Fabrication of iron-nickel alloy microcomponents by centrifuge-assisted micromolding

Abstract

Iron-nickel alloys exhibit lots of attractive properties, such as magnetic and conductivity properties, as well as excellent corrosion resistance. These properties make them suitable for making microcomponents. This paper presents the fabrication of iron-nickel alloy microcomponents (microchannel, microwell, micromixer, and microgear) from an ethanol-based composite slurry by centrifuge-assisted micromolding. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) molds were replicated from microstructured silicon masters. A stable ethanol-based iron-nickel composite slurry with a high solid content of 85 wt% was prepared and filled into the PDMS molds by the aid of centrifugation. After drying, green microcomponents were demolded and followed by sintering in hydrogen atmosphere. Sintering profile was established by TGA. The green and sintered microcomponents had good shape retention and were free of cracks. The highest density of the microcomponents (97.3 RD%) was achieved at 1070°C; the corresponding microhardness and Young's modulus were 167.8 HV and 175.4 GPa, respectively. The linear shrinkage increased with sintering temperature and the maximum value was about 12.5 %.

The electrical, thermal conductivity, microstructure and mechanical properties of Al–Sn–Pb ternary alloys

“…The temperature of the sample was adjusted by a controllable Nabertherm furnace and measured using a 0.5 mm standard K type thermocouple which was placed very close to the sample and detected with the Keithley 2700 multimeter. Electrical resistivity and conductivity were determined from the detected current and voltage drop using a standard conversion method [5][6][7]. The temperature dependence to the electrical resistivity of the samples were revealed by using a standard DC 4PPT.…”

“…In previous studies, issues such as the thermodynamic parameters, the microstructure and tribological properties, heat treatments on microstructures, and interfacial microstructures in Al-based binary and ternary alloys, and Al-Sn-Pb nanocrystalline alloys have been studied by many researchers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. This present work is different from other studies because the crystal structure, the cell parameters, the grain sizes, the specific heats, thermal, electrical and properties of this ternary alloys in the literature for these compositions is insufficient.…”