AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF SINTERING DURATION AND POWDER SIZES ON THE POROSITY AND COMPRESSION STRENGTH OF POROUS TI-6AL-4V

摘要

This paper presents the results of a study of the effects of sintering duration at 1000℃ on the structure and compressive strength of porous Ti-6Al-4V. The porous Ti-6A1-4V materials with 40-50% relative density were produced by sintering in an inert dry argon environment at 1000℃. The sieved powders were of diameters between 125 and 250μm. It was found that the porosity was not significantly affected by initial powder size. However, the compression strength increaseed with increasing sintering duration (up to 24 hours at 1000℃). The strengths of the compacts produced from the smaller powders (125-150μm in diameter) were greater than those produced from larger (180-250μm) powders. The larger powders were also shown to be more susceptible to surface nitride formation during sintering in the presence of flowing inert dry argon atmospheres.