Effects of Metal and Composite Metal Nanopowders on the Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) and the Ammonium Perchlorate/Hydroxyterminated Polybutadiene (AP/HTPB) Composite Solid Propellant

Effects of metal (Ni, Cu, Al) and composite metal (NiB, NiCu, NiCuB) nanopowders on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and composite solid propellant ammonium perchlorate/hydroxyterminated polybutadiene (AP/HTPB) were studied by thermal analysis (DTA). The results show that metal and composite metal nanopowders all have good catalytic effects on the thermal decomposition of AP and AP/HTPB composite solid propellant. The effects of metal nanopowders on the thermal decomposition of AP are less than those of the composite metal nanopowders. The effects of metal and composite metal nanopowders on the thermal decomposition of AP are different from those on the thermal decomposition of the AP/HTPB composite solid propellant.

Characterization of 17-4PH stainless steel powders produced by supersonic gas atomization

17-4PH stainless steel powders were prepared using a supersonic nozzle in a close-coupled gas atomization system. The characteristics of powder particles were carried out by means of a laser particle size analyzer, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, and the X-ray diffraction （XRD） technique. The results show that the mass median particle diameter is about 19.15 prn. Three main types of surface microstructures are observed in the powders： well-developed dendrite, cellular, and cellular dendrite structure. The XRD measurements show that, as the particle size decreases, the amount of fcc phase gradually decreases and that of bcc phase increases. The cooling rate is inversely related to the particle size, i.e., it decreases with an increase in particle size.

IGNITING SHS BY LASER AND ITS APPLICATION TO SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING OF METALLIC POWDER MATERIAL

How to directly fabricate metallic functional parts with selective laser sintering (SLS) process is a potential technique that scientists are researching. Existent problems during directly fabricating metal part by use of SLS are analyzed. For the sake of solving the problems, a new idea of adding self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) material into metallic powder material to form new type of SLS metallic powder material is put forward. This powder material can release controllable amount of heat during its interaction with the laser beam energy to reduce the requirement to laser power during directly sintering metallic part, to prolong the time of metallic liquid phase existing, and to improve the intensity and accuracy of SLS part. For this reason, SHS material′s interaction with the CO2 laser beam energy is researched, which proves that CO2 laser beam energy may instantly ignite SHS reaction. On the basis of the above-mentioned researches, the effect of sintering the metal powder material mixing SHS material with CO2 laser is also researched, which shows: there is an optimal blending ratio of various material in the new metallic powder material. Under the optimal blending ratio and SLS process parameters, this new metallic powder material can indeed release amount of heat and SHS reaction may be controlled within the laser sintering. This research result makes it possible that the metallic part is directly sintered with small CO2 laser (less than 50W), which may greatly reduce the volume, cost and running expenditure of SLS machine, be propitious to application.

SYNTHESIS AND SOLID STATE SINTERING OF W-Ni-Fe NANO-COMPOSITE POWDERS

The mixture of 90 wt%W, 7 wt%Ni and 3 wt%Fe elemental powders was milled in a planetary high-energy ball mill. The evolution of the structure during milling and the sintering behavior of the milled powders were tested. The results showed that by mechanical alloying W(Ni, Fe) supersaturated solid solution with nano-meter size formed, which can enhance the sintering process. Fully dense alloy from the milled powders was obtained through solid state sintering. The tensile strength of the obtained alloy is over 900 MPa which is comparable to that of the alloy sintered by traditional liquid-phase sintering from un-milled powders of the same composition.

Densification Model for Porous Metallic Powder Materials

A new mechanical model for powder metallurgy compaction is presented. In this model, various amount of voids can be introduced into a continuous solid, therefore porosity can be conveniently controlled. The elastic-plastic finite element method was used to analyze the sintered powder material. The model was used to simulate compressing of a sintered cylinder. MSC.Marc of MSC. Software Corporation was applied here, and the sintered powder model was built in MSC.Mentat. The sintered cylindrical powder metallurgy part is treated as a piece of normal metal with pores in the model. The metal block is considered as cylinder with a radius of 6.0 mm and a total height of 10.0 mm. Young’s module was assumed to be 4 000 MPa. Poisson’s ratio was 0.269. The initial yield stress is 210 MPa. Friction coefficient used for the upper and lower contact surfaces is 0.3. Coulomb principle is adopted. Considering axisymmetricity, just half a section is analyzed. Totally there are 1 240 elements. Experiment was carried out by a computer controlled a universal tensile testing machine. During the experiment, the sample was prepared from highly compressible water atomized iron powder with 0.6wt% polymeric lubricant. Particle size is about 100～150 μm. The comparison was performed using a sintered cylindrical sample. The green compact was sintered at 1 140 ℃ for 2 hours. Initially, H0 is 10.20 mm, Φ0 is 12.01 mm and the initial relative density is 0.789. After pressing, H is 7.30 mm, Φ1 is 13.10 mm, Φ2 is 14.64 mm and relative density is 0.88. The load-displacement curves agree with the experimental results very well. Plastic deformation of metallic material is mostly caused by the slipping of crystal lattice. Although very small, a metal powder particle is composed of metallic crystal. Mechanical properties of a powder particle should be very close to their as solid metal counterpart.

