EFFECT OF HARD METAL PRODUCTION ON THE ENVIRONMENT

This paper deals with production of hard metal by powder metallurgy and its effect on the environment. Hard metal is a composite material that consists of tungsten carbide as the hard refractory phase and cobalt or nickel as the soft metal binder phase. It cannot be produced by classical casting technology. Owing to its excellent properties, such as high hardness, wear and heat resistance etc., hard metal can be applied in a variety of industrial fields. Powder metallurgy is a technology for production of a wide range of materials as net-shape products from a compacted and sintered powders mixture. In this paper the impact of all stages of hard metal production by powder metallurgy on the environment is analysed. The presented analysis shows that production of hard metal by powder metallurgy has a minimum effect on the environment

Effect of boron and tungsten carbides on the properties of TiC-reinforced tool steel matrix composite produced by powder metallurgy

The influence of boron carbide and tungsten carbide on the apparent porosity, density, coercive force, hardness and microstructure of metal matrix composite of the Ferro-TiC type, is presented in this paper. The samples of investigated steel/titanium carbide composite were produced by powder metallurgy process, i.e. by powders mixing and compacting followed by sintering in the vacuum furnace. According to the results, steel/titanium carbide composite materials with addition up to 11.9 vol.% of boron carbide are interesting to detailed investigation as well as materials having more than 17.2 vol.% of tungsten carbide because these compositions show significant changes in hardness and coercive force values

Microhardness dependence of Ti-Zr alloys on time and temperature of sintering

Commonly used metallic biomaterials are titanium and its alloys, cobalt-based alloys and 316L stainless steel. Titanium alloys are reference materials in biomedical applications due to their desirable properties such as excellent mechanical properties and good biocompatibility. Since presence of different metals can significantly alter the properties of titanium it is usually alloyed with other metals, including the zirconium. In this work Ti-20Zr was prepared by powder metallurgy by mixing the powders in a ball mill and sintering in a tube furnace under argon atmosphere. Microscopic analysis with the light microscope showed that the porosity decreased with increasing temperature and sintering time. Scanning electron microanalysis with energy-dispersive spectrometry showed the two-phase microstructure of the sintered alloy. Microhardness was determined by Vickers method. A longer sintering time and a higher sintering temperature resulted in higher microhardness values

Analysis of the densification of a biomedical titanium alloy produced by powder metallurgy

Titanium as a raw material for production is very expensive due to its high price and the complex production process. One of the successful alternatives for the production of titanium alloys and final products is powder metallurgy technology. In this work, a Ti-20Zr alloy for biomedical applications was produced using the powder metallurgy process. The density values determined for the compacts depend on the compression pressure. Namely, the compressibility of the powder mixture increases with increasing compaction pressure. A higher sintering temperature as well as a longer sintering time are more favourable to obtain higher values for the sintered density. Similarly, the compression coefficient is lower for samples compacted at higher pressure, while its value increases with increasing sintering temperature. The volume change in the volume of the sample is more pronounced after sintering at higher temperature and shorter time

Effect of sintering time and temperature on the microhardness of titanium-zirconium alloy

Titanium and titanium alloys have been widely used in medicine as implant materials for the last 50 years. The reason for this could be found in a unique combination of biocompatibility and strength of these alloys. The main advantage of titanium is the ability to bind to bone and grow into the implant. Due to the high cost of production, titanium is not used in large quantities, and therefore research are focused on finding new, more economical alloys. For these reasons, the aim of this paper is to analyze the effect of powder metallurgy process parameters in the production of titanium alloy containing 20% zirconium. Starting elemental powders were a ball milled and then compacted using the hydraulic press. Sintering process was performed under the different values of time and temperature. Starting powders were characterized using the scanning electron microscope. Porosity was analyzed using the light microscope. It was found that it could be decreased by increase in sintering temperature. Microhardness of polished sintered samples was determined by Vickers method. Results showed that higher microhardness values were obtained in samples sintered at higher temperature. Finally, results show that titanium-zirconium alloy produced by this route of powder metallurgy could be potentially used in a biomedicine

