Fabrication and sintering behavior of high-nitrogen nickel-free stainless steels by metal injection molding

High-nitrogen nickel-free stainless steels were fabricated by the metal injection molding technique using high nitrogen alloying powders and a mixture of three polymers as binders.Mixtures of metal powders and binders with various proportions were also investigated, and an optimum powder loading capacity was determined as 64vol%.Intact injection molded compacts were successfully obtained by regulating the processing parameters.The debinding process for molded compacts was optimized with a combination of thermo-gravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry analysis.An optimum relative density and nitrogen content of the specimens are obtained at 1360℃,which are 97.8%and 0.79wt%,respectively.

Oxygen variation in titanium powder and metal injection molding

The control of oxygen is paramount in achieving high-performance titanium(Ti)parts by powder metallurgy such as metal in-jection molding(MIM).In this study,we purposely selected the Ti and Ti-6Al-4V powders as the reference materials since these two are the most representative Ti materials in the industry.Herein,hydride-dehydride(HDH)Ti powders were pre-oxidized to examine the ef-fect of oxygen variation on the characteristics of oxide layer on the particle surface and its resultant color feature.The results indicate that the thickness and Ti oxide level(Ti^(0)→Ti^(4+))of the oxide layer on the HDH Ti powders increased as the oxygen content increased,lead-ing to the transition of color appearance from grey,brown to blue.This work aids in the powder feedstock selection at the initial stage in powder metallurgy.In addition,the development of oxygen content was comprehensively studied during the MIM process using the gas-atomized(GA)Ti-6Al-4V powders.Particularly,the oxygen variation in the form of oxide layer,the change of oxygen content in the powders,and the relevant parts were investigated during the processes of kneading,injection,debinding,and sintering.The oxygen vari-ation was mainly concentrated in the sintering stage,and the content increased with the increase of sintering temperature.The variation of oxygen content during the MIM process demonstrates the crucial role of powder feedstock and sintering stage in controlling oxygen con-tent.This work provides a piece of valuable information on oxygen detecting,control,and manipulation for the powder and processing in the industry of Ti and its alloys by powder metallurgy.

Preparation of high nitrogen and nickel-free austenitic stainless steel by powder injection molding

High nitrogen and nickel-free austenitic stainless steel has received much recognition worldwide because it can solve the problem of ＂nickel-allergy＂ and has outstanding mechanical and physical properties. In this article, 0Cr17Mn11Mo3N was prepared by powder injection molding （PIM） technique accompanied with solid-nitriding. The results show that the critical solid loading can achieve up to 64vol% by use of gas-atomized powders with the average size of 17.4 μm. The optimized sintefing conditions are determined to be 1300℃,2 h in flowing nitrogen atmosphere, at which the relative density reaches to 99% and the N content is as high as 0.78wt%. After solution annealing at 1150℃for 90 rain and water quench, the 0.2% yield strength, ultimate tensile strength （UTS）, elongation, reduction in area, and hardness can reach as high as 580 MPa, 885 MPa, 26.0%, 29.1%, and Hv 222, respectively.

Sintering Mechanism of Stainless Steel in Powder Injection Molding

Stainless steel samples were made by Powder injection Molding (PIM) process with-400 mesh powder in order to investigate the sintering mechanism in this system and develop the PIM of stainless steels. The process included mixing, injection molding, debin- ding and sintering. Neck growth model was used to analyze the sintering mechanism. The results show that lattice (volume) diffusion is the main mechanism in the sintering process, the products with higher density (>95%) and properties are obtained. At lower temperatures, grain boundary diffusion may play a role in the sintering densification.

New development of powder metallurgy in automotive industry

The driving force for using powder metallurgy(PM)mostly relies on its near net-shape ability and cost-performance ratio.The automotive application is a main market of PM industry,requiring parts with competitive mechanical or functional performance in a mass production scale.As the automobile technology transforms from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles to new energy vehicles,PM technology is undergoing significant changes in manufacturing and materials development.This review outlines the challenges and opportunities generated by the changes in the automotive technology for PM.Low-cost,high-performance and light-weight are critical aspects for future PM materials development.Therefore,the studies on PM lean-alloyed steel,aluminum alloys,and titanium alloy materials were reviewed.In addition,PM soft magnetic composite applied to new energy vehicles was discussed.Then new opportunities for advanced processing,such as metal injection molding(MIM)and additive manufacturing(AM),in automotive industry were stated.In general,the change in automotive industry raises sufficient development space for PM.While,emerging technologies require more preeminent PM materials.Iron-based parts are still the main PM products due to their mechanical performance and low cost.MIM will occupy the growing market of highly flexible and complex parts.AM opens a door for fast prototyping,great flexibility and customizing at low cost,driving weight and assembling reduction.

