Abstract
Gas-atomized Ti Grade 2 powder was processed by cryogenic milling and compacted by spark plasma sintering at temperatures in range 500-800 °C. Open and closed porosity of the sintered samples was determined by Archimedes method, while densification during sintering was assessed indirectly from the movement of the pistons.
Master sintering curve (MSC) was fitted by dedicated fitting procedure and the parameters were refined. Several variants of the MSC and their ability to describe the densification were compared.
Processing parameters were optimized to achieve fully dense fine grained material. Microhardness of the material depends mainly on the residual porosity and is affected by contamination, which conforms to technical standards of Ti Grade 4.
Combination of cryogenic milling and spark plasma sintering was found to be a feasible processing technology for manufacturing fine grained titanium.