Effect of Ni nanoparticles in Zn-Nix advanced alloys synthesized by sintering reaction

Abstract

Zn–Ni5, Zn–Ni10, Zn–Ni15, and Zn–Ni20 advanced alloys were prepared by mechanical milling and synthesized by sintering reaction in solid-state. This research aims to study the effect of Ni nanoparticles on the microstructural and mechanical properties of the Zn-based alloys. The morphological evolution of the microstructure and phase's formation of Zn-based alloys were examined through the optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and SEM-EDS elemental mapping. Its mechanical properties such as hardness and Young's Modulus were determined by Vickers microindentation and the ultrasonic method, respectively. The results showed that the intermetallic phases were not formed during the mechanical milling process regardless of the working conditions (4 h, 200 rpm). These intermetallic phases only appeared after the sintering stage (357 °C, 1 h), which is associated to atomic diffusion and resulted in the formation of NiZn, Ni3Zn22, NiZn3, Ni5Zn21, δ-NiZn, and ɣ-ZnNi phases. The microstructure, hardness, and Young's Modulus have significant changes, compared to the same materials synthesized with Ni microparticles. The results showed that the mechanical properties were affected due to the addition of Ni.