Plasma-assisted centrifugal atomization of a refractory and metallic high entropy alloy
2021 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Student thesisAlternative title
Plasma-assisted centrifugal atomization of a refractory and metallic high entropy alloy (English)
Abstract [en]
High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have attracted great research interest in materials science and engineering. Unlike conventional alloys, which contain one main element with alloying elements being added in small proportion, HEAs comprise multiple principal elements in similar atomic percentages. The high entropy of this type of mixture is responsible for the stabilisation of a single phase solid solution, which results in a material exhibiting excellent properties (e.g. high strength and hardness), especially at high temperatures if high melting point elements are used (refractory HEA). The present study investigated the feasibility of producing spherical powder particles of a TiNbMoZrHfWVTa refractory HEA with homogeneous composition by a process called plasma-assisted centrifugal atomization. This method makes it possible to achieve spherical-shaped metal powders with properties suitable for additive manufacturing (AM) such as good flowability and high density. Metal powders of the individual elements were mixed, ball-milled and spark plasma sintered (SPS) for reaction by interdiffusion. This was followed by cryogenic milling of the resulting consolidated bodies in order to produce divided powder to serve as a feedstock for the atomization. The characterization of the material before and after atomization was performed with different techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. The results showed high heterogeneity after spark plasma sintering with various regions enriched by one particular main element as well as the formation of a refractory high entropy phase, which exhibited FCC crystal structure. After plasma-assisted centrifugal atomization, the resulting powder particles showed a spherical geometry with a typical particle diameter of 150-180 μm and a single refractory high entropy phase with BCC crystal structure. Cross-sections of the atomized material showed a dendritic structure with a microstructural length scale ranging from the submicron to a few micron range. The chemical composition was homogeneous down to the size of the dendrites, where a slight degree of segregation of the elements was present.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. , p. 59
Keywords [en]
HEA, powder metallurgy, additive manufacturing, plasma technology
National Category
Metallurgy and Metallic Materials
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-86538OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-86538DiVA, id: diva2:1583822
External cooperation
Höganäs
Subject / course
Student thesis, at least 30 credits
Educational program
Materials Engineering, master's level (120 credits)
Presentation
2021-05-25, 09:00 (English)
Examiners
2021-08-122021-08-092021-08-12Bibliographically approved