Cu-Fe alloys (CFAs) are much anticipated for use in electrical contacts, magnetic recorders, and sensors. The low cost of Fe has inspired the investigation of these alloys as possible replacements for high-cost Cu-Nb and Cu-Ag alloys. Here, alloys of Cu and Fe having compositions of Cu100-xFex (x = 10, 30, and 50 wt.%) are prepared by gas atomization and characterized microstructurally and structurally based on composition and powder size with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Grain sizes and Fe-rich particle sizes are measured and relationships among composition, powder size, and grain size are established. Same-sized powders of different compositions yield different microstructures, as do differently sized powders of equal composition. No atomic-level alloying is observed in the CFAs under the experimental conditions.

In this study, the reduction kinetics and behaviors of oxides in the water-atomized iron powder have been evaluated as a function of temperature ranging 850-1000˚C in hydrogen environment, and compared to the reduction behaviors of individual iron oxides including Fe2O3, Fe3O4 and FeO. The water-atomized iron powder contained a significant amount of iron oxides, mainly Fe3O4 and FeO, which were formed as a partially-continuous surface layer and an inner inclusion. During hydrogen reduction, a significant weight loss in the iron powder occurred in the initial stage of 10 min by the reduction of surface oxides, and then further reduction underwent slowly with increasing time. A higher temperature in the hydrogen reduction promoted a high purity of iron powder, but no significant change in the reduction occurred above 950˚C. Sequence reduction process by an alternating environment of hydrogen and inert gases effectively removed the oxide scale in the iron powder, which lowered reduction temperature and/or shortened reduction time.

In this study, powder metallurgy and severe plastic deformation by high-pressure torsion (HPT) approaches were combined to achieve both full density and grain refinement at the same time. Water-atomized pure iron powders were consolidated to disc-shaped samples at room temperature using HPT of 10 GPa up to 3 turns. The resulting microstructural size decreases with increasing strain and reaches a steady-state with nanocrystalline (down to ~250 nm in average grain size) structure. The water-atomized iron powders were deformed plastically as well as fully densified, as high as 99% of relative density by high pressure, resulting in effective grain size refinements and enhanced microhardness values.

In the current study, the effects of particle size on compaction behavior of water-atomized pure iron powders are investigated. The iron powders are assorted into three groups depending on the particle size; 20-45 , 75-106 , and 150-180 for the compaction experiments. The powder compaction procedures are processed with pressure of 200, 400, 600, and 800 MPa in a cylindrical die. After the compaction stage, the group having 150-180 of particle size distribution shows the best densification behavior and reaches the highest green density. The reason for these results can be explained by the largest average grain size in the largest particle group, due to the low plastic deformation resistance in large grain sized materials.

Vacuum degassing is essential in the preparation of RS P/M aluminum alloys to remove adsorbates and for the decomposition of hydrated- on the powder surface. Changes in the surface characteristics during vacuum degassing were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and temperature-programmed desorption measurement. Hydrated- decomposition to crystalline- and hydrogen desorption on the surface of argon gas-atomized aluminum powder occurred at 623 K and 725 K, respectively. This temperature difference suggests that the reaction converting hydrated- to crystalline- during vacuum degassing should be divided into the two reactions .

Al-8Fe-2Mo-2V-1Zr alloys were prepared by the gas atomization/hot extrusion and the melt spinning/hot extrusion. For the gas atomized and extruded alloy, equiaxed grains with the average size of 400 nm and finely distributed dispersoids with their particle sizes ranging from 50nm to 200nm were observed. For the melt spun and hot extrusion processed alloy, refined microstructural feature consisting of equiaxed grains with the average size of 200nm and fine dispersoids with their particle sizes under 50nm appeared to exhibit a difference in microstructure. Strength of the latter alloy was higher than that for the former alloy up to elevated temperatures.

The microstructure of the extruded Al-20Si bars showed a homogeneous distribution of eutectic Si and primary Si particles embedded in the Al matrix. The grain size of α-Al varied from 150 to 600 nm and the size of the eutectic Si and primary Si in the extruded bars was about 100 - 200 nm. The room temperature tensile strength of the alloy with a powder size <26μm was 322 MPa, while for the coarser powder (45-106μm) it was 230 MPa. With decreasing powder size from 45-106μm to <26μm, the specific wear of all the alloys decreased significantly at all sliding speeds due to the higher strength achieved by ultrafine-grained constituent phases. The fracture mechanism of failure in tension testing and wear testing was also studied.

The MIM industry is currently focusing on parts that are used in automobiles and medical instruments. Many of the parts in these categories are very small and often not easy to machine because of its complex geometry. Therefore MIM is well suited for the production of these parts. We tested the sinterability of SUS316L ultra fine powders (3,4, 6, 8micron) produced by ATMIX high-pressure water-atomization, and it showed excellent results. A density of 97% theoretical was obtained by sintering at 1373K when using the ultra fine powder (3micron). Specifically, the finer the powder size, higher was the sintered density. The surface roughness and accuracy are also greatly improved with ATMIX ultra fine powder.

The filling property of the binder treated iron based powder made of atomized iron powder was compared with that of the one made of reduced iron powder. The latter one showed a better filling property than the former one, although the original reduced powder showed a worse flow rate. Changing the particle size distribution of the original atomized powder from wide to narrow like the original reduced iron powder, improved the filling property of the binder treated powder. As a result, the particle size distribution of the original iron powder was found to strongly affect the filling property of the binder treated powder.

To improve the properties of fine metal powder, such as particle size distribution and geometric standard deviation, this work was done at various atomizing conditions. The new atomization mechanism and the correlation equation were proposed to estimate the mean particle diameter.

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.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the influence of thermal debinding and sintering conditions on the sintering behavior and mechanical properties of PIMed 316L stainless steel. The water atomized powders were mixed with multi-component wax-base binder system, injection molded into flat tensile specimens. Binder was removed by solvent immersion method followed by thermal debinding, which was carried out in air and hydrogen atmospheres. Sintering was done in hydrogen for 1 hour at temperatures ranging from 1000℃ to 1350℃ The weight loss, residual carbon and oxygen contents were monitored at each stage of debinding and sintering processes. Tensile properties of the sintered specimen varied depending on the densification and the characteristics of the grain boundaries, which includes the pore morphology and residual oxides at the boundaries. The sinter density, tensile strength (UTS), and elongation to fracture of the optimized specimen were 95%, 540 MPa, and 53%, respectively.