Grain refining of Al-4.5Cu alloy by adding an Al-30TiC master alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sato, Kazuaki [Toyota Motor Corp., Shizuoka (Japan). Materials Engineering Div. III; Flemings, M.C. [Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

1998-06-01

A particulate Al-30 wt pct TiC composite was employed as a grain refiner for the Al-4.5 wt pct Cu alloy. The composite contains submicron TiC particles. The addition of the TiC grain refiner to the metal alloy in the amount of 0.1 Ti wt pct effected a remarkable reduction in the average grain size in Al-4.5 wt pct Cu alloy castings. With the content of over 0.2 Ti wt pct, the grain refiner maintained its refining effectiveness even after a 3,600-second holding time at 973 K. The TiC particles in the resulting castings were free of interfacial phases. It is concluded that the TiC are the nucleating agents and that they are resistant to the fading effect encountered with most grain refiners.

The effect of grain refinement and silicon content on grain formation in hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Y.C.; Dahle, A.K.; StJohn, D.H.; Hutt, J.E.C. [Queensland Univ., Brisbane (Australia). Dept. of Mining, Minerals and Mater. Eng.

1999-01-15

The effect of increasing the amount of added grain refiner on grain size and morphology has been investigated for a range of hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys. The results show a transition in grain size at a silicon concentration of about 3 wt% in unrefined alloys; the grain size decreasing with silicon content before the transition, and increasing beyond the transition point. A change in morphology also occurs with increased silicon content. The addition of grain refiner leads to greater refinement for silicon contents below the transition point than for those contents above the transition point, while the transition point seems to remain unchanged. The slope of the grain size versus silicon content curve after the transition seems to be unaffected by the degree of grain refinement. The results are related to the competitive processes of nucleation and constitutional effects during growth and their impact on nucleation kinetics. (orig.) 13 refs.

Microstructure and grain refining performance of melt-spun Al-5Ti-1B master alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Zhonghua; Bian Xiufang; Wang Yan; Liu Xiangfa

2003-01-01

In the present work, the microstructure and grain refining performance of the melt-spun Al-5Ti-1B (wt%) master alloy have been investigated, using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and grain refining tests. It has been found that the microstructure of the melt-spun Al-5Ti-1B master alloy is mainly composed of two phases: metastable, supersaturated α-Al solid solution and uniformly dispersed TiB 2 particles, quite different from that of the rod-like alloy consisting of three phases: α-Al, blocky TiAl 3 , and clusters of TiB 2 particles. Quenching temperatures and wheel speeds (cooling rates), however, have no obvious effect on the microstructure of the melt-spun Al-5Ti-1B alloy. Grain refining tests show that rapid solidification has a significant effect on the grain refining performance of Al-5Ti-1B alloy and leads to the great increase of nucleation rate of the alloy. Nevertheless, the melt-spun Al-5Ti-1B master alloy prepared at different wheel speeds and quenching temperatures possesses the similar grain refining performance. The reasons for the microstructure formation and the improvement of the grain refining performance of the melt-spun Al-5Ti-1B master alloy have been also discussed

Development of an efficient grain refiner for Al-7Si alloy and its modification with strontium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kori, S.A.; Murty, B.S.; Chakraborty, M. [Indian Inst. of Technol., Kharagpur (India). Dept. of Metall. and Mater. Eng.

2000-05-15

The grain refining response of Al and Al-7Si alloy has been studied with various Al-Ti, Al-B and Al-Ti-B master alloys at different addition levels. The results show that Al-B and B rich Al-Ti-B master alloys cannot grain refine Al, while they are efficient grain refiners to Al-7Si alloy. The level of grain refinement saturates after 0.03% of Ti or B for most of the master alloys studied both at short and long holding times. The grain refining efficiency of some elements other than Ti and B on Al-7Si alloy has also been studied. Interestingly, all the elements studied (B, Cr, Fe, Mg, Ni, Ti and Zr) have resulted in some grain refinement of Al-7Si alloy at short holding time and have shown fading/poisoning on long holding, which increased in the order of B (no poisoning), Ti, Cr, Ni, Fe, Mg, Zr. Sr (0.02%) has been found to provide complete modification of the eutectic in Al-7Si alloy within 2 min, which is not lost even after long holding up to 120 min. Significant improvements in the mechanical properties have been obtained by a combination of grain refinement and modification to an extent that was not possible by either of them alone. (orig.)

Grain Refinement of an Al-2 wt%Cu Alloy by Al3Ti1B Master Alloy and Ultrasonic Treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, E Q; Wang, G; Dargusch, M S; StJohn, D H; Qian, M; Eskin, D G

2016-01-01

Both inoculation by AlTiB master alloys and Ultrasonic Treatment (UT) are effective methods of refining the grain size of aluminium alloys. The present study investigates the influence of UT on the grain refinement of an Al-2 wt% Cu alloy with a range of Al3TilB master alloy additions. When the alloy contains the smallest amount of added master alloy, UT caused significant additional grain refinement compared with that provided by the master alloy only. However, the influence of UT on grain size reduces with increasing addition of the master alloy. Plotting the grain size data versus the inverse of the growth restriction factor (Q) reveals that the application of UT causes both an increase in the number of potentially active nuclei and a decrease in the size of the nucleation free zone due to a reduction in the temperature gradient throughout the melt. Both these factors promote the formation of a fine equiaxed grain structure. (paper)

An analytical approach to elucidate the mechanism of grain refinement in calcium added Mg-Al alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagasivamuni, B.; Ravi, K.R.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Minor additions of Ca (<0.2%) refines the grain structure in Mg-(3, 6 and 9)Al alloys. • Analytical model elucidate that nucleation potency is enhanced after Ca addition. • Ternary Mg-Al-xCa growth restriction values (Q t ) are computed using Scheil equations. • Grain size predictions elucidate that nucleation events dominate grain refinement. • Growth restriction due to the higher Ca addition on grain refinement is not significant. - Abstract: The present study investigates the grain refinement of Mg-3Al, Mg-6Al and Mg-9Al alloys by calcium addition. The maximum reduction in grain size has been observed at 0.2% Ca addition in Mg-Al alloys, in which any further addition (up to 0.4%) has marginal improvement in grain refinement. The mechanism associated with the grain refinement of Mg-Al alloys by Ca addition is discussed in terms of growth restriction factor (Q) and constitutional undercooling (ΔT CS ) using analytical model. The influence of growth restriction factor (Q) on the final grain size of Ca-added Mg-Al alloys are calculated with the help analytical model by assuming that the number of nucleant particles is not altered through Ca addition. For accurate grain size calculations, the value of Q has been estimated with reliable thermodynamic database using Scheil solidification simulation. The comparison of predicted and experimental grain size results indicate that constitutional undercooling activation of nucleation events plays dominant role in grain refinement in Mg-Al alloys by calcium addition, whereas the increase in growth restriction value has negligible effect

Precipitation behavior and grain refinement of burnishing Al-Zn-Mg alloy

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Ce Pang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Burnishing is a unique strengthening approach to improve the strength of surface layer and remains the ductility of the interior of metallic materials. In this work, burnishing treatment was employed to improve the surface microstructure of naturally aged Al-Zn-Mg alloys after solid solution. Transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and nano-indentation were used to characterize the effects of the burnishing on the microstructures of surface layer and Guinier-Preston (GP zones. It was indicated that GP zones uniformly distributed and dispersed in the matrix before burnishing, and the amount of GP zones decreased dramatically after burnishing processing. Additionally, the grains in the surficial layer were refined into nano-crystals with an average grain size of 78 nm. Burnishing treatment not only led to formation of large number of dislocation substructures in the sub-surface and near-matrix surface, but also promoted the precipitation of metastable η' phase at grain boundaries. The synergistic effects of the grain refinement, dislocation multiplication and the precipitation of η' phase strengthen the burnished layer of Al-Zn-Mg alloy. Keywords: Al-Zn-Mg alloy, Burnishing, Nano-crystal, Precipitation, Grain refinement

Effect of grain refiner on the tensile and impact properties of Al–Si–Mg cast alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samuel, E.; Golbahar, B.; Samuel, A.M.; Doty, H.W.; Valtierra, S.; Samuel, F.H.

2014-01-01

The present study aims to investigate the influence of the addition of Ti and B in the form of five different grain refiners/aluminium master alloys (Al–10%Ti, Al–5%Ti–1%B, Al–2.5%Ti–2.5%B, Al–1.7%Ti–1.4%B and Al–4%B) in conjunction with that of Sr (as modifier) added in the form of Al–10%Sr master alloy to A356.2 alloy. Grain refinement of an A356.2 alloy with Ti and B additions in the ranges of 0.02–0.5% and 0.01–0.5%, respectively, was examined using these different types of grain refiners. Strontium additions of 30 and 200 ppm were made. All alloys were T6-heat treated before mechanical testing. Tensile and impact tests were conducted to evaluate the influence of the interaction between grain refiner and modifier on the mechanical properties. The properties were determined for both the as-cast and heat-treated conditions. - Highlights: • Grain refining of 356 alloys using five types of grain refiners. • Interaction between the added grain refiner and amount of modifier used (i.e. 30 or 200ppm Sr). • Role of the added amount of Ti and/or B on the eutectic Si particle characteristics. • Role of Ti/B on the impact toughness of 356 alloys modified with Sr (30 or 200ppm)

Influence of Alloy and Solidification Parameters on Grain Refinement in Aluminum Weld Metal due to Inoculation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schempp, Philipp [BAM, Germany; Tang, Z. [BIAS, Germany; Cross, Carl E. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Seefeld, T. [BIAS, Germany; Pittner, A. [BAM, Germany; Rethmeier, M. [BAM, Germany

2012-06-28

The goals are: (1) Establish how much Ti/B grain refiner is need to completely refine aluminum weld metal for different alloys and different welding conditions; (2) Characterize how alloy composition and solidification parameters affect weld metal grain refinement; and (3) Apply relevant theory to understand observed behavior. Conclusions are: (1) additions of Ti/B grain refiner to weld metal in Alloys 1050, 5083, and 6082 resulted in significant grain refinement; (2) grain refinement was more effective in GTAW than LBW, resulting in finer grains at lower Ti content - reason is limited time available for equiaxed grain growth in LBW (inability to occlude columnar grain growth); (3) welding travel speed did not markedly affect grain size within GTAW and LBW clusters; and (4) application of Hunt CET analysis showed experimental G to be on the order of the critical G{sub CET}; G{sub CET} was consistently higher for GTAW than for LBW.

Effect of Al on Grain Refinement and Mechanical Properties of Mg-3Nd Casting Alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lei; Feng, Yicheng; Wang, Liping; Chen, Yanhong; Guo, Erjun

2018-05-01

The effect of Al on the grain refinement and mechanical properties of as-cast Mg-3Nd alloy was investigated systematically by a series of microstructural analysis, solidification analysis and tensile tests. The results show that Al has an obvious refining effect on the as-cast Mg-3Nd alloy. With increasing Al content, the grain size of the as-cast Mg-3Nd alloy decreases firstly, then increases slightly after the Al content reaching 3 wt.%, and the minimum grain size of the Mg-3Nd alloy is 48 ± 4.0 μm. The refining mechanism can be attributed to the formation of Al2Nd particles, which play an important role in the heterogeneous nucleation. The strength and elongation of the Mg-3Nd alloy refined by Al also increase with increasing Al content and slightly decrease when the Al content is more than 3 wt.%, and the strengthening mechanism is attributed to the grain refinement as well as dispersed intermetallic particles. Furthermore, the microstructural thermal stability of the Mg-3Nd-3Al alloy is higher than that of the Mg-3Nd-0.5Zr alloy. Overall, the Mg-3Nd alloy with Al addition is a novel alloy with wide and potential application prospects.

Influence of boron addition on the grain refinement and mechanical properties of AZ91 Mg alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suresh, M.; Srinivasan, A.; Ravi, K.R.; Pillai, U.T.S.; Pai, B.C.

2009-01-01

This article reports the effect of boron addition on the grain refinement efficiency and mechanical properties of AZ91 magnesium alloy. The results show that the addition of boron in the form of Al-4B master alloy, significantly refines the grain size of AZ91 alloy. This refinement is due to the presence of AlB 2 particles, which act as potential nucleants for Mg grains. Improved mechanical properties are obtained with the addition of boron due to the finer grains.

A new approach to grain refinement of an Mg-Li-Al cast alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, B.; Qiu, D.; Zhang, M.-X.; Ding, P.D.; Gao, L.

2010-01-01

Crystallographic calculation based on the edge-to-edge matching model predicted that both TiB 2 and Al 3 Ti intermetallic compounds have strong potential to be effective grain refiners for β phase in the Mg-14Li-1Al alloy due to the small atomic matching misfit across the interface between the compounds and β phase. Experimental results showed that addition of 1.25 wt%Al-5Ti-1B master alloy reduced grain size of β phase in the alloy from 1750 to 500 μm. The possible grain refining mechanisms were also discussed.

Role of manganese on the grain refining efficiency of AZ91D magnesium alloy refined by Al4C3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Shengfa; Zhang Yuan; Han Hui

2010-01-01

A novel Mg-50% Al 4 C 3 (hereafter in wt.%) master alloy has been developed by powder in situ synthesis process, the role of manganese on the grain refining efficiency of AZ91D magnesium alloy refined by this master alloy has been investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) results show the existence of Al 4 C 3 particles in this master alloy. After addition of 0.6% Al 4 C 3 or combined addition of 0.6% Al 4 C 3 and 0.27% Mn, the average grain size of AZ91D decreased dramatically from 360 μm to 210 μm, and from 360 μm to130 μm, respectively. However, no further refinement of grain size was achieved with additional amount of Mn exceeding 0.27% for AZ91D alloy refined by 0.6% Al 4 C 3 in the present investigation. Al-C-O-Mn-Fe-rich intermetallic particles with an Al-C-O-rich coating film, often observed in the central region of magnesium grains of the AZ91D alloy treated by the combination of Al 4 C 3 and Mn, are proposed to be the potent nucleating substrates for primary α-Mg.

Effects of grain refinement on the rheological behaviors of semisolid hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan, M.; Luo, W.

2007-01-01

The paper experimentally investigated the effects of grain refinement on the rheological response of Al and hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys. Selected refiners included K 2 TiF 6 , K 2 TiF 6 plus graphite and Al-5Ti-B. The apparent viscosity of semisolid Al alloys was measured during solidification. Samples at different solid fractions were quenched to observe the microstructure. It was found that grain refinement drastically lowered the apparent viscosity of Al-Si alloys. Among selected refiners, the effect of Al-5Ti-B was the best. The effect of K 2 TiF 6 plus graphite was better than that of K 2 TiF 6 . Silicon contents in Al alloys affected the apparent viscosity. With increasing silicon content the apparent viscosity decreased, resulted from promotion of silicon to both refining effects of titanium and boron

The influence of alloying elements in aluminium on the grain refinement with ALTI5B1

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Naglič I.

2009-07-01

Full Text Available This work deals with the influence of alloying elements in aluminium on the grain refinement with various additions of AlTi5B1. Grain-refinement tests were made at a cooling rate of 15 °C/s. The results revealed that in both aluminium and an Al-Fe alloy the grain size decreases with increasing additions of the AlTi5B1 grain refiner. We found that for the same boron content the grain size was smaller in the case of the Al-Fe alloy. The difference in the grain sizes for the same content of boron was approximately 15 μm; this is considerably smaller than the difference between the grain sizes in samples with the same difference of growth-restricting factor made at slower cooling rates.

Microstructure evolution and grain refinement of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by laser shock processing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ren, X.D., E-mail: renxd@mail.ujs.edu.cn [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013 (China); Research Center of Fluid Machinery Engineering and Technical, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013 (China); Zhou, W.F.; Liu, F.F.; Ren, Y.P. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013 (China); Yuan, S.Q. [Research Center of Fluid Machinery Engineering and Technical, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013 (China); Ren, N.F.; Xu, S.D.; Yang, T. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013 (China)

2016-02-15

Graphical abstract: The grain refinement process of Ti-6Al-4V alloy under LSP: (a) LDD in original grains; (b) Dislocations in β phase; (c) DTIs in α phase; (d) DTs transform into DCs; (e) DWs develop into sub-GBs; (f) GR accomplishes. - Highlights: • LSP could repair the surface defects and reduce the surface roughness. • Microstructure evolution of α phase in Ti-6Al-4V alloy processed by LSP is distinct from β phase. • Multidirectional twin intersections and subgrain boundaries are the main mechanism of grain refinement of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. • Grain refinement process of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy was illustrated. - Abstract: Microstructure evolution and grain refinement of Ti-6Al-4V alloy after laser shock processing (LSP) are systematically investigated in this paper. Laser shock waves were induced by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser system operated with a wave-length of 1064 nm and 10 ns pulse width. The microstructures of LSP samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Present results indicate that the surface hardness of samples subjected to LSP impacts has significantly improved. Multidirectional twin intersections and dislocation movements lead to grain subdivision in α phase with ultra-high plastic deformation. High-density dislocations are found in β phase. Multidirectional twin intersections and division of sub-grain boundaries play an important role in the grain refinement of Ti-6Al-4V alloy under LSP loading conditions.

The Generation of AlmFe in Dilute Aluminium Alloys with Different Grain Refining Additions

Science.gov (United States)

Meredith, M. W.; Greer, A. L.; Evans, P. V.; Hamerton, R. G.

Al13Fe4, Al6Fe and AlmFe are common intermetallics in commercial AA1XXX series Al alloys. Grain-refining additions (based on either Al-Ti-B or Al-Ti-C) are usually added to such alloys during solidification processing to aid the grain structure development. They also influence the favoured intermetallic and, hence, can affect the materials' properties. This work simulates commercial casting practices in an attempt to determine the mechanisms by which one intermetallic phase is favoured over another by the introduction of grain-refining additions. Directional solidification experiments on Al-0.3wt.%Fe-0.15wt.%Si with and without grain refiner are conducted using Bridgman apparatus. The type, amount and effectiveness of the grain-refining additions are altered and the resulting intermetallic phase selection followed. The materials are characterised using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. AlmFe is seen to form when Al-Ti-B grain-refiner is introduced but only when the refinement is successful; reducing the effectiveness of the refiner led to Al6Fe forming under all conditions. Al-Ti-C refiners are seen to promote AlmFe at lower solidification velocities than when Al-Ti-B was used even though the grain structure was not as refined. These trends can be explained within existing eutectic theory, by considering growth undercooling.

Grain refinement in a AlZnMgCuTi alloy by intensive melt shearing: A multi-step nucleation mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Li, H. T.; Xia, M.; Jarry, Ph.; Scamans, G. M.; Fan, Z.

2011-01-01

Direct chill (DC) cast ingots of wrought Al alloys conventionally require the deliberate addition of a grain refiner to provide a uniform as-cast microstructure for the optimisation of both mechanical properties and processability. Grain refiner additions have been in widespread industrial use for more than half a century. Intensive melt shearing can provide grain refinement without the need for a specific grain refiner addition for both magnesium and aluminium based alloys. In this paper we present experimental evidence of the grain refinement in an experimental wrought aluminium alloy achieved by intensive melt shearing in the liquid state prior to solidification. The mechanisms for high shear induced grain refinement are correlated with the evolution of oxides in alloys. The oxides present in liquid aluminium alloys, normally as oxide films and clusters, can be effectively dispersed by intensive shearing and then provide effective sites for the heterogeneous nucleation of Al 3Ti phase. As a result, Al 3Ti particles with a narrower size distribution and hence improved efficiency as active nucleation sites of α-aluminium grains are responsible for the achieved significant grain refinement. This is termed a multi-step nucleation mechanism.

Grain Refinement and Enhancement of Mechanical Properties of Hot Extruded Rare-Earth Containing Magnesium Alloy

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Bita Pourbahari

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The effects of rare earth addition and hot extrusion process on the grain refinement of magnesium alloy were studied. The as-cast Mg-6Al-1Zn (AZ61 alloy had the average grain size of ~ 64 µm and its microstructure consisted of α-Mg and Mg17Al12 phase. By partial substitution of Al with Gd to reach Mg-4.8Gd-1.2Al-1Zn alloy, it was observed that the Mg17Al12 phase disappeared and two new intermetallic phases, i.e. (Mg,Al3Gd and Al2Gd, were identified. The extrusion process showed significant effects on the shape and size of intermetallics and grain size of the matrix. The grain size of the extruded Mg-6Al-1Zn alloy was refined from 64 µm to 13.4 µm as a result of recrystallization. Regarding the Mg-4.8Gd-1.2Al-1Zn alloy, the grain refinement was much more pronounced, where the extruded grain size has been refined from 698 µm to 2.4 µm (extruded at 385 °C and 1.3 µm (extruded at 320 °C. This was related to the presence of fine and widely dispersed intermetallic phases. Tensile strength and total elongation of extruded alloys were much higher than their as-cast counterparts and the extruded Mg-6Zn-1Al alloy showed magnificent mechanical properties. The latter was related to the absence of intermetallic particles, which act as stress risers.

TITANIUM CARBON ALUMINIUM : A NOVEL GRAIN REFINER FOR ALUMINIUM-LITHIUM ALLOYS

OpenAIRE

Birch , M.; Cowell , A.

1987-01-01

This work explores the possibility of achieving grain size control in aluminium-lithium alloys with the titanium carbon aluminium (TiCAl) master alloys invented at the Technical University of Berlin and developed by London and Scandinavian Metallurgical Co Ltd (LSM). Grain refining tests were conducted on a single batch of 8090 alloy using addition rates of 0.2wt% and 0.4wt% of TiCAl and 3/1 titanium boron aluminium (TiBAl). Other tests using 0.4wt% of binary TiAl gave poor results, showing t...

Property enhancement by grain refinement of zinc-aluminium foundry alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krajewski, W K; Piwowarski, G; Krajewski, P K; Greer, A L

2016-01-01

Development of cast alloys with good mechanical properties and involving less energy consumption during their melting is one of the key demands of today's industry. Zinc foundry alloys of high and medium Al content, i.e. Zn-(15-30) wt.% Al and Zn-(8-12) wt.% Al, can satisfy these requirements. The present paper summarizes the work [1-9] on improving properties of sand-cast ZnAl10 (Zn-10 wt.% Al) and ZnAl25 (Zn-25 wt. % Al) alloys by melt inoculation. Special attention was devoted to improving ductility, whilst preserving high damping properties at the same time. The composition and structural modification of medium- and high-aluminium zinc alloys influence their strength, tribological properties and structural stability. In a series of studies, Zn - (10-12) wt. % Al and Zn - (25-26) wt.% Al - (1-2.5) wt.% Cu alloys have been doped with different levels of added Ti. The melted alloys were inoculated with ZnTi-based refiners and it was observed that the dendritic structure is significantly finer already after addition of 50 - 100 ppm Ti to the melted alloys. The alloy's structure and mechanical properties have been studied using: SEM (scanning electron microscopy), LM (light microscopy), dilatometry, pin-on-disc wear, and tensile strength measurements. Grain refinement leads to significant improvement of ductility in the binary high-aluminium Zn-(25-27) Al alloys while in the medium-aluminium alloys the effect is rather weak. In the ternary alloys Zn-26Al-Cu, replacing a part of Cu with Ti allows dimensional changes to be reduced while preserving good tribological properties. Furthermore, the high initial damping properties were nearly entirely preserved after inoculation. The results obtained allow us to characterize grain refinement of the examined high-aluminium zinc alloys as a promising process leading to the improvement of their properties. At the same time, using low melting ZnTi-based master alloys makes it possible to avoid the excessive melt

Strobloy — The New Combined Grain Refiner and Modifier for Hypoeutectic AlSi Foundry Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Bondhus, Eivind; Sagstad, Trond

Hydelko presents a new combination alloy for use in hypoeuctectic aluminium silicon foundry alloys. Strobloy simplifies today's addition practice of grain refiner and modifier by reducing the number of additions from two to one. Strobloy is a combination product between the well-established TiBloy, and strontium. The alloy contains nucleating particles in the form of the mixed boride (Al, Ti)B2, which is beneficial regarding settling and grain refining efficiency. Strontium is present as fast-dissolving AL4Sr particles. Trials carried out indicate that Strobloy shows very good performance compared to separate additions of TiBloy/AlTi5B1 and AlSr master alloy. The grain refining efficiency and modification level is the same or better. This paper displays results collected from tests done with different strontium levels in an A356 alloy. Comparisons to separate additions of TiBloy and AlSr are presented.

Grain refinement of DC cast magnesium alloys with intensive melt shearing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zuo, Y B; Jiang, B; Zhang, Y; Fan, Z

2012-01-01

A new direct chill (DC) casting process, melt conditioned DC (MC-DC) process, has been developed for the production of high quality billets/slabs of light alloys by application of intensive melt shearing through a rotor-stator high shear device during the DC casting process. The rotor-stator high shear device provides intensive melt shearing to disperse the naturally occurring oxide films, and other inclusions, while creating a microscopic flow pattern to homogenize the temperature and composition fields in the sump. In this paper, we report the grain refining effect of intensive melt shearing in the MC-DC casting processing. Experimental results on DC casting of Mg-alloys with and without intensive melt shearing have demonstrated that the MC-DC casting process can produce magnesium alloy billets with significantly refined microstructure. Such grain refinement in the MC-DC casting process can be attributed to enhanced heterogeneous nucleation by dispersed naturally occurring oxide particles, increased nuclei survival rate in uniform temperature and compositional fields in the sump, and potential contribution from dendrite arm fragmentation.

Application of Al-2La-1B Grain Refiner to Al-10Si-0.3Mg Casting Alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Jing, Lijun; Pan, Ye; Lu, Tao; Li, Chenlin; Pi, Jinhong; Sheng, Ningyue

2018-05-01

This paper reports the application and microstructure refining effect of an Al-2La-1B grain refiner in Al-10Si-0.3Mg casting alloy. Compared with the traditional Al-5Ti-1B refiner, Al-2La-1B refiner shows better performances on the grain refinement of Al-10Si-0.3Mg alloy. Transmission electron microscopy analysis suggests that the crystallite structure features of LaB6 are beneficial to the heterogeneous nucleation of α-Al grains. Regarding the mechanical performances, tensile properties of Al-10Si-0.3Mg casting alloy are prominently improved, due to the refined microstructures.

Crystallographic study of grain refinement in aluminum alloys using the edge-to-edge matching model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, M.-X.; Kelly, P.M.; Easton, M.A.; Taylor, J.A.

2005-01-01

The edge-to-edge matching model for describing the interfacial crystallographic characteristics between two phases that are related by reproducible orientation relationships has been applied to the typical grain refiners in aluminum alloys. Excellent atomic matching between Al 3 Ti nucleating substrates, known to be effective nucleation sites for primary Al, and the Al matrix in both close packed directions and close packed planes containing these directions have been identified. The crystallographic features of the grain refiner and the Al matrix are very consistent with the edge-to-edge matching model. For three other typical grain refiners for Al alloys, TiC (when a = 0.4328 nm), TiB 2 and AlB 2 , the matching only occurs between the close packed directions in both phases and between the second close packed plane of the Al matrix and the second close packed plane of the refiners. According to the model, it is predicted that Al 3 Ti is a more powerful nucleating substrate for Al alloy than TiC, TiB 2 and AlB 2 . This agrees with the previous experimental results. The present work shows that the edge-to-edge matching model has the potential to be a powerful tool in discovering new and more powerful grain refiners for Al alloys

Grain refinement of AZ91D alloy by intensive melt shearing and its persistence after remelting and isothermal holding

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Zuo Yubo

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Intensive melt shearing has a significant grain refining effect on some light alloys. However, the persistence of the grain refining effect during isothermal holding and remelting is still unclear, although it is very important for the practical application. In this study, intensive melt shearing was achieved in a twin-screw mechanism to investigate its grain refining effect on AZ91D magnesium alloy. The refinement mechanism was discussed and the persistence of grain refinement after remelting and isothermal holding was also studied. A Zeiss imaging system with polarized light was used for quantitative measurement of grain size. The results show that the intensive melt shearing has a significant grain refining effect on AZ91D magnesium alloy. With the application of intensive melt shearing, the grain size of AZ91D magnesium alloy can be reduced from 530 μm (for a typical as-cast microstructure to 170 μm, which is about 70% size reduction. The grain refinement achieved by the intensive melt shearing can be partially kept after isothermal holding and remelting. It is believed that the refinement effect was mainly due to the finer and well dispersed oxide particles formed by high intensive shearing. The smaller size of oxide particles and their slow motion velocity in the sheared melt could make important contributions to the remained grain refinement.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of extruded and ECAPed AZ31 Mg alloy, grain refined with Al-Ti-C master alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torbati-Sarraf, S.A. [School of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Mahmudi, R., E-mail: mahmudi@ut.ac.ir [School of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2010-06-15

Different amounts of Al-3Ti-0.15C master alloy (TiCAl), as grain refiner, were added to the AZ31 magnesium alloy (Mg-3Al-1Zn-0.3Mn) and the resulting microstructure, grain size distributions, texture, and mechanical properties were studied after extrusion and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP). Results showed that the addition of 1.0 wt.% TiCAl had the strongest grain refinement effect, reducing the grain sizes by 51.2 and 38.4% in the extruded and ECAPed conditions, respectively. The observed grain refinement was in part due to the presence of the thermally stable micron- and submicron-sized particles in the melt which act as nucleation sites during solidification. During the high-temperature extrusion and ECAP processes, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and grain growth are likely to occur. However, second phase particles will help in reducing the grain size by the particle stimulated nucleation (PSN) mechanism. Furthermore, the pinning effect of these particles can oppose grain growth by reducing the grain boundary migration. These two phenomena together with the partitioning of the grains imposed by the severe plastic deformation in the ECAP process have all contributed to the achieved fine-grained structure in the AZ31 alloy with enhanced mechanical properties. The enhancement in the shear yield stress (SYS) and ultimate shear strengths (USS) were, respectively, 11.2 and 6.1% in the extruded state, and 7.6 and 3.9% in the ECAPed conditions. The weaker strengthening effect of grain refinement in the ECAPed alloys can be attributed to the textural modifications which partly offset the achieved grain boundary strengthening.

Role and distribution of strontium during the dissolving and grain refining process of AlSi7Mg alloy's structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moldovan, P.; Popescu, G.; Zsigmond, M.; Apostolescu, I. [Universitatea Politehnica, Bucharest (Romania)

2002-07-01

The aim of this paper is the study of the modification of AlSi7Mg alloy with two types of master alloys: AlSr10 wire type and AlSr10 block type, at a temperature of 750 C with different contents of strontium. Due to the applicability of the AlSr10 master alloy wire type, the study was mainly elaborated on the dissolving process of this one. Due to this fact we used a 10 mm diameter wire of AlSr10 master alloy, which was introduced in the melt. After the grain refining process we obtained a sample, which was cut at different heights for a better observation of the alloy structure. We can notice that the grain refining degree is not uniform along the sample. Strontium as a grain refiner equalize the qualities of sodium but is much more efficient and keeps its grain refining properties for a longer period of time. The efficiency of the two types of master alloys was compared by the grain refinement degree of AlSi7Mg alloy function of the distance till the lower part of the casting mould and by determination of the grain refinement degree function of strontium content added. We made a micrographic study of the pieces of the sample and we used an optical microscope (OLYMPUS BX 60M) and the image analyzing system was OMNIMENT EXPRESS. Analyzing the results of this study we can see that the AlSi7Mg alloy grain refining degree doesn't depend too much on the form of the master alloy (if is wire or block) but grain refining time is increased when we use block types of master alloy. Also we can see that the cooling rate has a significant influence on the grain refinement degree. The industrial application of the AlSr master alloys are mainly for the light alloys ingots producers and light alloys casting plant for the obtaining of high quality components required by automotive and aeronautical industry. (orig.)

Thermodynamic aspects of grain refinement of Al-Si alloys using Ti and B

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Groebner, Joachim [Technical University of Clausthal, Institute of Metallurgy, Robert-Koch-Str. 42, D-38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany); Mirkovic, Djordje [Technical University of Clausthal, Institute of Metallurgy, Robert-Koch-Str. 42, D-38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany); Schmid-Fetzer, Rainer [Technical University of Clausthal, Institute of Metallurgy, Robert-Koch-Str. 42, D-38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany)]. E-mail: schmid-fetzer@tu-clausthal.de

2005-03-25

A thermodynamic assessment of ternary Al-Si-Ti phases was performed. Published datasets for the other subsystems were checked and adapted. Based on that, a consistent thermodynamic description of quaternary Al-Si-Ti-B alloys was generated. This was applied in a calculation of Al-Si-Ti-B phase diagram sections for practically relevant temperatures and compositions of Al-Si alloys from Al-rich to typical Al-Si foundry alloys. These stable and metastable phase diagrams could be correlated to many detailed aspects of possible reactions observed or suggested in experimental studies of grain refining. Understanding the mechanisms of grain refining of Al wrought alloys and Al-Si foundry alloys using titanium and boron requires a fundamental knowledge of both thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of this complex process. This work focuses exclusively on the thermodynamic aspects and the phase diagrams, which were not available for the quaternary alloys and partly incomplete and inconsistent for the ternary subsystems.

The Role of Carbon in Grain Refinement of Cast CrFeCoNi High-Entropy Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, X. W.; Liu, L.; Liu, G.; Wu, X. X.; Lu, D. H.; Yao, J. Q.; Jiang, W. M.; Fan, Z. T.; Zhang, W. B.

2018-06-01

As a promising engineering material, high-entropy alloys (HEAs) CrFeCoNi system has attracted extensive attention worldwide. Their cast alloys are of great importance because of their great formability of complex components, which can be further improved through the transition of the columnar to equiaxed grains and grain refinement. In the current work, the influence of C contents on the grain structures and mechanical properties of the as-cast high-entropy alloy CrFeCoNi was chosen as the target and systematically studied via a hybrid approach of the experiments and thermodynamic calculations. The alloys with various C additions were prepared by arc melting and drop cast. The as-cast macrostructure and microstructure were characterized using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The cast HEAs transform from coarse columnar grains into equiaxed grains with the C level increased to ≥ 2 at. pct and the size of equiaxed grains is further decreased with the increasing C addition. It is revealed that the interdendritic segregation of Cr and C results in grain boundary precipitation of M23C6 carbides. The grain refinement is attributed to the additional constitutional supercoiling from the C addition. The yield stress and tensile strength at room temperature are improved due to the transition of columnar to equiaxed grains and grain refinement.

Assessment of the influence of Al–2Nb–2B master alloy on the grain refinement and properties of LM6 (A413) alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bolzoni, L., E-mail: leandro.bolzoni@brunel.ac.uk; Nowak, M.; Hari Babu, N.

2015-03-25

Cast aluminium alloys are important structural materials but their performances are not optimised due to the lack of appropriate grain refiners. In this study, the effect of the addition of a novel Nb-based grain refiner on the microstructural features and mechanical behaviour of the LM6 alloy (A413) is studied. Specifically, the effect of Nb–B inoculation is assessed over a great range of cooling rates (2–100 °C/s). It is found that Nb-based compounds (i.e., NbB{sub 2} and Al{sub 3}Nb) are potent heterogeneous nucleation sites for aluminium and this leads to a significant refinement of the microstructural features. The refinement is not hindered by the formation of silicides, as it happens when using Al–Ti–B master alloys, because niobium silicides form at much higher temperature. It is concluded that the Al–2Nb–2B master alloy is a very effective refiner especially at slow cooling rate and the refinement of the grain size leads to improved performances (homogeneous fine grain structure, mechanical properties and porosity)

Neutron irradiation effects on grain-refined W and W-alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasegawa, A.; Fukuda, M.; Tanno, T.; Nogami, S.; Yabuuchi, K.; Tanaka, T.; Muroga, T.

2014-10-01

Microstructural data of neutron irradiated Tungsten (W) such as size and number density of voids and precipitates obtained by W up to 1.5dpa irradiation in the temperature range of 400-800degC were compiled quantitatively. Nucleation and growth process of these defects were clarified and a qualitative prediction of the damage structure development and hardening of W in fusion reactor environments were made taking into account the solid transmutation effects for the first time. To improve recrystallization behavior and low temperature embrittlement, grain refined-W alloys were fabricated by K- or La-doping method. Rhenium addition to the grain refining process was also examined to improve mechanical properties. Characterizations of unirradiated materials were performed. (author)

The Effects of Grain Refinement and Rare Earth Intermetallics on Mechanical Properties of As-Cast and Wrought Magnesium Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Pourbahari, Bita; Mirzadeh, Hamed; Emamy, Massoud

2018-03-01

The effects of rare earth intermetallics and grain refinement by alloying and hot extrusion on the mechanical properties of Mg-Gd-Al-Zn alloys have been studied to elucidate some useful ways to enhance the mechanical properties of magnesium alloys. It was revealed that aluminum as an alloying element is a much better grain refining agent compared with gadolinium, but the simultaneous presence of Al and Gd can refine the as-cast grain size more efficiently. The presence of fine and widely dispersed rare earth intermetallics was found to be favorable to achieve finer recrystallized grains during hot deformation by extrusion. The presence of coarse dendritic structure in the GZ61 alloy, grain boundary eutectic containing Mg17Al12 phase in the AZ61 alloy, and rare earth intermetallics with unfavorable morphology in the Mg-4Gd-2Al-1Zn alloy was found to be detrimental to mechanical properties of the alloy in the as-cast condition. As a result, the microstructural refinement induced by hot extrusion process resulted in a significant enhancement in strength and ductility of the alloys. The presence of intermetallic compounds in the extruded Mg-4Gd-2Al-1Zn and Mg-2Gd-4Al-1Zn alloys deteriorated tensile properties, which was related to the fact that such intermetallic compounds act as stress risers and microvoid initiation sites.

