Investigation of Impact of Ceramic Nanomaterial Addition on Ductile Minerals: A Powder Metallurgy Approach

The addition of ceramic nanomaterials has a clear effect on minerals that suffer from ductility, when silica (SiO2) is incorporated into nickel metal (Ni) in volume ratios of 2 %, 4 %, 6 %, 8 %, and 10 %. The powder metallurgy process involved mixing designated volume ratios, the powders are milled for two hours using a custom electric mixer. Subsequently, the powder is placed into a press mold with a diameter of 10 mm, and the pressing operation is executed using a hydraulic press at a pressure of (80 MPa) for one minute. The resulting samples were heated at (1100 °C) for two hours. Some tests were conducted before and after the thermal sintering process, and the thermal treatments yielded significant experimental results, with the Brinell method showing the highest hardness at 770 kg/mm2 and the best compressive strength at 68 MPa. Additionally, the lowest porosity recorded was 9 %. Regarding the structural findings, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction provided clear results for the fabricated models in terms of how the structural elements were connected and dependent on each other, as well as the characteristics of the reinforcing material and its ability to permeate through the surface of the nickel base material.