Study of the influence of high-energy milling time on the Cu–13Al–4Ni alloy manufactured by powder metallurgy process

CuAlNi alloy has been extensively researched for having specific characteristics such as the shape memory effect. There are several methods of alloy manufacturing understudy, and powder metallurgy technique stands out because it has some advantages over other methods. Several factors influence obtaining the alloy by this technique, such as milling time. This work presents the influence of high-energy milling time on characteristics such as porosity, microhardness and Cu-13Al-4Ni alloy phase formation by the powder metallurgy process. It was observed that high-energy milling provided mechanical bonding between the elements involved in the alloy manufacture by modifying the individual characteristics of each, such as lowering the elements melting temperature, favoring the sintering process. The high-energy milling time of elemental powders involved in alloy manufacture influenced directly the alloy final quality. It was observed that the most suitable milling time related to densification of the alloy using the techniques and parameters of this work was 4 h. Samples that had been ground for 16 h did not show good densification.