Features of the formation of the structure and properties of powder steels with additives that activate diffusion processes during sintering

Abstract

Effect of activating the sintering process of powder steel alloyed with nickel or chromium by grinding the initial powders and introducing alkali metal compounds was investigated. The kinetics of grinding the initial iron powders, Cr30, and a mixture of iron powders with 4 % nickel was studied. It is shown that, depending on the hardness of the powder, it is grinded in three or two stages. When grinding more hard powders, there is no stage of intensive deformation of particles and an increase in their size. Crystalline lattice defects resulting from grinding of powders accelerate diffusion processes. This reduces sintering temperature by 100–200 °С compared to the sintering temperature of steels from the initial powders, contributes to a homogeneous structure, reduces porosity by 4–17 %, and increase strength of powder steels by 1.5–1.6 times. The mechanism of the effect of sodium bicarbonate on the acceleration of diffusion of carbon, nickel and chromium into iron has been established. With the introduction of sodium bicarbonate under the action of water vapor, formed upon its decomposition to carbonate, thin oxide films are formed on iron particles, which are actively recovered in a protective-recovering atmosphere during sintering. This leads to formation of a metal contact between the particles, acceleration of the self-diffusion of iron atoms and the diffusion of alloying additives into iron by 5–7 times, depending on the sintering temperature and the amount of added additive. Sodium forms nanodispersed complex compounds of the ferritic type Na₃Fe₅O₉ along the grain boundaries of the iron base, which provide grain refinement and the formation of a homogeneous structure. Changes in the structure of powder steel with the introduction of sodium bicarbonate cause an increase in its strength by 1.5–1.7 times. The results can be used to obtain structural products from alloyed powder steels.