Spark plasma sintering of aluminum 3000 and 5000 alloys powder obtained from recycling of Used Beverage Cans (UBCs)

Abstract

AbstractIntroduction: In this research, aluminum bulk pieces were produced by spark plasma sintering of 3004 and 5182 alloys powder. Aluminum alloy powder was previously produced in a planetary ball milling machine by mechanical milling of UBCs, which consist of Al 5182 for the lid and Al 3004 for the body.Methods: Sintering was done at 530 °C for 5182 alloy powders and 570 °C for 3004, (with heating rate of 20 °C/min), in vacuum atmosphere for 30 min under pressure of up to 35 MPa in graphite die. The density of produced cylindrical samples (Φ=25 and h=17 mm in size) was determined by Archimedes principle. Tensile strength was obtained through three extracted tensile samples from top, center, and bottom of each sintered part. Microstructure of metallographic sections revealed, then hardness measurements were conducted on them.Findings: The density of sintered Al 3004 and 5182 was 2.71 and 2.61 g/cm3, respectively, and the average hardness was 231±8 and 109±11 Vickers, correspondingly., The average tensile strength of the sintered alloys obtained equal 243±17 and 194±7 MPa, respectively. Fracture morphology indicates a microstructural gradient, which can be in consequence of liquid phase settling, especially in 5182 aluminum alloy. Al 3004 also shows suitable sinter ability and the size of distributed metastable in it is fine.

Keywords

• aluminum powder
• spark plasma sintering
• mechanical properties
• nanostructured bulk pieces