Preparation and surface alloying of Al@Dy and Al@Y core-shell particles by magnetron sputtering and pulsed electron beam treatment

The paper is devoted to preparation Al@Dy and Al@Y core-shell structures by magnetron sputtering of Dy and Y on an Al powder. A unique powder holder system is used to obtain continuous powder movement and conglomerates destruction during the treatment. It has been established that powder particles treated using the powder holder system have a uniform coating over the entire surface. The powder coating process regularities were studied depending on the deposition time and the powder charge weight. Simple evaluation criteria for powder coating system efficiency and deposited material content based on the deposition rate were proposed. The complex modification consists of the initial core-shell structure formation and subsequent pulsed low-energy high-current electron beam treatment in the surface layer melting mode was demonstrated. The main goal of the electron beam treatment is to provide better adhesion of the “shell” material to the “core” material. Such treatment led to the deposited shell element alloying into the depth of core particles. Moreover, such electron beam treatment led to the synthesis of intermetallic compounds. In further studies, the prepared structures will be used for the uniform distribution of Dy and Y over the frame elements of self-propagating high-temperature synthesized porous materials.