Effect of Sintering Factors on Properties of Al-Rich PTFE/Al/TiH₂ Active Materials

Sintering process is an important part of the specimen preparation process, which directly affects the properties of materials. In order to obtain the best sintering control factors of Al-rich PTFE/Al/TiH₂ active materials, Al-rich PTFE/Al/TiH₂ active specimens with different sintering control factors were prepared using a mold pressing sintering method. A quasi-static compression experiment was carried out on a universal material testing machine, and a real stress-strain curve was obtained. The effects of sintering control factors on the properties of Al-rich PTFE/Al/TiH₂ active materials were analyzed by means of mechanical parameters such as compressive strength, failure strain and toughness. SEM and XRD were used to analyze the microstructure and phase of the sintered samples. The results show that: (1) With the increase of cooling rate, the density, yield strength, strain hardening modulus, compressive strength and toughness of Al-rich Al/PTFE/TiH₂ specimens decrease gradually, while the failure strain and pores of the specimens increase gradually. (2) With the increase of sintering temperature, the density, maximum true strain and toughness of the specimens first increase and then decrease, and the failure strain of the specimens gradually increases. When the sintering temperature is 360 °C, the PTFE matrix and particles inside the specimen are closely combined, a small number of particles are exposed on the PTFE matrix and there are a small number of voids. (3) With the increase of holding time at 360 °C, the strength and toughness of the material first decrease and then increase. When the holding time is 6 h, the interface between particles and matrix inside the specimen is the strongest, and the crack propagation inside the specimen is less. (4) When the sintering time increased from 1 h to 4 h at 315 °C, the compressive strength of the specimen increased by 1.62%, the toughness of the specimen decreased by 0.55% and the failure strain of the specimen decreased by 0.54%. The interface between PTFE matrix and particles is the strongest and the crack propagation is less in the specimen with a holding time of 4 h. (5) Above all, the optimum sintering parameters of Al-rich Al/PTFE/TiH₂ materials are cooling rate of 25 °C/h, sintering temperature of 360 °C, holding time of 6 h and holding time of 4 h at 315 °C. (6) The reactivity of Al-rich Al/PTFE/TiH₂ specimens with 10% content of TiH₂ under static compression is not significantly affected by sintering parameters.