Formation of Sintered “PN85Yu15 – Ni” Powder Composites by Using the SPS Method

Abstract

PN85U15 - Ni composites were obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS) of the powder mixture consisted of nickel and nickel aluminide. Particular attention in this study was focused on the discussion of the problem concerning the influence of the nickel content on mechanical properties of the sintered composites. The microstructure of the sintered materials consisted of spherical intermetallic particles homogeneously distributed in the nickel matrix. The relative density of all sintered materials was higher than 90 %. The hardness of the fabricated composites decreased from 3100 MPa (PN85U15 sintered powder) to 2500 MPa (70 % PN85U15 with 30 % Ni). It was found that the PN85U15 – Ni composite containing approximately 30 wt. % of Ni possessed the highest bending strength (1900 MPa).