Metallic composites based on silver powder cathodically reduced from AgCl

Abstract

In this paper, the properties of Ag-Sn, Ag-Fe, Ag-Mo, and Ag-W samples are presented. The samples under consideration were produced using the powder metallurgy technology and the silver, a main component of metal composites, was manufactured in the cathodic reduction process, during which a sparingly soluble AgCl compound was reduced. That silver is characterised by a fine grained structure and a very good compressibility, and its properties effectively improved the density and the homogeneity of samples investigated.Blending metal powders and compacting them at 500 MPa produced silver based metal composites. The green compacts were sintered for 60 min in a hydrogen atmosphere, at a temperature of 1123 K. The following properties of metal composites were examined: density, hardness, electrical conductivity, and magnetic susceptibility. Structural investigations of composites manufactured were also carried out.In this paper, it is stated and proved that the character of specimens in Ag-Sn, Ag-Fe, Ag-Mo, and Ag-W systems depends on the components' attributes, and also on their density. The impact of silver on the samples' density was calculated on the basis of the experimental data obtained, and it was expressed in the form of equations. In addition, the dependence between the electrical conductivity of tested metal composites and the silver content was established.