Journal of Materials Science, Vol.47, No.3, 1244-1250, 2012
Effect of aluminium evaporation loss on pore characteristics of porous FeAl alloys produced by vacuum sintering
This study investigated the effect of aluminium evaporation loss on the pore characteristics of a porous Fe-Al alloy. The porous Fe-Al alloy samples were produced through pressureless reaction synthesis from powder compacts of elemental Fe and Al powder mixture under vacuum. Cellular characteristics were analysed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry. The maximum open-cell pore size, open-cell porosity and permeability increased with increasing sintering temperature. Based on the Miedema model and Langmuir equation, the evaporation weight losses were calculated and in good agreement with the experimental measurements. The relationship between the evaporation weight losses and the cellular morphology and physical properties of the porous Fe-Al samples is also discussed.