This paper presents the synthesis of Fe–Co–Ni nanocomposites by chemical precipitation, followed by a reduction process. It was found that the influence of the chemical composition and reduction temperature greatly alters the phase formation, its structures, particle size distribution, and magnetic properties of Fe–Co–Ni nanocomposites. The initial hydroxides of Fe–Co–Ni combinations were prepared by the co-precipitation method from nitrate precursors and precipitated using alkali. The reduction process was carried out by hydrogen in the temperature range of 300–500 °C under isothermal conditions. The nanocomposites had metallic and intermetallic phases with different lattice parameter values due to the increase in Fe content. In this paper, we showed that the values of the magnetic parameters of nanocomposites can be controlled in the ranges of MS = 7.6–192.5 Am2/kg, Mr = 0.4–39.7 Am2/kg, Mr/Ms = 0.02–0.32, and HcM = 4.72–60.68 kA/m by regulating the composition and reduction temperature of the Fe–Co–Ni composites. Due to the reduction process, drastic variations in the magnetic features result from the intermetallic and metallic face formation. The variation in magnetic characteristics is guided by the reduction degree, particle size growth, and crystallinity enhancement. Moreover, the reduction of the surface spins fraction of the nanocomposites under their growth induced an increase in the saturation magnetization. This is the first report where the influence of Fe content on the Fe–Co–Ni ternary system phase content and magnetic properties was evaluated. The Fe–Co–Ni ternary nanocomposites obtained by co-precipitation, followed by the hydrogen reduction led to the formation of better magnetic materials for various magnetically coupled device applications.
Spark plasma sintering (SPS) investigations were carried out on three sets of Co specimens: untreated, high energy mechanically (HEMT) pre-treated, and nanomodified powders. The microstructure, density, and mechanical properties of sintered pellets were investigated as a function of various pre-treatments and sintering temperatures (700–1000 °C). Fine-grained sinters were obtained for pre-treated Co powders; nano-additives tended to inhibit grain growth by reinforcing particles at grain boundaries and limiting grain-boundary movement. High degree of compaction was also achieved with relative densities of sintered Co pellets ranging between 95.2% and 99.6%. A direct co-relation was observed between the mechanical properties and densities of sintered Co pellets. For a comparable sinter quality, sintering temperatures for pre-treated powders were lower by 100 °C as compared to untreated powders. Highest values of bending strength (1997 MPa), microhardness (305 MPa), and relative density (99.6%) were observed for nanomodified HEMT and SPS processed Co pellets, sintered at 700 °C.
The effect of Ni and Co metal microparticles (MPs) and nanoparticles (NPs) on the structural and mechanical properties of Fe + 0.5 % C steel powder alloy was analyzed.
In this work, nanopowders (NP) Co(OH)2 were obtained by chemical precipitation from aqueous solutions of cobalt nitrate Co(NO3)2 and alkali NaOH (10 wt. %) using surfactants: sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) (0.1 wt. %). It was shown that Co(OH)2 NP with 0.1% SDS is the best quality product, since its dispersion increases more than 2 times compared to the samples with 0.1% CPC and without surfactants. In this case, the Co(OH)2 NP has the form of flakes with an irregular shape and a nanometer size (about 100 nm) with an average thickness of 30 nm. It was found that the average particle size of Co NP obtained by hydrogen reduction of Co(OH)2 NP with 0.1% SDS at 280°C has a maximum on the distribution histogram shifted to the interval 41–50 nm, which is characterized by a narrow particle size distribution and represents spherical particles sintered with each other.