Review of Grain Refinement of Cast Metals Through Inoculation: Theories and Developments

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zhilin

2017-10-01

The inoculation method of grain refinement is widely used in research and industry. Because of its commercial and engineering importance, extensive research on the mechanisms/theories of grain refinement and development of effective grain refiners for diverse cast metals/alloys has been conducted. In 1999, Easton and St. John reviewed the mechanisms of grain refinement of cast Al alloys. Since then, grain refinement in alloys of Al, Mg, Fe, Ti, Cu, and Zn has evolved a lot. However, there is still no full consensus on the mechanisms/theories of grain refinement. Moreover, some new grain refiners developed based on the theories do not ensure efficient grain refinement. Thus, the factors that contribute to grain refinement are still not fully understood. Clarification of the prerequisite issues that occur in grain refinement is required using recent theories. This review covers multiple metals/alloys and developments in grain refinement from the last twenty years. The characteristics of effective grain refiners are considered from four perspectives: effective particle/matrix wetting configuration, sufficiently powerful segregating elements, preferential crystallographic matching, and geometrical features of effective nucleants. Then, recent mechanisms/theories on the grain refinement of cast metals/alloys are reviewed, including the peritectic-related, hypernucleation, inert nucleant, and constitutional supercooling-driven theories. Further, developments of deterministic and probabilistic modeling and nucleation crystallography in the grain refinement of cast metals are reviewed. Finally, the latest progress in the grain refinement of cast Zn and its alloys is described, and future work on grain refinement is summarized.

Comparative Study on the Grain Refinement of Al-Si Alloy Solidified under the Impact of Pulsed Electric Current and Travelling Magnetic Field

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yunhu Zhang

2016-07-01

Full Text Available It is high of commercial importance to generate the grain refinement in alloys during solidification by means of electromagnetic fields. Two typical patterns of electromagnetic fields, pulsed electric currents (ECP and traveling magnetic field (TMF, are frequently employed to produce the finer equiaxed grains in solidifying alloys. Various mechanisms were proposed to understand the grain refinement in alloys caused by ECP and TMF. In this paper, a comparative study is carried out in the same solidification regime to investigate the grain refinement of Al-7 wt. %Si alloy driven by ECP and TMF. Experimental results show that the application of ECP or TMF can cause the same grain refinement occurrence period, during which the refinement of primary Al continuously occurs. In addition, the related grain refinement mechanisms are reviewed and discussed, which shows the most likely one caused by ECP and TMF is the promoted dendrite fragmentation as the result of the ECP-induced or TMF-induced forced flow. It suggests that the same grain refinement process in alloys is provoked when ECP and TMF are applied in the same solidification regime, respectively.

Grain refinement of 7075Al alloy microstructures by inoculation with Al-Ti-B master alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Hotea, V.; Juhasz, J.; Cadar, F.

2017-05-01

This paper aims to bring some clarification on grain refinement and modification of high strength alloys used in aerospace technique. In this work it was taken into account 7075 Al alloy, and the melt treatment was carried out by placing in the form of master alloy wire ternary AlTiB the casting trough at 730°C. The morphology of the resulting microstructures was characterized by optical microscopy. Micrographs unfinished and finished with pre-alloy containing ternary Al5Ti1B evidence fine crystals, crystal containing no columnar structure and highlights the size of the dendrites, and intermetallic phases occurring at grain boundaries in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy. It has been found that these intermetallic compounds are MgZn2 type. AlTiB master alloys finishing ensures a fine eutectic structure, which determines the properties of hardware and improving the mechanical properties of aluminum alloys used in aeronautical engineering.

Effect of grain refiner on intermetallic phase formation in directional solidification of 6xxx series wrought Al alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sha, G.; O' Reilly, K.; Cantor, B. [Oxford Univ. (United Kingdom). Centre for Adv. Mat. and Composites; Hamerton, R.; Worth, J.

2000-07-01

The effect of a grain refiner on the formation of intermetallic phases in a directionally solidified (Bridgman grown) model 6xxx series wrought Al alloy has been investigated using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A base alloy with and without Al-Ti-B grain refiner was directionally solidified in a Bridgman furnace at growth velocities in the range of 5-120 mm/min. In both cases, the Fe-containing intermetallic phases present were found to be mainly {alpha}-AlFeSi and {beta}-AlFeSi. However, in the alloy with grain refiner solidified at 5mm/min, Al{sub 13}Fe{sub 4} was also observed. Quantitative XRD results indicated that the addition of Al-Ti-B grain refiner has a strong influence on the relative quantities of intermetallic phases forming during solidification at different growth velocities, which was also confirmed by TEM observations. TEM observations also show that depending on where the {beta}-AlFeSi particles solidified e.g. grain boundaries or triple grain junctions, the size and morphology of the particles may change dramatically. TiB{sub 2} particles were observed to nucleate {beta}-AlFeSi at low and high growth velocities in the 6xxx series Al alloys. (orig.)

Effect of Grain Refinement and Cooling Rate on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Secondary Al-Si-Cu Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Timelli, Giulio; Camicia, Giordano; Ferraro, Stefano

2014-02-01

The effect of AlTi5B1 grain refinement and different solidification rates on metallurgical and mechanical properties of a secondary AlSi7Cu3Mg alloy is reported. While the Ti content ranges from 0.04 up to 0.225 wt.%, the cooling rate varies between 0.1 and 5.5 °C/s. Metallographic and thermal analysis techniques have been used to quantitatively examine the macro- and microstructural changes occurring with grain refiner addition at various cooling rates. The results indicate that a small AlTi5B1 addition produces the greatest refinement, while no significant reduction of grain size is obtained with a great amount of grain refiner. On increasing the cooling rate, a lower amount of AlTi5B1 master alloy is necessary to produce a uniform grain size throughout the casting. The combined addition of AlTi5B1 and Sr does not produce any reciprocal interaction or effect on primary α-Al and eutectic solidification. The grain refinement improves the plastic behavior of the alloy and increases the reliability of castings, as evidenced by the Weibull statistics.

Design of Grain Refiners for Aluminium Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Tronche, A.; Greer, A. L.

The efficiency of a grain refiner can be quantified as the number of grains per nucleant particle in the solidified product. Even for effective refiners in aluminium, such as Al-5Ti-1B, it is known from experiments that efficiencies are very low, at best 10-3 to 102. It is of interest to explore the reasons for such low values, and to assess the prospects for increased efficiency though design of refiners. Recently it has been shown [1] that a simple recalescence-based model can make quantitative predictions of grain size as a function of refiner addition level, cooling rate and solute content. In the model, the initiation of grains is limited by the free growth from nucleant particles, the size distribution of which is very important. The present work uses this model as the basis for discussing the effect of particle size distribution on grain refiner performance. Larger particles (of TiB2 in the case of present interest) promote greater efficiency, as do narrower size distributions. It is shown that even if the size distribution could be exactly specified, compromises would have to be made to balance efficiency (defined as above) with other desirable characteristics of a refiner.

Grain Refinement and Texture Mitigation in Low Boron Containing TiAl-Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Hecht, Ulrike; Witusiewicz, Victor T.

2017-12-01

Controlling the grain size and texture of lamellar TiAl-alloys is essential for well-balanced creep and fatigue properties. Excellent refinement and texture mitigation are achieved in aluminum lean alloys by low boron additions of 0.2 at.%. This amount is sufficient to promote in situ formation of ultrafine borides during the last stages of body centered cubic (BCC) solidification. The borides subsequently serve as nucleation sites for hexagonal close packed (HCP) during the BCC-HCP phase transformation. Bridgman solidification experiments with alloy Ti-43Al-8Nb-0.2C-0.2B were performed under a different growth velocity, i.e., cooling rate, to evaluate the HCP grain size distribution and texture. For slow-to-moderate cooling rates, about 65% of HCP grains are randomly oriented, despite the pronounced texture of the parent BCC phase resulting from directional solidification. For high cooling rates, obtained by quenching, texture mitigation is less pronounced. Only 28% of the HCP grains are randomly oriented, the majority being crystallographic variants of the Burgers orientation relationship.

Weld metal grain refinement of aluminium alloy 5083 through controlled additions of Ti and B

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schempp, Philipp; Rethmeier, Michael [Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing BAM, Berlin (Germany). Div. ' ' Safety of Joined Components' ' ; Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK, Berlin (Germany). Dept. ' ' Joining and Coating Technology' ' ; Schwenk, Christopher; Cross, Carl Edward [Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin (Germany)

2011-07-01

The refinement of the weld metal grain structure may lead to a significant change in its mechanical properties and in the weldability of the base metal. One possibility to achieve weld metal grain refinement is the inoculation of the weld pool. In this study, it is shown how additions of titanium and boron influence the weld metal grain structure of GTA welds of the aluminium alloy 5083 (Al Mg4.5Mn0.7). For this purpose, inserts consisting of base metal and additions of the master alloy Al Ti5B1 have been cast, deposited in the base metal and fused in a GTA welding process. The increase of the Ti and B content led to a significant decrease of the weld metal mean grain size and to a change in grain shape. The results provide a basis for a more precise definition of the chemical composition of commercial filler wires and rods for aluminium arc welding. (orig.)

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy of grain-refining particles in amorphous aluminum alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schumacher, P.; Greer, A.L.

1996-01-01

The nucleation mechanism of Al-Ti-B grain refiners is studied in an Al-based amorphous alloy. The ability to limit growth of α-Al in the amorphous alloy permits the microscopical observation of nucleation events on boride particles. Earlier studies of this kind are extended by using high-resolution electron microscopy. This shows that the efficient nucleation α-Al depends on the TiB 2 particles being coated with a thin layer of Al 3 Ti, which can form only when there is some excess titanium in the melt. The aluminide layer, stabilized by adsorption effects, can be as little as a few monolayers thick, and is coherent with the boride. The nature of this layer, and its importance for the nucleation mechanism are discussed. The fading of the grain refinement action is also considered

Production of Al-Ti-B grain refining master alloys from Na2B4O7 and K2TiF6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birol, Yuecel

2008-01-01

It is very desirable to replace the KBF 4 salt in the popular 'halide salt' process to reduce the volume of fluoride salts to be added to molten aluminium in the production of Al-Ti-B grain refiners. Being over 2 times richer in B, Na 2 B 4 O 7 is a promising replacement for KBF 4 , and is used in the present work to produce Al-Ti-B grain refiner master alloys. A fraction of the aluminide particles were entrapped in the spent salt giving a relatively lower Ti recovery when KBF 4 was replaced by Na 2 B 4 O 7 . The grain refining performance of the Al-Ti-B grain refiner alloy thus produced was nevertheless acceptable. The spent salt became too viscous with the oxides, aluminides and borides to be removed by decanting when Na 2 B 4 O 7 .5H 2 O was used to supply boron. The viscous spent salt, entrained in the grain refiner alloy, did not only impair its performance, but also hurt the fluidity of the molten alloy and made pouring difficult

Grain Refinement of Freeform Fabricated Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Using Beam/Arc Modulation

Science.gov (United States)

Mitzner, Scott; Liu, Stephen; Domack, Marcia S.; Hafley, Robert A.

2012-01-01

Grain refinement can significantly improve the mechanical properties of freeform-fabricated Ti-6Al-4V alloy, promoting increased strength and enhanced isotropy compared with coarser grained material. Large beta-grains can lead to a segregated microstructure, in regard to both alpha-phase morphology and alpha-lath orientation. Beam modulation, which has been used in conventional fusion welding to promote grain refinement, is explored in this study for use in additive manufacturing processes including electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF(sup 3)) and gas-tungsten arc (GTA) deposition to alter solidification behavior and produce a refined microstructure. The dynamic molten pool size induced by beam modulation causes rapid heat flow variance and results in a more competitive grain growth environment, reducing grain size. Consequently, improved isotropy and strength can be achieved with relatively small adjustments to deposition parameters.

A new method for grain refinement in magnesium alloy: High speed extrusion machining

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Yao, E-mail: liuyao@ustb.edu.cn [School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Cai, Songlin [China Electric Power Research Institute, State Grid Corporation of China, Beijing 100192 (China); Dai, Lanhong [State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100190 (China)

2016-01-10

Magnesium alloys have received broad attentions in industry due to their competitive strength to density ratio, but the poor ductility and strength limit their wide range of applications as engineering materials. A novel severe plastic deformation (SPD) technique of high speed extrusion machining (HSEM) was used here. This method could improve the aforementioned disadvantages of magnesium alloys by one single processing step. In this work, systematic HSEM experiments with different chip thickness ratios were conducted for magnesium alloy AZ31B. The microstructure of the chips reveals that HSEM is an effective SPD method for attaining magnesium alloys with different grain sizes and textures. The magnesium alloy with bimodal grain size distribution has increased mechanical properties than initial sample. The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis shows that the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) affects the grain refinement and resulting hardness in AZ31B. Based on the experimental observations, a new theoretical model is put forward to describe the effect of DRX on materials during HSEM. Compared with the experimental measurements, the theoretical model is effective to predict the mechanical property of materials after HSEM.

GRAIN-REFINEMENT AND THE RELATED PHENOMENA IN QUATERNARY Cu-Al-Ni-Ti SHAPE MEMORY ALLOYS

OpenAIRE

Sugimoto , K.; Kamei , K.; Matsumoto , H.; Komatsu , S.; Akamatsu , K.; Sugimoto , T.

1982-01-01

It was reported that the addition of a small amount of titanium (0.5 - 3.99%) to a Cu-13.93%Al-3.36%Ni ternary alloy resulted in a remarkable grain-refining. The original grain-size of about 750 microns under hot-rolled and quenched conditions of the ternary alloy was reduced to that of the order of about 100 microns by addition of tiatanium. It was suggested that several technical improvements of the mechanical properties of Cu-Al-Ni shape memory alloys, such as better formability, less crac...

Grain refinement of Ca addition in a twin-roll-cast Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jiang Bin, E-mail: jiangbinrong@cqu.edu.cn [National Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloys, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China); College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China); Liu Wenjun [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China); Qiu Dong; Zhang Mingxing [Division of Materials, School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072 (Australia); Pan Fusheng [National Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloys, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China)

2012-04-16

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Grain refinement of Ca addition in a twin-roll-cast Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy was investigated. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Addition of 0.08 wt% Ca into Mg melts can significantly reduce the grain size to 30 {mu}m from 100 {mu}m. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Al{sub 2}Ca intermetallic particles have high potency to act as heterogeneous nucleation sites for {alpha}-Mg. - Abstract: Addition of 0.08 wt% Ca into AZ31 melts significantly reduces the average grain size of thin strips produced by twin-roll-cast to 30 {mu}m from 100 {mu}m. Like Zr, due to the high chemical activity, the Ca added into the melts reacts with Al and forms Al{sub 2}Ca intermetallic compound. X-ray diffraction result approves the existence of Al{sub 2}Ca in the thin strips, which formed in the melts. Crystallographic examination of relationship between Al{sub 2}Ca and Mg using the edge-to-edge matching model indicates that Al{sub 2}Ca particles are effective inoculants for heterogeneous nucleation of Mg. It is considered that Al{sub 2}Ca is a potential and effective grain refiner for Mg alloys and the grain refinement through addition of Ca in the AZ31 alloy is attributed to the inoculation effect of Al{sub 2}Ca particles formed in the melts.

Effect of Grain Refinement on Structure Evolution, “Floating” Grains, and Centerline Macrosegregation in Direct-Chill Cast AA2024 Alloy Billets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nadella, R.; Eskin, D.G.; Katgerman, L.

2007-01-01

Direct-chill (DC) cast billets 192 mm in diameter of an Al-Cu-Mg alloy were examined in detail with the aim to reveal the effects of grain refining (GR) and casting speed on structure, “floating” grains, and centerline macrosegregation. Experimental results show that grain size and dendrite arm

Cavitation-aided grain refinement in aluminium alloys

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Atamanenko, T.V.

2010-01-01

This thesis deals with grain refinement under the influence of ultrasonic-driven cavitation in aluminium casting processes. Three major goals of this research were: (1) to identify the mechanism of the cavitation-aided grain refinement at different stages of solidification; (2) to reveal the

Preparation of Al-Ti-B grain refiner by SHS technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikitin, V.I.; Wanqi, J.I.E.; Kandalova, E.G.; Makarenko, A.G.; Yong, L.

2000-01-01

Since the discovery of the grain refinement effect of aluminum by titanium, especially with the existence of B or C in 1950, grain refiners are widely accepted in industry for microstructure control of aluminum alloys. Research on this topic is to obtain the highest grain refinement efficiency with the lowest possible addition of master alloy. It is widely accepted that the morphology and size of TiAl 3 particles, which are known as heterogeneous nucleation centers, are important factors deterring the grain refinement efficiency. Fine TiAl 3 particles are favorable. The grain refinement process shows a heredity phenomenon, which means that structural information from initial materials transfers through a melt to the final product. It is important to find the connection between microstructural parameters of the master alloy and the final product. To improve the quality of Al-Ti-B master alloys for the use as a grain refiner, a new method based on SHS (self-propagating high-temperature synthesis) technology has been developed in Samara State Technical University to produce the master alloys. SHS, as a new method for preparation of materials, was first utilized by Merzhanov in 1967. This method uses the energy from highly exothermic reactions to sustain the chemical reaction in a combustion wave. The advantages of SHS include simplicity, low energy requirement, and higher product purity. Because SHS reactions can take place between elemental reactants, it is easy to control product composition. The purposes of this investigation were to fabricate an SHS Al-5%Ti-1%B master alloy, to analyze its structure and to test its grain refining performance

Cooling curve analysis in binary Al-Cu alloys: Part II- Effect of Cooling Rate and Grain Refinement on The Thermal and Thermodynamic Characteristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehdi Dehnavi

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The Al-Cu alloys have been widely used in aerospace, automobile, and airplane applications. Generally Al–Ti and Al–Ti–B master alloys are added to the aluminium alloys for grain refinement. The cooling curve analysis (CCA has been used extensively in metal casting industry to predict microstructure constituents, grain refinement and to calculate the latent heat of solidification. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of cooling rate and grain refinement on the thermal and thermodynamic characteristics of Al-Cu alloys by cooling curve analysis. To do this, Al-Cu alloys containing 3.7, and 4.8 wt.% Cu were melted and solidified with 0.04, 0.19, 0.42, and 1.08 K/s cooling rates. The temperature of the samples was recorded using a K thermocouple and a data acquisition system connected to a PC. Some samples were Grain refined by Al-5Ti-1B to see the effect of grain refinement on the aforementioned properties. The results show that, in a well refined alloy, nucleation will occur in a shorter time, and a undercooling approximately decreases to zero. The other results show that, with considering the cooling rate being around 0.1 °C/s, the Newtonian method is efficient in calculating the latent heat of solidification.

The influence of stirring on the fading of the AlTi5B1 grain refiner in an Al–Fe alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Naglič

2011-01-01

Full Text Available An Al–Fe alloy, melted in an induction furnace with a graphite crucible, was grain refined with the AlTi5B1 grain refiner. The melt was stirred after the addition of the grain refiner. The first sample was cast two minutes after the addition of the grain refiner and the second sample fifteen minutes after the addition of the grain refiner. The melt was stirred again before the third sample was cast. The grain size was found to increase with the holding time. However, the grain size of the third sample, after stirring, decreased to a similar size to that of the first sample. The results indicate that the stirring of a grain-refined melt can restore the grain-refinement effect.

Grain refinement of Al wrought alloys with newly developed AlTiC master alloys; Kornfeinung von Al-Knetlegierungen mit neu entwickelten AlTiC-Vorlegierungen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schneider, W. [Vereinigte Aluminium-Werke AG, Bonn (Germany). Forschung und Entwicklung

2000-10-01

AlTiC master alloys are a new grain refiner type to produce an equiaxed grain structure of cast extrusion and rolling ingots. These master alloys contain Ti carbides which act as nucleants of the {alpha} solid solution during solidification. The TiC content is lower than the TiB{sub 2} content of the industrial proved AlTiB master alloys. Benefits of the AlTiC master alloys are the low agglomeration tendency of the Ti carbides in the melt and that no Zr poisoning takes place. Despite of the low Ti carbide content the grain refinement performance can be very efficient, if low melt temperatures during casting will be used and as result of this a sufficient constitutional supercooling at the solidification front is achieved. (orig.)

Studies of the Action of Grain-Refining Particles in Aluminium Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Schumacher, P.; Greer, A. L.

Crystallization from a melt and from a metallic glass both occur in an undercooled liquid. In this way identical nucleation mechanisms can operate in the two cases. However, in metallic glasses, unlike conventional solidification at low undercooling, the low atomic mobility permits the resolution and microscopical study of nucleation processes on added particles. Conventional aluminium grain-refiner based on Al-Ti-B has been used to obtain nucleant particles embedded in a glassy matrix of Al85Y8Ni5Co2 (at%). During crystallization from the glassy state, nucleation and growth of α-Al can be observed on TiB2 particles coated with a layer of Al3Ti Empirical relations found in casting practice of Al-alloys, such as excess Ti necessary for grain refinement, can be related to the observed nucleation mechanism, which is found to be very sensitive to both crystallographic and chemical factors.

Effects of combined additions of Sr and AlTiB grain refiners in hypoeutectic Al-Si foundry alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, L.; Dahle, A.K.

2006-01-01

Strontium is the most widely used and a very effective element for modifying the morphology of eutectic silicon, while Ti and B are commonly present in the commercial grain refiners used for Al-Si alloys. Systematic studies on the effects of combined additions of Sr and different AlTiB grain refiners on the Al + Si eutectic and primary aluminium solidification have been performed. While slight coarsening of both eutectic Si and primary aluminium grains occurs during holding, no obvious interactions are observed between Sr and AlTiB grain refiners when the addition level of grain refiners is low. As a result, a well-modified and grain refined structure was obtained. However, strong negative interactions between Sr and Al1.5Ti1.5B were observed as the addition level of the grain refiner increases. It was found that these interactions have a much more profound impact on the eutectic solidification than the primary Al solidification. The melt treated with combined additions of Sr and Al1.5Ti1.5B still shows good grain refinement efficiency even after losing its modification completely. The mechanism responsible for such negative interactions is further discussed

Effects of combined additions of Sr and AlTiB grain refiners in hypoeutectic Al-Si foundry alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, L. [CSIRO Minerals, P.O. Box 883, Kenmore, Qld. 4069 (Australia)]. E-mail: Liming.Lu@csiro.au; Dahle, A.K. [CRC for Cast Metals Manufacturing, Division of Materials, School of Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld. 4072 (Australia)

2006-11-05

Strontium is the most widely used and a very effective element for modifying the morphology of eutectic silicon, while Ti and B are commonly present in the commercial grain refiners used for Al-Si alloys. Systematic studies on the effects of combined additions of Sr and different AlTiB grain refiners on the Al + Si eutectic and primary aluminium solidification have been performed. While slight coarsening of both eutectic Si and primary aluminium grains occurs during holding, no obvious interactions are observed between Sr and AlTiB grain refiners when the addition level of grain refiners is low. As a result, a well-modified and grain refined structure was obtained. However, strong negative interactions between Sr and Al1.5Ti1.5B were observed as the addition level of the grain refiner increases. It was found that these interactions have a much more profound impact on the eutectic solidification than the primary Al solidification. The melt treated with combined additions of Sr and Al1.5Ti1.5B still shows good grain refinement efficiency even after losing its modification completely. The mechanism responsible for such negative interactions is further discussed.

Grain Refinement and High-Performance of Equal-Channel Angular Pressed Cu-Mg Alloy for Electrical Contact Wire

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aibin Ma

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Multi-pass equal-channel angular pressing (EACP was applied to produce ultrafine-grained (UFG Cu-0.2wt%Mg alloy contact wire with high mechanical/electric performance, aim to overcome the catenary barrier of high-speed trains by maximizing the tension and improving the power delivery. Microstructure evolution and overall properties of the Cu-Mg alloy after different severe-plastic-deformation (SPD routes were investigated by microscopic observation, tensile and electric tests. The results show that the Cu-Mg alloy after multi-pass ECAP at 473 K obtains ultrafine grains, higher strength and desired conductivity. More passes of ECAP leads to finer grains and higher strength, but increasing ECAP temperature significantly lower the strength increment of the UFG alloy. Grain refinement via continuous SPD processing can endow the Cu-Mg alloy superior strength and good conductivity characteristics, which are advantageous to high-speed electrification railway systems.

The research on the effect of MgCO{sub 3} on the grain refinement in AZ31 magnesium alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gao, S.Y.; Cui, J.Z.; Li, Q.C.; Zhang, Z.Q. [Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang (China)

2010-08-15

The effect of MgCO{sub 3} addition on the as-cast microstructure of AZ31 magnesium alloy has been widely investigated. The results show that the average grain size of the {alpha}-Mg grain in AZ31 magnesium alloy decreases from about 570 {mu}m to 100 {mu}m by the addition of 0.6 wt.% MgCO{sub 3} as gain refiner at 760 C. Based on the analysis of EDS, theoretical calculation of E{sub bind} and Gibbs free energy, we esteem that grain refiner mechanism is mainly attributed to the generation of Al{sub 4}C{sub 3}, which can be serviced as nucleation site and restrain grain boundary from growing and transferring. (Abstract Copyright [2010], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Factors affecting the grain-refinement of aluminum using titanium and boron additives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, G.P.; Pearson, J.

1976-01-01

The development of grain-refining techniques for the casting of aluminum, and the results achieved using additions of ternary Al--Ti--B master-alloys, are briefly described. A test procedure is given for assessing the relative effectiveness of these master-alloys, and the results are related to the various kinds of alloy treated, including those with constituents which poison the grain-refining agent. The equilibrium conditions which affect the behavior of the constituents of the grain-refined alloys are examined quantitatively from a thermodynamic viewpoint. One theory about the mechanism of nucleation of aluminum on titanium diboride is examined and found inapplicable. New data on the solubility of TiB 2 , ZrB 2 , TiC, ZrC, Cr 3 C 2 , and CrB 2 in liquid aluminum are presented graphically. Practical aspects of alloy behavior in grain-refining practice are analyzed and discussed on the basis of the quantitative data

Grain Refinement of Al-Si-Fe-Cu-Zn-Mn Based Alloy by Al-Ti-B Alloy and Its Effect on Mechanical Properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Hyo-Sang; Kim, Yong-Ho; Jung, Chang-Gi; Lee, Sang-Chan; Lee, Seong-Hee; Son, Hyeon-Taek

2018-03-01

We investigated the effects of Al-5.0wt%Ti-1.0wt%B addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-extruded Al-0.15wt%Si-0.2wt%Fe-0.3wt%Cu-0.15wt%Zn-0.9wt%Mn based alloys. The Aluminum alloy melt was held at 800 °C and then poured into a mould at 200 °C. Aluminum alloys were hot-extruded into a rod that was 12 mm in thickness with a reduction ratio of 38:1. AlTiB addition to Al-0.15Si-0.2Fe-0.3Cu-0.15Zn-0.9Mn based alloys resulted in the formation of Al3Ti and TiB2 intermetallic compounds and grain refinement. With increasing of addition AlTiB, ultimate tensile strength increased from 93.38 to 99.02 to 100.01 MPa. The tensile strength of the as-extruded alloys was improved due to the formation of intermetallic compounds and grain refinement.

Grain refinement of AZ31 by (SiC)P: Theoretical calculation and experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guenther, R.; Hartig, Ch.; Bormann, R.

2006-01-01

Grain refinement of gravity die-cast Mg-alloys can be achieved via two methods: in situ refinement by primary precipitated metallic or intermetallic phases, and inoculation of the melt via ceramic particles that remain stable in the melt due to their high thermodynamic stability. In order to clarify grain refinement mechanisms and optimize possible potent refiners in Mg-alloys, a simulation method for heterogeneous nucleation based on a free growth model has been developed. It allows the prediction of the grain size as a function of the particle size distribution, the volumetric content of ceramic inoculants, the cooling rate and the alloy constitution. The model assumptions were examined experimentally by a study of the grain refinement of (SiC) P in AZ31. Additions of (SiC) P result in significant grain refinement, if appropriate parameters for ceramic particles are chosen. The model makes quantitatively correct predictions for the grain size and its variation with cooling rate

Grain refinement through severe plastic deformation (SPD) processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Izairi, N.; Vevecka - Priftaj, A.

2012-01-01

There is considerable current interest in processing metallic samples through procedures involving the imposition of severe plastic deformation (SPD). These procedures lead to very significant grain refinement to the submicrometer or even the nanometer level, resulting in advanced physical properties. Among various SPD processes, Equal Channel Angular Pressing, High pressure Torsion and Accumulated Roll Bonding have been widely used for many metals and alloys. In the present work, we present an overview of the most used methods of SPD for grain refinement and the production of bulk nano structured materials with enhancement in their mechanical and functional properties. In order to examine the potential for using ECAP to refine the grain size and improve the mechanical properties, two commercial 5754 Al alloy and AA 3004 , were selected for study. Processing by ECAP gives a reduction in the grain size and an increase in the microhardness. (Author)

Distribution of trace elements in a modified and grain refined aluminium-silicon hypoeutectic alloy.

Science.gov (United States)

Faraji, M; Katgerman, L

2010-08-01

The influence of modifier and grain refiner on the nucleation process of a commercial hypoeutectic Al-Si foundry alloy (A356) was investigated using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron probe microanalysis technique (EPMA). Filtering was used to improve the casting quality; however, it compromised the modification of silicon. Effect of filtering on strontium loss was also studied using the afore-mentioned techniques. EPMA was used to trace the modifying and grain refining agents inside matrix and eutectic Si. This was to help understanding mechanisms of nucleation and modification in this alloy. Using EPMA, the negative interaction of Sr and Al3TiB was closely examined. In modified structure, it was found that the maximum point of Sr concentration was in line with peak of silicon; however, in case of just 0.1wt% added Ti, the peak of Ti concentration was not in line with aluminium, (but it was close to Si peak). Furthermore, EPMA results showed that using filter during casting process lowered the strontium content, although produced a cleaner melt. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of Al–5Ti–1B grain refiner on the microstructure, mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of Al5052 aluminium alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amulya Bihari Pattnaik

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In the present investigation, the effect of Al–5Ti–1B grain refiner on the microstructure, mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of Al 5052 aluminium alloy have been studied. Microstructural analysis showed the presence of primary α solid solution. No Al–Mg phase was found to be formed due to the presence of magnesium in the solid solution. The results indicated that the addition of Al–5Ti–1B grain refiner into the alloy caused a significant improvement in ultimate tensile strength (UTS and elongation values from 114 MPa and 7.8% to 185 MPa and 18% respectively. The main mechanisms behind this improvement were found to be due to the grain refinement during solidification and segregation of Ti at primary α grain boundaries. Acoustic emission (AE results indicated that intensity of AE signals increased with increase in Al–5Ti–1B master alloy content, which had been attributed to the combined effect of dislocation motion and grain refinement. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX analysis were used to study the microstructure and fracture surfaces of the samples.

Contribution to the grain refinement of hypoeutectic aluminium-silicon casting alloys: application of a new grain refiner and experience from practice; Beitrag zur Kornfeinung von untereutektischen Aluminium-Silicium-Gusslegierungen: Anwendung eines neuen Kornfeiners und Erfahrungen aus der Praxis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koch, H. [Aluminium Rheinfelden GmbH, Rheinfelden (Germany)

2000-10-01

This paper describes the application of a master alloy on the basis of aluminium-titanium-boron, that is designed for hypoeutectic aluminium-silicon casting alloys. The efficiency of the grain refiner was measured using thermal analysis and sand and permanent mould casted samples. The grain size was measured using metallographic technique. In addition, casting trials using a spiral sand mould were carried out to estimate the influence on the flowing behaviour of the melt. To compare the results, a standard AlTi5B1 rod was used under the same test conditions. Finally, results from practice are shown. The grain refinement mechanism is discussed. (orig.)

Microstructural and mechanical properties of gravity-die-cast A356 alloy inoculated with yttrium and Al-Ti-B grain refiner simultaneously

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y.P. Lim

2011-10-01

Full Text Available In the present work, the effect of inoculating yttrium and Al-5Ti-1B simultaneously on A356 aluminum alloy has been studied. Gravity die casting process is used to cast the ASTM tensile test specimens for analysis. In each experiment, the Ti and B contents were maintained constantly at 0.1 and 0.02 wt% respectively. The addition of yttrium was manipulated at the amount of 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 wt%. Microstructural characterization of the as-cast A356 alloy was investigated by means of optical microscope and its phases are detected by XRD. The mechanical properties tested are tensile strength and hardness. The inoculation of yttrium was found to enhance the grain refinement effect of Al-5Ti-1B grain refiner and improve the mechanical properties. The optimal weight percentage of yttrium was found to be 0.3. The grain refining efficiency of combining yttrium and Al-5Ti-1B on A356 aluminum alloy was mainly attributed to the heterogeneous nucleation of TiB2 and TiAl3 particles which were dispersed more evenly in the presence of yttrium and the grain growth restriction effected by the accumulation of Al-Y compound at grain boundaries.

Effect of grain refinement on the microstructure and tensile properties of thin 319 Al castings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shabani, M.J.; Emamy, M.; Nemati, N.

2011-01-01

The structural examinations and tensile properties of thin-section Al castings (319 Al alloy) have been investigated by applying a pattern with different cross sections (2-12 mm). Al-5Ti-1B and Al-5Zr grain refiners were added to the molten Al alloy to produce different levels of Ti (0.01%, 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.15%) and Zr (0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.5%) in the castings. From macrostructural studies, it was found that Al-5Zr is less effective in grain refining of 319 alloy in comparison with Al-5Ti-1B master alloy. The optimum levels of grain refiners were selected for determination of tensile properties. T6 heat treatment was applied for selected specimens before tensile testing. Further structural results also showed that thinner sections are less affected by grain refiners. This observation was found to be in a good agreement with tensile test results, where tensile properties of the base and grain refined alloys did not show considerable differences in thinner sections (<6 mm).

Production of Al-Ti-B grain refining master alloys from Na{sub 2}B{sub 4}O{sub 7} and K{sub 2}TiF{sub 6}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Birol, Yuecel [Materials Institute, Marmara Research Center, TUBITAK, Gebze, Kocaeli (Turkey)], E-mail: yucel.birol@mam.gov.tr

2008-06-30

It is very desirable to replace the KBF{sub 4} salt in the popular 'halide salt' process to reduce the volume of fluoride salts to be added to molten aluminium in the production of Al-Ti-B grain refiners. Being over 2 times richer in B, Na{sub 2}B{sub 4}O{sub 7} is a promising replacement for KBF{sub 4}, and is used in the present work to produce Al-Ti-B grain refiner master alloys. A fraction of the aluminide particles were entrapped in the spent salt giving a relatively lower Ti recovery when KBF{sub 4} was replaced by Na{sub 2}B{sub 4}O{sub 7}. The grain refining performance of the Al-Ti-B grain refiner alloy thus produced was nevertheless acceptable. The spent salt became too viscous with the oxides, aluminides and borides to be removed by decanting when Na{sub 2}B{sub 4}O{sub 7}.5H{sub 2}O was used to supply boron. The viscous spent salt, entrained in the grain refiner alloy, did not only impair its performance, but also hurt the fluidity of the molten alloy and made pouring difficult.

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy: Grain Refinement by Adjusting Pulse Frequency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Guo

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM offers a potential approach to fabricate large-scale magnesium alloy components with low cost and high efficiency, although this topic is yet to be reported in literature. In this study, WAAM is preliminarily applied to fabricate AZ31 magnesium. Fully dense AZ31 magnesium alloy components are successfully obtained. Meanwhile, to refine grains and obtain good mechanical properties, the effects of pulse frequency (1, 2, 5, 10, 100, and 500 Hz on the macrostructure, microstructure and tensile properties are investigated. The results indicate that pulse frequency can result in the change of weld pool oscillations and cooling rate. This further leads to the change of the grain size, grain shape, as well as the tensile properties. Meanwhile, due to the resonance of the weld pool at 5 Hz and 10 Hz, the samples have poor geometry accuracy but contain finer equiaxed grains (21 μm and exhibit higher ultimate tensile strength (260 MPa and yield strength (102 MPa, which are similar to those of the forged AZ31 alloy. Moreover, the elongation of all samples is above 23%.

Preparation of Al-Ti-B grain refiner by SHS technology[Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nikitin, V.I.; Wanqi, J.I.E.; Kandalova, E.G.; Makarenko, A.G.; Yong, L.

2000-02-01

Since the discovery of the grain refinement effect of aluminum by titanium, especially with the existence of B or C in 1950, grain refiners are widely accepted in industry for microstructure control of aluminum alloys. Research on this topic is to obtain the highest grain refinement efficiency with the lowest possible addition of master alloy. It is widely accepted that the morphology and size of TiAl{sub 3} particles, which are known as heterogeneous nucleation centers, are important factors deterring the grain refinement efficiency. Fine TiAl{sub 3} particles are favorable. The grain refinement process shows a heredity phenomenon, which means that structural information from initial materials transfers through a melt to the final product. It is important to find the connection between microstructural parameters of the master alloy and the final product. To improve the quality of Al-Ti-B master alloys for the use as a grain refiner, a new method based on SHS (self-propagating high-temperature synthesis) technology has been developed in Samara State Technical University to produce the master alloys. SHS, as a new method for preparation of materials, was first utilized by Merzhanov in 1967. This method uses the energy from highly exothermic reactions to sustain the chemical reaction in a combustion wave. The advantages of SHS include simplicity, low energy requirement, and higher product purity. Because SHS reactions can take place between elemental reactants, it is easy to control product composition. The purposes of this investigation were to fabricate an SHS Al-5%Ti-1%B master alloy, to analyze its structure and to test its grain refining performance.

Grain refinement of Al-Si9.8-Cu3.4 alloy by novel Al-3.5FeNb-1.5C master alloy and its effect on mechanical properties

Science.gov (United States)

Apparao, K. Ch; Birru, Anil Kumar

2018-01-01

A novel Al-3.5FeNb-1.5C master alloy with uniform microstructure was prepared using a melt reaction process for this study. In the master alloy, basic intermetallic particles such as NbAl3, NbC act as heterogeneous nucleation substrates during the solidification of aluminium. The grain refining performance of the novel master alloy on Al-Si9.8-Cu3.4 alloy has also been investigated. It is observed that the addition of 0.1 wt.% of Al-3.5FeNb-1.5C master alloy can induce very effective grain refinement of the Al-Si9.8-Cu3.4 alloy. The average grain size of α-Al is reduced to 22.90 μm from about 61.22 μm and most importantly, the inoculation of Al-Si9.8-Cu3.4 alloy with FeNb-C is not characterised by any visible poisoning effect, which is the drawback of using commercial Al-Ti-B master alloys on aluminium cast alloys. Therefore, the mechanical properties of the Al-Si9.8-Cu3.4 alloy have been improved obviously by the addition of the 0.1 wt.% of Al-3.5FeNb-1.5C master alloy, including the yield strength and elongation.

