Spark Plasma Sintering of Stainless Steel Powders Fabricated by High Energy Ball Milling

The 304 stainless steel powders were prepared by high energy ball milling and subsequently sintered by spark plasma sintering, and the microstructural characteristics and micro-hardness were investigated. The initial size of the irregular shaped 304 stainless steel powders was approximately 42 ${\mu}m$. After high energy ball milling at 800 rpm for 5h, the powders became spherical with a size of approximately 2 ${\mu}m$, and without formation of reaction compounds. From TEM analysis, it was confirmed that the as-milled powders consisted of the aggregates of the nano-sized particles. As the sintering temperature increased from 1073K to 1573K, the relative density and micro-hardness of sintered sample increased. The sample sintered at 1573K showed the highest relative density of approximately 95% and a micro-hardness of 550 Hv.