Healing Behavior of Micropores in Powder Metallurgy 316L Stainless Steel during Hot Forging and Heat Treatment

The healing behavior of micropores in powder metallurgy （P/M） 316L stainless steel during hot forging and subsequent heat treatment was studied. The results showed that hot forging can improve the homogeneity of the pore size and enhance the relative density of material in varying degree due to different forging temperatures. As a re- sult of deformation and diffusion bonding at high temperature, the irregular pores were spheroidized and finally turned into stable inner grain pores. The comparison of compression behavior between P/M and wrought dense mate rials has shown that the pores can either be the obstacles of dislocation movement or be the nucleation sites accelera- ting the reerystallization according to the difference of deformation temperatures.

Microstructure evolution and performance improvement of powder metallurgy stainless steel with P addition

P-containing 316L stainless steel was prepared by powder metallurgy technology using gas atomized alloy powder and phosphorus-iron alloy powder as raw materials.P addition was beneficial to sintering densification.With 0.6 wt.%P addition,the density increased from 7.60 to 7.82 g/cm^(3).In such case,the samples with 0.6 wt.%P addition should be sintered at a lower temperature of 1200℃.Otherwise,there were coarse grain boundary precipitates,which would seriously deteriorate the performance of stainless steel.In the case of suppressing the formation of coarse precipitates,appropriate P content had a beneficial effect on apparent morphology,hardness and strength of stainless steel.When 316L-0.6 wt.%P sample was sintered at 1200℃,the hardness and tensile strength were increased to 86.3 HRB and 672.8 MPa,respectively,and the elongation still reached 38.1%.Besides,it also had good corrosion resistance.

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.

Shape retention of injection molded stainless steel compacts

The effects of the binder composition, the powder loading, the thermal properties of feedstocks, and the injection molding parameters on the compact shape retention for metal injection molding 17-4PH stainless steel were investigated. The high-density polyethylene is more effective than ethylene vinyl acetate as a second component of the wax-based binder to retain compact shape due to its higher pyrolytic temperature and less heat of fusion. The compact distortion decreases with increasing the powder loading, molding pressure and molding temperature. There exists an optimal process combination including the powder loading of 68%, molding pressure of 120MPa and molding temperature of 150℃. Under this process condition, the percentage of distorted compacts is the lowest.

Rheological, mechanical and corrosive properties of injection molded 17-4PH stainless steel

The feedstock based on the binder 65%PW-30%EVA-5%SA has the best general rheological properties for the 17-4PH stainless steel powder. The 17-4PH stainless steel compacts sintered at 1 380 ℃ for 90 min have the best mechanical properties and the good microstructure with homogeneously distributed pore structure and the moderate-sized grains. Whereas the compacts sintered for 60 min and 120 min show an inadequate and an over-sintered microstructure respectively. The compacts sintered at 1380 ℃ for 90 min have the density of 7.70 g/cm^3, the strength of 1 275 MPa, the elongation of 5%, and hardness of HRC36. With the increase of sintering temperature, the density, strength and hardness increase, while the elongation decreases. The 17-4PH stainless steel has good corrosion resistance, showing an activation-passivation polarization curve. But the passivation potential range is narrow and the spot corrosion potential is low, indicating a low anti-spot corrosive properties.

