Relationship between pore coarsening and mass loss during supersolidus liquid phase sintering of alpha brass

ABSTRACT

The effect of sintering variables on the zinc loss during sintering of brass was investigated. Zinc loss, evident through mass change, starts during heating of the powder at approximately 700°C. By supersolidus liquid phase sintering of the cold-pressed brass powder, the maximum amount of zinc loss occurred at lower temperatures and prolonged sintering times. At higher temperatures, especially near the zinc boiling point, the rate of zinc loss from the surface is surprisingly moderate since closing of the pores causes zinc to be trapped in the samples. At lower temperatures, in contrast, when the pores in the surface are open and there is also a lower volume fraction of liquid phase, zinc can easily escape from the samples. Generally, it was thus concluded that during sintering, zinc loss depends more strongly on the pore connectivity and the specific surface than just on the nominal vapour pressure.

KEYWORDS:

• Alpha brass
• zinc loss
• modelling
• thermal analysis
• X-ray radiography

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to sincerely thank Imam Reza Hospital, Tabriz, Iran for performing the X-ray radiography analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Abbas Sabahi Namini was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1984. He received his B.Sc. in Materials Engineering, as well as his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran. In 2018, he joined the Department of Materials Engineering, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, as an assistant professor. His current research interests include powder metallurgy, ceramic matrix composites, metal matrix composites, and nanotechnology.

Maziyar Azadbeh is an Associate Professor in materials science at Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran. He has a wide background in liquid phase sintering of Cu-base alloys, surface engineering and also aluminum recycling. He started his undergraduate program in materials science at Sahand University of Technology, and obtained his MSc degree at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in surface engineering. He continued his graduate studies at Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria and graduating with his PhD under advisement of Prof. Herbert Danninger in 2006.

Ahad Mohammadzadeh was born in Tabriz, Iran, in 1987. He received his B.Sc. in Materials Engineering, as well as his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran, in 2010, 2012 and 2016, respectively. In 2017, he joined the Department of Materials Engineering, University of Maragheh, as an assistant professor. His current research interests include powder metallurgy, metal-oxide nanomaterials, heat treatment, and surface engineering. Dr. Mohammadzadeh is a Fellow of the Iranian Elite Academy. He is co-founder and CEO of Farda-Negar co., Tabriz, Iran, which ranked as a knowledge-based enterprise. The main discipline of the firm is heat treatment and surface modification services.

Herbert Danninger studied Technical Chemistry at TU Wien, obtaining his PhD in 1980. Since that time he has been doing research in powder metallurgy. In 2003 he was appointed Full Professor for Chemical Technology of Inorganic Materials at TU Wien, and currently he is also Dean of the Faculty of Technical Chemistry. He has published more than 450 articles, mostly on powder metallurgy topics, and holds 3 honorary doctorate.

Shirin Rezapasand is currently a M.Sc. graduate in powder metallurgy. She earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in materials engineering from Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran.

ORCID

Ahad Mohammadzadeh http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5062-2938

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.