Abstract
Metal-matrix foams are used widely for structural applications such as impact energy absorption, vibration resistance and weight reduction. In this study titanium nanocomposite foams with different porosity percentages were produced using TiH2, as foaming agent, by powder metallurgy technique. At first, raw materials including titanium powder and different weight percentages of SiC nanoparticles were mixed and then different amounts of TiH2 were added to the mixture. The mixture was compacted at 200 MPa. The samples were heat treated in two stages, first at 400 °C for 1 h, as a partial sintering, and then at 1050 °C for 2 h, as foaming treatment. Mechanical and structural properties such as compressive strength, energy absorption, porosity percentage and relative density of samples were measured and compared together. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were performed on foaming agent and samples. The results showed uniform distribution of SiC nanoparticles in titanium matrix and also homogenous pore structure. It was concluded that with increasing SiC weight percent, relative density is increased to 0.43 in the sample with 1.5 wt % SiC. Besides, the measured compressive strength of samples was in the range of 14.4–32.3 MPa. Moreover, it was concluded that the energy absorption of samples increases with increasing SiC nano particles up to 33.09 MJ/m3.
Highlights
Metallic foams are a group of materials with good thermal, mechanical, physical and electrical properties, which have already been developed due to their good potential for different applications [1].The majority of the metal-matrix foams developed so far are used for structural applications such as impact energy absorption or weight reduction [2]
The microstructure of titanium-matrix foams were characterized by a field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) MIRA3 TESCAN (TESCAN, Brno-Kohoutovice, Czech) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS)
As the differential thermal analysis (DTA) results show the decomposition at 450 ◦ C is so week that there is no peak in the Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) curve
Summary
Metallic foams are a group of materials with good thermal, mechanical, physical and electrical properties, which have already been developed due to their good potential for different applications [1]. Xue and Zhao [2] produced highly porous titanium-matrix foams by powder metallurgy and showed that they have good mechanical properties. The tribological and mechanical properties of titanium foams can be improved by reinforcing them with ceramics Nano particles such as SiC improve noticeably the strength of titanium foams, especially at high temperatures [9]. Investigated microstructure and tensile properties of mechanically alloyed Ti-6A1-4V with boron oxide additions Oxide reinforcement particles such as Al3 O2 and R2 O3 (with R = rare element) have been used by Liu et al [17] and Hieda et al [18], respectively. Titanium-matrix foams reinforced with SiC nanoparticles have been produced using TiH2 particles, as foaming agent, by powder metallurgy method. It is expected that SiC particles improve the compressive strength and energy absorption and other properties of titanium foams
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