Three-dimensional simulation of sintering crunodes of metal powders or fibers by level set method

The difference of sintering crunodes of metal powders and fibers is discussed. The mathematical model of the surface diffusion described by the difference in mean curvature is defined as a Hamilton-Jacobi-type equation, and the model is numerically solved by the level set method. The three-dimensional numerical simulations of two metal powders and fibers(the fiber angle is 0° or 90°) are implemented by this mathematical model, respectively. The numerical simulation results accord with the experimental ones. The sintering neck growth trends of metal powders and metal fibers are similar. The sintering neck radius of metal fibers is larger than that of metal powders. The difference of the neck radius is caused by the difference of geometric structure which makes an important influence on the curvature affecting the migration rate of atoms.

Morphology and microstructure of rapidly solidified tin-lead alloy powders

Sn60Pb40 al oy powders were fabricated using the planar flow casting （PFC） atomization process. By using OM, SEM and EPMA, the characteristics of the morphologies and microstructures of the powders have been investigated. It is observed that the environment of ambient gas in the atomization box has great effects on the morphology of the al oy powders. The microstructures of Sn60Pb40 al oy powders produced by the PFC atomization process are completely composed of eutectic, which is made up of both oversaturated αsolid solution and β solid solution. The microstructures of smal size powders are extraordinarily undeveloped dendritic eutectic, in which the large majority of the α phase appears nearly spherical, evidently since the cooling rate is higher and the under-cooling is larger. As for the large size powders, since the cooling rate and undercooling are relatively low, lamel ar α phase apparently increases in the eutectic microstructures of these powders, and there is even typical lamellar eutectic structure clearly observed in some micro-areas. After remelting tests by DTA, the microstructures of smal size powders are transformed, which become composed of large crumby α phase and eutectic （α＋β）, while those of large size powders change into classical tin-lead structures of primary α phase plus lamellar eutectic （α＋β）. By studying the microstructures of tin-lead alloy powders, a model has been proposed to predict the microstructure formation of Sn60Pb40 al oy powders.

A NEW MECHANISM OF ULTRASOUND ATTENUATION IN SINTERED METAL POWDERS

This paper analyzes the anomalous power-law dependence of the ultrasound attenuation on frequency by means of a percolation model. It was suggested that the anomaLous ultrasound attenuation is associated with strongly localized eigen modes (to be called fracton) in disordered systems. There exits a steplike increase in the density of vibrational states at crossover frequency ω(co).Computer simulation of vibration spectrum in disordered system is also reported. The density of vibrational states is consistent with the results of relevant experiment outlined above.

EXPLOSIVE CONSOLIDATION OF METALLIC FILAMENTS UNDER CYLINDRICAL CONVERGING SHOCK WAVE

Two dimensional explosive consolidation under cylindrical converging shock wave has been studied by use of coated fine iron filaments compacts to replace conventional metallic powder, so the randomness of three-dimensional spatial distribution of metallic powder might be avoided.The deformation and surface flow pattern of particles as well as the mechanism of consolidation have been clarified experimentally.The distribution of high temperature area is in agreement with the result of numerical simulation by Williamson.A model for the explosive consolidation was given.

Criterion of gas and solid dual-phase flow atomization crash in molten metal

A self-invented atomization process, in which molten metal is atomized into powder by a high-velocity gas stream carrying solid particles as the atomization medium, was introduced. The characteristics of powders prepared by common gas atomization and dual-phase flow atomization under similar conditions were compared. The experimental results show that the dual-phase flow-atomized powders have average particle sizes that are one-half that of the common gas-atomized particles;additionally, they possess a finer microstructure and higher cooling rate under the same atomization gas pressure and the same gas flow. The Weber number in the crash criteria of liquid atomization is adopted to measure the crash ability of the atomization media. The Weber number of the dual-phase flow atomization medium is the sum of that of the gas and the solid particles. Furthermore, the critical equation of the crash model in dual-phase flow atomization is established, and the main regularities associated with this process were analyzed.

