Liquid Phase Sintering: Spreading, Wetting and Infiltration Behavior In a Successful Reference System, Fe-C-Cu

摘要

The environmental problems related with the use of Cu, as well as its increasing cost in the market have promoted the need for new alloying elements which can provide similar, or improved properties compared of to the traditional Fe-Cu-C systems. However, in order to replace a system which is among the most important in the PM field, understanding the key of its success becomes essential. The aim of this work is to study the features of liquid Cu in terms of wetting angle and infiltration behavior, under inert (Ar) or reducing (mixes N_2-H_2) atmospheres, when increasing amounts of carbon are added to the iron substrate. The influence of time and temperature on these parameters was measured using a Kruss equipment, which allows continuous monitoring of the pair drop-substrate during the different stages of wetting. Since the wetting and liquid-spreading characteristics depend on the ability of the liquid metal to dissolve the substrate, all of the specimens were prepared after the experiments for cross-sectional examination by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).