. It is well demonstrated that the electrodeposition combined with wire explosion could be simple and economical means to prepare variety of alloy and intermetallic nano powders.

In the present work some properties of nanopowders and possible areas of their applications are discussed. Main attention is paid to the use of nanodispersed powders (NDP) in new materials production technologies.