Microstructure and mechanical behavior of Ni–Cu–Fe–Si porous alloys

Ni–Cu-based porous alloys have attracted extensive interests for their potential use as filters because of their unique mechanical, corrosion resistant and filtering abilities. In this paper, Ni–Cu–Fe–Si porous alloys with different porosities were prepared by powder metallurgy method using NaCl as space holder materials. The pore features of the Ni–Cu–Fe–Si porous alloys were studied by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). Mercury injection capillary pressure apparatus was used to determine the porosity of the sintered samples. The crystal structure of constituent phase was identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Compression test was carried out to determine the mechanical properties of Ni–Cu–Fe–Si porous alloys. The experimental results indicate that samples sintered at 1100 °C for 8 h showed good features of the pores with a moderate porosity (about 50%), the ultimate compressive strength was up to 100 MPa.