Mechanical Behavior of an Ultrafine/Nano Grained Magnesium Alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seyed Mahmood Fatemi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The application of magnesium alloys is greatly limited because of their relatively low strength and ductility. An effective way to improve the mechanical properties of magnesium alloy is to refine the grains. As the race for better materials performance is never ending, attempts to develop viable techniques for microstructure refinement continue. Further refining of grain size requires, however, application of extreme value of plastic deformation on material. In this work, an AZ31 wrought magnesium alloy was processed by employing multipass accumulative back extrusion process. The obtained microstructure, texture, and room temperature compressive properties were characterized and discussed. The results indicated that grains of 80 nm to 1 μm size were formed during accumulative back extrusion, where the mean grain size of the experimental material was reduced by applying successive ABE passes. The fraction of DRX increased and the mean grain size of the ABEed alloy markedly lowered, as subsequent passes were applied. This helped to explain the higher yield stress govern the occurrence of twinning during compressive loading. Compressive yield and maximum compressive strengths were measured to increase by applying successive extrusion passes, while the strain-to-fracture dropped. The evolution of mechanical properties was explained relying on the grain refinement effect as well as texture change.

Effect of Al–5Ti–1B grain refiner on the microstructure, mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of Al5052 aluminium alloy

OpenAIRE

Pattnaik, Amulya Bihari; Das, Satyabrat; Jha, Bharat Bhushan; Prasanth, Nedumbilly

2015-01-01

In the present investigation, the effect of Al–5Ti–1B grain refiner on the microstructure, mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of Al 5052 aluminium alloy have been studied. Microstructural analysis showed the presence of primary α solid solution. No Al–Mg phase was found to be formed due to the presence of magnesium in the solid solution. The results indicated that the addition of Al–5Ti–1B grain refiner into the alloy caused a significant improvement in ultimate tensi...

Grain refining effect of magnetic field on Mg2Ni0.8Mn0.2 hydrogen storage alloys during rapid quenching

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Chenxi; Wang, Haiyan; Chen, Xiangrong; Tang, Yougen; Lu, Zhouguang; Wang, Yazhi; Liu, Zuming

2013-01-01

The effect of static magnetic field treatment for synthesis of Mg 2 Ni 0.8 Mn 0.2 alloys during rapid quenching was investigated in this paper. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) results show that the transversal static magnetic field can effectively refine the grain size, producing nanocrystalline inside. This distinct phenomenon is probably attributed to the Lorentz force suppressing the crystallization of the hydrogen storage alloys and the thermoelectric effect. Mainly due to the grain refinement, the discharge capacity of Mg 2 Ni 0.8 Mn 0.2 alloy is raised from 79 to about 200 mA h g −1 . It is confirmed that Mg 2 Ni 0.8 Mn 0.2 alloy by magnetic field assisted approach possesses enhanced electrochemical kinetics and relatively high corrosion resistance against the alkaline solution, thus resulting in higher electrochemical properties

Limit of grain refinement during ECAP process. Temperature influence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chuvil'deev, V.N.; Kopylov, V.I.; Nokhrin, A.V.; Makarov, I.M.; Lopatin, Yu.G.

2004-01-01

Experimental and theoretical study results are reported for the process of deformation grain refinement under severe plastic deformation. A generalization is made for experimental study results on deformation dispersing of unalloyed metals and aluminium and magnesium base alloys. The model is built that allows calculating the value of minimum grain size attained by the method of equal-channel angular pressing. The expressions are derived which describe the dependence of grain refinement limit on the nature of material and the temperature of severe plastic deformation [ru

Development of Niobium Boron grain retainer for aluminium silicon alloys

OpenAIRE

Nowak, Magdalena

2011-01-01

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University Aluminium castings with a large grain structure have poor mechanical properties which are primarily due to casting defects as opposed to fine grain structure. The grain refinement practice using chemical addition is well established for wrought alloys, however in the case of casting alloys, the practice of adding grain refiners and the impact on castability is not well established. The additio...

Intermetallic Growth and Interfacial Properties of the Grain Refiners in Al Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Chunmei; Cheng, Nanpu; Chen, Zhiqian; Xie, Zhongjing; Hui, Liangliang

2018-01-01

Al3TM(TM = Ti, Zr, Hf, Sc) particles acting as effective grain refiners for Al alloys have been receiving extensive attention these days. In order to judge their nucleation behaviors, first-principles calculations are used to investigate their intermetallic and interfacial properties. Based on energy analysis, Al3Zr and Al3Sc are more suitable for use as grain refiners than the other two intermetallic compounds. Interfacial properties show that Al/Al3TM(TM = Ti, Zr, Hf, Sc) interfaces in I-ter interfacial mode exhibit better interface wetting effects due to larger Griffith rupture work and a smaller interface energy. Among these, Al/Al3Sc achieves the lowest interfacial energy, which shows that Sc atoms should get priority for occupying interfacial sites. Additionally, Sc-doped Al/Al3(Zr, Sc) interfacial properties show that Sc can effectively improve the Al/Al3(Zr, Sc) binding strength with the Al matrix. By combining the characteristics of interfaces with the properties of intermetallics, the core-shell structure with Al3Zr-core or Al3Zr(Sc1-1)-core encircled with an Sc-rich shell forms. PMID:29677155

Production of Al-Ti-C grain refiners with the addition of elemental carbon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gezer, Berke Turgay; Toptan, Fatih; Daglilar, Sibel; Kerti, Isil

2010-01-01

Grain refining process used in aluminium alloys, has an important role for preventing columnar, coarse grains and encouraging fine, equiaxed grain formation. Al-Ti-B grain refiners are widely used as aluminium grain refiners despite the problems in application Al-Ti-C refiners have an increasing demand in recent years. In the present work, Al-Ti-C grain refiners with different Ti:C ratios were produced by insitu method with the addition of elemental carbon. Microstructures were characterised by optic microscope and scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy. The effects of temperature, holding time and Ti:C ratio on the grain refinement process were investigated and optimum conditions were determined.

Effect of B/Ti mass ratio on grain refining of low-titanium aluminum produced by electrolysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Mingxing; Wang Sanjun; Liu Zhiyong; Liu Zhongxia; Song Tianfu; Zuo Xiurong

2006-01-01

The effect of B/Ti mass ratio on grain refining of the low-titanium aluminum produced by electrolysis was investigated by adding AlB master alloy to the melt of the low-titanium aluminum. The results show that the addition of titanium by electrolysis is an effective way of grain refining of aluminum, and addition of boron to the melt of the low-titanium aluminum can further increase the grain refining efficiency. And the best grain refining efficiency is obtained when the B/Ti mass ratio is 1:10. However, when the B/Ti mass ratio is 1:2.22 (the stoichiometric value for TiB 2 ), the grain refining efficiency vanishes almost completely. It means that all of the solute titanium atoms in the melt of the low-titanium aluminum react with boron atoms that come from AlB master alloy to form TiB 2 particles, and TiB 2 particles have not grain refining ability. The grain refining efficiency seems to increase with addition of more boron to the melt after the B/Ti mass ratio exceeds 1:2.22. But the grain refining efficiency is very poor, and similar to that of pure Al refined by AlB master alloy. It further shows that TiB 2 particles do not participate in grain refining, and that the excess boron atoms in the melt also cannot turn TiB 2 particles into the effective nuclei for aluminum as the solute titanium atoms do

Grain Refinement and Mechanical Properties of Cu-Cr-Zr Alloys with Different Nano-Sized TiCp Addition.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Dongdong; Bai, Fang; Wang, Yong; Wang, Jinguo; Wang, Wenquan

2017-08-08

The TiC p /Cu master alloy was prepared via thermal explosion reaction. Afterwards, the nano-sized TiC p /Cu master alloy was dispersed by electromagnetic stirring casting into the melting Cu-Cr-Zr alloys to fabricate the nano-sized TiC p -reinforced Cu-Cr-Zr composites. Results show that nano-sized TiC p can effectively refine the grain size of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys. The morphologies of grain in Cu-Cr-Zr composites changed from dendritic grain to equiaxed crystal because of the addition and dispersion of nano-sized TiC p . The grain size decreased from 82 to 28 μm with the nano-sized TiC p content. Compared with Cu-Cr-Zr alloys, the ultimate compressive strength (σ UCS ) and yield strength (σ 0.2 ) of 4 wt% TiC p -reinforced Cu-Cr-Zr composites increased by 6.7% and 9.4%, respectively. The wear resistance of the nano-sized TiCp-reinforced Cu-Cr-Zr composites increased with the increasing nano-sized TiCp content. The wear loss of the nano-sized TiC p -reinforced Cu-Cr-Zr composites decreased with the increasing TiC p content under abrasive particles. The eletrical conductivity of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys, 2% and 4% nano-sized TiCp-reinforced Cu-Cr-Zr composites are 64.71% IACS, 56.77% IACS and 52.93% IACS, respectively.

Effects of die profile on grain refinement in Al–Mg alloy processed by repetitive corrugation and straightening

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thangapandian, N., E-mail: erpandian@gmail.com [Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai 600025 (India); Balasivanandha Prabu, S. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai 600025 (India); Padmanabhan, K.A. [Centre for Nanotechnology, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500046 (India)

2016-01-01

It is shown that a proper selection of corrugation die profile and die parameters is essential for achieving homogeneous grain refinement in materials subjected to repetitive corrugation and straightening (RCS). An Al–Mg (AA 5083) alloy was subjected to the RCS process using three different corrugation die profiles (V-groove, Flat groove, and Semi-circular groove), followed by straightening to determine the allowable maximum number of passes prior to surface cracking/fracture. Mechanical properties, i.e., hardness and tensile strength of the RCS samples were measured and compared as functions of corrugation die profiles and number of passes and the changes in microstructure. Grain refinement was studied using Electron Back Scattered Diffraction (EBSD) analysis and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM).

Grain refinement of Aluminium alloys using friction stir processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khraisheh, M.

2004-01-01

Full text.Friction Stir Processing (FSP) is a new advanced material processing technique used to refine and homogenize the microstructure of sheet metals. FSP is a solid state processing technique that uses a rapidly rotating non-consumable high strength tool steel pin that extends from a cylindrical shoulder. The rotating pin is forced with a predetermined load into the work piece and moved along with the work pieces, while the rotating pin deforms and stirs the locally heated material. It is a hot working process in which a large amount of deformation is imparted to the sheet. FS processed zone is characterized by dynamic recrystallization which results in grain refinement . this promising emerging process needs further investigations to develop optimum process parameters to produce the desired microstructure. In this work, we present preliminary results on the effects of rotational and translational speeds on grain refinement of AA5052. Under certain processing conditions, sub-micron grain structure was produced using this technique

Effect of some grain refiners on the mechanical properties of aluminum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaid, A.I.O.

2001-01-01

It is well established that aluminum and its alloys are grain refined by some refractory metals to enhance their surface qualities and mechanical strengths. In this paper, the literature on grain refining, and its mechanism is reviewed and discussed. Also, the effect of grain refining of commercially pure aluminum by the addition of titanium, boron, vanadium, molybdenum, and zirconium is investigated. The effect of each of these elements on grain size, hardness and mechanical behavior is presented and discussed. It was found that the addition of any of these elements except zirconium resulted in enhancement of grain size, hardness and mechanical strength. An increase of 2.1 % in flow stress of Al grain refined by Ti+B was achieved by addition of 0.1 % V at 0.2 strain. (author)

The effect of coarse second-phase particles on the rate of grain refinement during severe deformation processing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Apps, P.J.; Bowen, Jacob R.; Prangnell, P.B.

2003-01-01

The effect of second-phase particles on the rate of grain refinement during severe deformation processing has been investigated, by comparing the microstructure evolution in an AA8079 aluminium alloy, containing 2.5 vol.% of ~2 μm particles, with that in a high purity, single-phase, Al-0.13% Mg a...... by an effective strain of only five in the particle-containing alloy, compared to ten in the single-phase material. The mechanisms that contribute to this acceleration of the grain refinement process are discussed.......The effect of second-phase particles on the rate of grain refinement during severe deformation processing has been investigated, by comparing the microstructure evolution in an AA8079 aluminium alloy, containing 2.5 vol.% of ~2 μm particles, with that in a high purity, single-phase, Al-0.13% Mg...... alloy, deformed identically by ECAE to an effective strain of ten. The materials were analysed by high-resolution EBSD orientation mapping, which revealed that grain refinement occurred at a dramatically higher rate in the particle-containing alloy. A submicron grain structure could be achieved...

The effect of dispersoids on the grain refinement mechanisms during deformation of aluminium alloys to ultra-high strains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Apps, P.J.; Berta, M.; Prangnell, P.B.

2005-01-01

The effect of fine dispersoids on the mechanisms and rate of grain refinement has been investigated during the severe deformation of a model aluminium alloy. A binary Al-0.2Sc alloy, containing coherent Al 3 Sc dispersoids, of ∼20 nm in diameter and ∼100 nm spacing, has been deformed by equal channel angular extrusion to an effective strain of ten. The resulting deformation structures were quantitatively analysed using high-resolution electron backscattered diffraction orientation mapping, and the results have been compared to those obtained from a single-phase Al-0.13Mg alloy, deformed under identical conditions. The presence of fine, non-shearable, dispersoids has been found to homogenise slip, retard the formation of a cellular substructure and inhibit the formation of microshear bands during deformation. These factors combine to reduce the rate of high-angle grain boundary generation at low to medium strains and, hence, retard the formation of a submicron grain structure to higher strains during severe deformation

Effect of addition of tantalum and zirconium on the mechanical behavior of aluminum grain refined by Ti+ B

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaid, A.I.O.

2003-01-01

Aluminum and its alloys normally solidify in a columnar structure with coarse grains. Therefore, they are normally grain refined by adding either titanium or titanium + boron to their melts to obtain finer grain size and better surface quality. Other elements may be added beside the grain refiners to enhance their grain refinement efficiency and improve the mechanical behavior. Some elements were found to improve the grain refining efficiency of the master alloys e.g., vanadium, molybdenum, while others were found to deteriorate the grain refining efficiency e.g., zirconium and tantalum. The literature reveals that in general, only one element is added in the presence of the binary AI-Ti or the ternary AI-Ti-B grain refining master alloy. It is, therefore, anticipated that the addition of Ta and Zr may have different effect when added together from that if each element is added alone. This formed the main objective of this paper. In this paper, the effect of addition of either Zr, Ta or both of them together, with a percentage of 0.1 %wt each, on the grain size, hardness and mechanical behavior of AI and AI grain refined by Ti+B is investigated. It was found that adding Zr or Ta to commercially pure aluminum resulted in grain refinement of its structure and resulted in slight improvement of its hardness. However, a pronounced improvement was obtained in its mechanical strength and formability. On the other hand, addition of either Zr or Ta to Al grain refined by Ti+B resulted in poisoning effect i.e. reducing the grain refining efficiency of the AI- Ti-B master alloy. Practically, addition of either Zr or Ta has no effect on its hardness but resulted in a pronounced improvement of its mechanical strength. Finally, the addition of Zr + Ta to commercially pure aluminum or to aluminum grain refined by Ti+B resulted in reduction of grain size, little improvement in hardness and pronounced improvement in mechanical strength than when each element was added alone

Enhanced radiation tolerance of ultrafine grained Fe–Cr–Ni alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, C.; Yu, K.Y.; Lee, J.H.; Liu, Y.; Wang, H.; Shao, L.; Maloy, S.A.; Hartwig, K.T.; Zhang, X.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Ultrafine grained Fe-Cr-Ni alloy was processed by equal channel angular pressing technique. ► The overall Helium bubble density and dislocation loop density were reduced by grain refinement. ► The ultrafine grained microstructure alleviated radiation-induced hardening. - Abstract: The evolutions of microstructure and mechanical properties of Fe–14Cr–16Ni (wt.%) alloy subjected to Helium ion irradiations were investigated. Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) process was used to significantly reduce the average grain size from 700 μm to 400 nm. At a peak fluence level of 5.5 displacement per atom (dpa), helium bubbles, 0.5–2 nm in diameter, were observed in both coarse-grained (CG) and ultrafine grained (UFG) alloy. The density of He bubbles, dislocation loops, as well as radiation hardening were reduced in the UFG Fe–Cr–Ni alloy comparing to those in its CG counterpart. The results imply that radiation tolerance in bulk metals can be effectively enhanced by refinement of microstructures.

The limit of grain refinement on equal channel angular deformation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopylov, V.I.; Chuvil'deev, V.N.

2004-01-01

Experimental and theoretical study results on the process of strain-induced grain refinement under severe plastic deformation are described. A generalization is made for experimental results on deformation dispersing of copper, magnesium and aluminium base alloys as well as unalloyed metals. The model is developed which allows calculating the minimal grain size being able to result from equal channel angular pressing. The expressions describing the dependence of the limit of grain refinement on the nature of the material and severe plastic deformation rate and temperature are obtained [ru

Studies on the sedimentation and agglomeration behavior of Al-Ti-B and Al-Ti-C grain refiners

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gazanion, F.; Chen, X.G.; Dupuis, C. [Alcan International Ltd., Jonquiere, PQ (Canada). Arvida Research and Development Centre

2002-07-01

The sedimentation and agglomeration behavior of Al-Ti-B and Al-Ti-C grain refiners in liquid aluminum has been investigated using the LiMCA and PoDFA analysis techniques in combination with metallographic examination. The widely used Al-5%Ti-1%B and Al-3%Ti-0.15%C master alloys were chosen. Two aluminum alloys, an AAlxxx (commercially pure metal) and an AA5182 (Al-4.5%Mg) alloy, were prepared with different additions of grain refiners. The difference in particle behavior in liquid aluminum for both refiners is described and briefly analyzed in terms of sensitivity to agglomeration and grain refiner performance. Experimental results indicate that, in comparison with the Al-Ti-B refiner, the Al-Ti-C refiner is detrimentally affected by long holding periods due to the decomposition of TiC particles within the melt. (orig.)

The Influence of Grain Refiners on the Efficiency of Ceramic Foam Filters

Science.gov (United States)

Towsey, Nicholas; Schneider, Wolfgang; Krug, Hans-Peter; Hardman, Angela; Keegan, Neil J.

An extensive program of work has been carried out to evaluate the efficiency of ceramic foam filters under carefully controlled conditions. Work reported at previous TMS meetings showed that in the absence of grain refiners, ceramic foam filters have the capacity for high filtration efficiency and consistent, reliable performance. The current phase of the investigation focuses on the impact grain refiner additions have on filter performance. The high filtration efficiencies obtained using 50 or 80ppi CFF's in the absence of grain refiners diminish when Al-3%Ti-1%B grain refiners are added. This, together with the impact of incoming inclusion loading on filter performance and the level of grain refiner addition are considered in detail. The new generation Al-3%Ti-0.15%C grain refiner has also been included. At typical addition levels (1kg/tonne) the effect on filter efficiency is similar to that for TiB2based grain refiners. The work was again conducted on a production scale using AA1050 alloy. Metal quality was determined using LiMCA and PoDFA. Spent filters were also analysed.

The effect of Al–8B grain refiner and heat treatment conditions on the microstructure, mechanical properties and dry sliding wear behavior of an Al–12Zn–3Mg–2.5Cu aluminum alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alipour, M.; Azarbarmas, M.; Heydari, F.; Hoghoughi, M.; Alidoost, M.; Emamy, M.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► The effect of Al–8B on the properties of aluminum alloy was studied. ► Al–8B is an effective in reducing the grain and reagent fine microstructure. ► Al–8B is an effective in optimization of properties. -- Abstract: In this study the effect of Al–8B grain refiner on the structural and properties of Al–12Zn–3Mg–2.5Cu aluminum alloy were investigated. The optimum amount for B containing grain refiner was selected as 3.75 wt.%. The results showed that B containing grain refiner is more effective in reducing average grain size of the alloy. T6 heat treatment was applied for all specimens before tensile testing. Significant improvements in mechanical properties were obtained with the addition of grain refiner combined with T6 heat treatment. After the heat treatment, the average tensile strength increased from 479 MPa to 537 MPa for sample refined with 3.75 wt.% Al–8B. The fractography of the fractured faces and microstructure evolution was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy. Dry sliding wear performance of the alloy was examined in normal atmospheric conditions. The experimental results showed that the T6 heat treatment considerably improved the resistance of Al–12Zn–3Mg–2.5Cu aluminum alloy to the dry sliding wear.

The effect of Al-5Ti-1B grain refiner on the structure and tensile properties of Al-20%Mg alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fakhraei, O. [Center of Excellence for High Performance Materials, School of Metallurgy and Materials, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Emamy, M., E-mail: emamy@ut.ac.ir [Center of Excellence for High Performance Materials, School of Metallurgy and Materials, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Farhangi, H. [Center of Excellence for High Performance Materials, School of Metallurgy and Materials, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2013-01-10

In current research, the effect of Al-5Ti-1B grain refiner on the structure and tensile properties of Al-20%Mg alloy have been investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis were utilized to study the microstructure and fracture surfaces of samples. Microstructural analysis of the cast alloy showed the dendrites of a primary {alpha}-phase solid solution within the eutectic matrix which consists of {beta}-Al{sub 3}Mg{sub 2} intermetallic and {alpha}-solid solution. The results indicated that adding Al-5Ti-1B to the alloy caused a significant rise in the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation values from 168 MPa and 1.2% to maximum 253 MPa and 2.4%, respectively. The main mechanisms for the observed enhancement were found to be due to the refinement of grains during solidification and also segregation of Ti to the tip of Al ({alpha}) dendrites. This phenomenon controls the dendritic growth and changes the morphology of this phase from interconnected coarse dendrites to a star-like morphology.

Nucleation and Grain Refinement of 7A04 Aluminum Alloy Under a Low-Power Electromagnetic Pulse

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Qingwei; Ma, Yonglin; Xing, Shuqing; Bao, Xinyu; Feng, Yanfei; Kang, Xiaolan

2018-02-01

The effects of a low-power electromagnetic pulse on the grain size and cooling curve of high-strength aluminum alloy 7A04 were investigated for various pulse duty cycles. This electromagnetic pulse treatment was found to effectively produce fine grains with globular crystals and a uniform microstructure for pulse duty cycles between 20 and 40%. The key factors that affected grain refinement under the electromagnetic pulse included the electromagnetic energy and the conversion frequency between \\varvec{B} and \\varvec{E} . The nucleation rate increased as the nucleation period was extended. A new kinetic condition of magnetic nucleation was explored by decreasing the critical Gibbs free energy in the electromagnetic pulse, which was more sensitive under low undercooling. In addition, the crystal orientation was controlled in such a solidification environment.

Effect of Duration on Ti Grain Refinement of A356 and Melt Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Gürsoy, Özen; Erzi, Eray; Yüksel, Çağlar; Dispinar, Derya

Grain refinement of aluminium alloys increases fluidity and feedability; and thus higher mechanical properties and decreased porosity is achieved. Typically, various ratios of Ti-B is used as grain refiner. It is well known that due to the sedimentation, the effectiveness of the grain refinement decreases which is called the fading effect. In this work, this effect has been investigated by means of melt quality. Two different melting temperatures were selected (725 and 750C) and samples were cast into die and sand mould. After the addition of grain refiners, samples were collected at 10 minutes of interval. Metallographic examinations were carried out where microstructural change and porosity distribution were investigated. The results were correlated with bifilm index (i.e. melt quality).

Development in corrosion resistance by microstructural refinement in Zr-16 SS 304 alloy using suction casting technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Das, N., E-mail: nirupamd@barc.gov.in; Sengupta, P.; Abraham, G.; Arya, A.; Kain, V.; Dey, G.K.

2016-08-15

Highlights: • Grain refinement was made in Zr–16 wt.% SS alloy while prepared by suction casting process. • Distribution of Laves phase, e.g., Zr{sub 2}(Fe, Cr) was raised in suction cast (SC) Zr–16 wt.% SS. • Corrosion resistance was improved in SC alloy compared to that of arc-melt-cast alloy. • Grain refinement in SC alloy assisted for an increase in its corrosion resistance. - Abstract: Zirconium (Zr)-stainless steel (SS) hybrid alloys are being considered as baseline alloys for developing metallic-waste-form (MWF) with the motivation of disposing of Zr and SS base nuclear metallic wastes. Zr–16 wt.% SS, a MWF alloy optimized from previous studies, exhibit significant grain refinement and changes in phase assemblages (soft phase: Zr{sub 2}(Fe, Cr)/α-Zr vs. hard phase: Zr{sub 3}(Fe, Ni)) when prepared by suction casting (SC) technique in comparison to arc-cast-melt (AMC) route. Variation in Cr-distribution among different phases are found to be low in suction cast alloy, which along with grain refinement restricted Cr-depletion at the Zr{sub 2}(Fe, Cr)/Zr interfaces, prone to localized attack. Hence, SC alloy, compared to AMC alloy, showed lower current density, higher potential at the breakdown of passivity and higher corrosion potential during polarization experiments (carried out under possible geological repository environments, viz., pH 8, 5 and 1) indicating its superior corrosion resistance.

Effects and mechanisms of grain refinement in aluminium alloys

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Unknown

subject of intensive research. Lately the solute effect i.e. the effect of dissolved titanium on grain refinement, ... critical nucleus size for survival is given by r* h omogeneous . 2 v. sL ..... Therefore, it tries to explain how the borides could slow the ...

Effect of acicular ferrite formation on grain refinement in the coarse-grained region of heat-affected zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wan, X.L.; Wei, R.; Wu, K.M.

2010-01-01

The microstructure of acicular ferrite and its formation for the grain refinement of coarse-grained region of heat-affected zone of high strength low-alloy bainite steels were studied using three-dimensional reconstruction technique. Crystallographic grain size was analyzed by means of electron backscatter diffraction. It was revealed that the microstructure in the coarse-grained region of the heat-affected zone consisted of predominantly bainite packets and a small proportion of acicular ferrite. Acicular ferrite was of lath or plate-like rather than needle or rod-like morphology. Tempering of the coarse-grained region of heat-affected zone showed that the acicular ferrite was more stable than the bainite, indicating that the acicular ferrite was formed prior to bainite. The acicular ferrite laths or plates divided the prior austenite grains into smaller and separate regions, and confining the bainite transformed at lower temperatures in the smaller regions and hence leading to the grain refinement in the coarse-grained region of the heat-affected zone.

Effect of acicular ferrite formation on grain refinement in the coarse-grained region of heat-affected zone

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wan, X.L.; Wei, R. [Institute of Advanced Steels and Welding Technology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Systems Science on Metallurgical Processing, Key Laboratory for Ferrous Metallurgy and Resources Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081 (China); Wu, K.M., E-mail: wukaiming@wust.edu.cn [Institute of Advanced Steels and Welding Technology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Systems Science on Metallurgical Processing, Key Laboratory for Ferrous Metallurgy and Resources Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081 (China)

2010-07-15

The microstructure of acicular ferrite and its formation for the grain refinement of coarse-grained region of heat-affected zone of high strength low-alloy bainite steels were studied using three-dimensional reconstruction technique. Crystallographic grain size was analyzed by means of electron backscatter diffraction. It was revealed that the microstructure in the coarse-grained region of the heat-affected zone consisted of predominantly bainite packets and a small proportion of acicular ferrite. Acicular ferrite was of lath or plate-like rather than needle or rod-like morphology. Tempering of the coarse-grained region of heat-affected zone showed that the acicular ferrite was more stable than the bainite, indicating that the acicular ferrite was formed prior to bainite. The acicular ferrite laths or plates divided the prior austenite grains into smaller and separate regions, and confining the bainite transformed at lower temperatures in the smaller regions and hence leading to the grain refinement in the coarse-grained region of the heat-affected zone.

Effect of Dynamic Composite Refinement and Modification on Microstructure of A356 Aluminum Alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

WANG Zheng-jun

2017-01-01

Full Text Available To make up for the inadequacy of Sr modification,Al-5Ti-1B-1RE master alloy refiner was prepared,then were used together with Al-10Sr master alloy for dynamic composite refinement and modification of A356 alloy.The A356 alloy microstructure of modification was studied and compared with the theoretical calculating results.The results show that the melt is fiercely stirred and vibrated by the JJ-1 laboratory electric stirrer;the refining effect of α-Al phase is excellent;the coarse and needle-like eutectic Si phase transforms into tiny,widely dispersed spherical particles and well-distributed at the grain boundaries.And mechanical property of the A356 alloy increases obviously.The grain size control study results are consistent with Johnson-Mehl equation theory.At the same time,the contents of gases of the A356 alloy are significantly reduced,which can not be achieved by Sr alone.Quantitative calculating results of degassing mechanism are consistent with the approximate calculating equations of thermodynamics and Stokes Law.

Application of a grain refiner and modifier to an Al-12 Si cast alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haro R, Sergio; Goytia R, Rafael E; Santos B, Audel; Dwivedi, D.K

2008-01-01

The refining and modification of an alloy of cast aluminum Al-12Si was studied, using sample alloys of Al-5Ti-1B as a refiner and Al-10Sr as a modifier. Two levels of each one were tested and added separately. The results show that the addition of titanium as well as of strontium favored the improvement of the tension properties of the cast Al-12Si alloy, by modifying the microstructure. But the addition of 0.06% Sr in the form of a master alloy produced a more adequate microstructure and presented the best combination of mechanical properties (au)

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Influence of Growth Restriction on Grain Size in Binary Cu Alloys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas Cziegler

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Grain refinement by elemental addition has been extensively investigated within the last decades in Al or Mg alloys. In contrast, in the Cu system, the role of solute on grain size is less investigated. In this study, the grain refinement potency of several alloying elements of the Cu system was examined. To predict grain size depending on the growth restriction factor Q, grain size modelling was performed. The results obtained by the grain size model were compared to variations in the grain size of binary Cu alloys with increasing solute content under defined cooling conditions of the TP-1 grain refiner test of the Aluminium Association©. It was found that the experimental results differed significantly from the predicted grain size values for several alloying elements. A decreasing grain size with increasing alloy concentration was observed independently of the growth restriction potency of the alloying elements. Furthermore, excessive grain coarsening was found for several solutes beyond a transition point. It is assumed that contradictory variations in grain size result from a change in the nucleating particle density of the melt. Significant decreases in grain size are supposed to be due to the in-situ formation of potent nucleation sites. Excessive grain coarsening with increasing solute content may occur due to the removal of nucleating particles. The model shows that the difference in the actual number of particles before and beyond the transition point must be in the range of several orders of magnitude.

A united refinement technology for commercial pure Al by Al-10Ti and Al-Ti-C master alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Xiaoguang; Liu Xiangfa; Ding Haimin

2009-01-01

Because flake-like TiAl 3 particles in Al-Ti-C master alloys prepared in a melt reaction method dissolve slowly when they are added into Al melt at 720 deg. C, Ti atoms cannot be released rapidly to play the assistant role of grain refinement, leading to a poor refinement efficiency of Al-Ti-C master alloys. A united refinement technology by Al-10Ti and Al-Ti-C master alloys was put forward in this paper. The rational combination of fine blocky TiAl 3 particles in Al-10Ti and TiC particles in Al-Ti-C can improve the nucleation rate of α-Al. It not only improves the grain refinement efficiency of Al-Ti-C master alloys, but also reduces the consumption

Summary of structural refinement in hi-silicon aluminium piston alloy with phosphorous as grain refiner

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malik, F.A.; Sheikh, S.T.; Choudhry, A.A.

2003-01-01

Aluminium Silicon Alloys are extensively used in a wide variety of applications. There are numerous variables in composition, production control, final structure which can influence the mechanical properties of Hi - Silicon Piston alloys. Hypereutectic AlSi alloys develop coarse grain primary silicon crystals, which have a strong negative effect on the tensile strength, the ductility, and the hardness. These crystals slow machining and reduce the tool life considerably. Phosphorous addition produce a fine, evenly spread crystal structure, lamellar structure of the silicon changes into a granular structure. (author)

A united refinement technology for commercial pure Al by Al-10Ti and Al-Ti-C master alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma Xiaoguang [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China); Liu Xiangfa [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China)], E-mail: xfliu@sdu.edu.cn; Ding Haimin [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China)

2009-03-05

Because flake-like TiAl{sub 3} particles in Al-Ti-C master alloys prepared in a melt reaction method dissolve slowly when they are added into Al melt at 720 deg. C, Ti atoms cannot be released rapidly to play the assistant role of grain refinement, leading to a poor refinement efficiency of Al-Ti-C master alloys. A united refinement technology by Al-10Ti and Al-Ti-C master alloys was put forward in this paper. The rational combination of fine blocky TiAl{sub 3} particles in Al-10Ti and TiC particles in Al-Ti-C can improve the nucleation rate of {alpha}-Al. It not only improves the grain refinement efficiency of Al-Ti-C master alloys, but also reduces the consumption.

Effect of zirconium addition on welding of aluminum grain refined by titanium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaid, A.I.O.

2011-01-01

Aluminum and its alloys solidify in large grains columnar structure which tends to reduce their mechanical behaviour and surface quality. Therefore, they are industrially grain refined by titanium or titanium + boron. Furthermore, aluminum oxidizes in ordinary atmosphere which makes its weldability difficult and weak. Therefore, it is anticipated that the effect of addition of zirconium at a weight percentages of 0.1% (which proved to be an effective grain refiner on the weldability of aluminum grain refined by Ti) is worthwhile investigating. This formed the objective of this research work. In this paper, the effect of zirconium addition at a weight percentage of 0.1%, which corresponds to the peritctic limit on the aluminum-zirconium phase diagram, on the weldability of aluminum grain refined by Ti is investigated. Rolled sheets of commercially pure aluminum, Al grain refined Ti of 3 mm thickness were welded together using Gas Tungsten Arc Welding method (GTAW), formerly known as TIG. A constant air gap was maintained at a constant current level, 30 ampere AC, was used because it removes the oxides of the welding process under the same process parameters. Metallographic examination of weldments of the different combinations of aluminum and its microalloys at the heat affected zone, HAZ, and base metal was carried out and examined for width, porosity, cracks and microhardness. It was found that grain refining of commercially pure aluminum by Ti resulted in enhancement of its weldability. Similarly, addition of zirconium to Al grain refined by Ti resulted in further enhancement of the weldment. Photomicrographs of the HAZ regions are presented and discussed. (author)

Weldability of thermally grain-refined Fe-12Ni-0.25Ti for cryogenic structural applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, D.E.

1980-02-01

The weldability of a research alloy designed for structural use in liquid helium temperature, cryogenic environments was investigated. Plates of iron-12 weight percent nickel-0.25 weight percent titanium were grain refined by the four-step, grain refining thermal treatment developed for this alloy and welded with Inconel Number 92 weld wire using the Gas Metal Arc (GMA) welding process with argon-15% helium gas shielding. Both a single pass and a double-sided, 2 pass electron beam (EB) weld were also made without filler metal addition. Weldments were radiographed and sectioned and the charpy V-notch specimens removed were tested at liquid nitrogen and helium temperatures

Nano grained AZ31 alloy achieved by equal channel angular rolling process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hassani, F.Z.; Ketabchi, M.

2011-01-01

Equal channel angular rolling (ECAR) is a severe plastic deformation process which is carried out on large, thin sheets. The grain size could be significantly decreased by this process. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of grain refinement of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet by this process to nanometer. The effect of the number of ECAR passes on texture evolution of AZ31 magnesium alloy was investigated. ECAR temperature was controlled to maximize the grain refinement efficiency along with preventing cracking. The initial microstructure of as-received AZ31 sheet showed an average grain size of about 21 μm. The amount of grain refinement increased with increasing the pass number. After 10 passes of the process, significant grain refinement occurred and the field emission scanning electron microscopic (FESEM) micrographs showed that the size of grains were decreased significantly to about 14-70 nm. These grains were formed at the grain boundaries and inside some of the previous larger micrometer grains. Observation of optical microstructures and X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) showed the formation of twins after ECAR process. Micro-hardness of material was studied at room temperature. There was a continuous enhancement of hardness by increasing the pass number of ECAR process. At the 8th pass, hardness values increased by 53%. At final passes hardness reduced slightly, which was attributed to saturation of strain in high number of passes.

Structural heredity of TiC and its influences on refinement behaviors of AlTiC master alloy

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王振卿; 刘相法; 柳延辉; 张均燕; 于丽娜; 边秀房

2003-01-01

Heredity of microstructure in AlTiC master alloy, grain refiners, was analyzed. It is found that, for morphologies and distributions of TiC particles, there are visible heredity which originates from raw materials or processing methods of Al melt, and will ultimately be transferred to the solid state structure through the melt stage, and this phenomenon can cause hereditary influences on refinement: formation of chain-like TiC morphology results in rapid refinement fading behavior; distribution of TiC along grain boundaries greatly reduces refinement efficiency. Controlling of structural heredity through proper selections of raw materials and processing parameters is of great importance in obtaining ideal microstructures and improving refinement behaviors of AlTiC master alloys.

The grain refinement behavior of TiB2 particles prepared with in situ technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Chunlei; Wang Mingxing; Yu Benhai; Chen Dong; Qin Ping; Feng Minghai; Dai Qirun

2007-01-01

The grain-refining behavior of TiB 2 particles was investigated by the method of adding Al-4B master alloy into the melt of electrolytic low-titanium aluminum (ELTA). The results indicate that TiB 2 particles will be formed when the Al-4B master alloy is added into the melt of ELTA. These TiB 2 particles are produced by in situ technology, thus their surface properties are preserved and do not alter. At the bottom of the melt, the TiB 2 particles are pushed to the grain boundaries because of the absence of enough titanium atoms, which indicates that TiB 2 particles alone are not potent nuclei of α-Al. Though some TiB 2 particles settle down at the bottom, there are still numbers of fine TiB 2 particles suspended. These TiB 2 particles, together with the titanium atoms left, will form much more heterogeneous nucleation sites during the solidification of the melt, resulting in the grain-refining efficiency of the ELTA with Al-4B addition being improved obviously. To investigate the grain-refining mechanism of aluminum, this method has its advantages in comparison with that of adding synthetic TiB 2 particles into the melt of aluminum

In situ Neutron Diffraction during Casting: Determination of Rigidity Point in Grain Refined Al-Cu Alloys.

