Fabrication of stainless steel and aluminum fibers by PDME method

A pendent drop melt extraction (PDME) equipment was designed and fabricated to produce metallic fibers. The suitable work coils in our PDME unit were two or three turns type. The fiber formed by PDME method tends to be round as the diameter of the metallic fiber decreases. The final microstructure of the fiber significantly depends on the cooling rate of the melt drop. Solid nucleus was generated on the contact region of the cooling disc and grew in radial direction to the opposite side in relatively large diameter of the fiber. However, homogeneous and fine dendrite structure was observed in small diameter of the fiber. Optimum processing conditions for the fabrication of 40 and 100 μm in diameter of stainless steel and aluminum fibers were 6-8, 14-21 mm/min of specimen feeding speed, 400, 450-600 rpm of cooling disc revolution in inert argon atmosphere, respectively.