Fabrication of High Strength and Ductile Stainless Steel Fiber Felts by Sintering

Stainless steel fiber felts are important porous stainless steel products for a variety of industry applications. A systematic study of the sintering of 28-µm stainless steel fibers has been conducted for the first time, assisted with synchrotron radiation experiments to understand the evolution of the sintered joints. The critical sintering conditions for the formation of bamboo-like grain structures in the fiber ligaments were identified. The evolution of the number density of the sintered joints and the average sintered neck radius during sintering was assessed based on synchrotron radiation experiments. The optimum sintering condition for the fabrication of high strength and ductile 28-µm-diameter stainless steel fiber felts was determined to be sintering at 1000°C for 900 s. Sintering under this optimum condition increased the tensile strength of the as-sintered stainless steel fiber felts by 50% compared to conventional sintering (1200°C for 7200 s), in addition to much reduced sintering cycle and energy consumption.