Abstract This work presents a study on effect of cutting parameters in force, texture and chips morphology obtained during the turning of a self-lubricating sintered composite. The tests were performed varying the cutting speed (vc = 100 and 200 m/min), feed (f = 0.1 and 0.2 mm), depth of cut (ap = 0.5 and 1 mm), as well as the materials manufacturing route in single pressing (SP) and double pressing (DP). The variation in the cutting parameters influenced the components of the machining force. The cutting, feed and passive force were approximately 10%, 10% e 25% higher, respectively, for DP materials. The turning process generated surfaces with values of maximum height (Sz) between 28.3 to 10.8 μm, Kurtosis (Sku) > 3 and Skewness (Ssk) < 0.3. The chip type obtained was segmented and the chip thickness ratio was influenced by the variation of the cutting parameters and the materials manufacturing route.

In powder metallurgy the addition of alloying elements is a widely used alternative to increase the service life of mechanical components. However, they have an associated cost. One less exploited process is surface enrichment (or surface alloying), whose same result is obtained on the surface, but at a much lower cost. Self-lubricating composites are especially complex to be enriched, precisely because they have to avoid the deposition of alloying elements over the lubricant stocks. This paper reports the characterization and tribological properties of self-lubricating composites enriched with molybdenum or nickel. Sintered samples were produced for comparative purposes. Wear resistance, friction coefficient and wear rate were analyzed for the evaluation of tribological properties. The results showed that the enrichment process did not cover the lubricant stocks. In addition, the Mo-enriched samples presented the best tribological results, with a 250 % increase in scuffing resistance in relation the sintered sample, and lower wear rate.

The objective of the present work was to study the effect of heat treatments in the microstructure, graphite nodules and mechanical properties of self-lubricating steels, to achieve this, self-lubricating steels (Fe + 0.45C + 4Ni + 1Mo %wt) and additions of 2 and 3 %wt SiC were fabricated. They were consequently heat treated in 3 different conditions: martempering at 180 °C and tempering at 530 °C and 300 °C respectively and austempering at 300 °C. Hardness, yield strength, tensile strength and work hardening behavior were studied in as-sintered and heat-treated samples. The microstructure was analyzed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and micro-hardness. The transformation temperatures were determined using dilatometric tests. Results show that the presence of dissolved Si in the matrix due to SiC dissociation notably affects the morphology of the microstructure and transformation temperatures also affecting post heat treatment mechanical properties. The structure of graphite nodules produced by SiC dissociation is nott significantly affected by the heat treatments.

When multifunctional surface engineering processes that combine purpose-oriented phases are applied to soft substrates, a combination of high wear resistance, high load support and low coefficients of friction can be achieved. In this study, the effects of different nitrided layers on the tribological behaviour of a diamond-like carbon (DLC) film deposited on a SAE 1040 steel were investigated. The nitriding was carried out under different temperatures and gas mixtures to create three distinct nitrided layers: two compound layers with predominant ε and γ' phases and a diffusion layer. All of the surfaces were then coated with DLC deposited via plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). The tribological tests indicated that the best performance was achieved for a specific combination of hardness, surface roughness and nitride type. The best load-bearing capacity between the DLC coating and the soft substrate was achieved when the nitrided layer was primarily a diffusion layer.

Abstract To modify the surface structure of AISI 1005 steel and its properties without any dimensional loss, different plasma surface treatments were performed at low temperatures (500 ºC) in this study. The samples were subjected to single plasma treatments including: nitriding (N5% and N3%), carburizing (CE) and ferritic nitrocarburizing (NC) and to duplex treatments of nitriding followed by carburizing (N5%+CE and N3%+CE) and ferritic nitrocarburizing followed by carburizing (NC+CE). The gas mixture used for these treatments was varied as follows: nitriding (5%N2+95%H2 and 3%N2+97%H2), carburizing (5%CH4+95%H2) and ferritic nitrocarburizing (5%N2+1.5%CH4+93.5%H2). A microstructural characterization of the samples was carried out using optical and scanning electron microscopy in addition to XRD analysis. Microhardness testing was also performed. The XRD analysis showed a stabilization of the outermost cementite layer for all of the carburizing treatments. The results show that a greater hardness increase was achieved for the nitriding treatment as well as a more regular compound layer. However, a greater depth of hardening was obtained in samples with NC+CE and N5%+CE, which extended to the hardened depth to 800 µm.