Effects of Nano-Y_2O_3 and Sintering Parameters on the Fabrication of PM Duplex and Ferritic Stainless Steels

Here we report the effects of nano-Y203 addition, sintering atmosphere and time during on the fabrication of PM duplex and ferritic stainless steels composites by dual-drive planetary milling of elemental Fe, Cr and Ni powders followed by conventional pressureless sintering. Yttria-free and yttria-dispersed duplex and ferritic stainless steels are fabricated by conventional sintering at 1000, 1200 and 1400 ℃ temperatures under argon atmosphere. In another set of experiment, yttria-free and yttria-dispersed duplex and ferritic stainless steels are consolidated at 1000 ℃ for l h under nitrogen atmosphere to study the effect of sintering atmosphere. It has been found that densities of duplex and yttria- dispersed duplex stainless steel increase from 71% to 91% and 78% to 94%, respectively, with the increase in sintering temperature. Similarly, hardness value increases from 257 to 567 HV25 in case of duplex, and from 332 to 576 HV25 in yttria-dispersed duplex stainless steel. X-ray diffraction analysis shows the domination of more intense austenite phase than ferrite at higher sintering temperature and also in nitrogen atmosphere. It is also evident that addition of yttria enhances phase transformation from a-Fe to 7-Fe. Duplex and yttria-dispersed duplex stainless steels exhibit the maximum com- pressive yield strength of 360 and 312 MPa, respectively.

TiC-Maraging stainless steel composite:microstructure, mechanical and wear properties

Particulate TiC reinforced 17-4PH and 465 maraging stainless steel matrix composites were processed by conventional powder metallurgy （P/M）. TiC-maraging stainless steel composites with theoretical density 〉97% were produced using conventional P/M. The microstructure, and mechanical and wear properties of the composites were evaluated. The microstructure of the composites consisted of （core-rim structure） spherical and semi-spherical TiC particles depending on the wettability of the matrix with TiC particles. In TiC-maraging stainless steel composites, 465 stainless steel binder phase showed good wettability with TiC particles. Some microcracks appeared in the composites, indicating the presence of tensile stresses in the composites produced during sintering. The typical properties, hardness, and bend strength were reported for the composites. After heat treatment and aging, an increase in hardness was observed. The increase in hardness was at- tributed to the aging reaction in maraging stainless steel. The specific wear behavior of the composites strongly depends on the content of TiC particles and their interparticle spacing, and on the heat treatment of the maraging stainless steel.

Permeable Steel and Its Application in Plastic-injection Mould

The gas in plastics mould has great influence on performance, appearance and lifespan of the injection molded parts. Venting channel and its appendix system should be used for gas exhausting in general. However, the dependence on the venting system complicates the mould design. Furthermore in certain condition, it is difficult to integrate the venting system into the mould. Currently a kind of mold material which has gas permeability has been developed in abroad, but the applications of this mold material were restricted by its higher cost and smaller size. In this research, a porous material which was made by powder metallurgy was applied to plastic mould to replace the venting system. Permeability of the steel with different secondary processing was tested and compared with a special apparatus. The metallographic samples of the steel with different secondary processing were prepared and investigated. Finally an actual injection set was established to investigate the applications of permeable steel. The metallographies indicate that the micro-holes inside permeable steel were interconnected. Moulds made of permeable steel exhibit good permeability in the plastic-injection experiments and gas generated in the mould cavity was smoothly exhausted. The melted plastic did not penetrate into the mould or block in the micro-holes. After several times of plastic-injection experiments, the mould still retained good permeability. The strength of this permeable steel is between 200–250 MPa and suitable for industrial applications. The venting systems simplified by permeable steel in plastic-injection have simple structures, which can be applied into any place that requires gas exhausting.

HIP diffusion bonding of P/M titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V and stainless steel 1Cr18Ni9Ti

The HIP diffusion bonding of P/M titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V and stainless steel 1Cr18Ni9Ti using pure Ni as intermediate layer was studied. Bonding joint with complex bonding interface was obtained by HIPing pre-alloyed Ti-6Al-4V powders and stainless steel 1Cr18Ni9Ti in a vacuum canning. The joint strengths were examined and the characteristics of bonding joint were observed. The result shows that the maximized strength of HIP diffusion bonding between P/M titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V and stainless steel 1Cr18Ni9Ti can be up to 388 MPa and the microstructure of bonding joint is acceptable.