Science.gov (United States)

Drezet, Jean-Marie; Mireux, Bastien; Szaraz, Zoltan; Pirling, Thilo

2014-02-12

The rigidity temperature of a solidifying alloy is the temperature at which the solid plus liquid phases are sufficiently coalesced to transmit long range tensile strains and stresses. It determines the point at which thermally induced deformations start to generate internal stresses in a casting. As such, it is a key parameter in numerical modelling of solidification processes and in studying casting defects such as solidification cracking. This temperature has been determined in Al-Cu alloys using in situ neutron diffraction during casting in a dog bone shaped mould. In such a setup, the thermal contraction of the solidifying material is constrained and stresses develop at a hot spot that is irradiated by neutrons. Diffraction peaks are recorded every 11 s using a large detector, and their evolution allows for the determination of the rigidity temperatures. We measured rigidity temperatures equal to 557 °C and 548 °C, depending on cooling rate, for a grain refined Al-13 wt% Cu alloy. At high cooling rate, rigidity is reached during the formation of the eutectic phase and the solid phase is not sufficiently coalesced, i.e. , strong enough, to avoid hot tear formation.

In situ Neutron Diffraction during Casting: Determination of Rigidity Point in Grain Refined Al-Cu Alloys

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Jean-Marie Drezet

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The rigidity temperature of a solidifying alloy is the temperature at which the solid plus liquid phases are sufficiently coalesced to transmit long range tensile strains and stresses. It determines the point at which thermally induced deformations start to generate internal stresses in a casting. As such, it is a key parameter in numerical modelling of solidification processes and in studying casting defects such as solidification cracking. This temperature has been determined in Al-Cu alloys using in situ neutron diffraction during casting in a dog bone shaped mould. In such a setup, the thermal contraction of the solidifying material is constrained and stresses develop at a hot spot that is irradiated by neutrons. Diffraction peaks are recorded every 11 s using a large detector, and their evolution allows for the determination of the rigidity temperatures. We measured rigidity temperatures equal to 557 °C and 548 °C, depending on cooling rate, for a grain refined Al-13 wt% Cu alloy. At high cooling rate, rigidity is reached during the formation of the eutectic phase and the solid phase is not sufficiently coalesced, i.e., strong enough, to avoid hot tear formation.

The effect of vanadium and grain refiner additions on the nucleation of secondary phases in 1XXX Al alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Allen, C.M.; O' Reilly, K.A.Q.; Evans, P.V.; Cantor, B.

1999-11-26

High purity Al-0.3 wt% Fe-0.1 wt% Si alloys with different Si, V and grain refiner contents were melt spun to produce microstructures of submicron secondary phases entrained in a higher melting point Al matrix. On reheating, a dispersion of eutectic liquid droplets forms that represents an exaggerated version of the liquid puddles that solidify punched-off between Al dendrite arms during conventional casting. The subsequent resolidification of the droplets, analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), allows the nucleation-controlled aspects of secondary phase selection to be studied. The droplets solidify as the metastable FeAl{sub m} phase in ribbons containing {approx{underscore}equal}500 ppm V or {approx{underscore}equal}100 ppm V plus Al-Ti-B, Al-Ti-C or Al-B grain refiner. This phase contributes to the fir-tree surface defect in commercial sheet products. this work suggests that the combination of V and Al-Ti-B promotes FeAl{sub m} in commercial ingots, and confirms that solidification rate and bulk Si content also influence phase content.

Effects of grain refinement on cast structure and tensile properties of superalloy K4169 at high pouring temperature

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Zi-qi Jie

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the filling ability of large complex thin wall castings, the pouring temperature should be increased, but this will result in the grain coarsening. To overcome this problem, two kinds of grain refiners of Co-Fe-Nb and Cr-Fe-Nb ternary alloys, which contain high stability compound particles, were prepared. The effects of the refiners on the as-cast structures and tensile properties of the K4169 superalloy with different casting conditions were studied by analyzing specimens 110 mm long and 20 mm in diameter. Results showed that the mixture addition of the two refiners in the melt of K4169 can reduce the columnar grain region and decrease the equiaxed grain size greatly. After refinement, the amount of Laves phase decreases and its morphology changes from island to blocky structure. The carbides in the fine grain samples are fine and dispersive. Meanwhile, the porosity in specimens is decreased due to grain refinement. As a result, the yield strength, ultimate strength and the elongation of the specimens are increased. The grain refinement mechanisms are also discussed.

A new insight into ductile fracture of ultrafine-grained Al-Mg alloys.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Hailiang; Tieu, A Kiet; Lu, Cheng; Liu, Xiong; Liu, Mao; Godbole, Ajit; Kong, Charlie; Qin, Qinghua

2015-04-08

It is well known that when coarse-grained metals undergo severe plastic deformation to be transformed into nano-grained metals, their ductility is reduced. However, there are no ductile fracture criteria developed based on grain refinement. In this paper, we propose a new relationship between ductile fracture and grain refinement during deformation, considering factors besides void nucleation and growth. Ultrafine-grained Al-Mg alloy sheets were fabricated using different rolling techniques at room and cryogenic temperatures. It is proposed for the first time that features of the microstructure near the fracture surface can be used to explain the ductile fracture post necking directly. We found that as grains are refined to a nano size which approaches the theoretical minimum achievable value, the material becomes brittle at the shear band zone. This may explain the tendency for ductile fracture in metals under plastic deformation.

Effect of Refiner Addition Level on Zirconium-Containing Aluminium Alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaradeh, M M R; Carlberg, T

2012-01-01

It is well known that in aluminium alloys containing Zr, grain refiner additions do not function as desired, producing an effect often referred to as nuclei poisoning. This paper investigates the structure of direct chill-cast ingots of commercial AA3003 aluminium alloys, with and without Zr, at various addition levels of Al5Ti1B master alloy. In Bridgman experiments simulating ingot solidification, Zr-containing alloys were studied after the addition of various amounts of Ti. It could be demonstrated, in both ingot casting and simulation experiments, that Zr poisoning can be compensated for by adding more Ti and/or Al5Ti1B. The results confirm better refinement behaviour with the addition of Ti + B than of only Ti. The various combinations of Zr and Ti also influenced the formation of AlFeMn phases, and the precipitation of large Al 6 (Mn,Fe) particles was revealed. AlZrTiSi intermetallic compounds were also detected.

Effect of Refiner Addition Level on Zirconium-Containing Aluminium Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Jaradeh, M. M. R.; Carlberg, T.

2012-01-01

It is well known that in aluminium alloys containing Zr, grain refiner additions do not function as desired, producing an effect often referred to as nuclei poisoning. This paper investigates the structure of direct chill-cast ingots of commercial AA3003 aluminium alloys, with and without Zr, at various addition levels of Al5Ti1B master alloy. In Bridgman experiments simulating ingot solidification, Zr-containing alloys were studied after the addition of various amounts of Ti. It could be demonstrated, in both ingot casting and simulation experiments, that Zr poisoning can be compensated for by adding more Ti and/or Al5Ti1B. The results confirm better refinement behaviour with the addition of Ti + B than of only Ti. The various combinations of Zr and Ti also influenced the formation of AlFeMn phases, and the precipitation of large Al6(Mn,Fe) particles was revealed. AlZrTiSi intermetallic compounds were also detected.

Mechanical properties of ultra-fine grained structure formed in Al-Li alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adamczyk-Cieslak, B.; Lewandowska, M.; Mizera, J.; Kurzydlowski, K.J.

2004-01-01

This paper describes the mechanical properties (microhardness, yield stress) of two model Al-Li alloys by the Equal-Channel-Angular-Extrusion (ECAE) process. The applied ECAE process reduced the grain size from an initial value of ∼300 μm to a value of ∼0.7 μm leading to profound increase of plastic flow resistance. Such an increase is related to the grain size refinement and strengthening due to Li atoms in solid solution. Microhardness data confirm the Hall - Petch relation for grain sizes not available so far in Al-Li alloys. (author)

Effects of grain refinement on the biocorrosion and in vitro bioactivity of magnesium.

Science.gov (United States)

Saha, Partha; Roy, Mangal; Datta, Moni Kanchan; Lee, Boeun; Kumta, Prashant N

2015-12-01

Magnesium is a new class of biodegradable metals potentially suitable for bone fracture fixation due to its suitable mechanical properties, high degradability and biocompatibility. However, rapid corrosion and loss in mechanical strength under physiological conditions render it unsuitable for load-bearing applications. In the present study, grain refinement was implemented to control bio-corrosion demonstrating improved in vitro bioactivity of magnesium. Pure commercial magnesium was grain refined using different amounts of zirconium (0.25 and 1.0 wt.%). Corrosion behavior was studied by potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) and mass loss immersion tests demonstrating corrosion rate decrease with grain size reduction. In vitro biocompatibility tests conducted by MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells and measured by DNA quantification demonstrate significant increase in cell proliferation for Mg-1 wt.% Zr at day 5. Similarly, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was higher for grain refined Mg. Alloys were also tested for ability to support osteoclast differentiation using RAW264.7 monocytes with receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-β ligand (RANKL) supplemented cell culture. Osteoclast differentiation process was observed to be severely restricted for smaller grained Mg. Overall, the results indicate grain refinement to be useful not only for improving corrosion resistance of Mg implants for bone fixation devices but also potentially modulate bone regeneration around the implant. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of grain refinement on the biocorrosion and in vitro bioactivity of magnesium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saha, Partha; Roy, Mangal [Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); Datta, Moni Kanchan [Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); Center for Complex Engineered Multifunctional Materials, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); Lee, Boeun [Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); Kumta, Prashant N., E-mail: pkumta@pitt.edu [Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); Center for Complex Engineered Multifunctional Materials, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States); McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (United States)

2015-12-01

Magnesium is a new class of biodegradable metals potentially suitable for bone fracture fixation due to its suitable mechanical properties, high degradability and biocompatibility. However, rapid corrosion and loss in mechanical strength under physiological conditions render it unsuitable for load-bearing applications. In the present study, grain refinement was implemented to control bio-corrosion demonstrating improved in vitro bioactivity of magnesium. Pure commercial magnesium was grain refined using different amounts of zirconium (0.25 and 1.0 wt.%). Corrosion behavior was studied by potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) and mass loss immersion tests demonstrating corrosion rate decrease with grain size reduction. In vitro biocompatibility tests conducted by MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells and measured by DNA quantification demonstrate significant increase in cell proliferation for Mg–1 wt.% Zr at day 5. Similarly, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was higher for grain refined Mg. Alloys were also tested for ability to support osteoclast differentiation using RAW264.7 monocytes with receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-β ligand (RANKL) supplemented cell culture. Osteoclast differentiation process was observed to be severely restricted for smaller grained Mg. Overall, the results indicate grain refinement to be useful not only for improving corrosion resistance of Mg implants for bone fixation devices but also potentially modulate bone regeneration around the implant. - Highlights: • The biocorrosion and biocompatibility of pure Mg and Mg grain refined with different Zr levels were investigated. • Corrosion resistance in HBSS and compressive strength of pure Mg was significantly improved with Zr addition. • Electrochemical and immersion corrosion tests showed a fourfold decrease in corrosion rate of pure Mg with 1% Zr addition. • Grain refinement of pure Mg demonstrated enhanced osteoblast cell activity and proliferation.

Effects of grain refinement on the biocorrosion and in vitro bioactivity of magnesium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saha, Partha; Roy, Mangal; Datta, Moni Kanchan; Lee, Boeun; Kumta, Prashant N.

2015-01-01

Magnesium is a new class of biodegradable metals potentially suitable for bone fracture fixation due to its suitable mechanical properties, high degradability and biocompatibility. However, rapid corrosion and loss in mechanical strength under physiological conditions render it unsuitable for load-bearing applications. In the present study, grain refinement was implemented to control bio-corrosion demonstrating improved in vitro bioactivity of magnesium. Pure commercial magnesium was grain refined using different amounts of zirconium (0.25 and 1.0 wt.%). Corrosion behavior was studied by potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) and mass loss immersion tests demonstrating corrosion rate decrease with grain size reduction. In vitro biocompatibility tests conducted by MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells and measured by DNA quantification demonstrate significant increase in cell proliferation for Mg–1 wt.% Zr at day 5. Similarly, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was higher for grain refined Mg. Alloys were also tested for ability to support osteoclast differentiation using RAW264.7 monocytes with receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-β ligand (RANKL) supplemented cell culture. Osteoclast differentiation process was observed to be severely restricted for smaller grained Mg. Overall, the results indicate grain refinement to be useful not only for improving corrosion resistance of Mg implants for bone fixation devices but also potentially modulate bone regeneration around the implant. - Highlights: • The biocorrosion and biocompatibility of pure Mg and Mg grain refined with different Zr levels were investigated. • Corrosion resistance in HBSS and compressive strength of pure Mg was significantly improved with Zr addition. • Electrochemical and immersion corrosion tests showed a fourfold decrease in corrosion rate of pure Mg with 1% Zr addition. • Grain refinement of pure Mg demonstrated enhanced osteoblast cell activity and proliferation

The impact of major alloying elements and refiner on the SDAS of Al-Si-Cu alloy; Der Einfluss von Hauptlegierungselementen und Kornfeinern auf den sekundaeren Dendritenarmabstand der Al-Si-Cu-Legierung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Djurdjevic, Mile; Byczynski, Glenn [Nemak Europe GmbH, Frankfurt am Main (Germany). Frankfurt Airport Center 1; Pavlovic, Jelena [Magdeburg Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Fertigungstechnik und Qualitaetssicherung

2009-02-15

This paper investigates the effect of some major alloying elements (silicon and copper) and the effect of grain refiner (titanium boride) on the size of the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) in series of Al-Si-Cu alloys. It has been shown that both silicon and copper have significant influence on this solidification parameter. The addition of grain refining master alloys to aluminium alloys is common practice in many commercial foundries aiming to reduce the grain size of Al-Si alloys. However, it was shown in the present paper that master alloy based on TiB had an unexpected impact on the SDAS, decreasing the size of SDAS. In addition, there is a minimum of SDAS corresponding to the presence of 0.12 wt% of titanium in Al-Si alloy. Such findings could have important implications for Al-Si alloys in particular, due to their wide spread applications in the automotive industry. (orig.)

Grain Refinement of Low Carbon Martensitic Steel by Heat Treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. V. Kolebina

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The low-carbon steels have good corrosion and technological properties. Hot deformation is the main operation in manufacturing the parts from these steels. So one of the important properties of the material is a property of plasticity. The grain size significantly influences on the ductility properties of steel. The grain size of steel depends on the chemical composition of the crystallization process, heat treatment, and steel machining. There are plenty methods to have grain refinement. However, taking into account the large size of the blanks for the hydro turbine parts, the thermal cycling is an advanced method of the grain refinement adaptable to streamlined production. This work experimentally studies the heat treatment influence on the microstructure of the low-carbon 01X13N04 alloy steel and proposes the optimal regime of the heat treatment to provide a significantly reduced grain size. L.M. Kleiner, N.P. Melnikov and I.N. Bogachyova’s works focused both on the microstructure of these steels and on the influence of its parameters on the mechanical properties. The paper focuses mainly on defining an optimal regime of the heat treatment for grain refinement. The phase composition of steel and temperature of phase transformation were defined by the theoretical analysis. The dilatometric experiment was done to determine the precise temperature of the phase transformations. The analysis and comparison of the experimental data with theoretical data and earlier studies have shown that the initial sample has residual stress and chemical heterogeneity. The influence of the heat treatment on the grain size was studied in detail. It is found that at temperatures above 950 ° C there is a high grain growth. It is determined that the optimal number of cycles is two. The postincreasing number of cycles does not cause further reducing grain size because of the accumulative recrystallization process. Based on the results obtained, the thermal cycling

Niobium-base grain refiner for aluminium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva Pontes, P. da; Robert, M.H.; Cupini, N.L.

1980-01-01

A new chemical grain refiner for aluminium has been developed, using inoculation of a niobium-base compound. When a bath of molten aluminium is inoculated whith this refiner, an intermetallic aluminium-niobium compound is formed which acts as a powerful nucleant, producing extremely fine structure comparable to those obtained by means of the traditional grain refiner based on titanium and boron. It was found that the refinement of the structure depends upon the weight percentage of the new refiner inoculated as well as the time of holding the bath after inoculation and before pouring, but mainly on the inoculating temperature. (Author) [pt

The effect of scandium addition on microstructure and mechanical properties of Al–Si–Mg alloy: A multi-refinement modifier

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, Cong, E-mail: xucong55555@gmail.com [Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance of Ministry of Education, School of Material Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); Xiao, Wenlong, E-mail: wlxiao@buaa.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance of Ministry of Education, School of Material Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); Hanada, Shuji [Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577 (Japan); Yamagata, Hiroshi [Center for Advanced Die Engineering and Technology, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu City, Gifu 501-1193 (Japan); Ma, Chaoli [Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance of Ministry of Education, School of Material Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China)

2015-12-15

Effect of scandium (Sc) additions on the microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture behavior of Al–Si–Mg casting alloy (F357) were systematically investigated. It was found that Sc addition caused a multi-refining efficiency on the microstructure of as-cast F357 alloy, including refinement of grains and secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS), modification of eutectic Si and harmless disposal of β-Al{sub 5}FeSi phase. Subsequent T6 heat treatment had further induced the complete spheroidization of eutectic Si and precipitation of fine secondary Al{sub 3}Sc dispersoids in the Sc modified alloys. Thus the mechanical properties, especially the ductility, were significantly enhanced by the addition of Sc combined with the heat treatment. The highest ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and elongation were achieved in 0.8 wt.% Sc modified F357 alloy combined with T6 heat treatment. Furthermore, fractographic examinations indicated that the ductile fracture mechanism served as a dominate role in the modified alloys due to the formation of fine, deep and uniformly distributed dimples. - Highlights: • Detailed characterization of the multi-refining microstructure of Sc modified F357 alloy was performed. • The multi-refinement was proposed to refine grain and SDAS, modify eutectic Si and β-phase. • Sc modifier combined with T6 treatment is effective in improving tensile properties. • Modification of eutectic Si in F357 alloy with Sc is consistent with the IIT mechanism.

Effect of Grain Size Reduction by Sodium Molybdate on Mechanical Properties of Al-0.7Fe Alloy

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M. Alizadeh

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Sodium molybdate (Na2MoO4 as a grain refiner was used to refine the microstructure of Al-0.7Fe alloy. Al-Fe samples with the addition of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 wt.% sodium molybdate were fabricated by casting in sand molds at 750 ͦC. The microstructures of the as-cast samples were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM and the present phases were revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD. The effect of sodium molybdate on the microstructure was examined by measuring the average grain sizes of the alloys, determining the widths of intermetallic compounds and carrying out hardness and tensile tests. The results showed that the addition of sodium molybdate modified the microstructure of Al-Fe alloy by reducing the average grain sizes. Also, it was found that the optimum amount of sodium molybdate to add to Al-0.7Fe alloy melt was 0.3 wt.% in this study.

Modeling the effects of cooling rate, hydrogen content, grain refiner and modifier on microporosity formation in Al A356 alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Conley, J.G.; Huang, J.; Asada, J.; Akiba, K. [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

2000-06-15

Cast Aluminum-Silicon alloys are used in numerous automotive and industrial weight sensitive applications because of their low density and excellent castability. The presence of trapped gas and or shrinkage pores in certain locations within castings has been shown to influence fatigue life. These micromechanical defects can be found most anywhere in a casting depending on processing conditions. A large amount of porosity located in the center of the cast material thickness may have no effect on mechanical properties or fatigue performance. A smaller, isolated pore near a surface may have a significant impact on mechanical properties. Hence, it is important to develop a comprehensive model to predict the size, location and distribution of microporosity in castings. In this work, we model the effect of various casting process parameters on microporosity formation for aluminum A356 alloy castings. The process parameters include cooling rate, hydrogen content, grain refiner and modifier. The proposed two-dimensional model predicts the size, morphology and distribution of microporosity at a given location in the casting. The method couples a mathematical model of porosity evolution with a probabilistic grain structure prediction model. The porosity evolution model is based on the simultaneous solution of the continuity and momentum equations for the metal and the mass conservation equation for the dissolved gas. The nucleation and growth of grains are simulated with a probabilistic method that uses the information from a heat transfer simulation, i.e. temperature and solid fraction, to determine the transition rules for grain evolution. The simulation results correlate well with experimental observation of porosity in cast structures. (orig.)

Grain refinement of AZ91D magnesium alloy by a new Mg–50%Al4C3 master alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Shengfa; Chen, Yang; Han, Hui

2015-01-01

A novel and simple method for preparing Mg–50%Al 4 C 3 (hereafter in wt.%) master alloy has been developed by powder in-situ synthesis process under argon atmosphere. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) results show the existence of Al 4 C 3 particles in this master alloy. After adding 1.8% Mg–50%Al 4 C 3 master alloy, the average grain size of α-Mg decreased from 360 μm to 154 μm. Based on the DTA test results and calculation of the planar disregistry between Al 4 C 3 and α-Mg, Al 4 C 3 particles located in the central regions of magnesium grains can act as the heterogeneous nucleus of primary α-Mg phase

Refining processes of selected copper alloys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Rzadkosz

2009-04-01

Full Text Available The analysis of the refining effectiveness of the liquid copper and selected copper alloys by various micro additions and special refiningsubstances – was performed. Examinations of an influence of purifying, modifying and deoxidation operations performed in a metal bath on the properties of certain selected alloys based on copper matrix - were made. Refining substances, protecting-purifying slag, deoxidation and modifying substances containing micro additions of such elements as: zirconium, boron, phosphor, sodium, lithium, or their compounds introduced in order to change micro structures and properties of alloys, were applied in examinations. A special attention was directed to macro and micro structures of alloys, their tensile and elongation strength and hot-cracks sensitivity. Refining effects were estimated by comparing the effectiveness of micro structure changes with property changes of copper and its selected alloys from the group of tin bronzes.

Synthesis mechanism of an Al-Ti-C grain refiner master alloy prepared by a new method

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, B. Q.; Lu, L.; Lai, M. O.; Fang, H. S.; Ma, H. T.; Li, J. G.

2003-08-01

The mechanisms of in-situ synthesis of an Al-Ti-C grain-refiner master alloy, prepared by adding a powder mixture of potassium titanium fluoride and carbon into an aluminum melt, have been systematically studied. It was found that vigorous reactions occurred at the initial stage of reaction and then slowed down. After about 20 minutes, the reactions, which led the formation of blocky titanium aluminides and submicron titanium carbides in the aluminum matrix, appeared to reach completion. Potassium titanium fluoride reacted with aluminum and carbon at 724 °C and 736 °C, respectively, resulting in the formation of titanium aluminides and titanium carbides in the aluminum matrix as well as in the formation of a low-melting-point slag of binary potassium aluminofluorides. The reaction between potassium titanium fluoride and carbon is believed to be the predominant mechanism in the synthesis of TiC by this method.

Electron microscopy investigation of the TiBAl and TiCAl grain refiner master alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cizek, P

2006-01-01

The present work brings a detailed statistical analysis of the microstructural characteristics and chemistry of the second phase particles present in the Al-5Ti-1B and Al- 3Ti-0.15C (wt.%) commercial grain refiner rods used in the Al casting industry. The investigation was performed using the TEM, EDS, STEM and HREM techniques. Both refiner rods contained large, blocky Al 3 Ti DO 22 particles. Borides present in the TiBAl rod, known to be main α-Al nucleation substrates, exhibited a facetted, hexagonal platelet morphology and largely represented a mixed (Ti,Al)B 2 phase, with Ti and Al contents changing continuously across the particle dimensions. There were two distinct families of small particles observed in the TiCAl rod. The coarser, facetted particles corresponded to cubic TiC crystal structure and these are believed to be major α-Al nucleation sites. The family of finer, round particles appeared to correspond to orthorhombic Al 6 Fe phase and their role in the nucleation process remains to be clarified. The results obtained may be used in optimising the grain refiner rod microstructures that would ensure improved refining performance during casting

Electron microscopy investigation of the TiBAl and TiCAl grain refiner master alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cizek, P [IMMPETUS, Department of Engineering Materials, University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD (United Kingdom)

2006-02-22

The present work brings a detailed statistical analysis of the microstructural characteristics and chemistry of the second phase particles present in the Al-5Ti-1B and Al- 3Ti-0.15C (wt.%) commercial grain refiner rods used in the Al casting industry. The investigation was performed using the TEM, EDS, STEM and HREM techniques. Both refiner rods contained large, blocky Al{sub 3}Ti DO{sub 22} particles. Borides present in the TiBAl rod, known to be main {alpha}-Al nucleation substrates, exhibited a facetted, hexagonal platelet morphology and largely represented a mixed (Ti,Al)B{sub 2} phase, with Ti and Al contents changing continuously across the particle dimensions. There were two distinct families of small particles observed in the TiCAl rod. The coarser, facetted particles corresponded to cubic TiC crystal structure and these are believed to be major {alpha}-Al nucleation sites. The family of finer, round particles appeared to correspond to orthorhombic Al{sub 6}Fe phase and their role in the nucleation process remains to be clarified. The results obtained may be used in optimising the grain refiner rod microstructures that would ensure improved refining performance during casting.

Precipitation Processes during Non-Isothermal Ageing of Fine-Grained 2024 Alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kozieł J.

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Mechanical alloying and powder metallurgy procedures were used to manufacture very fine-grained bulk material made from chips of the 2024 aluminum alloy. Studies of solution treatment and precipitation hardening of as-received material were based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC tests and TEM/STEM/EDX structural observations. Structural observations complemented by literature data lead to the conclusion that in the case of highly refined structure of commercial 2024 alloys prepared by severe plastic deformation, typical multi-step G-P-B →θ” →θ’ →θ precipitation mechanism accompanied with G-P-B →S” →S’ →S precipitation sequences result in skipping the formation of metastable phases and direct growth of the stable phases. Exothermic effects on DSC characteristics, which are reported for precipitation sequences in commercial materials, were found to be reduced with increased milling time. Moreover, prolonged milling of 2024 chips was found to shift the exothermic peak to lower temperature with respect to the material produced by means of common metallurgy methods. This effect was concluded to result from preferred heterogeneous nucleation of particles at subboundaries and grain boundaries, enhanced by the boundary diffusion in highly refined structures.

Columnar to equiaxed transition in a refined Al-Cu alloy under diffusive and convective transport conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dupouy, M.D.; Camel, D.; Mazille, J.E. [CEA Centre d' Etudes et de Recherches sur les Materiaux, 38 - Grenoble (France); Hugon, I. [Lab. de Metallographie, DCC/DTE/SIM, CEA Valrho (France)

2000-07-01

The columnar-equiaxed transition under diffusive transport conditions was studied in microgravity (EUROMIR95 and spacelab-LMS96) by solidifying four Al-4wt%Cu alloys refined at different levels, with a constant cooling rate (1 K/min), both under nearly isothermal conditions and under a decreasing temperature gradient. Isothermal samples showed a homogeneous equiaxed structure with no fading of the refiner efficiency. Gradient samples revealed a continuous transition consisting of an orientation of the microsegregation parallel to the solidification direction, without any grain selection effect. For comparison, ground samples evidence the influence of the motion of both refiner particles and growing equiaxed grains. (orig.)

Quantity, size and distribution of borides for aluminium grain refinement by neutron-induced autoradiography (NIAR). Pt. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rachlitz, R.; Gaertner, S.; Holze, J.; Krumnacker, M.

1990-01-01

Al-Ti-B grain refiners improve the cast structure of aluminium and its alloys, but also cause problems related to the great hardness of the borides and their tendency to agglomerate and settle. Accurate information about the distribution, quantity and size of the TiB 2 particles is needed if material properties are to be improved and the quantity of additives minimized. This information is obtained mostly by NIAR. In laboratory-scale tests Al 99.8 and Al 99.5 were refined using different master alloys added in various quantities. In all cases the commercial master alloy gave the best refining effect. Besides boride particle size distribution and the presence of nuclei and nucleus stabilizers, morphological properties (duplex particles) are obviously of essential importance. It has been demonstrated that the TiB 2 size distribution values determined by NIAR are comparable with those established by optical microscopy measurements. (orig.) [de

Method of preparing an Al-Ti-B grain refiner for aluminium-comprising products, and a method of casting aluminium products

OpenAIRE

Brinkman, H.J.; Duszczyk, J.; Katgerman, L.

1999-01-01

The invention relates to a method of preparing an Al-Ti-B grain refiner for cast aluminium-comprising products. According to the invention the preparation is realized by mixing powders selected from the group comprising aluminium, titanium, boron, and alloys and intermetallic compounds thereof, compressing, heating in an inert environment until an exothermic reaction is initiated and cooling. It has been shown that when the grain refiner thus prepared is applied, the quality of cast products ...

New Process for Grain Refinement of Aluminum. Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dr. Joseph A. Megy

2000-09-22

A new method of grain refining aluminum involving in-situ formation of boride nuclei in molten aluminum just prior to casting has been developed in the subject DOE program over the last thirty months by a team consisting of JDC, Inc., Alcoa Technical Center, GRAS, Inc., Touchstone Labs, and GKS Engineering Services. The Manufacturing process to make boron trichloride for grain refining is much simpler than preparing conventional grain refiners, with attendant environmental, capital, and energy savings. The manufacture of boride grain refining nuclei using the fy-Gem process avoids clusters, salt and oxide inclusions that cause quality problems in aluminum today.

Refining of cast intermetallic alloy Ti - 43 % Al - X (Nb, Mo, B) microstructure using heat treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imaev, R.M.; Imaev, V.M.; Khismatullin, T.G.

2006-01-01

The microstructure and high temperature mechanical properties are studied in a cast alloy Ti - 43 % Al - X (Nb, Mo, B) using methods of optical and scanning electron microscopy, X ray spectrum microanalysis and differential thermal analysis. The alloy belongs to a new class of β-solidifying γ-TiAl+α 2 -Ti 3 Al alloys. The alloy is investigated as cast and after heat treatment that promotes grain refinement. Mechanical properties are determined on tensile tests at 1000 and 1100 deg C in the air [ru

Grain size and temperature influence on the toughness of a CuAlBe shape memory alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albuquerque, Victor Hugo C. de; Melo, Tadeu Antonio de A; Gomes, Rodinei M.; Lima, Severino Jackson G. de; Tavares, Joao Manuel R.S.

2010-01-01

Research highlights: → This work evaluated the capacity of a CuAlBe alloy to absorb energy until rupture. → The V-notch Charpy test was adopted at -150, -100, -50, 0, 50, 100 and 150 deg. C. → Charpy tests were complemented by DSC, DSC with optical microscope and by SEM. → First work to analyze the toughness of a CuAlBe alloy based on the Charpy test. → The results are of relevant value to enhance the understanding of the CuAlBe alloy. - Abstract: This work is a study of the influence of grain size and temperature on the toughness of CuAlBe shape memory alloys with (CuAlBeNbNi) and without NbNi (CuAlBe) grain refiner elements. The toughness analysis was based on the V-notch Charpy impact test under temperatures of -150, -100, -50, 0, 50, 100 and 150 deg. C. A statistical analysis of the results led to the conclusion that the toughness of both alloys was influenced by temperature and grain size. The CuAlBeNbNi alloy absorbed higher impact energy than the CuAlBe alloy showing that the refining elements improved the toughness of the alloy. To confirm and complement these findings, the fracture surfaces were evaluated by stereomicroscopy. Smooth homogeneous surfaces and rough heterogonous surfaces were detected for the CuAlBeNbNi and CuAlBe alloys, respectively. Predominately brittle zones were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy in both alloys. Furthermore, to determine the phase transformation temperatures and the associated microstructures, the alloys were assessed by conventional differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and DSC with optical microscopy.

Grain size and temperature influence on the toughness of a CuAlBe shape memory alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Albuquerque, Victor Hugo C. de, E-mail: victor.albuquerque@fe.up.pt [Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB), Departamento de Engenharia Mecanica (DEM), Laboratorio de Solidificacao Rapida LSR, Cidade Universitaria, S/N 58059-900 Joao Pessoa, PB (Brazil); Melo, Tadeu Antonio de A, E-mail: tadeu@lsr.ct.ufpb.br [Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB), Departamento de Engenharia Mecanica (DEM), Laboratorio de Solidificacao Rapida LSR, Cidade Universitaria, S/N 58059-900 Joao Pessoa, PB (Brazil); Gomes, Rodinei M., E-mail: gomes@lsr.ct.ufpb.br [Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB), Departamento de Engenharia Mecanica (DEM), Laboratorio de Solidificacao Rapida LSR, Cidade Universitaria, S/N 58059-900 Joao Pessoa, PB (Brazil); Lima, Severino Jackson G. de, E-mail: jackson@lsr.ct.ufpb.br [Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB), Departamento de Engenharia Mecanica (DEM), Laboratorio de Solidificacao Rapida LSR, Cidade Universitaria, S/N 58059-900 Joao Pessoa, PB (Brazil); Tavares, Joao Manuel R.S., E-mail: tavares@fe.up.pt [Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP), Departamento de Engenharia Mecanica (DEMec)/Instituto de Engenharia Mecanica e Gestao Industrial INEGI, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, S/N 4200-465 Porto (Portugal)

2010-11-25

Research highlights: {yields} This work evaluated the capacity of a CuAlBe alloy to absorb energy until rupture. {yields} The V-notch Charpy test was adopted at -150, -100, -50, 0, 50, 100 and 150 deg. C. {yields} Charpy tests were complemented by DSC, DSC with optical microscope and by SEM. {yields} First work to analyze the toughness of a CuAlBe alloy based on the Charpy test. {yields} The results are of relevant value to enhance the understanding of the CuAlBe alloy. - Abstract: This work is a study of the influence of grain size and temperature on the toughness of CuAlBe shape memory alloys with (CuAlBeNbNi) and without NbNi (CuAlBe) grain refiner elements. The toughness analysis was based on the V-notch Charpy impact test under temperatures of -150, -100, -50, 0, 50, 100 and 150 deg. C. A statistical analysis of the results led to the conclusion that the toughness of both alloys was influenced by temperature and grain size. The CuAlBeNbNi alloy absorbed higher impact energy than the CuAlBe alloy showing that the refining elements improved the toughness of the alloy. To confirm and complement these findings, the fracture surfaces were evaluated by stereomicroscopy. Smooth homogeneous surfaces and rough heterogonous surfaces were detected for the CuAlBeNbNi and CuAlBe alloys, respectively. Predominately brittle zones were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy in both alloys. Furthermore, to determine the phase transformation temperatures and the associated microstructures, the alloys were assessed by conventional differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and DSC with optical microscopy.

Relationship between casting modulus and grain size in cast A356 aluminium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niklas, A; Abaunza, U; Fernández-Calvo, A I; Lacaze, J

2012-01-01

Microstructure of Al-Si alloy castings depends most generally on melt preparation and on the cooling rate imposed by the thermal modulus of the component. In the case of Al-Si alloys, emphasis is put during melt preparation on refinement of pro-eutectic (Al) grains and on modification of the Al-Si eutectic. Thermal analysis has been used since long to check melt preparation before casting, i.e. by analysis of the cooling curve during solidification of a sample cast in an instrumented cup. The conclusions drawn from such analysis are however valid for the particular cooling conditions of the cups. It thus appeared of interest to investigate how these conclusions could extrapolate to predict microstructure in complicated cast parts showing local changes in the solidification conditions. For that purpose, thermal analysis cups and instrumented sand and die castings with different thermal moduli and thus cooling rates have been made, and the whole set of cooling curves thus recorded has been analysed. A statistical analysis of the characteristic features of the cooling curves related to grain refinement in sand and die castings allowed determining the most significant parameters and expressing the cube of grain size as a polynomial of these parameters. After introduction of a further parameter quantifying melt refining an excellent correlation, with a R 2 factor of 0.99 was obtained.

Grain size refinement of inconel 718 thermomechanical processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okimoto, P.C.

1988-01-01

Inconel 718 is a Ni-Fe precipitation treated superalloy. It presents good thermal fatigue properties when the material has small grain size. The aim of this work is to study the grain size refinement by thermomechanical processing, through observations of the microstructural evolution and the influence of some of the process variables in the final grain size. The results have shown that this refinement occured by static recrystallization. The presence of precipitates have influenced the final grain size if the deformations are below 60%. For greater deformations the grain size is independent of the precipitate distribution in the matrix and tends to a limit size of 5 μm. (author)

Microstructure and refinement performance of Al-Ti-C master alloy: Effect of excess Ti on the growth and nucleating ability of TiC particles

Science.gov (United States)

Svynarenko, Kateryna; Zhang, Yubo; Jie, Jinchuan; Kutsova, Valentyna; Li, Tingju

2017-09-01

Al-5Ti-0.2C, Al-0.8Ti-0.2C, Al-8Ti-2C, and Al-10Ti master alloys were prepared and used to investigate the influence of excess Ti on the growth of TiC particles and its ability to nucleate Al-grains. The results of a microstructure analysis of TiC-containing alloys and refined CPAl were interrelated to the results of a refinement test. It was found that the presence of excess Ti is essential at the stage of master alloy preparation, as it facilitates the growth and uniform distribution of TiC within the structure. In Al-5Ti-0.2C alloy containing excess Ti, carbide particles grow faster and to a higher extent (from 0.29 μm to 0.44 μm) compared to Al-0.8Ti-0.2C alloy produced without excess Ti (from 0.29 μm to 0.32 μm). The results support the "Ti-transition zone theory" as the mechanism of grain refinement by TiC-containing master alloys. The refinement performance of Al-5Ti-0.2C is superior compared to the one achieved by adding Al-8Ti-2C and Al-10Ti master alloys in corresponding concentrations. For the TiC particles to become favourable nucleating sites, they must undergo certain interaction with excess Ti at the stage of master alloy preparation.

Modelling of grain refinement driven by negative grain boundary energy

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Fischer, F. D.; Zickler, G. A.; Svoboda, Jiří

2017-01-01

Roč. 97, č. 23 (2017), s. 1963-1977 ISSN 1478-6435 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA15-06390S Institutional support: RVO:68081723 Keywords : grain refinement * grain nucleation * distribution concept * jump on distribution function Subject RIV: BJ - Thermodynamics OBOR OECD: Thermodynamics Impact factor: 1.505, year: 2016

Effect of alumina on grain refinement of Al-Si hypereutectic alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Majhi, J.; Sahoo, S. K.; Patnaik, S. C.; Sarangi, B.; Sachan, N. K.

