Tortuosity factor for porous FeAl intermetallics fabricated by reactive synthesis
(1. State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;
2. Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia;
3. Membrane Science and Technology Research Center, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 210009, China;
4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China)
2. Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia;
3. Membrane Science and Technology Research Center, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 210009, China;
4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China)
Abstract: The tortuosity factor is the most critical parameter for the pore characteristic of porous materials. The tortuosity factor for porous FeAl intermetallics was studied based on the Darcy law and Hagen-Poiseuille equation. Porous stainless steel with the same pore structure parameter as porous FeAl was fabricated by powder metallurgy method for comparison. The results show that the tortuosity factor of porous FeAl intermetallics is smaller than that of porous stainless steel when their pore structure parameters are the same. The average tortuosity factor is 2.26 for the porous FeAl material and 2.92 for the porous stainless steel, calculated by Hagen-Poiseuille equation. The reason of the different tortuosity factors for porous FeAl and porous stainless steel was also explored through studying the pore formation mechanisms of the two types of porous materials.
Key words: FeAl; intermetallics; porous material; tortuosity factor