This research involves a study of sane of the methods available for covering material substrates with a metallic coating. The materials studied were metal and ceramic powders, and the research attempted to produce composite powders, which could be used in the powder metallurgy industries as cheaper replacements for existing expensive powders. For example, iron powder particles coated with copper/tin could replace expensive bronze powders in machine bearing production.

Powder compaction is a production method commonly used in the manufacturing industry today. In order to minimize costly experiments and to optimize serial production of details several methods to analyze the powder compaction process are developed and used. One method is to use micromechanical analysis where the local description of contact between two individual particles is of great importance. In this dissertation a visco-plastic contact law has been used and further developed in order to understand the powder compaction process at packing, low relative density compaction up to high relative density compaction. In order to relax some assumptions from previous theoretical studies simulation with the discrete element method (DEM) was performed. Up to 10.000 spherical particles were used in packing and early compaction simulation. It was found that rearrangement of particles is one of the major densification mechanisms in the early phases of compaction. At die compaction this effect of rearrangement was shown to be more pronounced than predicted from theoretical analyses. It was also found that the size ratio of particles is of importance when the number fraction of small particles in the compound is high. The finite element method has been used for numerical analyses to investigate the local contact problem between two particles when self-similarity no longer prevail. Based on the numerical results a suggestion for an approximate compliance relation was made. With this approximate formula the local compliance behaviour between two dissimilar particles was analysed. These findings are directly applicable to simulations with the discrete element method. Finally, an investigation using the finite element method to evaluate the range of the accuracy for theoretical and approximate compliance formula has been done with compounds of different regular lattices. It was found that the range of accuracy is much dependent on the number of contacts within the lattices, specially new forming contacts during the compaction. / QC 20101007

<p>Powder compaction is a production method commonly used in the manufacturing industry today. In order to minimize costly experiments and to optimize serial production of details several methods to analyze the powder compaction process are developed and used. One method is to use micromechanical analysis where the local description of contact between two individual particles is of great importance. In this dissertation a visco-plastic contact law has been used and further developed in order to understand the powder compaction process at packing, low relative density compaction up to high relative density compaction.</p><p>In order to relax some assumptions from previous theoretical studies simulation with the discrete element method (DEM) was performed. Up to 10.000 spherical particles were used in packing and early compaction simulation. It was found that rearrangement of particles is one of the major densification mechanisms in the early phases of compaction. At die compaction this effect of rearrangement was shown to be more pronounced than predicted from theoretical analyses. It was also found that the size ratio of particles is of importance when the number fraction of small particles in the compound is high.</p><p>The finite element method has been used for numerical analyses to investigate the local contact problem between two particles when self-similarity no longer prevail. Based on the numerical results a suggestion for an approximate compliance relation was made. With this approximate formula the local compliance behaviour between two dissimilar particles was analysed. These findings are directly applicable to simulations with the discrete element method. Finally, an investigation using the finite element method to evaluate the range of the accuracy for theoretical and approximate compliance formula has been done with compounds of different regular lattices. It was found that the range of accuracy is much dependent on the number of contacts within the lattices, specially new forming contacts during the compaction.</p>

This thesis outlines the work done on in-situ synthesis of Al2O3-ZrO2-SiCw ceramic composites and their property evaluation. The introductory chapter deals with the literature survey on ceramic matrix composites, properties desirable for structural applications and toughening mechanisms associated with these composites. The role of whisker toughening in ceramic matrix composites, the growth mechanisms involved in whisker growth and the conditions that favour or hamper the whisker growth are also discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of in-situ synthesis of composites as compared to physical mixing are also dealt with. The objective and scope of the work undertaken are outlined at the end. The second chapter describes the experimental techniques associated with carbothermal synthesis and characterisation of reaction products as well as properties of hot pressed bulk composites. The equipments used for this work are described here. The third chapter focuses on the results obtained by the carbothermal reduction of mixtures of kaolin, sillimanite and zircon taken in various proportions. The formation of the product phases with respect to variations in temperature, variations in composition and effect of catalyst is analysed with the help of XRD while their morphology is analysed using SEM. The conditions favouring the formation of tetragonal zirconia without the addition of stabilizers is also enumerated here. The fourth chapter deals with the compaction of these composite powders and the evaluation of some physical, thermal and mechanical properties. Density and porosity, coefficient of thermal expansion, modulus of rupture and fracture toughness of the composite specimens are evaluated and compared with binary and ternary composites made by other methods. Finally the thesis concludes by summarizing the work done and briefly projecting the areas for future work.