Effects of sintering atmosphere on the microstructure and mechanical property of sintered 316L stainless steel

In the present work, N 2, N 2+H 2, Ar and Ar+H 2, were used as the sintering atmosphere of Metal Injection Molded 316L stainless steel respectively. The influences of the sintering atmospheres on C, O, N contents of the sintered specimens, sintered density, grain morphology and mechanical properties were investigated. The results show that C, O, N contents of the sintered specimens can be controlled in permitted low values. The ultimate tensile strength and elongation of the specimen sintered in N 2+H 2 atmosphere are 765 MPa and 32% respectively. Using Ar and Ar+H 2 as the sintering atmosphere, the density of the sintered specimens is 98% of the theoretical density; the pores are uniformly distributed as small spherical shape and the grain size is about 50 μm. The mechanical properties of the specimen, i.e. ultimate tensile strength 630 MPa, yield strength 280 MPa, elongation 52%, HRB 71, are much better than those of the American Metal Powder Industries Federation(MPIF) 35 Standard after being sintered in Ar+H 2.

Biocompatibility of MIM 316L stainless steel

To evaluate the bioeompatibility of MIM 316L stainless steel,the percentage of S-period cells were detected by flow cytometry after L929 incubated with extraction of MIM 316L stainless steel,using titanium implant materials of clinical application as the contrast.Both materials were implanted in animal and the histopathological evaluations were carried out.The statistical analyses show that there are no significant differences between two groups(P>0.05),which demonstrates that MIM 316L stainless steel has a good biocompatibility.

N/H气氛下烧结温度对430L不锈钢块体的性能影响

为系统研究N/H气氛下不同烧结温度对430不锈钢粉末冶金件微观结构、密度、力学性能的影响规律和作用机理,用模压成型-脱脂-气氛烧结工艺,在1100~1330℃烧结不锈钢粉末。结果表明:随温度升高,块体致密度显著提升,但晶粒粗化严重,导致性能衰减。1290℃时制备的不锈钢块的综合性能优异,抗拉强度为454 MPa,伸长率为7%,冲击功为58 J/cm^(2)。在N_(2)-H_(2)气氛下高温烧结块体表层生成了梯度分布的Cr_(2)N相,不锈钢硬度高达100.5HRB。这是因为基体组织均匀、具有梯度结构的Cr_(2)N富集层及弥散分布的平均粒径为2.27μm的Si颗粒钉扎效应协同作用的结果。该工艺流程短、能耗低,无需后续处理即可制备出满足要求的粉末冶金件。

FeAl-316SS接头的反应行为、显微组织与力学性能

采用热爆反应与粉末冶金相结合的工艺实现了FeAl金属间化合物与316不锈钢(316SS)的有效连接,研究了连接温度(700、800、900℃)对界面成分组成和力学性能的影响。结果表明,当加热到637℃时,FeAl反应层温度瞬间升高到1050℃,发生明显的热爆反应,并伴随持续约15 s的剧烈放热。随着温度从700℃提高到900℃,界面由Fe-316SS、316SS(Al)交替组成的形式转变为由FeAl-316SS(Al)-316SS组成。三种温度下均形成良好的冶金结合,当连接温度为800℃时,抗剪切强度可达75 MPa。

固溶处理对注射成形含氮双相不锈钢耐腐蚀性能的影响

将316L奥氏体不锈钢粉末和430铁素体不锈钢粉末制得的含氮双相不锈钢作为研究对象,在流动氩气保护下对含氮双相不锈钢进行固溶处理,固溶温度分别为1300、1320、1340℃。通过极化曲线和交流阻抗谱的检测,研究固溶处理温度对含氮双相不锈钢耐腐蚀性能的影响。结果表明:在流动氩气保护下1320℃固溶处理后,含氮双相不锈钢的耐点蚀性能比316L、430不锈钢好,自腐蚀电流密度、点蚀电位、电荷转移电阻分别为1.67×10^(-6)A·cm^(-2)、0.219 V、2.84×10^(3)Ω·cm^(2)。

热等静压粉末冶金技术制备高合金冷作模具钢应用研究

采用热等静压粉末冶金技术开展了X230CrVMo13高合金模具钢成形技术研究,并结合数值仿真手段对合金粉末致密化规律进行探索。此外,通过退火热处理工艺对粉末合金性能进行调控,分析了热处理工艺对微观组织、力学性能的影响。结果表明:数值模型能够准确模拟X230Cr VMo13粉末致密化过程,通过热等静压粉末冶金技术制备的X230Cr VMo13粉末合金达到了理论密度,通过退火热处理工艺实现对碳化物析出控制,进而改善了X230CrVMo13粉末合金制品性能。