A. Khalili, M. Mojtahedi, M. Goodarzi, M. J. Torkamani,
Volume 16, Issue 3 (September 2019)
Abstract
The aim of this work was to synthesize TiC reinforced coating on carbon steel via reduction of ilmenite powder. A mixture of ilmenite and graphite was pre-placed on AISI 1020 steel surface. The effect of the addition of excess graphite amounts on the progress of synthesis of carbide particles was studied. The evolution of phases in different coatings was analysed via X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Then again, the initial powder mixtures were mechanically activated for various durations, to accelerate the reactions in transient melt pool. Finally, the Fe-TiC hard coating was successfully synthesized by carbothermic reduction of ilmenite through laser surface treatment. Moreover, it is proved that combination of mechanical activation with additive laser melting effectively improves the level of ilmenite reduction, besides enhancing the distribution of hard particles and the hardness of the coatings to more than 1300 HV.
Amir Hosein Paryab, Sorosh Abdollahi, Rashid Khalilifard, Hamid Reza Madaah Hosseini,
Volume 18, Issue 1 (March 2021)
Abstract
As an alternative to conventional fertilizers, e.g. NPK (the Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium containing chemical fertilizers) which release their nutrients in a short period of time, due to high solubility in irrigation water, glass fertilizers are ideal as they release macro- and micronutrients for crops and plant nourishment. Also, despite conventional ones, they have no ground-water pollution. In the present study, glass fertilizers were synthesized via Polymer-Derived Ceramics (PDC) method. Despite the melt-casting procedure, PDC needs lower temperatures in heat treatment. The precursors consist of poly-siloxane and active fillers. Thus, thanks to gaseous release during heat treatment of the present active fillers, i.e. Ca(OH)2, MgCO3, and Al(OH)3, a porous microstructure can be generated. In order to manipulate the pore size and specific surface area, fractions of active fillers were used as calcined. The experiments showed that upon increase of non-calcined active fillers, the specific surface area and the amount of porosity was increased due to more gaseous release during heat treatment. Thus, affected by microstructure, the release rate of macro and micro-elements was higher in the sample containing non-calcined active fillers, in comparison to other samples. Additionally, the porous samples were able to be loaded by extra nutrients containing Nitrogen, like KNO3.