Analysis of the densification of a biomedical titanium alloy produced by powder metallurgy

Titanium as a raw material for production is very expensive due to its high price and the complex production process. One of the successful alternatives for the production of titanium alloys and final products is powder metallurgy technology. In this work, a Ti-20Zr alloy for biomedical applications was produced using the powder metallurgy process. The density values determined for the compacts depend on the compression pressure. Namely, the compressibility of the powder mixture increases with increasing compaction pressure. A higher sintering temperature as well as a longer sintering time are more favourable to obtain higher values for the sintered density. Similarly, the compression coefficient is lower for samples compacted at higher pressure, while its value increases with increasing sintering temperature. The volume change in the volume of the sample is more pronounced after sintering at higher temperature and shorter time

Analysis of the densification of a biomedical titanium alloy produced by powder metallurgy

Titanium as a raw material for production is very expensive due to its high price and the complex production process. One of the successful alternatives for the production of titanium alloys and final products is powder metallurgy technology. In this work, a Ti-20Zr alloy for biomedical applications was produced using the powder metallurgy process. The density values determined for the compacts depend on the compression pressure. Namely, the compressibility of the powder mixture increases with increasing compaction pressure. A higher sintering temperature as well as a longer sintering time are more favourable to obtain higher values for the sintered density. Similarly, the compression coefficient is lower for samples compacted at higher pressure, while its value increases with increasing sintering temperature. The volume change in the volume of the sample is more pronounced after sintering at higher temperature and shorter time

Microhardness dependence of Ti-Zr alloys on time and temperature of sintering

Commonly used metallic biomaterials are titanium and its alloys, cobalt-based alloys and 316L stainless steel. Titanium alloys are reference materials in biomedical applications due to their desirable properties such as excellent mechanical properties and good biocompatibility. Since presence of different metals can significantly alter the properties of titanium it is usually alloyed with other metals, including the zirconium. In this work Ti-20Zr was prepared by powder metallurgy by mixing the powders in a ball mill and sintering in a tube furnace under argon atmosphere. Microscopic analysis with the light microscope showed that the porosity decreased with increasing temperature and sintering time. Scanning electron microanalysis with energy-dispersive spectrometry showed the two-phase microstructure of the sintered alloy. Microhardness was determined by Vickers method. A longer sintering time and a higher sintering temperature resulted in higher microhardness values

The influence of the processing parameters on the porosity and microhardness of sintered Ti-20Nb biomedical alloy

Titanium based alloys are increasingly used in biomedicine due to their favourable properties. However, because of their high cost, new methods are being developed to produce more economical alloys. Therefore, in the framework of this work, Ti-20Nb alloy was produced by powder metallurgy. Namely, experimental alloy was prepared by mechanical alloying in a ball mill. The samples were singled out from the powder mixture and pressed on a hydraulic press. Sintering was carried out in a tube furnace in an argon atmosphere. Different processing parameters regarding the time and temperature of sintering were applied. Chemical homogeneity was analysed using the energy-dispersive spectrometry. Porosity was observed using the light microscope and microhardness was determined by Vickers method. The obtained results show that with a small correction of the applied technological parameters, in terms of time extension of mixing/mechanical alloying, it is possible to produce economically Ti-20Nb alloy having the properties suitable for biomedical application by using powder metallurgy technology

Analysis of the densification of a biomedical titanium alloy produced by powder metallurgy

Titanium as a raw material for production is very expensive due to its high price and the complex production process. One of the successful alternatives for the production of titanium alloys and final products is powder metallurgy technology. In this work, a Ti-20Zr alloy for biomedical applications was produced using the powder metallurgy process. The density values determined for the compacts depend on the compression pressure. Namely, the compressibility of the powder mixture increases with increasing compaction pressure. A higher sintering temperature as well as a longer sintering time are more favourable to obtain higher values for the sintered density. Similarly, the compression coefficient is lower for samples compacted at higher pressure, while its value increases with increasing sintering temperature. The volume change in the volume of the sample is more pronounced after sintering at higher temperature and shorter time