Characterization, Physical and Mechanical Behavior of Sintered Atomized Iron–Zinc Stearate Composite

Powder metallurgy is an effective method to process the iron component in near net shape. In this paper, the influence of particle size, lubricant and compaction load on the physical and mechanical properties of the sintered iron–zinc stearate composite sample has been investigated. Atomized iron powders of particle size 100–200 and 200–300 mesh with zinc stearate 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 wt% were used for preparing the samples. Green samples were prepared by cold compaction at various loads of 200, 180 and 160 KN and the sintering is done at 500 °C. The physical properties and the mechanical properties such as density, hardness and compression strength have been measured for the sintered samples. Scanning electron microscope was used to characterize the atomized iron powders and the sintered samples. It were confirmed that the shape of atomized iron powder particles were irregular, dendritic and acicular. Energy dispersive spectroscopy was used to identify the elemental compositions of powders and the sintered samples. Taguchi (L 18 ) method was effectively used to develop the regression model and describe the contribution of the input parameters in compressive strength, density, and hardness. The highest effect on density was powder particle size followed by compaction load and lubricant wt%. The Hardness value increased with increase in the powder particle size and compaction load and decreases with increase in the lubricant wt%. The compression strength increased with increase of compaction load and decrease of lubricant wt% and particle size.