scholarly journals Spark Plasma Sintering of Aluminum Nanocomposite Powders: Recent Strategy to Translate from Lab-Scale to Mass Production

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3372
Author(s):  
Roberto Hernández-Maya ◽  
Nicolás Antonio Ulloa-Castillo ◽  
Oscar Martínez-Romero ◽  
Emmanuel Segura-Cárdenas ◽  
Alex Elías-Zúñiga

The aim of this paper focuses on presenting a recent study that describes the fundamental steps needed to effectively scale-up from lab to mass production parts produced from Al powders reinforced with 0.5 wt% of industrial multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), with mechanical and electrical conductivity properties higher that those measured at the lab scale. The produced material samples were produced via a Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) process using nanocomposite aluminum powders elaborated with a planetary ball-mill at the lab scale, and high-volume attrition milling equipment in combination with controlled atmosphere sinter hardening furnace equipment, which were used to consolidate the material at the industrial level. Surprisingly, the electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of the samples produced with the reinforced nanocomposite Al powders were made with mass production equipment and were similar or higher than those samples fabricated using metallic powders prepared with ball-mill lab equipment. Experimental measurements show that the hardness and the electrical conductivity properties of the samples fabricated with the mass production Al powders are 48% and 7.5% higher than those of the produced lab samples. This paper elucidates the steps that one needs to follow during the mass production process of reinforced aluminum powders to improve the physical properties of metallic samples consolidated via the SPS process.

2007 ◽  
Vol 534-536 ◽  
pp. 1489-1492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dae Hwan Kwon ◽  
Jong Won Kum ◽  
Thuy Dang Nguyen ◽  
Dina V. Dudina ◽  
Pyuck Pa Choi ◽  
...  

Dispersion-strengthened copper with TiB2 was produced by ball-milling and spark plasma sintering (SPS).Ball-milling was performed at a rotation speed of 300rpm for 30 and 60min in Ar atmosphere by using a planetary ball mill (AGO-2). Spark-plasma sintering was carried out at 650°C for 5min under vacuum after mechanical alloying. The hardness of the specimens sintered using powder ball milled for 60min at 300rpm increased from 16.0 to 61.8 HRB than that of specimen using powder mixed with a turbular mixer, while the electrical conductivity varied from 93.40% to 83.34%IACS. In the case of milled powder, hardness increased as milling time increased, while the electrical conductivity decreased. On the other hand, hardness decreased with increasing sintering temperature, but the electrical conductiviey increased slightly


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1150
Author(s):  
Nicolás A. Ulloa-Castillo ◽  
Roberto Hernández-Maya ◽  
Jorge Islas-Urbano ◽  
Oscar Martínez-Romero ◽  
Emmanuel Segura-Cárdenas ◽  
...  

This article focuses on exploring how the electrical conductivity and densification properties of metallic samples made from aluminum (Al) powders reinforced with 0.5 wt % concentration of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and consolidated through spark plasma sintering (SPS) process are affected by the carbon nanotubes dispersion and the Al particles morphology. Experimental characterization tests performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) show that the MWCNTs were uniformly ball-milled and dispersed in the Al surface particles, and undesirable phases were not observed in X-ray diffraction measurements. Furthermore, high densification parts and an improvement of about 40% in the electrical conductivity values were confirmed via experimental tests performed on the produced sintered samples. These results elucidate that modifying the powder morphology using the ball-milling technique to bond carbon nanotubes into the Al surface particles aids the ability to obtain highly dense parts with increasing electrical conductivity properties.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duk-Yeon Kim ◽  
Young-Hwan Han ◽  
Jun Hee Lee ◽  
Inn-Kyu Kang ◽  
Byung-Koog Jang ◽  
...  

Pure HA and 1, 3, 5, and 10 vol% multiwalled carbon nanotube- (MWNT-) reinforced hydroxyapatite (HA) were consolidated using a spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The relative density of pure HA increased with increasing sintering temperature, but that of the MWNT/HA composite reached almost full density at 900°C, and then decreased with further increases in sintering temperature. The relative density of the MWNT/HA composites increased with increasing MWNT content due to the excellent thermal conductivity of MWNTs. The grain size of MWNT/HA composites decreased with increasing MWNT content and increased with increasing sintering temperature. Pull-out toughening of the MWNTs of the MWNT/HA composites was observed in the fractured surface, which can be used to predict the improvement of the mechanical properties. On the other hand, the existence of undispersed or agglomerate MWNTs in the MWNT/HA composites accompanied large pores. The formation of large pores increased with increasing sintering temperature and MWNT content. The addition of MWNT in HA increased the hardness and fracture toughness by approximately 3~4 times, despite the presence of large pores produced by un-dispersed MWNTs. This provides strong evidence as to why the MWNTs are good candidates as reinforcements for strengthening the ceramic matrix. The MWNT/HA composites did not decompose during SPS sintering. The MWNT-reinforced HA composites were non-toxic and showed a good cell affinity and morphologyin vitrofor 1 day.