Processing of high manganese austenitic sintered steels present several challenges concerning thermodynamic reactions that occur during the sintering of these materials such as Mn oxidation, sublimation and even the formation of liquid phases or undesired compounds, e.g. grain boundary carbides. Therefore it is extremely important to adjust the sintering parameters to obtain the adequate microstructure and properties. In this work, the effect of some sintering parameters, i.e. temperature, gas atmosphere and cooling rate are studied by dilatometry. The experiments revealed that the sintering temperature has small impact on the microstructure formation. On the other hand, the decrease on oxygen chemical potential in the furnace atmosphere resulted in less oxidation of the powder particles. Moreover, the increasing on the cooling rate to 50 °C/min avoided the formation of grain boundary carbides. As a main conclusion, a special sintering cycle for Hadfield steel samples was suggested.

Copper is a well know material for use as heat sink or heat exchanger. However, copper has a considerable low tensile strength and temperature limit. A material that has a good thermal conductivity, low cost, but also resistance is the desired. Effects of copper on the sintering and thermal properties of iron-copper composites produced by powder metallurgy and Fe on copper-iron composites have been investigated. Copper and iron were varied from 20 to 80 vol.% in the samples, alternating the continuous phase. Sintering studies were performed by in-situ dilatometry aiming to define the proper conditions for sintering, without swelling normally associated with copper. Results indicate that the type of sintering, final microstructure, specially the phases relation and distribution and not only the amount of copper, have a great effect into the thermal properties. By controlling the sintering parameters, it is possible to obtain dimensionally stable samples with higher thermal conductivity and lower copper amount.

In this work, plasma carburizing of sintered pure iron at low temperature was investigated. Samples were carburized under a dc abnormal glow discharge in two mixed atmospheres (5%CH4 + 95%H2 and 20%CH4 + 80%H2) at 500 °C and 700 °C for 3 and 6 hours. The influence of these parameters was investigated by Scan Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (DRX), Raman spectroscopy and microhardness measurements. There is a correlation between temperature and layer morphology, and a layer of polycrystalline cementite was obtained at 500 °C and 700 °C on a ferrite substrate. Furthermore, the carburized layer thickness increased with an increase in the treatment time and the methane percentage. The topography is very dependent on the treatment temperature.

The purpose of this work was to develop nickel self-lubricating composites using solid lubricant as second phase and obtained by powder metallurgy. The work involved the study of chemical stability and chemical interaction between the nickel alloy matrix and solid lubricating additives (molybdenum disulfide, graphite and hexagonal boron nitride). The results showed a thermodynamic stability during sintering for the composites containing the phases of graphite and hexagonal boron nitride. The presence of molybdenum disulfide phase permits a reaction with the matrix, the formation of a liquid phase of nickel sulfide and the solubilization of molybdenum in the matrix.

In this work, 17-4PH stainless steel parts processed in a Plasma Assisted Debinding and Sintering (PADS) furnace were characterised in terms of microstructure, final density, microhardness, carbon content and tensile behaviour. To determine whether these properties were satisfactory, the same characterisation procedure was conducted on the parts processed by conventional batch furnaces that are normally employed in Metal Injection Moulding industrial plants. The properties were in good agreement, and only slight differences like an extremely low carbon content (0.003% w/o) were observed. It has been seen that not only economical advances but also intricate materials with suitable responses may be obtained using PADS.

Sintered metallic porous structures have an application as capillary structures in two-phase heat transfer loops. In this work the manufacturing procedure of tubular porous structures for capillary pump application is discussed. The application of porous structures on capillary pumping systems requires porosity higher than 40% and pore size diameter lower than 20 µm. Carbonyl nickel powder with particle diameter between 3 and 7 µm and stainless steel AISI316L powder with particle diameter between 1 and 22 µm were used as raw material. Sintering under hydrogen atmosphere was performed both in a resistive furnace and in a plasma reactor. Temperature and time were the modified parameters to obtain suitable porosity and roundness on the samples. The porosity was measured using the Arquimedes Principle (MPIF-42), the roundness was evaluated using a simplified measurement technique of the sample diameter and the pore size distribution was determined by image analysis techniques. Images obtained by Scanning Electronic Microscopy were employed on the image analysis. The sintering parameters selected to manufacture nickel samples were 700 °C and 30 min resulting in a porosity of about 44%. The sintering parameters selected to manufacture stainless steel samples were 1000 °C and 30 min resulting in a porosity of about 40%.