Abstract
The densification process and grain analysis of consolidated NiAl-CNT composites at 1000 °C, and at varied heating rates from 50 °C/min to 150 °C/min was investigated. The results revealed the effect of heating rate on the densification behaviour of the samples. The displacement of the composites decreased from 3.39 mm to 2.63 mm with increasing heating rate, while the porosity increased by 69% at rapid heating rate. The grain analysis of the sintered samples through the electron backscattered (EBSD) technique indicates the evolution of bigger grains as the heating rate proceeds higher. Furthermore, the mean grain size of the consolidated composites increased from 3.93 μm, to 8.05 μm due to the concentration of defects. Interestingly, there was no texture or predominance of any color evolution in the sintered materials.
Highlights
Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a promising sintering technique which has captivated the attention of a lot of researchers in the field of science and engineering because of the advantages it provided over the traditional sintering processes (TS) [1]
The sintering profile obtained from the SPS was used to assess the densification behaviour of the consolidated samples (NiAl/carbon nanotubes (CNT)) and unreinforced NiAl at different heating rates from 50 °C/min to 150 °C/min, and at the sintering temperature of 1000 °C
The punch displacement of the sintered NiAl decreases with the heating rate until it further increases at the heating rate of 150 °C/min
Summary
Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a promising sintering technique which has captivated the attention of a lot of researchers in the field of science and engineering because of the advantages it provided over the traditional sintering processes (TS) [1]. The TS methods are characterized with long sintering temperatures and provides limited control over the properties and microstructures of the material. SPS can fabricate materials at rapid heating rate and short sintering time, resulting into uniform microstructures [2,3]. The process allows the acceleration of material transfer and diffusion phenomena due to plasma generation between the powder particles. This results to breakdown and cleaning of oxide impurities from the material surface. Owing to the characteristics of SPS, parameters such as pressure, sintering temperature, holding time and heating rate, plays a role in the densification mechanisms of a consolidated sample [7]
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