2018-03-01

The size, volume fraction and distribution of primary as well as eutectic silicon affect the mechanical properties of the Al-Si hypereutectic alloys. It is very difficult for the simultaneous refinement and modification of primary and secondary Si particles in hypereutectic Al-Si alloys through traditional processes. This paper explores the role of γ-Al2O3 nanoparticles on Si particles in the course of solidification in hypereutectic Al-Si alloys at particular pouring temperature. The present study involves incorporation of varying contents dispersed γ-Al2O3 nanoparticles into a molten base metal during stir casting and followed by solidification. It has been reported that the synthesized composites having good interfacial bonding (wetting) between the dispersed phase and the liquid matrix was achieved in order to provide improved mechanical properties of the composite. The cast product of hypereutectic Al-16Si alloy with the reinforcement of nanoparticles, illustrated a significant improvement in both wear behaviour and hardness. The dry sliding wear test has been performed on a group of specimens with varying parameters (different loads and sliding velocities) in a pin on disc wear testing machine. Moreover, the wear rate and specific wear rate also affected in different load and different sliding velocities. However in XRD analysis of the samples, the enhancement of wear resistance as well as hardness was due to the formation of brittle phases like SiO2, Al2O3 and Al-rich intermetallic compounds. The hardness value of the materials increases nearly 6% in addition to increase in the density of only 0.8%. As per literature, the large plate eutectic Si particles were modified in to the fine core particles and it acquires enough potential for various applications.

Effect of vanadium of mechanical behavior, machinability and wear resistance of aluminium grain refined by Ti+B

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaid, A.I.O.; Hamid, A.A.A.

1999-01-01

It is well established that aluminum and its alloys are industrially grain refined by adding either Ti or Ti-B to improve their mechanical behavior and surface finish. In a previous paper, it was found that the grain refining efficiency of aluminum master alloys containing Ti or Ti+B was enhanced by addition of small amounts of other elements including vanadium. V. Therefore, it is anticipated that such an element will improve mechanical behavior, machinability and wear resistance of aluminum and its alloys. In this paper, the effect of vanadium addition, up to 0.3% on mechanical behavior is investigated. Machinability was assessed under different cutting conditions: speed, feed and depth of cut and finally the wear resistance was determined at different loads and speeds. The results indicated that improvement in hardness and mechanical strength were achieved by the addition of V that addition of more than 0.2%V resulted in little or no improvement. Similarly, addition of V resulted in improvement of surface quality under the different cutting conditions of speed, feed and depth of cut, and resistance to wear. However addition of more than 0.2% V resulted in increase of wear rate and change of wear mechanisms. (author)

Twinned feathery grains and related morphologies in aluminum alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Henry, S. [Compagnie de Produits Chimiques et Electrometallurgiques Pechiney, Centre de Recherches de Voreppe, 38 (France); Lab. de Metallurgie Physique, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland); Rappaz, M. [Lab. de Metallurgie Physique, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland)

2000-07-01

Al-Cu, Al-Mg and Al-Si alloys without grain refiner addition have been directionally solidified under well-controlled thermal and convection conditions. For relatively high solidification rates, several changes in the dendrite growth morphology were observed. One of the most common structure that may appear under such conditions is called ''feathery grains'' : it was demonstrated recently that this lamellar structure is constituted of left angle 110 right angle dendrites whose trunks are cut through by {l_brace}111{r_brace} twin planes. These grains undergo a selection mechanism which is similar to that occurring for regular left angle 100 right angle dendritic grains. The transition between left angle 100 right angle and left angle 110 right angle dendrite forms is progressive and morphologies that develop arms in both type of crystallographic directions can be observed. Moreover, in the case of a 5182 Al-Mg alloy, regular left angle 110 right angle dendrites, without twins, could also be obtained. This dendritic growth along left angle 110 right angle crystallographic directions is supposed to be due to a change in the anisotropy of certain properties of the alloy, such as the solid/liquid interfacial energy and/or the atom attachment kinetics. The possibility of growth along other directions than the usual left angle 100 right angle was further demonstrated by the observation of dendrites developing in an Al-Cu-Mg solidified in a Bridgman device. In this case, left angle 112 right angle trunks form and progressively change their growth direction, thus showing curved shapes. (orig.)

Effect of the strain-induced melt activation (SIMA) process on the tensile properties of a new developed super high strength aluminum alloy modified by Al-5Ti-1B grain refiner

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haghparast, Amin [School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Nourimotlagh, Masoud [Young Researchers Club, Dareshahr Branch, Islamic Azad university (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Alipour, Mohammad, E-mail: Alipourmo@ut.ac.ir [School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2012-09-15

In this study, the effect of Al-5Ti-1B grain refiners and modified strain-induced melt activation process on an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy was studied. The optimum level of Ti was found to be 0.1 wt.%. The specimens subjected to deformation ratio of 40% (at 300 Degree-Sign C) and various heat treatment times (10-40 min) and temperature (550-600 Degree-Sign C) regimes were characterized in this study. Reheating condition to obtain a fine globular microstructure was optimized. Microstructural examinations were conducted by optical and scanning electron microscopy coupled with an energy dispersive spectrometry. The optimum temperature and time in strain-induced melt activation process are 575 Degree-Sign C and 20 min, respectively. T6 heat treatment including quenching to room temperature and aging at 120 Degree-Sign C for 24 h was employed to reach to the maximum strength. Significant improvements in mechanical properties were obtained with the addition of grain refiner combined with T6 heat treatment. After the T6 heat treatment, the average tensile strength increased from 283 MPa to 587 and 332 MPa to 617 for samples refined with 2 wt.% Al-5Ti-1B before and after strain-induced melt activation process and extrusion process, respectively. Ultimate strength of Ti-refined specimens without SIMA process has a lower value than globular microstructure specimens after SIMA and extrusion process. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The effect of Al-5Ti-1B on the aluminum alloy produced by SIMA process was studied. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Al-5Ti-1B is an effective in reducing the grain and reagent fine microstructure. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Reheating condition to obtain a fine globular microstructure was optimized. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The optimum temperature and time in SIMA process are 575 Degree-Sign C and 20 min respectively. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer UTS of globular structure specimens have a more value than Ti-refined specimens.

Influence of Al grain structure on Fe bearing intermetallics during DC casting of an Al-Mg-Si alloy

OpenAIRE

Kumar, S.; O'Reilly, K.A.Q.

2016-01-01

207 mm diameter direct chill (DC) cast billets of 6063 aluminium-magnesium-silicon (Al-Mg-Si) alloy were produced with various different primary aluminium (α-Al) grain structures including feathery-dendrites, equiaxed-dendrites and equiaxed-globular morphologies. To control the α-Al grain structure (grain morphology and grain size) an intensive shearing melt conditioning technique and Al-5Ti-1B grain refiner were used. For the first time, due to the variety of controlled microstructures produ...

Method of preparing an Al-Ti-B grain refiner for aluminium-comprising products, and a method of casting aluminium products

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brinkman, H.J.; Duszczyk, J.; Katgerman, L.

1999-01-01

The invention relates to a method of preparing an Al-Ti-B grain refiner for cast aluminium-comprising products. According to the invention the preparation is realized by mixing powders selected from the group comprising aluminium, titanium, boron, and alloys and intermetallic compounds thereof,

Superplasticity and grain boundary character distribution in overaged Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avramovic-Cingara, G.; Aust, K.T.; Perovic, D.D.; McQueen, H.J.

1995-01-01

Samples of 8091 alloy were subjected to a thermomechanical processing (TMP) treatment that included the following stages: overaging before deformation, multistage deformation at 300 deg C and strain rate change tests for superplasticity. Torsional deformation was utilized both to develop the refined microstructure and to test for superplasticity. The strain rate sensitivity, m, of the material ranged between 0.30 and 0.45 at 450 deg C for strain rates between 8 x 10 -2 and 10 -3 s -1 . The grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) of thermomechanically processed Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr (8091) alloy, which develops good superplastic response, has been determined by an electron backscattering diffraction technique (EBSD). All grain boundaries have been classified into one of three categories in terms of Σ values : low angle, coincidence site lattice and random high angle boundaries. Quantitative studies of grain boundary character were done after various processing stages to obtain evidence about structure evolution and indicate an increase in Σ boundary frequency following TMP. Selected area electron diffraction examination (SAD) gave evidence about the refined structure, in which the grain boundary misorientation increased EBSD how the grain boundary character was changed to high Σ values. TEM analyses indicate that the T 2 phase is responsible for substructure stabilization. There is no evidence of cavity formation during superplastic deformation by torsion, which suggests that cavity nucleation is strongly influenced by the nature of stress. (author). 32 refs., 3 tabs., 9 figs

Effect of the addition of Al-Ti-C master alloy on the microstructure and microhardness of a cast Al-10Mg alloy

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2006-01-01

The microstructure and microhardness of a cast Al-10wt%Mg (henceforth Al-l0Mg) alloy with 0.2wt% addition of Al-5Ti-0.25C master alloy were compared with those of a refiner-free alloy of similar chemical composition.It was found that this level of the master alloy addition not only caused an effective grain refinement, but also caused a significant increase in the microhardness of the Al-10Mg alloy.Microchemical analysis revealed that TiC particles existed in the grain center.The relationship between the holding time and grain size was also studied.It shows that the grain refining efficiency is faded observably with the holding time.This is explained in terms of the instability of TiC particles.

Computer aided cooling curve analysis for Al-5Si and Al-11Si alloys ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The effect of grain refiner, modifier, and combination of grain refiner cum modifier was studied on Al-5Si and Al-11Si alloys using computer aided cooling curve analysis. For combined grain refinement and modification effect, Al-Ti-B-Sr single master alloy was developed that acted as both grain refiner and modifier.

Refinement and fracture mechanisms of as-cast QT700-6 alloy by alloying method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Min-qiang Gao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The as-cast QT700-6 alloy was synthesized with addition of a certain amount of copper, nickel, niobium and stannum elements by alloying method in a medium frequency induction furnace, aiming at improving its strength and toughness. Microstructures of the as-cast QT700-6 alloy were observed using a scanning-electron microscope (SEM and the mechanical properties were investigated using a universal tensile test machine. Results indicate that the ratio of pearlite/ferrite is about 9:1 and the graphite size is less than 40 μm in diameter in the as-cast QT700-6 alloy. The predominant refinement mechanism is attributed to the formation of niobium carbides, which increases the heterogeneous nucleus and hinders the growth of graphite. Meanwhile, niobium carbides also exist around the grain boundaries, which improve the strength of the ductile iron. The tensile strength and elongation of the as-cast QT700-6 alloy reach over 700 MPa and 6%, respectively, when the addition amount of niobium is 0.8%. The addition of copper and nickel elements contributed to the decrease of eutectoid transformation temperature, resulting in the decrease of pearlite lamellar spacing (about 248 nm, which is also beneficial to enhancing the tensile strength. The main fracture mechanism is cleavage fracture with the appearance of a small amount of dimples.

The effect of texture and grain size on improving the mechanical properties of Mg-Al-Zn alloys by friction stir processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Jinhua; Zhang, Zhen; Liu, Zhao; Li, Yaozu; Guo, Peng; Zhou, Wei; Wu, Yucheng

2018-03-08

Friction stir processing (FSP) was used to achieve grain refinement on Mg-Al-Zn alloys, which also brought in significant texture modification. The different micro-texture characteristics were found to cause irregular micro-hardness distribution in FSPed region. The effects of texture and grain size were investigated by comparative analyses with strongly textured rolling sheet. Grain refinement improved both strength and elongation in condition of a basal texture while such led to an increment in yield stress and a drop in elongation and ultimate stress when the basal texture was modified by FSP.

Hot-Tearing Assessment of Multicomponent Nongrain-Refined Al-Cu Alloys for Permanent Mold Castings Based on Load Measurements in a Constrained Mold

Science.gov (United States)

Sabau, Adrian S.; Mirmiran, Seyed; Glaspie, Christopher; Li, Shimin; Apelian, Diran; Shyam, Amit; Allen Haynes, J.; Rodriguez, Andres F.

2018-06-01

The hot-tearing resistance of multicomponent Al-Cu alloys during permanent mold casting was investigated using a constrained permanent mold in which the load and temperature were measured. The nominal Cu composition was varied from 5 to 8 wt pct. Casting experiments were conducted without adding any grain-refining inoculants. The following variables, which were obtained from the measured load data during casting, were considered to assess the hot-tearing resistance of the Al-Cu multicomponent alloys: "V"-like signature in the load rate variation, load at solidus point, and load rate average over the freezing range. In addition, a hot-tearing criterion based on the variation of the fraction of solid in the late stages of solidification was used. It was found that all criteria considered can accurately predict the alloys with the lowest and highest hot-tear resistance, respectively. It was found that the rate of measured load during casting could be used to indicate substantial hot tearing. However, the load rate variation could not be used to detect when small hot tears were present. Among all the criteria considered, the load at the solidus point shows an excellent agreement with experimentally observed hot-tearing resistance for all but one alloy. The poorly resistant hot-tearing alloys exhibited mainly coarse columnar grains while the most hot-tearing resistant alloys exhibited a much more refined grain microstructure. This is the first study in which good hot-tear resistance is demonstrated for multicomponent Al-Cu alloys with nominal Cu content greater than 7 wt pct.

The solidification behavior of dilute aluminium-scandium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Norman, A.F.; Prangnell, P.B.; McEwen, R.S.

1998-01-01

The solidification behavior of dilute Sc containing Al alloys has been investigated. In binary Al-Sc alloys, Sc additions greater than the eutectic composition (0.55 wt%) were found to produce a remarkable refinement in the grain size of aluminum castings, of two orders of magnitude, due to the formation of the primary Al 3 Sc intermetallic phase during solidification. The refinement in grain size only occurred in hypereutectic compositions and was shown to be far greater than can be achieved by conventional Al grain refiners. Grain refinement by the addition of Sc is accompanied by a change in growth morphology from dendritic, in the large unrefined grains, to fine spherical grains with a divorced eutectic appearing on the grain boundaries in the refined castings. Similar levels of refinement were observed in Al-Sc-Zr and Al-Cu-Sc alloys. In the latter, a change in the segregation behavior of Cu was observed, from a strongly interdendritic segregation pattern to a more homogeneous distribution. The supersaturated Al-Sc solid solution can decompose via a discontinuous precipitation reaction to form coherent rod-like precipitates of the L1 2 Al 3 Sc phase

Strengthening of Fe-Mn-Si based shape memory alloys by grain size refinement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, A.; Masuya, T.; Kumai, S.; Inoue, A.

2000-01-01

Degree of the shape memory effect was measured either by bending, tensile and compression tests in the temperature range 77∝300 K. The yield stress increased substantially by the grain size refinement, yet maintaining a good shape memory effect. In addition to usual mentioned slow strain rate tests (about 10 -3 s -1 ), shape deformation was given at high strain rate (10 3 s -1 ) by hammering, in order to induce fine structure. It is also found that the shape memory effect under an opposing force was improved by the high-speed deformation. (orig.)

Friction stir processing: a new grain refinement technique to achieve high strain rate superplasticity in commercial alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mishra, R.S. [Missouri Univ., Rolla, MO (United States). Dept. of Metallurgical Engineering; Mahoney, M.W. [Rockwell International Corp., Thousand Oaks, CA (United States). Science Center

2001-07-01

Friction stir processing is a new thermo-mechanical processing technique that leads to a microstructure amenable for high strain rate superplasticity in commercial aluminum alloys. Friction stirring produces a combination of very fine grain size and high grain boundary misorientation angles. Preliminary results on a 7075 Al demonstrate high strain rate superplasticity in the temperature range of 430-510 C. For example, an elongation of >1000% was observed at 490 C and 1 x 10{sup -2} s{sup -1}. This demonstrates a new possibility to economically obtain a superplastic microstructure in commercial aluminum alloys. Based on these results, a three-step manufacturing process to fabricate complex shaped components can be envisaged: cast sheet or hot-pressed powder metallurgy sheet + friction stir processing + superplastic forging or forming. (orig.)

Kinetics of Sub-Micron Grain Size Refinement in 9310 Steel

Science.gov (United States)

Kozmel, Thomas; Chen, Edward Y.; Chen, Charlie C.; Tin, Sammy

2014-05-01

Recent efforts have focused on the development of novel manufacturing processes capable of producing microstructures dominated by sub-micron grains. For structural applications, grain refinement has been shown to enhance mechanical properties such as strength, fatigue resistance, and fracture toughness. Through control of the thermo-mechanical processing parameters, dynamic recrystallization mechanisms were used to produce microstructures consisting of sub-micron grains in 9310 steel. Starting with initial bainitic grain sizes of 40 to 50 μm, various levels of grain refinement were observed following hot deformation of 9310 steel samples at temperatures and strain rates ranging from 755 K to 922 K (482 °C and 649 °C) and 1 to 0.001/s, respectively. The resulting deformation microstructures were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction techniques to quantify the extent of carbide coarsening and grain refinement occurring during deformation. Microstructural models based on the Zener-Holloman parameter were developed and modified to include the effect of the ferrite/carbide interactions within the system. These models were shown to effectively correlate microstructural attributes to the thermal mechanical processing parameters.

Grain refinement and hardness distribution in cryogenically cooled ferritic stainless steel welds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amuda, M.O.H.; Mridha, S.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Grain refinement was undertaken in AISI 430 FSS welds using cryogenic cooling. ► Flow rates of the cryogenic liquid influenced weld grain structure. ► Cryogenic cooling of welds generates about 45% grain refinement in welds. ► Phase structure of welds is not affected by flow rates of cryogenic liquid. ► Hardness profile in cryogenically cooled and conventional welds is similar. - Abstract: The energy input and heat dissipation dynamics during fusion welding generates coarse grain in the welds resulting in poor mechanical properties. While grain refinement in welds via the control of the energy input is quite common, the influence of heat dissipation on grain morphology and properties is not fully established. This paper characterized cryogenically cooled ferritic stainless steel (FSS) welds in terms of grain structure and hardness distribution along transverse and thickness directions. Cryogenic cooling reduces the weld dimension by more than 30% and provides grain refinement of almost 45% compared to conventional weld. The hardness distribution in the thickness direction gives slightly higher profile because of decreased grain growth caused by faster cooling effects of cryogenic liquid

The relationship between viscosity and refinement efficiency of pure aluminum by Al-Ti-B refiner

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu Lina [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, 73 Jingshi Road, Jinan 250061 (China); Liu Xiangfa [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, 73 Jingshi Road, Jinan 250061 (China)]. E-mail: xfliu@sdu.edu.cn

2006-11-30

The relationship between viscosity and refinement efficiency of pure aluminum with the addition of Al-Ti-B master alloy was studied in this paper. The experimental results show that when the grain size of solidified sample is finer the viscosity of the melt is higher after the addition of different Al-Ti-B master alloys. This indicates that viscosity can be used to approximately estimate the refinement efficiency of Al-Ti-B refiners in production to a certain extent. The main reason was also discussed in this paper by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiment.

Ultrafine-grained magnesium–lithium alloy processed by high-pressure torsion: Low-temperature superplasticity and potential for hydroforming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsunoshita, Hirotaka; Edalati, Kaveh; Furui, Mitsuaki; Horita, Zenji

2015-01-01

A Mg–Li alloy with 8 wt% Li was processed by severe plastic deformation (SPD) through the process of high-pressure torsion (HPT) to achieve ultrafine grains with an average grain size of ~500 nm. Tensile testing with an initial strain rate of 10 −3 s −1 showed that the alloy exhibited superplasticity at a temperature of 323 K or higher. Tensile testing in boiling water confirmed that the specimens were elongated to 350–480% at 373 K under the initial strain rates of 10 −3 s −1 to 1 0 −2 s −1 with a strain rate sensitivity of ~0.3. The current study suggests that not only superplastic forming but also superplastic hydroforming should be feasible after the grain refinement using the HPT method

On the effect of Nb-based compounds on the microstructure of Al–12Si alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bolzoni, L., E-mail: leandro.bolzoni@brunel.ac.uk; Nowak, M.; Hari Babu, N.

2015-07-15

Cast Al alloys are important structural materials for the lightweighting of cars and, consequently, reduction of greenhouse gases emission and pollution. The microstructure and properties of cast Al alloys could be further improved by means of grain refinement, practise which cannot efficiently be performed with common Al–Ti–B grain refiners used for wrought Al alloys. In this work we proposed the employment of Nb+B inoculation as an alternative for the refinement of the primary α-Al dendrites of cast Al–Si alloy by studying the grain refinement induced by the Nb+B inoculants as a function of key aspects such as cooling rate, fading behaviour and simulated recyclability tests. It is found that the grain size of the Nb+B inoculated material is noticeably less sensitive to the cooling rate. Nb+B inoculants are still present and promote the refinement of the Al–12Si alloy even after few hours of contact time, although some fading is detected. Furthermore, Nb+B inoculants are also still effective for enhancing heterogeneous nucleation after three remelting of the inoculated alloy. The fading behaviour and ability to retain grain refining potency after remelting are highly relevant to industrial scale applications. - Highlights: • The influence of Nb+B inoculation on Al–12SSi is assessed. • The grain size decreases along with the amount of Nb+B compounds. • Nb+B inoculation makes the grain size less sensitive from the cooling rate. • Grain refinement is obtained via heterogeneous nucleation.

On the effect of Nb-based compounds on the microstructure of Al–12Si alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bolzoni, L.; Nowak, M.; Hari Babu, N.

2015-01-01

Cast Al alloys are important structural materials for the lightweighting of cars and, consequently, reduction of greenhouse gases emission and pollution. The microstructure and properties of cast Al alloys could be further improved by means of grain refinement, practise which cannot efficiently be performed with common Al–Ti–B grain refiners used for wrought Al alloys. In this work we proposed the employment of Nb+B inoculation as an alternative for the refinement of the primary α-Al dendrites of cast Al–Si alloy by studying the grain refinement induced by the Nb+B inoculants as a function of key aspects such as cooling rate, fading behaviour and simulated recyclability tests. It is found that the grain size of the Nb+B inoculated material is noticeably less sensitive to the cooling rate. Nb+B inoculants are still present and promote the refinement of the Al–12Si alloy even after few hours of contact time, although some fading is detected. Furthermore, Nb+B inoculants are also still effective for enhancing heterogeneous nucleation after three remelting of the inoculated alloy. The fading behaviour and ability to retain grain refining potency after remelting are highly relevant to industrial scale applications. - Highlights: • The influence of Nb+B inoculation on Al–12SSi is assessed. • The grain size decreases along with the amount of Nb+B compounds. • Nb+B inoculation makes the grain size less sensitive from the cooling rate. • Grain refinement is obtained via heterogeneous nucleation

Preparation of a high strength Al–Cu–Mg alloy by mechanical alloying and press-forming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang Huaguo; Cheng Zhiqiang; Liu Jianwei; Ma Xianfeng

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A high strength aluminum alloy of Al–2 wt.%Mg–2 wt.%Cu has been prepared by mechanical alloying and press-forming. ► The alloy only consists of solid solution α-Al. ► The grains size of α-Al was about 300 nm–5 μm. ► The solid solution strengthening and the grain refinement strengthening are the main reasons for such a high strength. - Abstract: A high strength aluminum alloy, with the ratio of 96 wt.%Al–2 wt.%Mg–2 wt.%Cu, has been prepared by mechanical alloying and press-forming. The alloy exhibited a high tensile strength of 780 MPa and a high microhardness of 180 HV. X-ray diffraction characterizations confirmed that the alloy only consists of a solid solution α-Al. Microstructure characterizations revealed that the grain size of α-Al was about 300 nm–5 μm. The solid solution strengthening and the grain refinement strengthening were considered to be the reason for such a high strength.

Preparation of a high strength Al-Cu-Mg alloy by mechanical alloying and press-forming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tang Huaguo [State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022 (China); Cheng Zhiqiang [College of Resources and Environment, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118 (China); Liu Jianwei [State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022 (China); Ma Xianfeng, E-mail: xfma@ciac.jl.cn [State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022 (China)

2012-07-30

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A high strength aluminum alloy of Al-2 wt.%Mg-2 wt.%Cu has been prepared by mechanical alloying and press-forming. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The alloy only consists of solid solution {alpha}-Al. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The grains size of {alpha}-Al was about 300 nm-5 {mu}m. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The solid solution strengthening and the grain refinement strengthening are the main reasons for such a high strength. - Abstract: A high strength aluminum alloy, with the ratio of 96 wt.%Al-2 wt.%Mg-2 wt.%Cu, has been prepared by mechanical alloying and press-forming. The alloy exhibited a high tensile strength of 780 MPa and a high microhardness of 180 HV. X-ray diffraction characterizations confirmed that the alloy only consists of a solid solution {alpha}-Al. Microstructure characterizations revealed that the grain size of {alpha}-Al was about 300 nm-5 {mu}m. The solid solution strengthening and the grain refinement strengthening were considered to be the reason for such a high strength.

Grain distinct stratified nanolayers in aluminium alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Donatus, U., E-mail: uyimedonatus@yahoo.com [School of Materials, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, England (United Kingdom); Thompson, G.E.; Zhou, X.; Alias, J. [School of Materials, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, England (United Kingdom); Tsai, I.-L. [Oxford Instruments NanoAnalysis, HP12 2SE, High Wycombe (United Kingdom)

2017-02-15

The grains of aluminium alloys have stratified nanolayers which determine their mechanical and chemical responses. In this study, the nanolayers were revealed in the grains of AA6082 (T6 and T7 conditions), AA5083-O and AA2024-T3 alloys by etching the alloys in a solution comprising 20 g Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} + 30 ml HPO{sub 3} in 1 L H{sub 2}O. Microstructural examination was conducted on selected grains of interest using scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction technique. It was observed that the nanolayers are orientation dependent and are parallel to the {100} planes. They have ordered and repeated tunnel squares that are flawed at the sides which are aligned in the <100> directions. These flawed tunnel squares dictate the tunnelling corrosion morphology as well as appearing to have an affect on the arrangement and sizes of the precipitation hardening particles. The inclination of the stratified nanolayers, their interpacing, and the groove sizes have significant influence on the corrosion behaviour and seeming influence on the strengthening mechanism of the investigated aluminium alloys. - Highlights: • Stratified nanolayers in aluminium alloy grains. • Relationship of the stratified nanolayers with grain orientation. • Influence of the inclinations of the stratified nanolayers on corrosion. • Influence of the nanolayers interspacing and groove sizes on hardness and corrosion.

Effect of strengthening mechanisms on cold workability and instantaneous strain hardening behavior during grain refinement of AA 6061-10 wt.% TiO2 composite prepared by mechanical alloying

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sivasankaran, S.; Sivaprasad, K.; Narayanasamy, R.; Iyer, Vijay Kumar

2010-01-01

Research highlights: → Various strengthening mechanisms such as solid solution, grain size, precipitate, dislocation and dispersion strengthening promoted yield strength of the composites → The 5 h sintered composite yielded a large plastic strain (23%) at ambient temperature. → The domination of interparticle friction effects, grain size and dislocation strengthening diminished the deformation capacity of the composites greater than 5 h of milling. → Ultra-fine grained composite (40 h) yielded a high strength (>1000 MPa). → The proposed instantaneous new Poisson's ratio and the instantaneous strain hardening index used to study the extent of plastic zone and strain levels of the composite. - Abstract: The mechanical alloying (MA) of AA 6061 alloy reinforced with 10 wt.% fine anatase-titania composites powder milled with different timings (1, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 h) was cold consolidated and sintered. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of microstructure and the various strengthening mechanisms such as solid solution, grain size, precipitate, dislocation and dispersion strengthening during grain refinement of AA 6061-10 wt.% TiO 2 composite via MA on cold working and strain hardening behavior. The sintered composite preforms were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope. The strengthening mechanisms were estimated by using simplified models available in the literatures. The evaluation of cold deformation behavior under triaxial stress condition through room temperature cold-upsetting tests (incremental loads) was studied by correlating the strengthening mechanisms. Among the developed strengthening mechanisms the grain size and dislocation strengthening mechanisms diminished the deformation capacity of the composites. The strain hardening behavior was also examined by proposing instantaneous strain hardening index (n i ). The value of maximum instantaneous strain

Microstructures and mechanical properties of grain refined Al-Li-Mg casting alloy by containing Zr and Ti

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saikawa, Seiji; Nakai, Kiyoshi; Sugiura, Yasuo; Kamio, Akihiko.

1995-01-01

Mechanical properties and microstructures of various Al-Li-Mg alloy castings containing small amount of Zr and/or Ti were investigated. The δ(AlLi) phase was observed to crystallize in the dendrite-cell gaps as well as on the grain boundaries. Microsegregation of Mg also occurred in the solidified castings. The β(Al 3 Zr) or Al-Zr-Ti compounds crystallize during solidification and remain even after solid solution treatment at 803 K for 36 ks. The grain sizes of Al-2.5%Li-2%Mg alloy castings become finer by the addition of 0.15%Zr and 0.12%Ti compared with each addition of 0.15%Zr or 0.12%Ti. The age hardening is accelerated by the addition of 0.15%Zr. In an Al-2.5%Li-2%Mg-0.15%Zr-0.12%Ti alloy casting poured into a metallic mold and aged at 453 K for 36 ks, ultimate tensile strength, Young's modulus and density were 417 MPa, 80 GPa and was 2.52 g/cm 3 , respectively. Its specific strength and modulus are higher by 50.3 and 13.9% than those of the conventional AC4C-T6 casting. (author)

Ultrafine-grained magnesium–lithium alloy processed by high-pressure torsion: Low-temperature superplasticity and potential for hydroforming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsunoshita, Hirotaka [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Edalati, Kaveh, E-mail: kaveh.edalati@zaiko6.zaiko.kyushu-u.ac.jp [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); WPI, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER), Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Furui, Mitsuaki [Graduate School of Science and Engineering for Research, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555 (Japan); Horita, Zenji [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); WPI, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER), Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan)

2015-07-29

A Mg–Li alloy with 8 wt% Li was processed by severe plastic deformation (SPD) through the process of high-pressure torsion (HPT) to achieve ultrafine grains with an average grain size of ~500 nm. Tensile testing with an initial strain rate of 10{sup −3} s{sup −1} showed that the alloy exhibited superplasticity at a temperature of 323 K or higher. Tensile testing in boiling water confirmed that the specimens were elongated to 350–480% at 373 K under the initial strain rates of 10{sup −3} s{sup −1} to {sup 1}0{sup −2} s{sup −1} with a strain rate sensitivity of ~0.3. The current study suggests that not only superplastic forming but also superplastic hydroforming should be feasible after the grain refinement using the HPT method.

Casting Porosity-Free Grain Refined Magnesium Alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schwam, David [Case Western Reserve University

2013-08-12

The objective of this project was to identify the root causes for micro-porosity in magnesium alloy castings and recommend remedies that can be implemented in production. The findings confirm the key role played by utilizing optimal gating and risering practices in minimizing porosity in magnesium castings. 

Effect of Pr on the grain refinement and mechanical properties of AM50 alloy in as-cast condition

Science.gov (United States)

Teimoory, Farzaneh Sadat; Emamy, Massoud; Malekan, Mehdi

2018-01-01

Mg alloys have many applications in different industries due to their high strength to weight ratio such as Aerospace, automotive and even bio materials. The formation of the appropriate structures in matrix from intermetallic compounds during solidification affects in improvement of properties. In this study, the effect of different amount of Pr (0, 1, 2 %wt) has been investigated on macro/microstructure and strengthening of AM50 alloy in ambient temperature. In order to characterize macro/microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloys, XRD, OM, SEM Microscopy and tensile test have been used. The reviews of result show that microstructures of AM50 just have presence β in the matrix. The results show that the presence of Pr will lead to interesting changes in the grain size and improvement in mechanical properties. The addition of 1wt. % Pr decreases the grain size from 76μm to 36μm in as-cast condition and When Pr is up to 1wt. %, the β phase becomes finer, and new needle-like or short-rod shaped intermetallic appear in matrix. The best result in microstructure and mechanical properties achieved with adding 1 (wt.) percent of Pr.

Nucleation mechanisms of refined alpha microstructure in beta titanium alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Yufeng

Due to a great combination of physical and mechanical properties, beta titanium alloys have become promising candidates in the field of chemical industry, aerospace and biomedical materials. The microstructure of beta titanium alloys is the governing factor that determines their properties and performances, especially the size scale, distribution and volume fraction of precipitate phase in parent phase matrix. Therefore in order to enhance the performance of beta titanium alloys, it is critical to obtain a thorough understanding of microstructural evolution in beta titanium alloys upon various thermal and/or mechanical processes. The present work is focusing on the study of nucleation mechanisms of refined alpha microstructure and super-refined alpha microstructure in beta titanium alloys in order to study the influence of instabilities within parent phase matrix on precipitates nucleation, including compositional instabilities and/or structural instabilities. The current study is primarily conducted in Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr (wt%, Ti-5553), a commercial material for aerospace application. Refined and super-refined precipitates microstructure in Ti-5553 are obtained under specific accurate temperature controlled heat treatments. The characteristics of either microstructure are investigated in details using various characterization techniques, such as SEM, TEM, STEM, HRSTEM and 3D atom probe to describe the features of microstructure in the aspect of morphology, distribution, structure and composition. Nucleation mechanisms of refined and super-refined precipitates are proposed in order to fully explain the features of different precipitates microstructure in Ti-5553. The necessary thermodynamic conditions and detailed process of phase transformations are introduced. In order to verify the reliability of proposed nucleation mechanisms, thermodynamic calculation and phase field modeling simulation are accomplished using the database of simple binary Ti-Mo system

Influence of Al content on the corrosion resistance of micro-alloyed hot rolled steel as a function of grain size

Science.gov (United States)

Qaban, Abdullah; Naher, Sumsun

2018-05-01

High-strength low-alloy steel (HSLA) has been widely used in many applications involving automobiles, aerospace, construction, and oil and gas pipelines due to their enhanced mechanical and chemical properties. One of the most critical elements used to improve these properties is Aluminium. This work will explore the effect of Al content on the corrosion behaviour of hot rolled high-strength low-alloy steel as a function of grain size. The method of investigation employed was weight loss technique. It was obvious that the increase in Al content enhanced corrosion resistance through refinement of grain size obtained through AlN precipitation by pinning grain boundaries and hindering their growth during solidification which was found to be beneficial in reducing corrosion rate.

Localized deformation via multiple twinning in a Mg–Gd–Y–Zr alloy processed by high-pressure torsion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang, Lingling; Zhao, Yonghao; Liang, Ningning; Islamgaliev, R.K.; Valiev, R.Z.; Zhu, Y.T.

2016-01-01

Different with common grain refinement dominated by dislocation activities, grain subdivision induced by sequential activation of multiple twinning was observed in a Mg-Gd-Y-Zr magnesium alloy via high-pressure torsion. Deformation bands were evolved from large primary twin bands, which contained refined grains through localized multiple twinning. Nanometer-scaled amorphous bands were also observed within deformation bands in Mg alloys for the first time. These observations indicate that localized deformation via multiple twinning and the consequent formation of deformation bands are potential routes to grain refinement in rare earth-magnesium alloys.

Tailoring and patterning the grain size of nanocrystalline alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Detor, Andrew J.; Schuh, Christopher A.

2007-01-01

Nanocrystalline alloys that exhibit grain boundary segregation can access thermodynamically stable or metastable states with the average grain size dictated by the alloying addition. Here we consider nanocrystalline Ni-W alloys and demonstrate that the W content controls the grain size over a very broad range: ∼2-140 nm as compared with ∼2-20 nm in previous work on strongly segregating systems. This trend is attributed to a relatively weak tendency for W segregation to the grain boundaries. Based upon this observation, we introduce a new synthesis technique allowing for precise composition control during the electrodeposition of Ni-W alloys, which, in turn, leads to precise control of the nanocrystalline grain size. This technique offers new possibilities for understanding the structure-property relationships of nanocrystalline solids, such as the breakdown of Hall-Petch strength scaling, and also opens the door to a new class of customizable materials incorporating patterned nanostructures

GRAIN-BOUNDARY PRECIPITATION UNDER IRRADIATION IN DILUTE BINARY ALLOYS

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

S.H. Song; Z.X. Yuan; J. Liu; R.G.Faulkner

2003-01-01

Irradiation-induced grain boundary segregation of solute atoms frequently bring about grain boundary precipitation of a second phase because of its making the solubility limit of the solute surpassed at grain boundaries. Until now the kinetic models for irradiation-induced grain boundary precipitation have been sparse. For this reason, we have theoretically treated grain boundary precipitation under irradiation in dilute binary alloys. Predictions ofγ'-Ni3Si precipitation at grain boundaries ave made for a dilute Ni-Si alloy subjected to irradiation. It is demonstrated that grain boundary silicon segregation under irradiation may lead to grain boundaryγ'-Ni3 Si precipitation over a certain temperature range.

As-cast structure refinement of Ti-46Al alloy by hafnium and boron additions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Li

2009-05-01

Full Text Available The infl uence of Hf and B on the solidifi cation structure of cast Ti-46Al alloys was investigated. The results show that the coupling effect of Hf and B changes the solidifi cation structure morphology and strongly refi nes the grain size. When the Hf+B contents were increased from 0 + 0.0 to 3 + 0.2, 5 + 0.6 and 7 + 1.0 (in at. %, the solidification structure morphology changed from coarse columnar dendrite to fine columnar dendrite, then to equiaxed dendrite, and further to fi ne near granular grain whilst the average grain size decreased to 20 μm. It is concluded that the columnar dendrite refinement is due to the effect of Hf and B on the decrease of Al diffusion coeffi cient in the melt. The fi ne near granular grain formation is attributed to the combined constitutional supercooling formed by Al and B segregation that is strengthened by Hf and B additions at the solid/liquid interface during solidifi cation, and the TiB2 precipitates acting as heterogeneous nuclei

Effect of Al-5Ti-0.62C-0.2Ce Master Alloy on the Microstructure and Tensile Properties of Commercial Pure Al and Hypoeutectic Al-8Si Alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wanwu Ding

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Al-5Ti-0.62C-0.2Ce master alloy was synthesized by a method of thermal explosion reaction in pure molten aluminum and used to modify commercial pure Al and hypoeutectic Al-8Si alloy. The microstructure and tensile properties of commercial pure Al and hypoeutectic Al-8Si alloy with different additions of Al-5Ti-0.62C-0.2Ce master alloy were investigated. The results show that the Al-5Ti-0.62C-0.2Ce alloy was composed of α-Al, granular TiC, lump-like TiAl3 and block-like Ti2Al20Ce. Al-5Ti-0.62C-0.2Ce master alloy (0.3 wt %, 5 min can significantly refine macro grains of commercial pure Al into tiny equiaxed grains. The Al-5Ti-0.62C-0.2Ce master alloy (0.3 wt %, 30 min still has a good refinement effect. The tensile strength and elongation of commercial pure Al modified by the Al-5Ti-0.62C-0.2Ce master alloy (0.3 wt %, 5 min increased by roughly 19.26% and 61.83%, respectively. Al-5Ti-0.62C-0.2Ce master alloy (1.5 wt %, 10 min can significantly refine both α-Al grains and eutectic Si of hypoeutectic Al-8Si alloy. The dendritic α-Al grains were significantly refined to tiny equiaxed grains. The morphology of the eutectic Si crystals was significantly refined from coarse needle-shape or lath-shape to short rod-like or grain-like eutectic Si. The tensile strength and elongation of hypoeutectic Al-8Si alloy modified by the Al-5Ti-0.62C-0.2Ce master alloy (1.5 wt %, 10 min increased by roughly 20.53% and 50%, respectively. The change in mechanical properties corresponds to evolution of the microstructure.

