Cold Consolidation of Metal–Ceramic Nanocomposite Powders with Large Ceramic Fractions

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.200800456/abstract

Advanced Functional Materials

Volume 18, Issue 20, pages 3293–3298, October 23, 2008

Enric Menéndez, German Salazar-Alvarez, Alexander P. Zhilyaev, Santiago Suriñach, Maria Dolors Baró, Josep Nogués, Jordi Sort

DOI: 10.1002/adfm.200800456

Abstract

Co/α-Al₂O₃ powder mixtures (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mass % of α-Al₂O₃) have been ball-milled and, subsequently, consolidated at room temperature by means of a high pressure torsion procedure in order to produce bulk nanostructured composites. For mixtures up to 20% of α-Al₂O₃, the cold-compaction results in roughly fully dense disks with relatively high microhardness values. However, the compaction for 30, 40, and 50% of α-Al₂O₃ is less effective, resulting in a reduction of the microhardness although a structure in the nanoscale range is still preserved. A detailed structural investigation has been also performed.