Structural and mechanical properties of hypereutectic AlSiFe powders and a new method for determination of sintering temperature

Abstract

In this study, the effect of Si amount on the microstructure, crystal structure and some mechanical properties of Al-(20,25,30 wt%)Si–5Fe powder mixtures produced by high energy ball milling method was investigated by determining the sintering temperature. In the X-ray diffraction analysis, no inter-metallic phases were found except for the Al, Si and Fe phases of the powder mixtures. The X-ray diffraction patterns were analyzed by the Rietveld method to determine amounts of the Al, Si and Fe elements in the powder mixtures. From the scanning electron microscopy analysis, it is seen that as the amount of Si increases, there is a marked decrease in the grain size of powders. In the micro-indentation tests performed at room temperature, the hardness and elastic modulus values of the pelletized powders were found to increase with the amount of Si. It was also found that the Al-20Si-5Fe powder mixture with the lowest Si content had the highest damping capability. The high temperature micro-indentation tests showed that the resulting Al-(20,25,30 wt%) Si-5 Fe powder mixtures started to consolidation at 200 °C and completed the consolidation at 400 °C. This method can be used as an alternative method in the determination of the sintering temperature of materials.