Influence of titanium–boron additions on grain refinement of AA6082 gas tungsten arc welds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kishore Babu, N.; Talari, Mahesh Kumar; Dayou, Pan; Zheng, Sun; Jun, Wei; SivaPrasad, K.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Ti in the weld metal resulted in grain refinement due to growth restriction effect. ► Weld metal strength improved due to grain refinement caused by Tibor™ addition. ► Weld metal responded to post-weld ageing treatment due to dilution from base metal. ► Weld metal with AA5356 filler are stronger then AA4043 for all Tibor™ additions. -- Abstract: Grain refinement of weld metal plays a vital role in improving mechanical properties (ductility and toughness) as well as weldability. The present study has investigated the influence of Tibor™ additions on the structure and mechanical properties of AA6082 gas tungsten arc (GTA) weldments. Controlled amounts of Tibor™ grain refiner (containing Ti and B in a ratio of 5:1) were introduced into the molten pool of AA6082 by pre-deposited cast inserts (AA4043 and AA5356) under different welding conditions by GTA welding. Full penetration GTA welds were prepared using alternating current (AC). It was observed that grain size was decreased with increasing amounts of Tibor™. The grain refinement is mainly caused grain nucleation associated with constitutional undercooling during solidification. It has been shown that welds prepared with 5356 cast insert exhibited high strength and ductility when compared with other welds. The observed grain refinement was shown to result in an appreciable increase in fusion zone hardness, strength and ductility.

Grain Structure Control of Additively Manufactured Metallic Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fuyao Yan

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Grain structure control is challenging for metal additive manufacturing (AM. Grain structure optimization requires the control of grain morphology with grain size refinement, which can improve the mechanical properties of additive manufactured components. This work summarizes methods to promote fine equiaxed grains in both the additive manufacturing process and subsequent heat treatment. Influences of temperature gradient, solidification velocity and alloy composition on grain morphology are discussed. Equiaxed solidification is greatly promoted by introducing a high density of heterogeneous nucleation sites via powder rate control in the direct energy deposition (DED technique or powder surface treatment for powder-bed techniques. Grain growth/coarsening during post-processing heat treatment can be restricted by presence of nano-scale oxide particles formed in-situ during AM. Grain refinement of martensitic steels can also be achieved by cyclic austenitizing in post-processing heat treatment. Evidently, new alloy powder design is another sustainable method enhancing the capability of AM for high-performance components with desirable microstructures.

Influences of different degassing processes on refining effect and properties of 4004 Al alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Liping

2013-03-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the plasticity of 4004 Al alloy and subsequently the productivity of 4004 Al foil, the research studied in detail the influence of the rotary impeller degassing process on the refining effect of 4004 Al alloy, in which the impacts of four major parameters: gas flow, rotational speed, refining time, and stewing time, on degassing rate of 4004 Al alloy was systematically studied by using an orthogonal experiment methodology. Results show that the rotational speed has the greatest impact on the degassing of 4004 Al alloy, followed by gas flow and refining time; stewing time has the least impact. The optimum purification parameters obtained by current orthogonal analysis were: rotor speed of 500 r·min-1, inert gas flow of 0.4 mL·h-1, refining time of 15 min, and stewing time of 6 min. Degassing rate using the optimum parameters reaches 68%. In addition, the comparison experiments among C2Cl6 refining, rotary impeller degassing, and combined treatment of C2Cl6 refining and rotary impeller degassing for 4004 Al alloy were performed. The experimental data indicated that the combined treatment of C2Cl6 refining and rotary impeller degassing has the best degassing effect. Degassing rate of C2Cl6 refining, rotary impeller degassing and combined refining treatment is 39%, 69.1% and 76.9%, respectively. The mechanical properties of the specimen refined by rotary impeller degassing were higher than those by C2Cl6 refining, but lower than those by combined refining treatment.

In vitro and in vivo studies of biodegradable fine grained AZ31 magnesium alloy produced by equal channel angular pressing.

Science.gov (United States)

Ratna Sunil, B; Sampath Kumar, T S; Chakkingal, Uday; Nandakumar, V; Doble, Mukesh; Devi Prasad, V; Raghunath, M

2016-02-01

The objective of the present work is to investigate the role of different grain sizes produced by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) on the degradation behavior of magnesium alloy using in vitro and in vivo studies. Commercially available AZ31 magnesium alloy was selected and processed by ECAP at 300°C for up to four passes using route Bc. Grain refinement from a starting size of 46μm to a grain size distribution of 1-5μm was successfully achieved after the 4th pass. Wettability of ECAPed samples assessed by contact angle measurements was found to increase due to the fine grain structure. In vitro degradation and bioactivity of the samples studied by immersing in super saturated simulated body fluid (SBF 5×) showed rapid mineralization within 24h due to the increased wettability in fine grained AZ31 Mg alloy. Corrosion behavior of the samples assessed by weight loss and electrochemical tests conducted in SBF 5× clearly showed the prominent role of enhanced mineral deposition on ECAPed AZ31 Mg in controlling the abnormal degradation. Cytotoxicity studies by MTT colorimetric assay showed that all the samples are viable. Additionally, cell adhesion was excellent for ECAPed samples particularly for the 3rd and 4th pass samples. In vivo experiments conducted using New Zealand White rabbits clearly showed lower degradation rate for ECAPed sample compared with annealed AZ31 Mg alloy and all the samples showed biocompatibility and no health abnormalities were noticed in the animals after 60days of in vivo studies. These results suggest that the grain size plays an important role in degradation management of magnesium alloys and ECAP technique can be adopted to achieve fine grain structures for developing degradable magnesium alloys for biomedical applications. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of Melt Convection and Solid Transport on Macrosegregation and Grain Structure in Equiaxed Al-Cu Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Rerko, Rodney S.; deGroh, Henry C., III; Beckermann, Christoph; Gray, Hugh R. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Macrosegregation in metal casting can be caused by thermal and solutal melt convection, and the transport of unattached solid crystals. These free grains can be a result of, for example, nucleation in the bulk liquid or dendrite fragmentation. In an effort to develop a comprehensive numerical model for the casting of alloys, an experimental study has been conducted to generate benchmark data with which such a solidification model could be tested. The specific goal of the experiments was to examine equiaxed solidification in situations where sinking of grains is (and is not) expected. The objectives were: 1) experimentally study the effects of solid transport and thermosolutal convection on macrosegregation and grain size distribution patterns; and 2) provide a complete set of controlled thermal boundary conditions, temperature data, segregation data, and grain size data, to validate numerical codes. The alloys used were Al-1 wt. pct. Cu, and Al-10 wt. pct. Cu with various amounts of the grain refiner TiB2 added. Cylindrical samples were either cooled from the top, or the bottom. Several trends in the data stand out. In attempting to model these experiments, concentrating on experiments that show clear trends or differences is recommended.

Disintegration of the net-shaped grain-boundary phase by multi-directional forging and its influence on the microstructure and properties of Cu-Ni-Si alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jinlong; Lu, Zhenlin; Zhao, Yuntao; Jia, Lei; Xie, Hui; Tao, Shiping

2017-09-01

Cu-Ni-Si alloys with 90% Cu content and Ni to Si ratios of 5:1 were fabricated by fusion casting, and severe plastic deformation of the Cu-Ni-Si alloy was carried out by multi-direction forging (MDF). The results showed that the as-cast and homogenized Cu-Ni-Si alloys consisted of three phases, namely the matrix phase α-Cu (Ni, Si), the reticular grain boundary phase Ni31Si12 and the precipitated phase Ni2Si. MDF significantly destroyed the net-shaped grain boundary phase, the Ni31Si12 phase and refined the grain size of the Cu matrix, and also resulted in the dissolving of Ni2Si precipitates into the Cu matrix. The effect of MDF on the conductivity of the solid solution Cu-Ni-Si alloy was very significant, with an average increase of 165.16%, and the hardness of the Cu-Ni-Si alloy also increased obviously.

Semi-solid rheocasting of grain refined aluminum alloy 7075

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Curle, UA

2010-09-01

Full Text Available mm×6 mm. Fig.1 shows the whole casting including the runner and the biscuit. A batch of the 7075 alloy was melted in a 20 kg tilting furnace and degassed with argon. A sample was poured and cooled to analyze the starting chemical composition... of the liquid metal by optical emission spectroscopy (Thermo Quantris OES). Thermodynamic properties of the starting alloy were then calculated (Scheil solidification model) with an aluminum thermodynamic database (ProCast 2009.1) using the OES composition...

Features of ultrafine-grained structure forming in Zr-1Nb alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stepanova, Ekaterina N.; Prosolov, Konstantin A. [National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk (Russian Federation); Grabovetskaya, Galina P.; Mishin, Ivan P. [Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk (Russian Federation)

2013-07-01

Ultrafine-grained structure forming by the method combined reversible hydrogenation and hot pressing in Zr-1Nb alloy was investigated. Preliminary hydrogenation to concentrations of (0.14–0.4) % at 873 K is found to lead to yield strength decreasing in Zr-1Nb alloy during hot pressing by 1,5–2 times. During uniaxial compression at (70–72) % under isothermal conditions at a temperature of 873 K in Zr-1Nb alloy, hydrogenated to concentration of 0.22 %, homogeneous ultrafine grained structure with an average grain size of 0,4 P m was formed. Key words: zirconium alloy, ultrafine-grained structure, hydrogen.

Refinement of grain structure in 20 MnNiMo (SA508C) steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheng Zhongqi; Xiao Hong; Peng Feng; Zou Min

1997-04-01

The size of prior austenite grains and bainitic colonies of 20 MnNiMo (SA508C) steel (a reactor pressure vessel steel) after normal heat treatment is measured and its controlling factors are discussed. Results show that low aluminium content can induce serious mixed structure with fine and coarse grains in prior austenite. Fast cooling rate can promote refinement of bainitic colonies. Further refinement of grains can be obtained by inter-critical quenching. (5 figs., 1 tab.)

Interactive contribution of grain size and grain orientation to coercivity of melt spun ribbons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, N.; Li, G.; Yao, W.J.; Wen, X.X.

2010-01-01

During melt spinning process, the improvement of certain grain orientation and the refinement of grain size with surface velocity have interactive and contradictory effects on the magnetic properties. The contributions of these effects have seldom been taken into account and they were discussed in this paper via Fe-2, 4, 6.5 wt% Si alloys. Heat treatment at 1173 K for 1 h was performed to show the annealing impact. The X-ray diffraction patterns show that the high surface velocity and heat treatment increase the intensity ratio of line (2 0 0) to (1 1 0) of A2 phase. The (2 0 0) line corresponds to (2 0 0) plane in direction, easy magnetization direction of α-Fe phase in Fe-Si alloy. The improvement of this grain orientation with the surface velocity decreases the coercivity, which should increase due to the grain refinement. It is revealed that the texture promoted by the anisotropic heat release during melt spinning process is one factor to improve the magnetic properties and should be considered when preparing soft magnetic materials.

Age-hardening of an Al-Li-Cu-Mg alloy (2091) processed by high-pressure torsion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Seungwon, E-mail: chominamlsw@gmail.com [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); WPI, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER), Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Horita, Zenji [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); WPI, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER), Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Hirosawa, Shoichi [Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501 (Japan); Matsuda, Kenji [Graduate School of Science and Engineering for Research, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555 (Japan)

2012-06-01

This research presents the successful strengthening of an Al-Li-Cu-Mg alloy (2091) through the simultaneous use of grain refinement and age hardening. Following solid-solution treatment, the alloy was processed by high-pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature and the grain size was refined to {approx}140 nm. The Vickers microhardness increased with increasing strain, and saturated to a constant level of 225 Hv. A further increase in the hardness to {approx}275 Hv was achieved by aging the HPT-processed alloy at 100 Degree-Sign C and 150 Degree-Sign C. Bending tests for the samples treated using the peak aging conditions demonstrated that the stress was significantly increased while considerable ductility was retained. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the small grains are well retained even after prolonged aging, and the precipitation of fine {delta} Prime particles occurred within the small grains, which confirms that simultaneous strengthening from grain refinement and age hardening is feasible in this alloy.

Atomic scale study of grain boundary segregation before carbide nucleation in Ni-Cr-Fe Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hui; Xia, Shuang; Liu, Wenqing; Liu, Tingguang; Zhou, Bangxin

2013-08-01

Three dimensional chemical information concerning grain boundary segregation before carbide nucleation was characterized by atom probe tomography in two Ni-Cr-Fe alloys which were aged at 500 °C for 0.5 h after homogenizing treatment. B, C and Si atoms segregation at grain boundary in Alloy 690 was observed. B, C, N and P atoms segregation at grain boundary in 304 austenitic stainless steel was observed. C atoms co-segregation with Cr atoms at the grain boundaries both in Alloy 690 and 304 austenitic stainless steel was found, and its effect on the carbide nucleation was discussed. The amount of each segregated element at grain boundaries in the two Ni-Cr-Fe alloys were analyzed quantitatively. Comparison of the grain boundary segregation features of the two Ni-Cr-Fe alloys were carried out based on the experimental results. The impurity and solute atoms segregate inhomogeneously in the same grain boundary both in 304 SS and Alloy 690. The grain boundary segregation tendencies (Sav) are B (11.8 ± 1.4) > P (5.4 ± 1.4) > N (4.7 ± 0.3) > C (3.7 ± 0.4) in 304 SS, and B (6.9 ± 0.9) > C (6.7 ± 0.4) > Si (1.5 ± 0.2) in Alloy 690. Cr atoms may co-segregate with C atoms at grain boundaries before carbide nucleation at the grain boundaries both in 304 SS and Alloy 690. Ni atoms generally deplete at grain boundary both in 304 SS and Alloy 690. The literature shows that the Ni atoms may co-segregate with P atoms at grain boundaries [28], but the P atoms segregation do not leads to Ni segregation in the current study. In the current study, Fe atoms may segregate or deplete at grain boundary in Alloy 690. But Fe atoms generally deplete at grain boundary in 304 SS. B atoms have the strongest grain boundary segregation tendency both in 304 SS and Alloy 690. The grain boundary segregation tendency and Gibbs free energy of B in 304 SS is higher than in Alloy 690. C atoms are easy to segregate at grain boundaries both in 304 SS and Alloy 690. The grain boundary segregation

Pengaruh Degasser Dan Grain Refiner Terhadap Sifat Mekanik Paduan Al-Si Produk Cor

OpenAIRE

Yohanes, Glenn; Djamil, Sofyan

2008-01-01

Paduan aluminium banyak digunakan pada industri otomotif, seperti pada pembuatan velg dan komponen-komponen mesin. Studi pengaruh degasser dan grain refiner terhadap kekuatan tarik, kekuatan luluh, elongasi dan kekerasan, pada proses peleburan dibandingkan dengan atau tanpa menggunakan degasser dan grain refiner. Benda uji didapat dengan melebur blok mesin Mitsubishi L.300, menggunakan tungku listrik dan proses cor sistem cetakan terbuka. Hasil penelitian, meliputi kekuatan tarik, luluh, elon...

Pengaruh Degasser dan Grain Refiner terhadap Sifat Mekanik Paduan Al-Si Produk Cor

OpenAIRE

Yohanes, Glenn; Djamil, Sofyan

2009-01-01

Paduan aluminium banyak digunakan pada industri otomotif, seperti pada pembuatan velg dan komponen-komponen mesin. Studi pengaruh degasser dan grain refiner terhadap kekuatan tarik, kekuatan luluh, elongasi dan kekerasan, pada proses peleburan dibandingkan dengan atau tanpa menggunakan degasser dan grain refiner. Benda uji didapat dengan melebur blok mesin Mitsubishi L.300, menggunakan tungku listrik dan proses cor sistem cetakan terbuka. Hasil penelitian, meliputi kekuatan tarik, luluh, elon...

Segregation of solute elements at grain boundaries in an ultrafine grained Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sha, Gang; Yao, Lan; Liao, Xiaozhou; Ringer, Simon P.; Chao Duan, Zhi; Langdon, Terence G.

2011-01-01

The solute segregation at grain boundaries (GBs) of an ultrafine grained (UFG) Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy processed by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) at 200 o C was characterised using three-dimensional atom probe. Mg and Cu segregate strongly to the grain boundaries. In contrast, Zn does not always show clear segregation and may even show depletion near the grain boundaries. Trace element Si selectively segregates at some GBs. An increase in the number of ECAP passes leads to a decrease in the grain size but an increase in solute segregation at the boundaries. The significant segregation of alloying elements at the boundaries of ultrafine-grained alloys implies that less solutes will be available in the matrix for precipitation with a decrease in the average grain size. -- Research Highlights: → Atom probe tomography has been employed successfully to reveal unique segregation of solutes at ultrafine grained material. → Mg and Cu elements segregated strongly at the grain boundary of an ultrafine grained Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy processed by 4-pass and 8-pass ECAP at 200 o C. Zn frequently depleted at GBs with a Zn depletion region of 7-15 nm in width on one or both sides of the GBs. Only a small fraction (3/13) of GBs were observed with a low level of Zn segregation where the combined Mg and Cu excess is over 3.1 atom/nm 2 . Si appeared selectively segregated at some of the GBs. → The increase in number of ECAP passes from 4 to 8 correlated with the increase in mean level segregation of Mg and Cu for both solute excess and peak concentration. → The change of plane normal of a grain boundary within 30 o only leads to a slight change in the solute segregation level.

Microstructure, microtexture and precipitation in the ultrafine-grained surface layer of an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy processed by sliding friction treatment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Yanxia [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an 710072 (China); Yang, Yanqing, E-mail: yqyang@nwpu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an 710072 (China); Feng, Zongqiang [College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044 (China); Zhao, Guangming; Huang, Bin; Luo, Xian [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an 710072 (China); Zhang, Yusheng; Zhang, Wei [Northwest Institute for Nonferrous Metal Research, Xi' an 710016 (China)

2017-01-15

Precipitate redistribution and texture evolution are usually two concurrent aspects accompanying grain refinement induced by various surface treatment. However, the detailed precipitate redistribution characteristics and process, as well as crystallographic texture in the surface refined grain layer, are still far from full understanding. In this study, we focused on the microstructural and crystallographic features of the sliding friction treatment (SFT) induced surface deformation layer in a 7050 aluminum alloy. With the combination of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high angle angular dark field scanning TEM (HAADF-STEM) observations, a surface ultrafine grain (UFG) layer composed of both equiaxed and lamellar ultrafine grains and decorated by high density of coarse grain boundary precipitates (GBPs) were revealed. Further precession electron diffraction (PED) assisted orientation mapping unraveled that high angle grain boundaries rather than low angle grain boundaries are the most favorable nucleation sites for GBPs. The prominent precipitate redistribution can be divided into three successive and interrelated stages, i.e. the mechanically induced precipitate dissolution, solute diffusion and reprecipitation. The quantitative prediction based on pipe diffusion along dislocations and grain boundary diffusion proved the distribution feasibility of GBPs around UFGs. Based on PED and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analyses, the crystallographic texture of the surface UFG layer was identified as a shear texture composed of major rotated cube texture (001) 〈110〉 and minor (111) 〈112〉, while that of the adjoining lamellar coarse grained matrix was pure brass. The SFT induced surface severe shear deformation is responsible for texture evolution. - Highlights: •The surface ultrafine grain layer in a 7050 aluminum alloy was focused. •Precipitate redistribution and texture evolution were discussed. •The quantitative prediction proved the

Whole grain and refined grain consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of cohort studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Aune, Dagfinn; Norat, Teresa; Romundstad, Pål; Vatten, Lars J

2013-11-01

Several studies have suggested a protective effect of intake of whole grains, but not refined grains on type 2 diabetes risk, but the dose-response relationship between different types of grains and type 2 diabetes has not been established. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies of grain intake and type 2 diabetes. We searched the PubMed database for studies of grain intake and risk of type 2 diabetes, up to June 5th, 2013. Summary relative risks were calculated using a random effects model. Sixteen cohort studies were included in the analyses. The summary relative risk per 3 servings per day was 0.68 (95% CI 0.58-0.81, I(2) = 82%, n = 10) for whole grains and 0.95 (95% CI 0.88-1.04, I(2) = 53%, n = 6) for refined grains. A nonlinear association was observed for whole grains, p nonlinearity cereals, wheat bran and brown rice, but these results were based on few studies, while white rice was associated with increased risk. Our meta-analysis suggests that a high whole grain intake, but not refined grains, is associated with reduced type 2 diabetes risk. However, a positive association with intake of white rice and inverse associations between several specific types of whole grains and type 2 diabetes warrant further investigations. Our results support public health recommendations to replace refined grains with whole grains and suggest that at least two servings of whole grains per day should be consumed to reduce type 2 diabetes risk.

Evolution of twinning in extruded AZ31 alloy with bimodal grain structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcés, G., E-mail: ggarces@cenim.csic.es [Department of Physical Metallurgy, National Centre for Metallurgical Research CENIM-CSIC, Av. De Gregorio del Amo 8, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Oñorbe, E. [CIEMAT, Division of Structural Materials, Avenida Complutense, 40, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Gan, W. [German Engineering Materials Science Centre at MLZ, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Lichtebergstr. 1, D-85747 Garching (Germany); Máthis, K. [Department of Physics of Materials, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, KeKarlovu 5, 121 16 Praha 2 (Czech Republic); Tolnai, D. [Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Max-Planck-Str. 1, 21502 Geesthacht (Germany); Horváth, K. [Department of Physics of Materials, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, KeKarlovu 5, 121 16 Praha 2 (Czech Republic); Pérez, P.; Adeva, P. [Department of Physical Metallurgy, National Centre for Metallurgical Research CENIM-CSIC, Av. De Gregorio del Amo 8, 28040 Madrid (Spain)

2017-04-15

Twinning in extruded AZ31 alloy with a bimodal grain structure is studied under compression along the extrusion direction. This study has combined in-situ measurements during the compression tests by Synchrotron Radiation Diffraction and Acoustic Emission techniques and the evaluation of the microstructure and texture in post-mortem compression samples deformed at different strains. The microstructure of the alloy is characterized by the coexistence of large areas of fine dynamic recrystallized grains and coarse non-recrystallized grains elongated along extrusion direction. Twinning occurs initially in large elongated grains before the macroscopic yield stress which is controlled by the twinning in equiaxed dynamically recrystallized grains. - Highlights: • The AZ31 extruded at low temperature exhibits a bimodal grains structure. • Twinning takes place before macroscopic yielding in coarse non-DRXed grains. • DRXed grains controls the beginning of plasticity in magnesium alloys with bimodal grain structure.

Investigation on grain refinement and precipitation strengthening applied in high speed wire rod containing vanadium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Da-yong; Xiao, Fu-ren, E-mail: frxiao@ysu.edu.cn; Wang, Bin; Liu, Jia-ling; Liao, Bo, E-mail: cyddjyjs@263.net

2014-01-13

To obtain necessary information for the simulation of high speed wire production process, the effect of grain refinement and precipitation strengthening on two high speed wire rod steels with different vanadium and nitrogen contents was investigated by continuous cooling transformation (CCT) characteristics. CCT curves were constructed by the dilatometer test and microscopic observation. Results showed that the formation of intra-granular ferrite (IGF) could refine grain remarkably and accelerate the ferrite transformation. Schedules for high speed wire production process focused on the effect of cooling rate. Ferrite grain was refined by increasing cooling rate and the formation of IGF. The microhardness calculation revealed that the steels were strengthened mostly by a combined effect of grain refinement and precipitation hardening. Degenerated pearlite was observed at lower transformation temperature and the fracture morphology changed from cementite lamellar to nanoscale cementite particle with increasing cooling rate. Based on the analysis above, an optimal schedule was applied and the microstructure and microhardness were improved.

Time evolution as refining, coarse graining and entangling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dittrich, Bianca; Steinhaus, Sebastian

2014-01-01

We argue that refining, coarse graining and entangling operators can be obtained from time evolution operators. This applies in particular to geometric theories, such as spin foams. We point out that this provides a construction principle for the physical vacuum in quantum gravity theories and more generally allows construction of a (cylindrically) consistent continuum limit of the theory. (paper)

Time evolution as refining, coarse graining and entangling

Science.gov (United States)

Dittrich, Bianca; Steinhaus, Sebastian

2014-12-01

We argue that refining, coarse graining and entangling operators can be obtained from time evolution operators. This applies in particular to geometric theories, such as spin foams. We point out that this provides a construction principle for the physical vacuum in quantum gravity theories and more generally allows construction of a (cylindrically) consistent continuum limit of the theory.

Analysis of Strengthening Mechanisms in an Artificially Aged Ultrafine Grain 6061 Aluminum Alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Reza Rezaei

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The current study adopted a quantitative approach to investigating the mechanical properties, and their relationship to the microstructural features, of precipitation-strengthened 6061 aluminum alloy processed through accumulative roll bonding (ARB and aging heat treatment.  To serve this purpose, the contributions of different strengthening mechanisms including grain refinement, precipitation, dislocation and solid-solution strengthening to the yield strength of five-cycle ARB samples processed under pre-aged (ARBed and aged (ARBed+Aged conditions were examined and compared. Microstructural characterizations were performed on the samples through the transmission electron microscope (TEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD. Also, the mechanical properties of the samples were investigated through the tensile test. The obtained results showed that an equiaxed ultrafine grain structure with nano-sized precipitates was created in the both ARBed and ARBed+Aged samples. The grain refinement was the predominant strengthening mechanism which was estimated to contribute 151 and 226 MPa to the ARBed and ARBed+Aged samples, respectively, while the dislocation and Orowan strengthening mechanisms were ranked second with regard to their contributions to the ARBed and ARBed+Aged samples, respectively. The overall yield strength, calculated through the root mean square summation method, was found to be in good agreement with the experimentally determined yield strength. It was also found that the presence of non-shearable precipitates, which interfered with the movement of the dislocations, would be effective for the simultaneous improvement of the strength and ductility of the ARBed+Agedsample .

Analysis of controlled-mechanism of grain growth in undercooled Fe-Cu alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Zheng; Liu Feng; Yang Xiaoqin; Shen Chengjin; Fan Yu

2011-01-01

Highlights: → In terms of a thermo-kinetic model applicable for micro-scale undercooled Fe-4 at.% Cu alloy, grain growth behavior of the single-phase supersaturated granular grain was investigated. → In comparison of pure kinetic model, pure thermodynamic model and the extended thermo-kinetic model, two characteristic annealing time were determined. → The controlled-mechanism of grain growth in undercooled Fe-Cu alloy was proposed, including a mainly kinetic-controlled process, a transition from kinetic-mechanism to thermodynamic-mechanism and purely thermodynamic-controlled process. - Abstract: An analysis of controlled-mechanism of grain growth in the undercooled Fe-4 at.% Cu immiscible alloy was presented. Grain growth behavior of the single-phase supersaturated granular grains prepared in Fe-Cu immiscible alloy melt was investigated by performing isothermal annealings at 500-800 deg. C. The thermo-kinetic model [Chen et al., Acta Mater. 57 (2009) 1466] applicable for nano-scale materials was extended to the system of micro-scale undercooled Fe-4 at.% Cu alloy. In comparison of pure kinetic model, pure thermodynamic model and the extended thermo-kinetic model, two characteristic annealing time (t 1 and t 2 ) were determined. The controlled-mechanism of grain growth in undercooled Fe-Cu alloy was proposed, including a mainly kinetic-controlled process (t ≤ t 1 ), a transition from kinetic-mechanism to thermodynamic-mechanism (t 1 2 ) and purely thermodynamic-controlled process (t ≥ t 2 ).

Effects of scandium and zirconium combination alloying on as-cast microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-4Cu-1.5Mg alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang Qingchun

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The influences of minor scandium and zirconium combination alloying on the as-cast microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-4Cu-1.5Mg alloy have been experimentally investigated. The experimental results show that when the minor elements of scandium and zirconium are simultaneously added into the Al-4Cu-1.5Mg alloy, the as-cast microstructure of the alloy is effectively modified and the grains of the alloy are greatly refined. The coarse dendrites in the microstructure of the alloy without Sc and Zr additions are refined to the uniform and fine equiaxed grains. As the additions of Sc and Zr are 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively, the tensile strength, yield strength and elongation of the alloy are relatively better, which are 275.0 MPa, 176.0 MPa and 8.0% respectively. The tensile strength is increased by 55.3%, and the elongation is nearly raised three times, compared with those of the alloy without Sc and Zr additions.

Grain Refinement and Microstructural Evolution in Nickel During High-Pressure Torsion

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Zhilyaev, A

2002-01-01

.... It is now well established that SPD processing can lead to a very significant refinement in the size of a wide range of materials including pure metals, metallic alloys and intermetallics 3, 4...

The Refining Mechanism of Super Gravity on the Solidification Structure of Al-Cu Alloys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuhou Yang

2016-12-01

Full Text Available There is far less study of the refining effect of super gravity fields on solidification structures of metals than of the effects of electrical currents, magnetic and ultrasonic fields. Moreover, the refining mechanisms of super gravity are far from clear. This study applied a super gravity field to Al-Cu alloys to investigate its effect on refining their structures and the mechanism of interaction. The experimental results showed that the solidification structure of Al-Cu alloys can be greatly refined by a super gravity field. The major refining effect was mainly achieved when super gravity was applied at the initial solidification stage; only slight refinement could be obtained towards the end of solidification. No refinement was obtained by the super gravity treatment on pure liquid or solid stages. The effectiveness of super gravity results from its promoting the multiplication of crystal nuclei, which we call “Heavy Crystal Rain”, thereby greatly strengthening the migration of crystal nuclei within the alloy. Increasing the solute Cu content can increase nucleation density and restrict the growth of crystals, which further increases the refining effect of super gravity. Within this paper, we also discuss the motile behavior of crystals in a field of super gravity.

Grain refinement of AZ31 magnesium alloy by electromagnetic ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

to improve the mechanical properties of magnesium alloys. (Lahaie and Bouchard 2001; ... superheating, carbon inoculation, addition of solute elements ... microscope (SEM) for morphological characterization. 3. Results and ... C. Figures 2(d), (e) and (f) show the ... It is widely appreciated that the microstructure of a casting.

Microstructural Evolution of Al-1Fe (Weight Percent) Alloy During Accumulative Continuous Extrusion Forming

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiang; Guan, Ren-Guo; Tie, Di; Shang, Ying-Qiu; Jin, Hong-Mei; Li, Hong-Chao

2018-04-01

As a new microstructure refining method, accumulative continuous extrusion forming (ACEF) cannot only refine metal matrix but also refine the phases that exist in it. In order to detect the refinements of grain and second phase during the process, Al-1Fe (wt pct) alloy was processed by ACEF, and the microstructural evolution was analyzed by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results revealed that the average grain size of Al-1Fe (wt pct) alloy decreased from 13 to 1.2 μm, and blocky Al3Fe phase with an average length of 300 nm was granulated to Al3Fe particle with an average diameter of 200 nm, after one pass of ACEF. Refinement of grain was attributed to continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX), and the granulation of Al3Fe phase included the spheroidization resulting from deformation heat and the fragmentation caused by the coupling effects of strain and thermal effect. The spheroidization worked in almost the entire deformation process, while the fragmentation required strain accumulation. However, fragmentation contributed more than spheroidization. Al3Fe particle stimulated the formation of substructure and retarded the migration of recrystallized grain boundary, but the effect of Al3Fe phase on refinement of grain could only be determined by the contrastive investigation of Al-1Fe (wt pct) alloy and pure Al.

Grain boundary engineering to control the discontinuous precipitation in multicomponent U10Mo alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Devaraj, Arun; Kovarik, Libor; Kautz, Elizabeth; Arey, Bruce; Jana, Saumyadeep; Lavender, Curt; Joshi, Vineet

2018-06-01

Grain boundaries in metallic alloys often play a crucial role, not only in determining the mechanical properties or thermal stability of alloys, but also in dictating the phase transformation kinetics during thermomechanical processing. We demonstrate that locally stabilized structure and compositional segregation at grain boundaries—“grain boundary complexions”—in a complex multicomponent alloy can be modified to influence the kinetics of cellular transformation during subsequent thermomechanical processing. Using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography analysis of a metallic nuclear fuel highly relevant to worldwide nuclear non-proliferation efforts —uranium-10 wt% molybdenum (U-10Mo) alloy, new evidence for the existence of grain boundary complexion is provided. We then modified the concentration of impurities dissolved in Υ-UMo grain interiors and/or segregated to Υ-UMo grain boundaries by changing the homogenization treatment, and these effects were used used to retard the kinetics of cellular transformation during subsequent sub-eutectoid annealing in this U-10-Mo alloy during sub-eutectoid annealing. Thus, this work provided insights on tailoring the final microstructure of the U-10Mo alloy, which can potentially improve the irradiation performance of this important class of alloy fuels.

Atomic scale study of grain boundary segregation before carbide nucleation in Ni–Cr–Fe Alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Hui, E-mail: huili@shu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory for Microstructures, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444 (China); Institute of Materials, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 (China); Xia, Shuang [Institute of Materials, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 (China); Liu, Wenqing [Key Laboratory for Microstructures, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444 (China); Liu, Tingguang; Zhou, Bangxin [Institute of Materials, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072 (China)

2013-08-15

Highlights: • Impurities segregated at grain boundaries were observed by atom probe tomography. • The comparison of segregation features in two Ni–Cr–Fe alloys was studied by APT. • C and Cr atoms co-segregated at grain boundaries before carbide precipitation. -- Abstract: Three dimensional chemical information concerning grain boundary segregation before carbide nucleation was characterized by atom probe tomography in two Ni–Cr–Fe alloys which were aged at 500 °C for 0.5 h after homogenizing treatment. B, C and Si atoms segregation at grain boundary in Alloy 690 was observed. B, C, N and P atoms segregation at grain boundary in 304 austenitic stainless steel was observed. C atoms co-segregation with Cr atoms at the grain boundaries both in Alloy 690 and 304 austenitic stainless steel was found, and its effect on the carbide nucleation was discussed. The amount of each segregated element at grain boundaries in the two Ni–Cr–Fe alloys were analyzed quantitatively. Comparison of the grain boundary segregation features of the two Ni–Cr–Fe alloys were carried out based on the experimental results.

Influence of transport mechanisms on nucleation and grain structure formation in DC cast aluminium alloy ingots

Science.gov (United States)

Bedel, M.; Založnik, M.; Kumar, A.; Combeau, H.; Jarry, P.; Waz, E.

2012-01-01

The grain structure formation in direct chill (DC) casting is directly linked to nucleation, which is generally promoted by inoculation. Inoculation prevents defects, but also modifies the physical properties by changing the microstructure. We studied the coupling of the nucleation on inoculant particles and the grain growth in the presence of melt flow induced by thermosolutal convection and of the transport of free-floating equiaxed grains. We used a volume-averaged two-phase multiscale model with a fully coupled description of phenomena on the grain scale (nucleation on grain refiner particles and grain growth) and on the product scale (macroscopic transport). The transport of inoculant particles is also modeled, which accounts for the inhomogeneous distribution of inoculant particles in the melt. The model was applied to an industrial sized (350mm thick) DC cast aluminium alloy ingot. A discretised nuclei size distribution was defined and the impact of different macroscopic phenomena on the grain structure formation was studied: the zone and intensity of nucleation and the resulting grain size distribution. It is shown that nucleation in the presence of macroscopic transport cannot be explained only in terms of cooling rate, but variations of composition, nuclei density and grain density, all affected by transport, must be accounted for.

Effects of Sm addition on electromagnetic interference shielding property of Mg-Zn-Zr alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Chubin [Chongqing University, College of Materials Science and Engineering, National Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloy, Chongqing (China); Gannan Normal University, Jiangxi Provincial Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloy, Ganzhou (China); Pan, Fusheng; Chen, Xianhua [Chongqing University, College of Materials Science and Engineering, National Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloy, Chongqing (China); Luo, Ning [Gannan Normal University, Jiangxi Provincial Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloy, Ganzhou (China)

2017-06-15

The electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding of Sm-containing magnesium alloys in the 30-1500 MHz testing frequency range was investigated by coaxial cable method. The results demonstrated that Mg-3Zn alloys displayed the best electromagnetic shielding property. When 0.5 wt% of Zr was added for crystal grain refinement, the shielding effectiveness (SE) was apparently reduced. The addition of the rare earth element Sm in ZK magnesium alloys can improve the electromagnetic interference shielding of magnesium alloys. The main reason for the differences in electromagnetic interference shielding of magnesium alloys was the change in conductivity. The addition of Zr in Mg-Zn alloys can refine the grains and consequently improve the grain boundary area significantly. Therefore, the number of irregularly arranged atoms at the grain boundaries increased, decreasing the conductivity of magnesium alloys and leading to a decrease in the electromagnetic interference shielding. Following the Sm addition, the Mg-Zn-Sm phase was precipitated at the grain boundaries and in cores. The precipitation of Sm-containing rare earth phases could consume the solid-soluted Zn atoms within the Mg, resulting in an increase in electrical conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding improvement. (orig.)

The characteristics of aluminum-scandium alloys processed by ECAP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Venkateswarlu, K.; Rajinikanth, V.; Ray, Ajoy Kumar; Xu Cheng; Langdon, Terence G.

