Abstract
To improve sintering-ability on MIM aluminum compact, liquid phase sintering were tried by addition of elemental powder. Mixed powders which were composed of 1 mass.%Si or 4 mass.%Cu powder and pure Al powders (average particle size: 35μm, 20μm, 11μm) were starting materials. Then, sintered Al-1Si and Al-4Cu compacts were prepared by MIM. The densities, microstructures and tensile properties at room temperature were investigated for obtained compacts. The results obtained were summarized as follows. (1) Regardless of Al powder size, the addition of these elemenal powders widely enhanced the density of sintered Al compacts. Using the roughest Al powder of 35μm, the relative density of the pure-Al compact was only 66%, while that of both the Al-1Si and Al-4Cu compacts went up to 89%. When 11μm Al powder was used, both the Al-1Si and Al-4Cu compacts had the relative density more than 95%. (2) The tensile properties of Al-1Si compacts were close to those of annealed wrought pure-Al. The Al-4Cu compact showed lower elongation but higher tensile strength than the Al-1Si compact.
