Characterization and Properties of Iron/Silica-Sand-Nanoparticle Composites

Abstract

Metal matrix-particulate composites fabricated by using powder metallurgy possess a higher dislocation density, a small sub-grain size and limited segregation of particles, which, when combined, result in superior mechanical properties. The present study aims to develop iron based silica sand nanoparticles composites with improved mechanical properties. An iron based silica sand nanoparticles composite with 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt.% of nanoparticles silica sand were developed through powder metallurgy technique. It was observed that by addition of silica sand nanoparticles with 20 wt.% increased the hardness up to 95HRB and tensile strength up to 690MPa. Sintered densities and electrical conductivity of the composites were improved with an optimum value of 15 wt.% silica sand nanoparticles. Proposed mechanism is due to diffusion of silica sand nanoparticles into porous sites of the composites.

Studying the Formation of Fe₂SiO₄ and Pearlite Phasesin Iron-Silica Sand Nanoparticle Composites

“…This alone would not constitute a major problem since soft agglomerates held together by Van-der-Waals forces only are easily broken down in the next step of 'dry' pressing that was incorporated in the powder processing. Some of particles are also shown with their average surface size as indicated by FESEM and the average particles size is 60nm [9]. EDS analysis on the silica sand rich phase shown in Figure 3, revealed the presence of high Si with little amount of Al.…”

“…The high surface energy of nanoparticles SiO 2 is responsible for the aggregation. The agglomeration of submicron SiO 2 particles is a spontaneous process because the Gibbs energy decreases during this process [9]. The FESEM image in Figure 2(a, b) also illustrates various structures of the SiO 2 particles including spherical particles and irregular shape particles as well as agglomerates.…”

“…In this work silica sand particles were ground to nanoparticles using ball mill with different steps of milling process with combination of heating and sieve analysis [9]. The silica (SiO 2 ) sand particle was quantitatively analysed using ZetaSizer, Nano ZS (ZEN 3600) (MALVERN) and its result is shown in Figure 1.…”

Tronoh Silica Sand Nanoparticle Production and Applications Design for Composites

“…The silica sand was originated naturally from Tronoh Perak, Malaysia and grounded to nanoparticles by using dry ball mill with zirconium ball (beads) as grinding media. This highenergy milling was known as one of the 'top-down' nanoparticles type approach, which generally relies on physical methods for their production [12]. Different particles sizes were analyzed by using sieve analysis (Sieve Shaker (EFL2000).…”

Physico-Mechanical Properties of Sintered Iron-Silica Sand Nanoparticle Composites: A Preliminary Study

“…This alone would not constitute a major problem since soft agglomerates held together by Van-der-Waals forces only are easily broken down in the next step of 'dry' pressing that was incorporated in the powder processing. Several primary particles seem to cluster or fuse at their faces, which is possibly due to growth and 'sintering' of individual crystals during the ball-milling process [12,13]. EDS analysis on the SiO 2 rich phase shown in (Figure 3), revealed the presence of high Si with little amount of Al.…”