2010-01-01

Aluminum-scandium alloys were prepared having different scandium additions of 0.2, 1.0 and 2.0 wt.% and these alloys were processed by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) at 473 K. The results show the grain refinement of the aluminum matrix and the morphology of the Al 3 Sc precipitates depends strongly on the scandium concentration. The tensile properties were evaluated after ECAP by pulling to failure at initial strain rates from 1.0 x 10 -3 to 1.0 x 10 -1 s -1 . The Al-1% Sc alloy exhibited the highest tensile strength of ∼250 MPa at a strain rate of 1.0 x 10 -1 s -1 . This alloy also exhibited a superior grain refinement of ∼0.4 μm after ECAP where this is attributed to a smaller initial grain size and an optimum volume fraction of dispersed Al 3 Sc precipitates having both micrometer and nanometer sizes.

Effects of boron on the fracture behavior and ductility of cast Ti–6Al–4V alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luan, J.H.; Jiao, Z.B.; Heatherly, L.; George, E.P.; Chen, G.; Liu, C.T.

2015-01-01

Minor amounts of boron additions have been found to greatly enhance the ductility of cast Ti–6Al–4V alloys, which was considered to be due to the grain-size refinement. In this paper, we report our interesting finding that the beneficial effect of boron on the ductility of the cast titanium alloys is due not only to the grain-size refinement but the enhancement of the prior-β grain-boundary cohesion by boron segregation at the grain boundaries, as evidenced by Auger electron microscopy

Grain refinement of cast titanium alloys via trace boron addition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamirisakandala, S.; Bhat, R.B.; Tiley, J.S.; Miracle, D.B.

2005-01-01

The grain size of as-cast Ti-6Al-4V is reduced by about an order of magnitude from 1700 to 200 μm with an addition of 0.1 wt.% boron. A much weaker dependence of reduction in grain size is obtained for boron additions from >0.1% to 1.0%. Similar trends were observed in boron-modified as-cast Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo-0.1Si

Mechanical properties and biocorrosion resistance of the Mg-Gd-Nd-Zn-Zr alloy processed by equal channel angular pressing.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Junyi; Kang, Zhixin; Wang, Fen

2016-11-01

A Mg-Gd-Nd-Zn-Zr alloy was processed by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at 375°C. The grain size of Mg-Gd-Nd-Zn-Zr alloy was refined to ~2.5μm with the spherical precipitates (β1 phase) distributing in the matrix. The mechanical properties of ECAPed alloy were significantly improved as a result of the grain refinement and precipitation strengthening. The corrosion rate of the ECAPed magnesium alloy in simulated body fluid dramatically decreased from 0.236mm/a to 0.126mm/a due to the strong basal texture and refined microstructure. This wrought magnesium alloy shows potentials in biomedical application. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Annealing behavior of a cast Mg-Gd-Y-Zr alloy with necklace fine grains developed under hot deformation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Yi [Educational Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Materials Science and Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Yang, Xuyue, E-mail: yangxuyue@mail.csu.edu.cn [Educational Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Materials Science and Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Nonferrous Metal Oriented Advanced Structural Materials and Manufacturing Cooperative Innovation Center, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Xiao, Zhenyu; Zhang, Duxiu [Educational Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Materials Science and Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Wang, Jun [Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216 (Australia); Sakai, Taku [UEC Tokyo (The University of Electro-Communications), Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585 (Japan)

2017-03-14

The microstructure and texture development of a cast Mg-Gd-Y-Zr alloy during hot deformation and subsequent annealing were investigated by optical microscopy (OM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) technology. Initial microstructures with partially and fully developed new fine grains (NFGs), separately attended by continuous or interrupted hot forging, were various mixed grain structures composed of NFGs in necklace and retained coarse grains. It is shown that, during annealing, the development of grain size can be divided into three stages: i.e. an incubation of grain growth, a rapid coarsening and a normal grain growth. After a long time annealing of over 10{sup 4} ks at 693 K, the average grain size for samples continuous compressed to ε=1.2 and those interrupted compressed to ε=1.6 were close. Moreover, orientations of such strain-induced fine grains were relatively randomly distributed, leading to a weakened basal texture, while the basal plane of retained coarse grains were perpendicular to the forging direction. Such texture even became weaker during subsequent annealing. The results show that the development of necklace NFGs during hot deformation can be effective for homogeneous grain refinement under subsequent annealing.

Numerical study of the impact of inoculant and grain transport on macrosegregation and microstructure formation during solidification of an Al-22%Cu alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tveito, K O; M'Hamdi, M; Bedel, M; Zaloz'nik, M; Combeau, H; Kumar, A; Dutta, P

2012-01-01

We investigate the impact of the nucleation law for nucleation on Al-Ti-B inoculant particles, of the motion of inoculant particles and of the motion of grains on the predicted macrosegregation and microstructure in a grain-refined Al-22 wt.% Cu alloy casting. We conduct the study by numerical simulations of a casting experiment in a side-cooled 76×76×254 mm sand mould. Macrosegregation and microstructure formation are studied with a volume-averaged two-phase model accounting for macroscopic heat and solute transport, melt convection, and transport of inoculant particles and equiaxed grains. On the microscopic scale it accounts for nucleation on inoculant particles with a given size distribution (and corresponding activation undercooling distribution)and for the growth of globular solid grains. The growth kinetics is described by accounting for limited solute diffusion in both liquid and solid phases and for convective effects. We show that the consideration of a size distribution of the inoculants has a strong impact on the microstructure(final grain size) prediction. The transport of inoculants significantly increases the microstructure heterogeneities and the grain motion refines the microstructure and reduces the microstructure heterogeneities.

Preparation of bimodal grain size 7075 aviation aluminum alloys and their corrosion properties

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenming TIAN

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The bimodal grain size metals show improved strength and ductility compared to traditional metals; however, their corrosion properties are unknown. In order to evaluate the corrosion properties of these metals, the bimodal grain size 7075 aviation aluminum alloys containing different ratios of coarse (100 μm in diameter and fine (10 μm in diameter grains were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS. The effects of grain size as well as the mixture degree of coarse and fine grains on general corrosion were estimated by immersion tests, electrochemical measurements and complementary techniques such as scanning electron microscope (SEM and transmission electron microscope-energy disperse spectroscopy (TEM-EDS. The results show that, compared to fine grains, the coarse grains have a faster dissolution rate in acidic NaCl solution due to the bigger size, higher alloying elements content and larger area fraction of second phases in them. In coarse grains, the hydrogen ions have a faster reduction rate on cathodic second phases, therefore promoting the corrosion propagation. The mixture of coarse and fine grains also increases the electrochemical heterogeneity of alloys in micro-scale, and thus the increased mixture degree of these grains in metal matrix accelerates the corrosion rate of alloys in acidic NaCl solution.

Yield asymmetry design of magnesium alloys by integrated computational materials engineering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Dongsheng [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Joshi, Vineet [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Lavender, Curt [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Khaleel, Mohammad [Qatar Foundation Research adn Development (Qatar); Ahzi, Said [Univ. of Strasbourg (France)

2013-11-01

Deformation asymmetry of magnesium alloys is an important factor on machine design in the automobile industry. Represented by the ratio of compressive yield stress (CYS) against tensile yield stress (TYS), deformation asymmetry is strongly related to texture and grain size. A polycrystalline viscoplasticity model, modified intermediate Φ-model, is used to predict the deformation behavior of magnesium alloys with different grain sizes. Validated with experimental results, integrated computational materials engineering is applied to find out the route in achieving desired asymmetry via thermomechanical processing. For example, CYS/TYS in rolled texture is smaller than 1 under different loading directions. In other textures, such as extruded texture, CYS/TYS is large along the normal direction. Starting from rolled texture, asymmetry will increase to close to 1 along the rolling direction after being compressed to a strain of 0.2. Our modified Φ-model also shows that grain refinement increases CYS/TYS. Along with texture control, grain refinement also can optimize the yield asymmetry. After the grain size decreases to a critical value, CYS/TYS reaches to 1 because CYS increases much faster than TYS. By tailoring the microstructure using texture control and grain refinement, it is achievable to optimize yield asymmetry in wrought magnesium alloys.

Evolution of grain boundary character distributions in alloy 825 tubes during high temperature annealing: Is grain boundary engineering achieved through recrystallization or grain growth?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai, Qin; Zhao, Qing; Xia, Shuang; Wang, Baoshun; Zhou, Bangxin; Su, Cheng

2017-01-01

Grain boundary engineering (GBE) of nickel-based alloy 825 tubes was carried out with different cold drawing deformations by using a draw-bench on a factory production line and subsequent annealing at various temperatures. The microstructure evolution of alloy 825 during thermal-mechanical processing (TMP) was characterized by means of the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique to study the TMP effects on the grain boundary network and the evolution of grain boundary character distributions during high temperature annealing. The results showed that the proportion of ∑ 3 n coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries of alloy 825 tubes could be increased to > 75% by the TMP of 5% cold drawing and subsequent annealing at 1050 °C for 10 min. The microstructures of the partially recrystallized samples and the fully recrystallized samples suggested that the proportion of low ∑ CSL grain boundaries depended on the annealing time. The frequency of low ∑ CSL grain boundaries increases rapidly with increasing annealing time associating with the formation of large-size highly-twinned grains-cluster microstructure during recrystallization. However, upon further increasing annealing time, the frequency of low ∑ CSL grain boundaries decreased markedly during grain growth. So it is concluded that grain boundary engineering is achieved through recrystallization rather than grain growth. - Highlights: •The grain boundary engineering (GBE) is applicable to 825 tubes. •GBE is achieved through recrystallization rather than grain growth. •The low ∑ CSL grain boundaries in 825 tubes can be increased to > 75%.

Laser Surface Treatment and Modification of Aluminum Alloy Matrix Composites

Science.gov (United States)

Abbass, Muna Khethier

2018-02-01

The present work aimed to study the laser surface treatment and modification of Al-4.0%Cu-1.0%Mg alloy matrix composite reinforced with 10%SiC particles produced by stir casting. The specimens of the base alloy and composite were irradiated with an Nd:YAG laser of 1000 mJ, 1064 nm and 3 Hz . Dry wear test using the pin-on -disc technique at different sliding times (5-30 min) at a constant applied load and sliding speed were performed before and after laser treatment. Micro hardness and wear resistance were increased for all samples after laser hardening treatment. The improvement of these properties is explained by microstructural homogenization and grain refinement of the laser treated surface. Modification and refinement of SiC particles and grain refinement in the microstructure of the aluminum alloy matrix (α-Al) were observed by optical and SEM micrographs. The highest increase in hardness was 21.4% and 26.2% for the base alloy and composite sample respectively.

Interplay among solidification, microstructure, residual strain and hot tearing in B206 aluminum alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D’Elia, F., E-mail: f.delia10@gmail.com [Centre for Near-net-shape Processing of Materials, Ryerson University, 101 Gerrard St. East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2K3 (Canada); Ravindran, C. [Centre for Near-net-shape Processing of Materials, Ryerson University, 101 Gerrard St. East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2K3 (Canada); Sediako, D. [Canadian Neutron Beam Centre, Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada K0J 1J0 (Canada)

2015-01-29

Hot tearing is a complex phenomenon attributed to alloy solidification, microstructure and stress/strain development within a casting. In this research, the conditions associated with the formation of hot tears in B206 aluminum alloy were investigated. Neutron diffraction strain mapping was carried out on three B206 castings with varying levels of titanium (i.e. unrefined, 0.02 and 0.05 wt%). Titanium additions effectively reduced grain size and transformed grain morphology from coarse dendrites to fine globular grains. Further, thermal analysis suggested that grain refinement delayed the onset of dendrite coherency in B206 and therefore enhanced the duration of bulk liquid metal feeding for the refined casting conditions. As a result, the interactive effects of such factors resulted in a more uniform distribution of strain, and subsequent higher resistance to hot tearing for the grain refined castings.

Severe plastic deformation of copper and Al-Cu alloy using multiple channel-die compression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parimi, A.K.; Robi, P.S.; Dwivedy, S.K.

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → SPD of copper and Al-Cu alloy by multiple channel-die compression tests.→ Extensive grain refinement resulting in nano-sized grains after SPD. → Investigation of micro-structure using optical microscope and SEM. → Shear band formation as the failure mechanism in the two phase Al-Cu alloy. → Difficulty in obtaining SPD for Al-Cu alloy in this method. -- Abstract: Severe plastic deformation studies of copper and Al-Cu alloy by multiple channel-die compression tests were investigated. The materials were tested under plane strain condition by maintaining a constant strain rate of 0.001/s. Extensive grain refinement was observed resulting in nano-sized grains after severe plastic deformation with concomitant increase in flow stress and hardness. The microstructural investigation of the severely deformed materials was investigated using optical microscope and scanning electron microscope. Shear band formation was identified as the failure mechanism in the two phase Al-Cu alloy. The results indicate difficulty in obtaining severe plastic deformation for alloys having two phase micro-structure.

Effect of minor Er and Zr on microstructure and mechanical properties of Al–Mg–Mn alloy (5083) welded joints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dongxia, Yang; Xiaoyan, Li; Dingyong, He; Hui, Huang

2013-01-01

Samples of Al–Mg–Mn and Al–Mg–Mn–Er–Zr alloys were welded using the method of laser welding. The influence of Er and Zr on microstructure, microhardness and mechanical properties of the Al–Mg–Mn alloy welded joints were investigated. It has been found that addition of Er and Zr refines the grain size in the fusion zone, due to the formation of primary Al 3 Zr and Al 3 Er. Fine equiaxed grains are dominated near the fusion boundary of the Al–Mg–Mn–Er–Zr alloy joint, which is contrary with the columnar crystal in the Al–Mg–Mn alloy joint. Microhardness of the center of the fusion zone rises from 74HV 0.1 to 84HV 0.1 owing to the grain refinement by Er and Zr. The tensile test result shows that the ultimate tensile strength and yield strength are improved by adding Er and Zr. The main reason for this is related to grain refining strengthening.

Consumption of Whole Grains, Refined Cereals, and Legumes and Its Association With Colorectal Cancer Among Jordanians.

Science.gov (United States)

Tayyem, Reema F; Bawadi, Hiba A; Shehadah, Ihab; Agraib, Lana M; Al-Awwad, Narmeen J; Heath, Dennis D; Bani-Hani, Kamal E

2016-09-01

Background The role of whole grains, refined cereals, and legumes in preventing or initiating colorectal cancer (CRC) is still uncertain. The aim of this study is to examine the possible association between the consumption of whole grains, refined cereals, and legumes and the risk of developing CRC among Jordanian population. Methods A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to collect dietary data with regard to intake of whole grains, refined cereals, and legumes. A total of 220 diagnosed CRC participants and 281 CRC-free control participants matched by age, gender, occupation, and marital status were recruited. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of developing CRC in relation to the consumption of different types of whole grains, refined cereals, and legumes. Results The odds ratio (OR) for developing CRC among cases consumed refined wheat bread at all meals was 3.1 compared with controls (95% CI: 1.2-7.9, P-Trend = 0.001); whereas the OR associated with whole wheat bread was 0.44 (95% CI: 0.22-0.92, P-Trend = 0.001). The statistical evaluation for daily consumption of rice suggested a direct association with the risk of developing CRC, OR = 3.0 (95% CI: 0.27-33.4, P-Trend = 0.020). Weekly consumption of macaroni was associated with CRC with OR of 2.4 (95% CI: 1.1-5.3, P-Trend = 0.001). The consumption of corn, bulgur, lentils, and peas suggested a protective trend, although the trend was not statistically significant. Conclusion This study provides additional indicators of the protective role of whole grains and suggests a direct association between consumption of refined grains and higher possibility for developing CRC. © The Author(s) 2015.

The investigation of recrystallization developed in the largely undercooled Ni–3 at.% Sn alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Q.; Chen, Z.; Liu, F.; Cui, R.X.; Liang, T.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The grain refinement occurred at ΔT ⩾ 230 K. • Plastic deformation and recrystallization led to grain refinement. • Grain refinement was evidenced directly by TEM. • Misorientation and different plane spacing were detected by high-resolution TEM. - Abstract: Using the molten glass purification combined with the cycle superheating methods, a refined grain was achieved in undercooled Ni–3 at.% Sn alloy. The characteristics of microstructures and substructures of the refined grain were investigated by the classical nucleation theory, the dimensionless superheating model and the stress accumulation model. The grain refinement occurring inevitably at high undercooling (ΔT) was ascribed to the plastic deformation of dendrites and subsequent recrystallization, which were evidenced by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (e.g. different types of dislocations, defects and sub-grain boundaries) and high-resolution TEM (e.g. misorientation and different plane spacings)

Effect of zirconium addition on welding of aluminum grain refined by titanium plus boron

Science.gov (United States)

Zaid, A. I. O.

2014-06-01

Aluminum oxidizes freely in ordinary atmosphere which makes its welding difficult and weak, particularly it solidifies in columnar structure with large grains. Therefore, it is anticipated that the effect of addition of some grain refiners to its melt before solidification is worth while investigating as it may enhance its weldabilty and improve its mechanical strength. In this paper, the effect of addition of zirconium at a weight of 0.1% (which corresponds to the peretictic limit on the aluminum-zirconium base phase diagram) to commercially pure aluminum, grain refined by Ti+B on its weldability, using gas tungsten arc welding, GTAW, method which was formerly known as TIG. A constant current level of 30 AC Ampere was used because it removes the oxides during the welding process. Metallographic examination of the weldments of the different combinations of Al with Al and Al with its microalloys: in the heat affected zone, HAZ, and away from it was carried out and examined for HAZ width, porosity, cracks and microhardness. It was found that grain refining by Ti+B or Zr resulted in enhancement of the weldment.

Effect of zirconium addition on welding of aluminum grain refined by titanium plus boron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaid, A. I. O.

2013-01-01

Aluminum oxidizes freely in ordinary atmosphere which makes its welding difficult and weak, particularly it solidifies in columnar structure with large grains. Therefore, it is anticipated that the effect of addition of some grain refiners to its melt before solidification is worth while investigating as it may enhance its weldabilty and improve its mechanical strength. In this paper, the effect of addition of zirconium at a weight of 0.1 percentage (which corresponds to the peretictic limit on the aluminum-zirconium base phase diagram) to commercially pure aluminum, grain refined by Tau i+Beta on its weldability, using gas tungsten arc welding, GTAW, method which was formerly known as TIG. A constant current level of 30 AC Ampere was used because it removes the oxides during the welding process. Metallographic examination of the weldments of the different combinations of Al with Al and Al with its microalloys: in the heat affected zone, HAZ, and away from it was carried out and examined for HAZ width, porosity, cracks and microhardness. It was found that grain refining by Tau i+Beta or Zr resulted in enhancement of the weldment. (author)

Effect of zirconium addition on welding of aluminum grain refined by titanium plus boron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaid, A I O

2014-01-01

Aluminum oxidizes freely in ordinary atmosphere which makes its welding difficult and weak, particularly it solidifies in columnar structure with large grains. Therefore, it is anticipated that the effect of addition of some grain refiners to its melt before solidification is worth while investigating as it may enhance its weldabilty and improve its mechanical strength. In this paper, the effect of addition of zirconium at a weight of 0.1% (which corresponds to the peretictic limit on the aluminum-zirconium base phase diagram) to commercially pure aluminum, grain refined by Ti+B on its weldability, using gas tungsten arc welding, GTAW, method which was formerly known as TIG. A constant current level of 30 AC Ampere was used because it removes the oxides during the welding process. Metallographic examination of the weldments of the different combinations of Al with Al and Al with its microalloys: in the heat affected zone, HAZ, and away from it was carried out and examined for HAZ width, porosity, cracks and microhardness. It was found that grain refining by Ti+B or Zr resulted in enhancement of the weldment

Ultrafine-Grained Precipitation Hardened Copper Alloys by Swaging or Accumulative Roll Bonding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor Altenberger

2015-05-01

Full Text Available There is an increasing demand in the industry for conductive high strength copper alloys. Traditionally, alloy systems capable of precipitation hardening have been the first choice for electromechanical connector materials. Recently, ultrafine-grained materials have gained enormous attention in the materials science community as well as in first industrial applications (see, for instance, proceedings of NANO SPD conferences. In this study the potential of precipitation hardened ultra-fine grained copper alloys is outlined and discussed. For this purpose, swaging or accumulative roll-bonding is applied to typical precipitation hardened high-strength copper alloys such as Corson alloys. A detailed description of the microstructure is given by means of EBSD, Electron Channeling Imaging (ECCI methods and consequences for mechanical properties (tensile strength as well as fatigue and electrical conductivity are discussed. Finally the role of precipitates for thermal stability is investigated and promising concepts (e.g. tailoring of stacking fault energy for grain size reduction and alloy systems for the future are proposed and discussed. The relation between electrical conductivity and strength is reported.

Thermomechanical processing of aluminum micro-alloyed with Sc, Zr, Ti, B, and C

Science.gov (United States)

McNamara, Cameron T.

Critical exploration of the minimalistic high strength low alloy aluminum (HSLA-Al) paradigm is necessary for the continued development of advanced aluminum alloys. In this study, scandium (Sc) and zirconium (Zr) are examined as the main precipitation strengthening additions, while magnesium (Mg) is added to probe the synergistic effects of solution and precipitation hardening, as well as the grain refinement during solidification afforded by a moderate growth restriction factor. Further, pathways of recrystallization are explored in several potential HSLA-Al syste =ms sans Sc. Aluminum-titanium-boron (Al-Ti-B) and aluminum-titanium-carbon (Al-Ti-C) grain refining master alloys are added to a series of Al-Zr alloys to examine both the reported Zr poisoning effect on grain size reduction and the impact on recrystallization resistance through the use of electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) imaging. Results include an analysis of active strengthening mechanisms and advisement for both constitution and thermomechanical processing of HSLA-Al alloys for wrought or near-net shape cast components. The mechanisms of recrystallization are discussed for alloys which contain a bimodal distribution of particles, some of which act as nucleation sites for grain formation during annealing and others which restrict the growth of the newly formed grains.

Grain size effect on yield strength of titanium alloy implanted with aluminum ions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Popova, Natalya, E-mail: natalya-popova-44@mail.ru [Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building, 2, Solyanaya Sq., 634003, Tomsk (Russian Federation); Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science, SB RAS, 2/4, Akademicheskii Ave., 634021, Tomsk (Russian Federation); Nikonenko, Elena, E-mail: vilatomsk@mail.ru [Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building, 2, Solyanaya Sq., 634003, Tomsk (Russian Federation); National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, 30, Lenin Str., 634050, Tomsk (Russian Federation); Yurev, Ivan, E-mail: yiywork@mail.ru [Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building, 2, Solyanaya Sq., 634003, Tomsk (Russian Federation); Kalashnikov, Mark, E-mail: kmp1980@mail.ru [Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science, SB RAS, 2/4, Akademicheskii Ave., 634021, Tomsk (Russian Federation); Kurzina, Irina, E-mail: kurzina99@mail.ru [National Research Tomsk State University, 36, Lenin Str., 634050, Tomsk (Russian Federation)

2016-01-15

The paper presents a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study of the microstructure and phase state of commercially pure titanium VT1-0 implanted by aluminum ions. This study has been carried out before and after the ion implantation for different grain size, i.e. 0.3 µm (ultra-fine grain condition), 1.5 µm (fine grain condition), and 17 µm (polycrystalline condition). This paper presents details of calculations and analysis of strength components of the yield stress. It is shown that the ion implantation results in a considerable hardening of the entire thickness of the implanted layer in the both grain types. The grain size has, however, a different effect on the yield stress. So, both before and after the ion implantation, the increase of the grain size leads to the decrease of the alloy hardening. Thus, hardening in ultra-fine and fine grain alloys increased by four times, while in polycrystalline alloy it increased by over six times.

The critical effect of Fe on the grain refinement of aluminium via Al-5Ti-1B addition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Y; Ma, N

2016-01-01

The influence of Fe on the nucleation potency of TiB 2 particles was investigated by employing grain refinement of high purity aluminium in this study. Experiment results showed that without Fe, high purity aluminium cannot be refined by 0.8wt.% addition of Al-5Ti-1B. However, high purity aluminium containing 0.08wt.% Fe can be refined effectively by 0.2wt.% addition of Al-5Ti-1B, its grain size was about 206µm in diameter. Fine equiaxed grains of about 153µm in diameter can be obtained for high purity aluminium containing 0.08wt.% Fe and 0.006wt.% Ti. Grain refinement mechanism should include nucleation and dendrite remelting and multiplication. Both nucleation and dendrite remelting and multiplication played essential role on the grain refinement of aluminium. The effect of Fe was linked to increase active nuclei by segregation on TiB 2 surface and then to promote nucleation of α-Al. The performance of Ti was to enhance the dendrite remelting and multiplication by forming small conglomeration zones of Ti atoms concentrated around TiB 2 particles. (paper)

The variable potency of TiB{sub 2} nucleant particles in the grain refinement of aluminium by Al-Ti-B additions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quested, T.E.; Greer, A.L. [Cambridge Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Metallurgy and Materials Science; Cooper, P.S. [London and Scandinavian Metallurgical Co. Ltd., Rotherham (United Kingdom)

2002-07-01

The development of Al-Ti-B grain-refiners is outlined. The relationships between nucleant particle potency, number and volume efficiencies, and overall refiner performance are explored. The importance of the particle size distribution is illustrated using hypothetical log-normal distributions in a thermal model for grain refinement which uses a free-growth criterion for grain initiation. In this way the degree of optimization of a current commercial refiner is assessed. (orig.)

Grain dynamics and plastic properties of highly refined materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lagos, Miguel; Retamal, Cesar, E-mail: mlagos@utalca.c, E-mail: cretamal@utalca.c [Facultad de IngenierI a, Universidad de Talca, Campus Los Niches, Curico (Chile)

2010-12-15

It has been shown that a grain boundary may undergo two competing classes of elastic instability when the in-plane shear stress exceeds the proper critical values. It may buckle acquiring a sinusoidal shape or may develop a periodic series of fissures, separating bands with a sigmoidal profile. The two instabilities lead to grain sliding, but the corresponding expressions relating the relative velocity between adjacent grains with stress do differ. The plastic properties for small strains were calculated for the two force laws, which we called force models A and B. A comparison of the theoretical results with published experimental data shows that model A, while giving predictions within the experimental uncertainties for a series of superplastic aluminium and titanium alloys, fails for Avesta 2304 steel. However, excellent results are obtained when model B is applied for this steel.

Grain dynamics and plastic properties of highly refined materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lagos, Miguel; Retamal, Cesar

2010-01-01

It has been shown that a grain boundary may undergo two competing classes of elastic instability when the in-plane shear stress exceeds the proper critical values. It may buckle acquiring a sinusoidal shape or may develop a periodic series of fissures, separating bands with a sigmoidal profile. The two instabilities lead to grain sliding, but the corresponding expressions relating the relative velocity between adjacent grains with stress do differ. The plastic properties for small strains were calculated for the two force laws, which we called force models A and B. A comparison of the theoretical results with published experimental data shows that model A, while giving predictions within the experimental uncertainties for a series of superplastic aluminium and titanium alloys, fails for Avesta 2304 steel. However, excellent results are obtained when model B is applied for this steel.

Grain dynamics and plastic properties of highly refined materials

Science.gov (United States)

Lagos, Miguel; Retamal, César

2010-12-01

It has been shown that a grain boundary may undergo two competing classes of elastic instability when the in-plane shear stress exceeds the proper critical values. It may buckle acquiring a sinusoidal shape or may develop a periodic series of fissures, separating bands with a sigmoidal profile. The two instabilities lead to grain sliding, but the corresponding expressions relating the relative velocity between adjacent grains with stress do differ. The plastic properties for small strains were calculated for the two force laws, which we called force models A and B. A comparison of the theoretical results with published experimental data shows that model A, while giving predictions within the experimental uncertainties for a series of superplastic aluminium and titanium alloys, fails for Avesta 2304 steel. However, excellent results are obtained when model B is applied for this steel.

Effect of titanium addition on shape memory effect and recovery stress of training-free cast Fe–Mn–Si–Cr–Ni shape memory alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Gaixia; Peng, Huabei; Sun, Panpan; Wang, Shanling; Wen, Yuhua

2016-01-01

The shape memory effect and recovery stress of cast Fe–17.2Mn–5.28Si–9.8Cr–4.57Ni (18Mn) and Fe–17.5Mn–5.29Si–9.68Cr–4.2Ni–0.09Ti (18Mn–Ti) alloys have been investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD), and resistivity–temperature curves. The cast 18Mn and 18Mn–Ti alloys solidified as the ferritic mode for which liquid phase fully transforms into primary δ ferrite. The role of titanium is to indirectly refine the austenite through refining the primary δ ferrite. In this case, the austenitic grains of the cast 18Mn alloy were much bigger than that of the cast 18Mn–Ti alloy, although the two alloys underwent δ→γ phase transformation. Grain refinement suppresses the stress-induced ε martensitic transformation, and thus the shape memory effect of the cast 18Mn–Ti alloy is worse than that of the cast 18Mn alloy. On the contrary, the maximum recovery stress and the recovery stress at room temperature are higher for the cast 18Mn–Ti alloy annealed at 1073 K for 30 min than for the cast 18Mn alloy annealed at 973 K for 30 min, because grain refinement suppresses the relaxation of recovery stress caused by the plastic deformation and the stress-induced ε martensitic transformation during cooling process. It is difficult to obtain the training-free cast Fe–Mn–Si based shape memory alloys with excellent shape memory effect and high recovery stress only by grain refinement.

Precipitate strengthening of nanostructured aluminium alloy.

Science.gov (United States)

Wawer, Kinga; Lewandowska, Malgorzata; Kurzydlowski, Krzysztof J

2012-11-01

Grain boundaries and precipitates are the major microstructural features influencing the mechanical properties of metals and alloys. Refinement of the grain size to the nanometre scale brings about a significant increase in the mechanical strength of the materials because of the increased number of grain boundaries which act as obstacles to sliding dislocations. A similar effect is obtained if nanoscale precipitates are uniformly distributed in coarse grained matrix. The development of nanograin sized alloys raises the important question of whether or not these two mechanisms are "additive" and precipitate strengthening is effective in nanostructured materials. In the reported work, hydrostatic extrusion (HE) was used to obtain nanostructured 7475 aluminium alloy. Nanosized precipitates were obtained by post-HE annealing. It was found that such annealing at the low temperatures (100 degrees C) results in a significant increase in the microhardness (HV0.2) and strength of the nanostructured 7475 aluminium alloy. These results are discussed in terms of the interplay between the precipitation and deformation of nanocrystalline metals.

Grain size stability and hardness in nanocrystalline Cu–Al–Zr and Cu–Al–Y alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roy, D., E-mail: droy2k6@gmail.com [Material Science and Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606 (United States); Materials and Metallurgical Engineering Department, NIFFT, Ranchi 834003 (India); Mahesh, B.V. [Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University (Australia); Atwater, M.A. [U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Weapons and Materials Research Directorate, RDRL-WMM-F, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5069 (United States); Chan, T.E.; Scattergood, R.O.; Koch, C.C. [Material Science and Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606 (United States)

2014-03-01

Cryogenic high energy ball milling has been used to synthesize nanocrystalline Cu–14Al, Cu–12Al–2Zr and Cu–12Al–2Y alloys by mechanical alloying. The alloys were studied with the aim of comparing the effect of substituting Y and Zr in place of Al, in Cu–Al alloys, on the grain size stability at elevated temperatures. The as-milled alloys were subjected to annealing at various temperatures between 200 and 900 °C and the resulting grain morphology has been studied using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The addition of Y results in significantly reduced susceptibility to grain growth whereas in case of CuAl and CuAlZr alloys, the susceptibility to grain growth was much higher. The hardness is substantially increased due to Zr and Y addition in the as-milled CuAl powders. However, the hardness of Cu–12Al–2Zr gradually decreases and approaches that of Cu–14Al alloy after the annealing treatment whereas in case of Cu–12Al–2Y alloy, the relative drop in the hardness is much lower after annealing. Accordingly, the efficacy of grain size stabilization by Y addition at high homologous temperatures has been explained on the basis of a recent thermodynamic stabilization models.

Grain size stability and hardness in nanocrystalline Cu–Al–Zr and Cu–Al–Y alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy, D.; Mahesh, B.V.; Atwater, M.A.; Chan, T.E.; Scattergood, R.O.; Koch, C.C.

2014-01-01

Cryogenic high energy ball milling has been used to synthesize nanocrystalline Cu–14Al, Cu–12Al–2Zr and Cu–12Al–2Y alloys by mechanical alloying. The alloys were studied with the aim of comparing the effect of substituting Y and Zr in place of Al, in Cu–Al alloys, on the grain size stability at elevated temperatures. The as-milled alloys were subjected to annealing at various temperatures between 200 and 900 °C and the resulting grain morphology has been studied using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The addition of Y results in significantly reduced susceptibility to grain growth whereas in case of CuAl and CuAlZr alloys, the susceptibility to grain growth was much higher. The hardness is substantially increased due to Zr and Y addition in the as-milled CuAl powders. However, the hardness of Cu–12Al–2Zr gradually decreases and approaches that of Cu–14Al alloy after the annealing treatment whereas in case of Cu–12Al–2Y alloy, the relative drop in the hardness is much lower after annealing. Accordingly, the efficacy of grain size stabilization by Y addition at high homologous temperatures has been explained on the basis of a recent thermodynamic stabilization models

Effect of minor Er and Zr on microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Mg-Mn alloy (5083) welded joints

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dongxia, Yang, E-mail: yangdongxia116@emails.bjut.edu.cn [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124 (China); Xiaoyan, Li; Dingyong, He; Hui, Huang [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124 (China)

2013-01-20

Samples of Al-Mg-Mn and Al-Mg-Mn-Er-Zr alloys were welded using the method of laser welding. The influence of Er and Zr on microstructure, microhardness and mechanical properties of the Al-Mg-Mn alloy welded joints were investigated. It has been found that addition of Er and Zr refines the grain size in the fusion zone, due to the formation of primary Al{sub 3}Zr and Al{sub 3}Er. Fine equiaxed grains are dominated near the fusion boundary of the Al-Mg-Mn-Er-Zr alloy joint, which is contrary with the columnar crystal in the Al-Mg-Mn alloy joint. Microhardness of the center of the fusion zone rises from 74HV{sub 0.1} to 84HV{sub 0.1} owing to the grain refinement by Er and Zr. The tensile test result shows that the ultimate tensile strength and yield strength are improved by adding Er and Zr. The main reason for this is related to grain refining strengthening.

Improved ductility and oxidation resistance of cast Ti–6Al–4V alloys by microalloying

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luan, J.H.; Jiao, Z.B.; Chen, G.; Liu, C.T.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Modified Ti64 alloys with improved ductility and oxidation resistance are developed. • B improves the ductility by refining grain size and enhancing boundary cohesion. • Y enhances the oxidation resistance by possibly slowing down the oxidation kinetics. - Abstract: The effects of B and Y on the mechanical properties and oxidation behavior of cast Ti–6Al–4V alloys were systematically investigated, and the new alloys with improved ductility and oxidation resistance are developed by the microalloying approach. The results indicate that boron is beneficial for improving the ductility by not only grain-size refinement but also grain-boundary enhancement, while yttrium is effective in increasing the oxidation resistance through possibly slowing down the oxidation kinetics. The improved properties, together with their high strength, make the microalloyed cast Ti–6Al–4V alloys competitive for practical engineering applications

Beta-Tin Grain Formation in Aluminum-Modified Lead-Free Solder Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Reeve, Kathlene N.; Handwerker, Carol A.

2018-01-01

The limited number of independent β-Sn grain orientations that typically form during solidification of Sn-based solders and the resulting large β-Sn grain size have major effects on overall solder performance and reliability. This study analyzes whether additions of Al to Sn-Cu and Sn-Cu-Ag alloys can be used to change the grain size, morphology, and twinning structures of atomized (as-solidified) and re-melted (reflowed) β-Sn dendrites as determined using scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction for as-solidified and reflow cycled (20-250°C, 1-5 cycles) Sn-Cu-Al and Sn-Ag-Cu-Al drip atomized spheres (260 μm diameter). The resulting microstructures were compared to as-solidified and reflow cycled Sn-Ag-Cu spheres (450 μm diameter) as well as as-solidified Sn-Ag-Cu, Sn-Cu, and Sn-Ag microstructures from the literature. Previous literature observations reporting reductions in undercooling and β-Sn grain size with Al micro-alloying additions could not be correlated to the presence of the Cu9Al4 phase or Al solute. The as-solidified spheres displayed no change in β-Sn dendrite structure or grain size when compared to non-Al-modified alloys, and the reflow cycled spheres produced high undercoolings (22-64°C), indicating a lack of potent nucleation sites. The current findings highlighted the role of Ag in the formation of the interlaced twinning structure and demonstrated that with deliberate compositional choices, formation of the alloy's β-Sn grain structure (cyclical twinning versus interlaced twinning) could be influenced, in both the as-solidified and reflow cycled states, though still not producing the fine-grain sizes and multiple orientations desired for improved thermomechanical properties.

Grain refinement and mechanical properties of CP-Ti processed by warm accumulative roll bonding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milner, Justin L.; Abu-Farha, Fadi; Bunget, Cristina; Kurfess, Thomas; Hammond, Vincent H.

2013-01-01

Accumulative roll bonding (ARB), a severe plastic deformation technique, was used in this study to process commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) at 450 °C. Sheet samples were processed by seven consecutive ARB cycles, with an overall equivalent strain of 5.6. Mechanical characterization and microstructural examination were carried out on the processed material to track their changes and relationships with regard to one another. Electron microscopy, TEM in particular, revealed significant grain refinement in the material, with submicron microstructure achieved even after one cycle of warm processing. Further processing was shown to progressively fragment the highly elongated grains, ultimately producing a predominantly-equiaxed ultrafine grain structure with an average grain size of ∼100 nm. Tensile strength and microhardness of the material increased with the number of ARB cycles; the strength–grain size relationship followed the Hall–Petch equation. The overall grain refinement and strengthening levels observed here are close to those reported in the literature for ARB processing of CP-Ti at ambient temperatures. This demonstrates the ability of warm ARB can be as effective as cold ARB, while offering several advantages for industrial utilization.

