Metals and nanocrystalline alloy powders can be produced by high-energy milling and be consolidated by sintering techniques; the use of relatively low sintering temperatures maintains nanometric grains by avoiding grain growth. In the present study, 2024 aluminum alloy powders were produced by milling at cryogenic temperatures (cryomilling) and consolidation using spark plasma sintering (SPS). The thermal stability and microstructure of the nanometric 2024 Al alloy powder produced by cryomilling were analyzed. The milled powder was degassed to improve its sintering behavior and avoid the presence of pores in the final sintered piece. When the material was consolidated by SPS at a temperature of 525 ºC and under a pressure of 60 MPa, the resulting alloy density was 98% and an ultra-fine grained (100-300 nm)/micrometric microstructure. The hardness and microhardness of the milled degassed sintered samples showed values superior to atomized samples. The material also presented nanopores in the grain boundaries, very fine precipitates of AIN, rounded θ phases (Al2Cu), and elongated S phases (Al2CuMg).

The present work is focused on ferrous powder metallurgy and presents some results of a development of a suitable masteralloy for use as an additive to iron powder for the production of sintered steels. The masteralloy was produced by melting a powder mixture containing approximately Fe + 20% Ni + 20% Mn + 20% Si + 1% C (wt%), in order to obtain a cast billet that was converted into fine powder by crushing and milling. It was observed presence of SiC in the masteralloy after melting that is undesirable in the alloy. Si element should be introduced by using ferrosilicon. Sintered alloys with distinct contents of alloying elements were prepared by mixing the masteralloy powder to plain iron powder. Samples were produced by die compaction of the powder mixtures and sintering at 1200 °C in a differential dilatometer in order to record their linear dimensional behaviour during heating up and isothermal sintering, aiming at studying the sinterability of the compacts. Microstructure development during sintering was studied by SEM, XRD and microprobe analyses.