Impact mechanism of gas temperature in metal powder production via gas atomization

This paper aims at studying the influence mechanism of gas temperatures(300 K,400 K,500 K,and 600 K)on gas atomization by simulating the integral atomization process of the close-coupled nozzle in vacuum induction gas atomization(VIGA).The primary atomization is simulated by the volume of fluid(VOF)approach,and the second atomization is studied by the discrete phase model(DPM)combined with the instability breakage model.The results show that,at an increased gas temperature,the influences of gas-liquid contact angle and gas temperature in the recirculation zone on the primary atomization are virtually negligible.However,increasing the gas temperature will increase the gas-liquid relative velocity near the recirculation zone and decrease the melt film thickness,which are the main reasons for the reduced mass median diameter(MMD,d50)of primary atomized droplets.During the secondary atomization,increasing the gas temperature from 300 K to 600 K results in an increase in the droplet dispersion angle,which is beneficial to the formation of spherical metal powder.In addition,increasing the gas temperature,the positive effect of gas-liquid relative velocity increase on droplets refinement overweighs the negative influence of the GMR decrease,resulting in the reduced MMD and diameter distribution interval.From the analysis of the atomization mechanism,the increase in atomization efficiency caused by increasing the temperature of the atomizing gas,including primary atomization and secondary atomization,is mainly due to the increase in the gas drag force difference between the inner and outer sides of the annular liquid film.

Design and evaluation of a Laval-type supersonic atomizer for low-pressure gas atomization of molten metals

A Laval-type supersonic gas atomizer was designed for low-pressure gas atomization of molten metals. The principal design ob-jectives were to produce small-particle uniform powders at lower operating pressures by improving the gas inlet and outlet structures and op-timizing structural parameters. A computational fluid flow model was developed to study the flow field characteristics of the designed atom-izer. Simulation results show that the maximum gas velocity in the atomization zone can reach 440 m＆#183;s-1;this value is independent of the atomization gas pressure P0 when P0〉0.7 MPa. When P0=1.1 MPa, the aspiration pressure at the tip of the delivery tube reaches a mini-mum, indicating that the atomizer can attain the best atomization efficiency at a relatively low atomization pressure. In addition, atomization experiments with pure tin at P0=1.0 MPa and with 7055Al alloy at P0=0.8 and 0.4 MPa were conducted to evaluate the atomization capa-bility of the designed atomizer. Nearly spherical powders were obtained with the mass median diameters of 28.6, 43.4, and 63.5μm, respec-tively. Compared with commonly used atomizers, the designed Laval-type atomizer has a better low-pressure gas atomization capability.

Close-coupled nozzle atomization integral simulation and powder preparation using vacuum induction gas atomization technology

We simulate the gas-atomization process of a close-coupled annular nozzle for vacuum induction gas atomization at a three-dimensional scale.Moreover,the relationship between the simulated droplet type and experimentally metallic powder is established by comparing the morphology of droplets with powders.Herein,the primary atomization process is described by the volume-of-fluid(VOF)approach,whereas the prediction of powder diameter after secondary atomization is realized by the VOF-Lagrangian method.In addition,to completely reflect the breaking and deformation process of the metallic flow,we employ the VOF model to simulate the secondary atomization process of a single ellipsoidal droplet.The results show that the primary atomization process includes the formation of surface liquid film,appearance of serrated ligaments,and shredding of ligaments.Further,gas recirculation zone plays an important role in formation of the umbrella-shaped liquid film.The secondary atomization process is divided into droplet convergence and dispersion stages,and the predicted powder diameter is basically consistent with the experiment.In general,the four main powder shapes are formed by the interaction of five different typical droplets.

Numerical investigation on flow process of liquid metals in melt delivery nozzle during gas atomization process for fine metal powder production

Based on volume of fluid(VoF)interface capturing method and shear-stress transport(SST)k-ω turbulence model,numerical simulation was performed to reveal the flow mechanism of metal melts in melt delivery nozzle(MDN)during gas atomization(GA)process.The experimental validation indicated that the numerical models could give a reasonable prediction on the melt flow process in the MDN.With the decrease of the MDN inner-diameter,the melt flow resistance increased for both molten aluminum and iron,especially achieving an order of 10^(2) kPa in the case of the MDN inner-diameter≤1 mm.Based on the conventional GA process,the positive pressure was imposed on the viscous aluminum alloy melt to overcome its flow resistance in the MDN,thus producing powders under different MDN inner-diameters.When the MDN inner-diameter was reduced from 4 to 2 mm,the yield of fine powder(<150μm)soared from 54.7%to 94.2%.The surface quality of powders has also been improved when using a smaller inner-diameter MDN.

