Morphology transformation of stainless steel 316L powder from spheres to flakes using high-energy ball milling and the investigation of transformation behaviour

Today, microfiltration plays the most significant role in removing fine particulate impurities in gas streams used in high-tech industries. However, the current SS316L gas filter has a limitation in enhancing performance due to the trade-off relationship between filterability and permeability. This limitation can be overcome by the geometrical effect of the gas filter that maximises inertial impaction and diffusion interception due to complex flow channels using small flake particles. However, since the smaller the particle size, the yield strength higher, there are few reports of preparing the small flake particles by plastic deformation. This study used a high-energy ball milling process to demonstrate the preparation method for small stainless steel 316L flake particles. Furthermore, the process parameters are systematically optimised to fully transform the spherical particles into thin platelets without fracture and cold welding, and the transformation behaviour is discussed in detail.