Abstract
In generally, particle composite alloy is fabricated by powder metallurgy. The other hand, Plasma Powder Melting (PPM) method is being put into practice for welding machine in the field of surface hardening. In this study, it is attempted to fabricate Fe-carbide composite materials using PPM method. The Fe powder, Cr3C2 powder, NbC powder and WC powder are mixed respectively, which are directly melted by plasma arc in the graphite mold so as to obtain Fe-carbides composite materials. The maximum bending strength of the composite reinforced with 20wt% of Cr3C2 particles was 1.2 GPa, and the strength value was remarkably high in comparison with 0.8 GPa of the product without reinforcing under similar preparation conditions. In Fe-NbC composites, the maximum bending strength of the composite reinforced with 20wt% of NbC particles was 0.98 GPa, NbC particles were dispersed uniformly. In Fe-WC composites, the strength value of this composites remarkably low in comparison with other Fe-carbide composites, which was caused by difference of density between Fe and WC. In generally, with increasing the content of carbide, the bending modulus of these composites decreased monotonously and hardness of these increased monotonously.
