Fundamental Research of Sintering Process and Properties of Iron Base Composites

We have successfully synthesized iron base composites reinforced with SiC particles by a dynamic hot-pressing sintering process heating directly by electrical current. The corresponding equipment was improved and the best processing parameters was achieved after a systematically investigation. It was found that the novel sintering process, heating using continuous electrical current and then followed by dynamic temperature preservation using cyclic current, could effectively reduce the sintering time to 300 seconds and greatly improve the properties of the composites. The ultimate tensile strength of the as-prepared SiCp/Fe composite reaches 918Mpa, with a relative density of 99.8% and a hardness of 480HB.