Role of Voltage and Gas in Determining the Mean Diameter in Sn-58 Bi Intermetallic Compound Nanoparticles for Pulsed Wire Discharge

Pulsed wire discharge using Sn-58 Bi wires was used to synthesize intermetallic Sn-58 Bi compound nanoparticles. We investigate that nanopowder particle size is controlled by voltage and gas atmosphere. A large pulsed current was applied to the alloy wires set between the electrodes in two gas atmosphere such as Ar, N2. We were discussed the results based on the k factor. The k factor means Ec/Ev, where Ec and Ev are the charging energy of the capacitor and the vaporization energy of the wire. Nanoparticles whose composition was close to that of Sn-58 Bi were synthesized under N2 atmosphere and 6 kV voltage. In such conditions, the applied energy to the wire was higher than sublimation energy of the wires. Under the other experimental conditions, other phases such as Bi-rich and Sn-Bi compound phases were detected. The major results in this study demonstrate the synthesis of alloy nano powders by using alloy wire.