Estudo das propriedades físicas e mecânicas de ligas de Fe-Nb2O5 processadas por metalurgia do pó

Abstract

Considering the fact that Brazil has about 93% of all niobium present in the world, investigations regarding the benefits that this could bring have been initiated, thus thinking about possible alloys that can be manufactured. In addition, as iron is one of the most abundant elements on the planet, alloys based on the Fe-Nb system were manufactured, as niobium has the possibility to increase the hardness and strength of other materials. For this purpose, the powder metallurgy technique was used, since it is a cost-effective and easy-to-handle technique for the production of metal alloys, in addition to providing good mechanical properties. Therefore, in order to evaluate the physical and mechanical characteristics, these alloys were manufactured at concentrations of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 5.0, 50.0 and 100.0 wt% of Nb 2 O 5 and, later, tests were carried out in order to understand its characteristics. By carrying out the tests, it was possible to obtain that the hardness of the material rises up to 1.0 wt% of Nb 2 O 5 , after which the values tended to decrease and grow back to 5 wt% — in addition, a higher concentration of niobium pentoxide caused greater porosity in the produced parts. Therefore, with this work it was possible to obtain that the insertion of Nb 2 O 5 in Fe can have interesting characteristics such as, for example, high hardness, which may, in the future, be better used for the production of high strength and hardness alloys, aiming at the greater use of a national product.