Process modeling gas atomization of close-coupled ring-hole nozzle for 316L stainless steel powder production

The paper aims at modeling and simulating the atomization process of the close-coupled ring-hole nozzle in vacuum induction gas atomization(VIGA)for metallic powder production.First of all,the primary atomization of the ring-hole nozzle is simulated by the volume of fluid(VOF)coupled large eddy simulation(LES)model.To simulate the secondary atomization process,we use the method of selecting the droplet sub-model and the VOF model.The results show that the ring-hole nozzle forms a gas recirculation zone at the bottom of the delivery tube,which is the main reason for the formation of an annular liquid film during the primary atomization.In addition,the primary atomization process of the ring-hole nozzle consists of three stages:the formation of the serrated liquid film tip,the appearance and shedding of the ligaments,and the fragmentation of ligaments.At the same time,the primary atomization mainly forms spherical droplets and long droplets,but only the long droplets can be reserved and proceed to the secondary atomization.Moreover,increasing the number of ring holes from 18 to 30,the mass median diameter(MMD,d_(50))of the primary atomized droplets decreases first and then increases,which is mainly due to the change of the thickness of the melt film.Moreover,the secondary atomization of the ring-hole nozzles is mainly in bag breakup mode and multimode breakup model,and bag breakup will result in the formation of hollow powder,which can be avoided by increasing the gas velocity.

Innovative Metallized Formulations for Solid Rocket Propulsion

Several metallized solid rocket propellants,AP/Metal/HTPB in the ratio 68/18/14,were experimentally analyzed at the Space Propulsion Laboratory of Politecnico di Milano.Effects of the metals(micrometric and nanometric Al,B,Mg,and a variety of dual metals) on the performance of the propellant were studied and contrasted to a conventional micrometric aluminum(30 μm average grain size) taken as reference.It is shown that the propellant microstructure plays a fundamental role in controlling the critical aggregation/agglomeration phenomena occurring below and near the burning surface.Two specific effects of microstructure in terms of steady burning rate and average agglomerate size are illustrated.

INDUCTION PLASMA REACTIVE DEPOSITION OF TUNGSTEN CARBIDE FROM TUNGSTEN METAL POWDER

Experimental results on the primary carburization reaction between the tungsten powder and methane in the induction plasma, and the secondary carburization of the deposit on substrate at high temperature are reported. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to examine the microstructures of starting tungsten powder, carburized powder, and deposit. X-ray diffraction analysis, thermal gravimetric analysis and microhardness measurement were used to characterize the structures and properties of the powder and the deposit. It is found that the primary carburization reaction in the induction plasma starts from the surface of tungsten particles when the particles are melted. Tungsten particles are partially carburized inside the reactive plasma. Complete carburization is achieved through the secondary carburization reaction of the deposit on substrate at high temperature.

Vibrating Breakup of Jet for Uniform Metal Droplets

Uniform droplet formation from capillary stream breakup provides promising opportunities for many applications such as solder balls manufacturing, circuit board printing and rapid prototype manufacturing. In this study an apparatus capable of making monosize metal spheres by vibrating breakup has been developed. The droplets were electrically charged to avoid collision and merging with one another during flight. As a result, uniformly sized tin powders （180 μm in diameter） were obtained after cooling and solidification.

Research on Producing Al-Pb Alloy Plate by Liquid Dynamic Compacting

Possibility of making Al-Pb alloy plate with Pb dispersed uniformly by LDC (Liquid Dynamic Compact) technology has been studied in the present paper. The relationship among the distance between nozzle and cooled base plate and the atomization pressure as well as the density of the Al-Pb alloy slab is measured. The relative density of the LDC Al-Pb alloy slab can reach 90% under condition of the present experiment. Microstructure of the slab consist of equal axial grains with 15 approximately 25 μm in diameter and Pb dispersed uniformly in them. After cold or hot rolling of the slab with reduction of 50 approximately 60%, the microstructure can be densified. The rolled Al-Pb alloy plate can be compacted together with pure Al plate very well.

A Steam-Plasma Igniter for Aluminum Powder Combustion

High-temperature ignition is essential for the ignition and combustion of energetic metal fuels, including aluminum and magnesium particles which are protected by their high- melting-temperature oxides. A plasma torch characterized by an ultrahigh-temperature plasma plume fulfills such high-temperature ignition conditions. A new steam plasma igniter is designed and successfully validated by aluminum power ignition and combustion tests. The steam plasma rapidly stabilizes in both plasma and steam jet modes. Parametric investigation of the steam plasma jet is conducted in terms of arc strength. A high-speed camera and an oscilloscope method visualize the discharge characteristics, and optical emission spectroscopy measures the thermochemical properties of the plasma jet. The diatomic molecule OH fitting method, the Boltzmann plot method, and short exposure capturing with an intensified charge coupled device record the axial distributions of the rotational gas temperature, excitation temperature, and OH radical distribution, respectively. The excitation temperature at the nozzle tip is near 5500 K, and the gas temperature is 5400 K.