Manufacture and some properties of iron-chromium-nickel alloy powders

Conclusions

• 1. Techniques have been developed for the preparation of iron-chromium-nickel alloy powders representing a wide range of chemical compositions. In the preparation of such powders, use was made of the following processes: a) diffusion impregnation with chromium of iron-nickel alloy powders prepared by the coreduction of oxides of the metals involved; b) simultaneous interimpregnation of iron, nickel, and chromium powders; c) diffusion impregnation with chromium of an iron-nickel powder mixture prepared by the hydrogen reduction of nickel carbonate in the presence of iron powder.

• 2. A study of the properties of iron-chromium-nickel powders yielded by various processes has shown that homogeneous alloy powders in the range of compositions corresponding to Kh18N9, Kh18N15, and Kh23N18 austenitic steels can be prepared only by the method of diffusion impregnation of iron-nickel alloy powders with chromium. Such powders exhibit excellent compressibility, while sintered materials produced from them possess mechanical properties greatly superior to those of materials produced from powders prepared by other technological variants of the diffusion impregnation process.