2007 ◽  
Vol 336-338 ◽  
pp. 854-856
Author(s):  
Yong Gao Yan ◽  
Xin Feng Tang ◽  
Hai Jun Liu ◽  
Ling Ling Yin ◽  
Qing Jie Zhang

Ag1-xPbmSbTe2+m (m = 6, 10, 18; x = 0, 0.5, 0.75) compounds were prepared by melting-spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The effects of m and x on the thermoelectric properties of the compounds were investigated. The results indicate that all samples are n-type conduction. For Ag1-xPb18SbTe20 (x = 0, 0.5, 0.75), the electrical conductivity decreases, whereas Seebeck coefficient increases, with increasing Ag concentration. For AgPbmSbTe2+m (m = 6, 10, 18), as m increases, the Seebeck coefficient slightly decreases and the electrical conductivity increases first, with a maximum at m =10, and then decreases. The thermal conductivity increases with increasing m.


2016 ◽  
Vol 712 ◽  
pp. 226-231
Author(s):  
A.S. Karakulov ◽  
N.V. Gusev ◽  
Yuriy Yu. Drozdov ◽  
N.Y. Nikonova

The paper presents the studies on evaluation of the influence of modified additives of Y2O3-, ZrO2- and Li2O3-type on heat-conductive properties of aluminium-nitride ceramics used as circuit boards. Sintering of the studied samples was carried out using AlN powders and the powders of the modifying additives, mixed in the ball mill based on the spark plasma sintering system “SPS”. Density and heat conductivity were measured for the obtained samples. It was ascertained that the most significant level of heat conductivity was obtained when using the additive mixture made of 7 wt. % of Li2O3 and 3wt. % of Y2O3, which reaches the level of 160 W/m·K. In addition, the results of the studies show that the addition of the modified powders leads to a significant increase of density; the additive consisting of 7wt.% of Li2O3 and 3wt.% of Y2O3 produces the greatest effect.


2007 ◽  
Vol 280-283 ◽  
pp. 771-774
Author(s):  
Tao Sun ◽  
Xiao Shan Ning ◽  
Yong Sheng Han ◽  
He Ping Zhou

NiAl2O4-metal composite material is an effective candidate for anodes used in industrial production of aluminium as a substitute for graphite anodes. NiAl2O4-Cu-Ni anode was prepared by spark plasma sintering in present paper. According to the density and electrical conductivity of the anodes, the optimal process parameters were given and the result showed that sintering temperature had the most significant influence on the properties of the inert anodes. Moreover, NiO was added to the inert anodes. The results showed that adding NiO will highly increase electrical conductivity of the inert anodes. SEM and optical microscope were applied to study the mechanism of the effect of NiO on the inert anodes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 821 ◽  
pp. 399-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Vilémová ◽  
Barbara Nevrlá ◽  
Zdenek Pala ◽  
Lenka Kocmanová ◽  
Marek Janata ◽  
...  

Tungsten is currently considered as the most suitable plasma facing material for the first wall of a nuclear fusion reactor. First wall will be subjected to harsh conditions that will gradually deteriorate properties of the wall material. Some studies point out that fine-grained tungsten could be more resistant to the structure and property changes than coarse-grained tungsten. However, tailoring of tungsten microstructure is very laborious. Due to its high melting point, tungsten is very often processed mechanically and subsequently sintered into a compact body. In this study, preparation of ultrafine-grained tungsten by mechanical processing in a planetary ball mill was examined. Three types of tungsten samples were compared. One was made from coarse grained tungsten powder consolidated by SPS (spark plasma sintering). Other two samples were prepared from the powder processed in a planetary ball mill with and without addition of Y2O3. After ball milling, the powders were consolidated by SPS, i.e. fast sintering process that allows preserving fine-grained structure of the powder material. Properties of the samples such as hardness and thermal conductivity were examined and correlated with the processing history and microstructure.


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