Strengthening of Cu–Ni–Si alloy using high-pressure torsion and aging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Seungwon, E-mail: chominamlsw@gmail.com [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); WPI, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER), Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Matsunaga, Hirotaka [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Sauvage, Xavier [University of Rouen, CNRS UMR 6634, Groupe de Physique des Matériaux, Faculté des Sciences, BP 12, 76801 Saint-Etienne du Rouvray (France); Horita, Zenji [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); WPI, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER), Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan)

2014-04-01

An age-hardenable Cu–2.9%Ni–0.6%Si alloy was subjected to high-pressure torsion. Aging behavior was investigated in terms of hardness, electrical conductivity and microstructural features. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the grain size is refined to ∼ 150 nm and the Vickers microhardness was significantly increased through the HPT processing. Aging treatment of the HPT-processed alloy led to a further increase in the hardness. Electrical conductivity is also improved with the aging treatment. It was confirmed that the simultaneous strengthening by grain refinement and fine precipitation is achieved while maintaining high electrical conductivity. Three dimensional atom probe analysis including high-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that nanosized precipitates having compositions of a metastable Cu{sub 3}Ni{sub 5}Si{sub 2} phase and a stable NiSi phase were formed in the Cu matrix by aging of the HPT-processed samples and these particles are responsible for the additional increase in strength after the HPT processing. - Highlights: • Grain refinement is achieved in Corson alloy the size of ∼150nm by HPT. • Aging at 300°C after HPT leads to further increase in the mechanical property. • Electrical conductivity reaches 40% IACS after aging for 100 h. • 3D-APT revealed the formation of nanosized-precipitates during aging treatment. • Simultaneous hardening in both grain refinement and precipitation is achieved.

Superplasticity-like deformation of a coarse-grained Al5052 alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chow, K.K.; Chan, K.C.

2000-01-01

In the present paper, hot forming properties of a commercially available coarse-grained Al5052 alloy under uniaxial and biaxial stress states were examined. In hot tensile tests, the alloy exhibits a superplastic-like behaviour with a maximum tensile elongation of 194% at a temperature of 873 K and at an initial strain rate of 2.08 x 10 -1 s -1 . Dislocation slip and grain boundary sliding were considered to be the deformation mechanisms. The alloy was also bulged at a constant polar strain-rate of 2.0 x 10 -1 s -1 and at an optimum temperature of 873 K using elliptical dies with aspect ratios of 1:1, 4:3, 2:1, 8:3 and 4:1. The strain distributions revealed that the strain gradient obtained in the minor axis was much greater than that in major axis. Moreover, it was shown that the deformation behavior of the alloy was basically isotropic and the volume strain of the alloy sheet did not equal to zero which was considered to relate to its cavitation behaviour. (orig.)

Bimodal microstructure and deformation of cryomilled bulk nanocrystalline Al-7.5Mg alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Z.; Witkin, D.B.; Radmilovic, V.; Lavernia, E.J.; Nutt, S.R.

2005-01-01

The microstructure, mechanical properties and deformation response of bimodal structured nanocrystalline Al-7.5Mg alloy were investigated. Grain refinement was achieved by cryomilling of atomized Al-7.5Mg powders, and then cryomilled nanocrystalline powders blended with 15 and 30% unmilled coarse-grained powders were consolidated by hot isostatic pressing followed by extrusion to produce bulk nanocrystalline alloys. Bimodal bulk nanocrystalline Al-7.5Mg alloys, which were comprised of nanocrystalline grains separated by coarse-grain regions, show balanced mechanical properties of enhanced yield and ultimate strength and reasonable ductility and toughness compared to comparable conventional alloys and nanocrystalline metals. The investigation of tensile and hardness test suggests unusual deformation mechanisms and interactions between ductile coarse-grain bands and nanocrystalline regions

Strengthening of metallic alloys with nanometer-size oxide dispersions

Science.gov (United States)

Flinn, John E.; Kelly, Thomas F.

1999-01-01

Austenitic stainless steels and nickel-base alloys containing, by wt. %, 0.1 to 3.0% V, 0.01 to 0.08% C, 0.01 to 0.5% N, 0.05% max. each of Al and Ti, and 0.005 to 0.10% O, are strengthened and ductility retained by atomization of a metal melt under cover of an inert gas with added oxygen to form approximately 8 nanometer-size hollow oxides within the alloy grains and, when the alloy is aged, strengthened by precipitation of carbides and nitrides nucleated by the hollow oxides. Added strengthening is achieved by nitrogen solid solution strengthening and by the effect of solid oxides precipitated along and pinning grain boundaries to provide temperature-stabilization and refinement of the alloy grains.

Strengthening of metallic alloys with nanometer-size oxide dispersions

Science.gov (United States)

Flinn, J.E.; Kelly, T.F.

1999-06-01

Austenitic stainless steels and nickel-base alloys containing, by wt. %, 0.1 to 3.0% V, 0.01 to 0.08% C, 0.01 to 0.5% N, 0.05% max. each of Al and Ti, and 0.005 to 0.10% O, are strengthened and ductility retained by atomization of a metal melt under cover of an inert gas with added oxygen to form approximately 8 nanometer-size hollow oxides within the alloy grains and, when the alloy is aged, strengthened by precipitation of carbides and nitrides nucleated by the hollow oxides. Added strengthening is achieved by nitrogen solid solution strengthening and by the effect of solid oxides precipitated along and pinning grain boundaries to provide temperature-stabilization and refinement of the alloy grains. 20 figs.

Abnormal Grain Growth Suppression in Aluminum Alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Hales, Stephen J. (Inventor); Claytor, Harold Dale (Inventor); Alexa, Joel A. (Inventor)

2015-01-01

The present invention provides a process for suppressing abnormal grain growth in friction stir welded aluminum alloys by inserting an intermediate annealing treatment ("IAT") after the welding step on the article. The IAT may be followed by a solution heat treatment (SHT) on the article under effectively high solution heat treatment conditions. In at least some embodiments, a deformation step is conducted on the article under effective spin-forming deformation conditions or under effective superplastic deformation conditions. The invention further provides a welded article having suppressed abnormal grain growth, prepared by the process above. Preferably the article is characterized with greater than about 90% reduction in area fraction abnormal grain growth in any friction-stir-welded nugget.

The influences of rare earth content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-7Zn-5Al alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiao, Wenlong; Shen, Yusen; Wang, Lidong; Wu, Yaoming; Cao, Zhanyi; Jia, Shusheng; Wang, Limin

2010-01-01

The influences of rare earth (RE) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-7Zn-5Al alloy were studied. The results indicate that both the dendrite and grain size of the alloy can be refined by low RE addition. The Al 2 REZn 2 phase will be formed with increasing the RE content, however the high RE addition results in the grain coarsening in the alloy due to the decrease of the contribution of Al and Zn solutes on the grain refinement. The strengthening and weakening mechanisms caused by RE addition only lead to the obviously improve on the room temperature ultimate tensile strength. The mechanical properties of the studied alloys can be improved by aging treatment, and the aged Mg-7Zn-5Al-2RE alloy exhibits optimal mechanical properties at room temperature.

The mechanical behavior of metal alloys with grain size distribution in a wide range of strain rates

Science.gov (United States)

Skripnyak, V. A.; Skripnyak, V. V.; Skripnyak, E. G.

2017-12-01

The paper discusses a multiscale simulation approach for the construction of grain structure of metals and alloys, providing high tensile strength with ductility. This work compares the mechanical behavior of light alloys and the influence of the grain size distribution in a wide range of strain rates. The influence of the grain size distribution on the inelastic deformation and fracture of aluminium and magnesium alloys is investigated by computer simulations in a wide range of strain rates. It is shown that the yield stress depends on the logarithm of the normalized strain rate for light alloys with a bimodal grain distribution and coarse-grained structure.

Strength and fatigue of an ultrafine-grained Al-Cu-Mg alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khafizova Elvira

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The dependence of strength and fatigue on microstructure of the Al-Cu-Mg alloy has been investigated. Various microstructures of the alloy were produced: the one with a coarse-grained (CG structure after T6 heat treatment; the one with a homogeneous ultrafine-grained (UFG structure and the one with a bimodal (mixed structure, both processed by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP. The mean grain size and morphology of precipitates were studied by transmission electron microscopy. The ultimate tensile strength and the fatigue endurance limit were determined using the tensile and fatigue tests of standard specimens. It is established that the formation of a homogeneous UFG structure and of a bimodal (mixed structure alloy contributes to a significant increase in microhardness by 16% and 60%, and an increase of the ultimate tensile strength by 20 and 52%, respectively, as compared to the samples subjected to T6 heat treatment. Fatigue tests show that the alloy with a bimodal (mixed structure has the highest fatigue endurance limit, 45% higher than in the sample subjected to T6 heat treatment. In contrast, the formation of a homogeneous UFG structure enables increasing the fatigue endurance limit by 15% only.

On the orientation dependent grain boundary migration in an Fe-6at.%Si alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lejcek, P.; Adamek, J.

1995-01-01

The [100]symmetrical tilt grain boundaries in an Fe-6at.%Si alloy were found to exhibit as pronounced anisotropy of activation enthalpy of migration characterized by its high values for special boundaries as compared to general ones. This rather surprising posing three main contributions to the migration enthalpy: intrinsic migration enthalpy, migration enthalpy resulting from grain boundary segregation, and migration enthalpy resulting from alloy mixing. It is shown that the differences in migration enthalpy of special and general grain boundaries in a concentrated alloy reflect the prevailing character of the intrinsic migration enthalpy over the weakened segregation effects. (orig.)

Influence of microstructure on grain boundary sliding of alloys 600 and 690

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kergaravat, J.F.; Guetaz, L.; Baillin, X.; Robert, G.

1995-01-01

The influence of deformation and damage mechanisms, and more especially of the grain boundary sliding effect, on the stress corrosion of nickel base alloys used in nuclear industry (exchanger tubes), has been experimentally examined. The grain boundary sliding effect has been measured at 500 C and 320 C on several samples of alloy 690 and 600 (in the mill annealed and mill annealed heat treated conditions). (author). 4 figs., 1 tab

Sulfuric Acid Corrosion of Low Sb - Pb Battery Alloys | Ntukogu ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The corrosion properties of low Sb - Pb alloys developed for maintenance free motive power industrial batteries was studied by a bare grid constant current method and compared to those of the conventional Pb- 6% Sb alloy. Low Sb-Pb alloys with Se and As grain refiners were found to have higher corrosion rates than the ...

Process of Equiaxed Grains of RE-Al Alloy under Slope Vibration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie Shikun; Yi Rongxi; Pan Xiaoliang; Zheng Xiaoqiu; Guo Xiuyan

2010-01-01

A new technique using slope vibration casting process during heating and isothermal holding period to prepare Al-7Si-2RE alloy has been studied. The small, near-spherical and non-dendritic microstructure with the semi-solid processing requirements has been obtained. Experiments show that the cooling method, pouring process and the convection of melt caused by slope vibration had significant effects on the formation of near-spherical primary gains. The water-cooled copper mold casting with slope vibration at the temperature near liquidus can obtain Al-7Si-2RE alloy with small homogeneous equiaxed grains, the average grain diameter is 48.3 μm, and the average grain roundness is 1.92.

Influence of Fe(Cr) miscibility on thin film grain size and stress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Xuyang; Kaub, Tyler; Martens, Richard L.; Thompson, Gregory B., E-mail: gthompson@eng.ua.edu

2016-08-01

During the post coalescence portion of thin film deposition, thin film stress is related to the grain size and adatom mobility of the depositing material. Using a Fe(Cr) alloy thin film, the manipulation of the tensile stress for thick films was studied as a function of Cr solute content up to 8 at.%. Solute concentrations up to 4 at.% resulted in an approximate 50% increase in grain size that resulted in a reduction of the tensile stress to be lower than either elemental film. Upon increasing the Cr content, the grain size refined and the tensile stress of the films increased. Atom probe characterization of the grain boundaries confirmed Cr chemical partitioning which refined the grain size and altered the film's texture, both of which contributed to the change in film stress. The use of intrinsic segregation, rather than deposition processing parameters, appears to be another viable option for regulating film stress. - Highlights: • Solute segregation to regulate grain size in controlling film stress • Quantification of Cr interfacial excess as a function of alloy content • Quantification of texture fiber alignment as a function of Cr content.

Casting characteristics of Al-Mg alloy 535 cast in permanent moulds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fasoyinu, F.A.; Thomson, J.; Cousineau, D.; Castles, T.; Sahoo, M.

2002-01-01

Aluminum alloy 535 could be used for automotive and marine applications because of its good corrosion resistance against mild alkaline and salt spray exposure. The majority of components from this alloy are usually produced by sand casting because it is prone to hot shortness and has poor fluidity when poured in permanent moulds. In an attempt to improve its castability in permanent moulds, casting characteristics such as casting fluidity and hot tear resistance have been studied. In addition, the effectiveness of titanium, boron, scandium, zirconium and a combination of selected elements from this group as grain refiners were evaluated. It s shown that alloy 535 exhibits good casting fluidity when poured with adequate metal superheat and that there is significant improvement in hot tear resistance following grain refinement. (author)

Influence of grain structure on the deformation mechanism in martensitic shear reversion-induced Fe-16Cr-10Ni model austenitic alloy with low interstitial content: Coarse-grained versus nano-grained/ultrafine-grained structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Challa, V.S.A. [Laboratory for Excellence in Advanced Steel Research, Department of Metallurgical, Materials Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 (United States); Misra, R.D.K., E-mail: dmisra2@utep.edu [Laboratory for Excellence in Advanced Steel Research, Department of Metallurgical, Materials Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 (United States); Somani, M.C. [Center for Advanced Steels Research, The University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4200, 90014 Oulu (Finland); Wang, Z.D. [State Key Laboratory for Rolling and Automation, Northeastern University, 3-11 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110819 (China)

2016-04-20

Nanograined/ultrafine-grained (NG/UFG) materials characterized by high strength-high ductility combination are excellent vehicles to obtain an unambiguous understanding of deformation mechanisms vis-à-vis their coarse-grained counterparts. In this context, the innovative concept of phase reversion-induced NG/UFG structure enabled achieving high strength besides comparable ductility, for instance, in metastable austenitic stainless steels. In the phase reversion process, severe deformation of austenite at room temperature (typically ~60–80%) transforms face-centered cubic austenite (γ) to body centered cubic martensite (α′). Upon annealing, martensite reverts to austenite leading to extensive grain refinement. The objective of the present study to fundamentally understand the deformation mechanisms in NG/UFG structure in relation to that of the coarse-grained (CG) structure was accomplished by combining depth-sensing nanoscale experiments on an Fe-16Cr-10Ni model austenitic alloy conducted at different strain rates, followed by the study of structural evolution in the deformed zone using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In the high strength NG/UFG steel (YS~585 MPa), stacking faults and nanotwins contributed to the enhanced ductility (El~35%), while in the case of low strength (YS~260 MPa) coarse-grained (CG) counterpart, ductility was also high (El~40%), but chiefly due to strain-induced martensite, which points to a clear case of grain size effect (and the corresponding level of strength). The distinct change in the deformation mechanism from stacking faults and twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) in the NG structure to transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) in the CG structure is elucidated in terms of austenite stability-strain energy relationship. The insights on the relationship between grain structure (and strength) and deformation mechanisms are envisaged to be important in providing a new direction for the futuristic design of high strength

Intragranular nucleation sites of massive gamma grains in a TiAl-based alloy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dey, Suhash Ranjan; Bouzy, E.; Hazotte, A.

2007-01-01

Massive gamma grains were generated in a TiAl-based alloy through ice-water quenching from the alpha domain. Apart from those located along alpha(2)/alpha(2) grain boundaries, a few massive gamma grains were detected inside the alpha(2) grains. Some of these intragranular grains were revealed...

Multiscale model of metal alloy oxidation at grain boundaries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sushko, Maria L.; Alexandrov, Vitaly; Schreiber, Daniel K.; Rosso, Kevin M.; Bruemmer, Stephen M.

2015-01-01

High temperature intergranular oxidation and corrosion of metal alloys is one of the primary causes of materials degradation in nuclear systems. In order to gain insights into grain boundary oxidation processes, a mesoscale metal alloy oxidation model is established by combining quantum Density Functional Theory (DFT) and mesoscopic Poisson-Nernst-Planck/classical DFT with predictions focused on Ni alloyed with either Cr or Al. Analysis of species and fluxes at steady-state conditions indicates that the oxidation process involves vacancy-mediated transport of Ni and the minor alloying element to the oxidation front and the formation of stable metal oxides. The simulations further demonstrate that the mechanism of oxidation for Ni-5Cr and Ni-4Al is qualitatively different. Intergranular oxidation of Ni-5Cr involves the selective oxidation of the minor element and not matrix Ni, due to slower diffusion of Ni relative to Cr in the alloy and due to the significantly smaller energy gain upon the formation of nickel oxide compared to that of Cr 2 O 3 . This essentially one-component oxidation process results in continuous oxide formation and a monotonic Cr vacancy distribution ahead of the oxidation front, peaking at alloy/oxide interface. In contrast, Ni and Al are both oxidized in Ni-4Al forming a mixed spinel NiAl 2 O 4 . Different diffusivities of Ni and Al give rise to a complex elemental distribution in the vicinity of the oxidation front. Slower diffusing Ni accumulates in the oxide and metal within 3 nm of the interface, while Al penetrates deeper into the oxide phase. Ni and Al are both depleted from the region 3–10 nm ahead of the oxidation front creating voids. The oxide microstructure is also different. Cr 2 O 3 has a plate-like structure with 1.2–1.7 nm wide pores running along the grain boundary, while NiAl 2 O 4 has 1.5 nm wide pores in the direction parallel to the grain boundary and 0.6 nm pores in the perpendicular direction providing an additional

Manufacturing process to reduce large grain growth in zirconium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosecrans, P.M.

1987-01-01

A method is described of treating cold worked zirconium alloys to reduce large grain growth during thermal treatment above its recrystallization temperature. The method comprises heating the zirconium alloy at a temperature of about 1300 0 F. to 1350 0 F. for about 1 to 3 hours subsequent to cold working the zirconium alloy and prior to the thermal treatment at a temperature of between 1450 0 -1550 0 F., the thermal treatment temperature being above the recrystallization temperature

Structure and mechanical properties of as-cast (ZrTi){sub 100−x}B{sub x} alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xia, C.Q.; Jiang, X.J.; Wang, X.Y.; Zhou, Y.K.; Feng, Z.H. [State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004 (China); Tan, C.L. [Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, Beijing 100094 (China); Ma, M.Z. [State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004 (China); Liu, R.P., E-mail: riping@ysu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004 (China)

2015-07-15

Highlights: • Trace boron additions result in significant grain refinement. • Large numbers of stacking faults are observed in ZrB{sub 2} and TiB intermetallics. • The tensile strength is enhanced by increasing the amount of B. • Intermetallics microcracking causes the failure of the alloys. - Abstract: The microstructure, mechanical properties, and fracture characteristics of (Zr{sub 50}Ti{sub 50}){sub 100−x}B{sub x} alloys (x = 0, 0.5, 1, 2 at.%) obtained by casting were investigated. Trace additions of boron (B) to the Zr{sub 50}Ti{sub 50} alloys induced significant microstructural changes. Changes included the promotion of dendritic growth and refinement in prior-β grain and α′-lath size. Large numbers of stacking faults were also observed in ZrB{sub 2} and TiB intermetallics. The location of B atoms and the lattice mismatch energy between intermetallics and matrix were responsible for the stacking faults. (ZrTi)B alloys demonstrated higher tensile strength than matrix material. Both the intermetallics with high strength and modulus and the grain refinement played important roles in improving the mechanical properties of alloys. This result could be explained in terms of a shear-lag model based on the load transfer concept and Hall–Petch mechanism. The elongation-to-failure of (ZrTi)B alloys decreased with increased B concentration. The reduction in elongation-to-failure of (ZrTi)B alloys could be attributed to the presence of ZrB{sub 2} and TiB intermetallics and refinement of α′-laths.

Influence of grain structure on quench sensitivity relative to localized corrosion of high strength aluminum alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, ShengDan, E-mail: csuliusd@163.com [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Materials Science and Engineering, Ministry of Education, Changsha 410083 (China); Li, ChengBo [Light Alloy Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Deng, YunLai; Zhang, XinMing [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Materials Science and Engineering, Ministry of Education, Changsha 410083 (China)

2015-11-01

The influence of grain structure on quench sensitivity relative to localized corrosion of high strength aluminum alloy 7055 was investigated by electrochemical test, accelerated exfoliation corrosion test, optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The decrease of quench rate led to lower corrosion resistance of both the homogenized and solution heat treated (HS) alloy with equiaxed grains and the hot-rolled and solution heat treated (HRS) alloy with elongated grains, but there was a higher increment in corrosion depth and corrosion current density and a higher decrement in corrosion potential for the latter alloy, which therefore exhibited higher quench sensitivity. It is because in this alloy the larger amount of (sub) grain boundaries led to a higher increment in the amount of quench-induced η phase and precipitates free zone at (sub) grain boundaries with the decrease of quench rate, and there was a larger increment in the content of Zn, Mg and Cu in the η phase at grain boundaries due to slow quenching. The presence of subgrain boundaries in the HRS alloy tended to increase corrosion resistance at high quench rates higher than about 630 °C/min but decrease it at lower quench rates. - Highlights: • (Sub)Grain boundaries increase quench sensitivity relative to localized corrosion. • Subgrain boundaries decrease corrosion resistance below quench rate of 630 °C/min. • More (sub) grain boundaries leads to more GBPs and PFZ with decreasing quench rate.

Direct observation of densification and grain growth in a W--Ni alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riegger, H.; Pask, J.A.; Exner, H.E.

1979-04-01

Densification and grain growth in a tungsten--nickel alloy containing 32 vol % of liquid at 1550 0 C were studied by conventional methods aided by hot stage scanning electron microscopy and cinematography. This technique yields important additional qualitative information on the mechanisms. Two stages can be discerned. In stage 1, essentially complete pore elimination, rapid grain growth and adjustment of microstructural geometry take place. In the second stage, microstructure coarsening occurs which is characterized by geometric similarity. Columnar grain growth at the surface is observed due to squeezing out of Ni--W liquid, flooding of surface grains and fast evaporation of the Ni. The driving forces for these processes are discussed showing that a high ratio of grain boundary energy to liquid surface energy is essential. A W--Cu alloy with 32 vol % liquid at 1100 0 C did not show any grain growth due to essentially no solubility of W in Cu at this temperature

Effects of samarium (Sm) additions on the microstructure and mechanical properties of as-cast and hot-extruded Mg-5 wt%Al-3 wt%Ca-based alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Son, Hyeon-Taek; Lee, Jae-Seol; Kim, Dae-Guen; Yoshimi, Kyosuke; Maruyama, Kouichi

2009-01-01

Samarium (Sm) additions to as-cast Mg-5Al-3Ca-based alloys result in changes, such as equiaxed grains and a refined grain size. The microstructure of as-cast Mg-5Al-3Ca-xSm alloys consists of an α-Mg matrix, a (Mg, Al) 2 Ca eutectic phase, and an Al 2 Sm intermetallic compound. In as-cast alloys, the (Mg, Al) 2 Ca eutectic phase was located at grain boundaries with a chain structure, and the Al 2 Sm intermetallic compounds were homogeneously distributed at the α-Mg matrix and grain boundaries. The eutectic phase of the extruded alloys was elongated in the extrusion direction and crushed into fine particles because of severe deformation during hot extrusion, and the grain size was refined with an increased amount of Sm addition. The maximum values of the yield strength and tensile strength were 313 MPa and 330 MPa at 2 wt%Sm alloy content, respectively

Superplastic behavior of coarse-grained aluminum alloys

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chezan, AR; De Hosson, JTM

2005-01-01

In this paper we concentrate on the superplastic behavior and the microstructural evolution of two coarse-grained Al alloys: Al-4.4w/oMg and Al-4.4w/oMg-0.4w/oCu. The values for the strain rate sensitivity index and activation energy suggest that solute drag on dislocation motion is an important

Microstructures and tensile properties of Mg–Gd–Y–Zr alloy during multidirectional forging at 773 K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang, Liechong; Liu, Chuming; Chen, Zhiyong; Ji, Dawei; Xiao, Hongchao

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Rare earth (RE) containing Mg–Gd–Y–Zr alloy was successfully multidirectional forged for 8 passes without any cracks. • Initial coarse grains was refined due to a combination of discontinuous and continuous dynamic recrystallization. • The alloy MDFed after 6 passes exhibited an excellent balance of strength and ductility at room temperature. - Abstract: A homogenized Mg–10Gd–4.8Y–0.6Zr (wt.%) alloy was subjected to multidirectional forging (MDF) at 773 K. It was shown that the average grain size decreased with increasing cumulative strain till 6 passes. Uniform fine-grained structure with an average grain size of 9.3 μm was achieved after 6 passes, i.e., cumulative strain of 1.8. Results revealed that grain refinement was induced by a complicated combination of discontinuous dynamic recrystallization at low strain regions and continuous dynamic recrystallization or rotation recrystallization at medium-to-high strain regions. The alloy multi-directionally forged (MDFed) for 6 passes exhibited an excellent balance of strength and ductility at room temperature with ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 336 MPa and elongation to fracture of 21.0%

Observation of WC grain shapes determined by carbon content during liquid phase sintering of WC-Co alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sona Kim; Hyoun-Ee Kim; Seok-Hee Han; Jong-Ku Park

2001-01-01

In the composite materials of WC-Co alloys, the faceted WC grains as a hard phase are dispersed in the ductile matrix of cobalt. Properties of WC-Co alloys are affected by microstructural factors such as volume fraction of WC phase, size of WC grains, and carbon content (kinds of constituent phases). Although the properties of WC-Co alloys are inevitably affected by the shape of WC grains, the shape of WC grains has not been thrown light on the properties of WC-Co alloys yet, because it has been regarded to have a uniform shape regardless of alloy compositions. It is proved that the WC grains have various shapes varying reversibly with carbon content in the sintered WC-Co compacts. This dependency of grain shape on the carbon content is attributed to asymmetric atomic structure of WC crystal. The {10 1 - 0} prismatic planes are distinguished into two groups with different surface energy according to their atomic structures. The prismatic planes of high surface energy tend to disappear in the compacts with high carbon content. In addition, these high energy prismatic planes tend to split into low energy surfaces in the large WC grains. (author)

Remelting of aluminium with the addition of AlTi5B1 and AlTi3C0,15 grain refiners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dobešrek, M.

2008-04-01

Full Text Available It was found that concentration of boron in aluminium with the addition of AlTi5B1 grain refiner is decreasing during remelting as a consequence of TiB2 particles settling down due to gravity. TiB2 particles remained in aluminium after four remelts shows lower effect of grain refinement compared to non-remelted samples with the same TiB2 content. It was also found that TiC particles are still present in aluminium with the addition of AlTi3C0,15 grain refiner after four remelts and they probably participate in nucleation of α-Al grains.

Corrosion behavior and mechanism of MAO coated Ti{sub 6}Al{sub 4}V with a grain-fined surface layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gu, Yanhong, E-mail: gu_yanhong@163.com [School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617 (China); Chen, Lingling, E-mail: daisy_chenlingling@163.com [School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617 (China); College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029 (China); Yue, Wen, E-mail: yw@cugb.edu.cn [School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083 (China); Chen, Ping, E-mail: chenp@ustb.edu.cn [School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China); Chen, Fei, E-mail: chenfei@bipt.edu.cn [School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617 (China); Ning, Chengyun, E-mail: imcyning@scut.edu.cn [College of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640 (China)

2016-04-15

In order to enhance the corrosion behavior of Ti{sub 6}Al{sub 4}V, a MAO coating was prepared on the surface refined by ultrasonic cold forging technology (UCFT). The surface roughness value and the grain were evaluated by atomic force microscope (AFM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The microstructure and phase component of the coated samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The corrosion behavior of all the samples was examined by potentiodynamic polarization and electrode impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests in a 3.5% NaCl solution. The results show that UCFT can reduce the surface roughness value and refine the grains. The micro-pore size of the UCFT-MAO sample is smaller and the pore number is less than those of MAO sample. The thickness of the coated sample is about 10 μm. The UCFT-MAO sample possesses the highest micro-hardness among all the samples. The UCFT-MAO sample has the best corrosion resistance with the lowest corrosion current density and the highest electrochemical impedance, which is attributed to UCFT pretreatment prior to MAO process on titanium alloys. The influence of UCFT on the corrosion process and corrosion mechanism were discussed. - Highlights: • UCFT was used to refine the grain before MAO coatings were prepared on Ti alloys. • UCFT treated Ti alloys have decreased surface roughness and refined grain. • Surface performance of MAO coatings on UCFT treated Ti alloys has been improved. • The influence of UCFT on the corrosion behavior and mechanism of MAO coatings was discussed.

Tungsten alloy research at the US Army Materials Technology Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dowding, R.J.

1991-01-01

This paper reports that recent research into tungsten heavy alloys at the U. S. Army Materials Technology Laboratory (MTL) has explored many areas of processing and process development. The recrystallization and respheroidization of tungsten grains in a heavily cold worked heavy alloy has been examined and resulted in the identification of a method of grain refinement. Another area of investigation has been lightly cold worked. It was determined that it was possible to increase the strength and hardness of the tungsten grains by proper hat treatment. MTL has been involved in the Army's small business innovative research (SBIR) program and several programs have been funded. Included among these are a method of coating the tungsten powders with the alloying elements and the development of techniques of powder injection molding of heavy alloys

Modelling of the Effectiveness of Al-Ti-B Refiners in Commercial Purity Aluminium

Science.gov (United States)

Bunn, A. M.; Evans, P. V.; Bristow, D. J.; Greer, A. L.

Al-5Ti-1B (wt.%) alloys are effective grain refiners for DC-cast aluminium although as few as 1% of the TiB2 particles added to the melt nucleate grains. The aim of this work is to develop quantitative modelling for prediction of grain sizes in commercial purity aluminium. In this way the low efficiency of refiners can be understood, ultimately to clarify the design rules for a more effective refiner. The modelling focuses on the role of particle size distribution. This is in conjunction with measurements (by scanning electron microscopy and image analysis) of the particle size distributions in commercial Al-5Ti-1B refiners known to have differing performances. The undercooling required for heterogeneous nucleation of oc-Al on the surface of potent TiB2 particles is extremely low. Accordingly, the modelling is based on the assumption that the critical step for a particle to behave as an active growth centre is that required to initiate free growth from the particle surface, rather than the initial heterogeneous nucleation event. It is considered that further initiation of free growth of crystals is stopped by the onset of recalescence in the melt during solidification. Only those particles which are active growth centres at the point of recalescence will contribute towards the final grain size. Negligible interference between particles and spherical growth up to the point of recalescence are assumed; these assumptions are rigorously tested. The model tests the effect of varying the particle size distribution by using measured distributions from `good' and `poor' refiners. The variation of grain size with addition rate of refiner is examined. The model predicts an effective saturation, beyond which further addition has little effect. In general, good agreement is found between the grain-size predictions and conventional grain-refining tests.

A mechanism for the formation of equiaxed grains in welds of aluminum-lithium alloy 2090

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, D.C.; Wang, G.-X.; Srivatsan, T.S.

2003-01-01

In this technical note, the formation and presence of a zone of equiaxed grains (EQZ) along the fusion boundary of welded aluminum-lithium alloy 2090 using filler metals containing zirconium and lithium is presented and discussed. However, no EQZ was evident in welded joints of alloy 2090 using the commercial filler metals: aluminum alloy 2319 and 4145. Under identical conditions, aluminum-lithium alloy 2090 was fusion welded using several new filler metals containing various amounts of zirconium and lithium. Results reveal an increase in the width of the zone of equiaxed grains with an increase in zirconium and lithium content in the filler metal. A viable mechanism for the formation of equiaxed grains and its relationship to filler metal composition is highlighted

Influence of Severe Plastic Deformation on Mechanical Properties and Structure of Aluminium Alloys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ondřej Hilšer

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Article is devoted to analysis of ECAP (Equal Channel Angular Pressing method, which uses a high degree of deformation to achieve a very fine-grained structure of formed material. Utilization of The ECAP technology enables attainment of required properties of selected materials by using of severe plastic deformation (SPD methods. In the experimental part the influence of the number of passes through forming tool with classical geometry (angle of 90° between channels was studied to achieve maximum hardening (expressed by deformation resistance and achieved value of hardness HV10. Also the metallographic analysis (detection of achieved grain refinement was carried out. From comparison of results achieved at both alloys it can be stated that for given forming by ECAP method the EN AW-8006 alloy is preferable, because higher strength degree was obtained by achieving of very fine grained structure. When using the same method of forming by ECAP method the EN AW-2024 alloy has lower hardening and structure refinement.

Microstructure, mechanical behavior and low temperature superplasticity of ECAP processed ZM21 Mg alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mostaed, Ehsan, E-mail: ehsan.mostaed@polimi.it [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Italy); Fabrizi, Alberto [Department of Management and Engineering, Università di Padova, Stradella S. Nicola 3, 36100 Vicenza (Italy); Dellasega, David [Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Italy); Bonollo, Franco [Department of Management and Engineering, Università di Padova, Stradella S. Nicola 3, 36100 Vicenza (Italy); Vedani, Maurizio [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Italy)

2015-07-25

Highlights: • We studied the effects of texture and grain size on ZM21 alloy mechanical behavior. • Yielding asymmetry was alleviated by either texture weakening or grain refining. • At room temperature and 150 °C fracture elongation was strongly texture dependent. • Superplasticity at 200 °C was influenced by grain size, appearing only in UFG alloy. - Abstract: In this study, ultra-fine grained ZM21 Mg alloy was obtained through two-stage equal channel angular pressing process (ECAP) at temperatures of 200 and 150 °C. For each stage four passes were used. Plastic behavior, mechanical asymmetry and low temperature superplasticity of ultra-fine grained ZM21 alloy were investigated as a function of processing condition with particular attention to microstructural and texture evolution. Microstructural observations showed that after the first stage of ECAP an equiaxed ultra-fine grain (UFG) structure with average size of 700 nm was obtained. Additional stage did not cause any further grain refinement. However, Electron Backscattered Diffraction analysis showed that the original extrusion fiber texture evolved into a new one featuring a favorable alignment of the basal planes along ECAP shear planes. Such a preferential alignment provided a considerably higher Schmid factor value of 0.32, resulting in a remarkable loss in tensile yield stress, from 212 to 110 MPa and an improvement of the tensile fracture elongation, from 24% to 40%. Tensile and compression tests at room temperature revealed that yielding asymmetry could be alleviated by either weakening of basal plane fiber texture or by grain refinement. Tensile tests at 150 °C showed that texture supplies a significant contribution to plastic flow and elongation, making dislocation slip the dominant mechanism for deformation, while grain boundary sliding was not actively operated at this temperature. However, at 200 °C the effect of texture on fracture elongation of UFG alloys was subtle and the impact

Shear localization and microstructure in coarse grained beta titanium alloy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Bingfeng, E-mail: biw009@ucsd.edu [State Key Laboratory for Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan (China); School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan (China); Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, United States of America (United States); Key Lab of Nonferrous Materials, Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan (China); Wang, Xiaoyan [State Key Laboratory for Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan (China); School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan (China); Li, Zezhou [Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, United States of America (United States); Ma, Rui [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan (China); Zhao, Shiteng [Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, United States of America (United States); Xie, Fangyu [State Key Laboratory for Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan (China); School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan (China); Zhang, Xiaoyong [State Key Laboratory for Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan (China)

2016-01-15

Adiabatic shear localization plays an important role in the deformation and failure of the coarse grained beta titanium alloy Ti-5 Al-5 Mo-5 V-1 Cr-1 Fe with grain size about 1 mm at high strain rate deformation. Hat shaped specimens with different nominal shear strains are used to induce the formation of shear bands under the controlled shock-loading experiments. The true stress in the specimens can reach about 1040 MPa where the strain is about 1.83. The whole shear localization process lasts about 35 μs. The microstructures within the shear band are investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy / electron backscatter diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the width of the shear bands decreases with increasing nominal shear strain, and the grains in the transition region near the shear band are elongated along the shear band, and the core of the shear band consists of the ultrafine deformed grains with width of 0.1 μm and heavy dislocations. With the aims of accommodating the imposed shear strain and maintaining neighboring grain compatibility, the grain subdivision continues to take place within the band. A fiber texture is formed in the core of the shear band. The calculated temperature rise in the shear band can reach about 722 K. Dynamic recovery is responsible for the formation of the microstructure in coarse grained beta titanium alloy.

Investigation on mechanical behaviour of ECAPed 2A12 aluminium alloy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Cun-xian

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In the present work, the uniaxial compressive behavior of aluminum alloy processed by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP for 1–8 passes are investigated experimentally under both quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions via an electronic universal testing machine with a maximum load capacity of 10KN and the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB. The strain hardening rate as well as strain rate sensitivity the ECAPed with different passes have been determined and compared with annealed coarse grained counterpart. The experimental results show a continuously increase of both flow stress and strain rate sensitivity for the aluminum alloy subjected to ECAP process as the pressing pass number increasing. It is proposed that the reduction in grain size plays an important role in the enhancement of flow stress and strain rate sensitivity. However, the strain hardening rate of the ECAPed materials decreases remarkably. Meanwhile, compressive experiments at elevated temperatures indicate the temperature sensitivity of the material increases as the grain size is refined into fine grain regime. Based on thermal activation theory, it is proposed that the enhanced temperature and strain rate sensitivity of ECAPed aluminum alloy can be related to the reduction in activation volume due to grain refinement.

High-temperature grain size stabilization of nanocrystalline Fe–Cr alloys with Hf additions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Lulu, E-mail: lli18@ncsu.edu; Saber, Mostafa; Xu, Weizong; Zhu, Yuntian; Koch, Carl C.; Scattergood, Ronald O.

2014-09-08

The influence of 1–4 at% Hf additions on the thermal stability of mechanically alloyed nanocrystalline Fe–14Cr alloys was studied in this work. XRD-calculated grain size and microhardness results were reported versus isochronal annealing treatments up to 1100 °C. Microstructural evolution was investigated using channeling contrast FIB imaging and TEM. Grain size of samples with 4 at% Hf was found to be maintained in the nanoscale range at temperatures up to 1000 °C. Zener pinning was considered as a major source of high temperature grain size stabilization. By comparing the Orowan strengthening contribution to the total hardness, the deviation of grain size predictions from the actual grain size in Fe–14Cr–4Hf suggests the presence of thermodynamic stabilization by the solute segregation to grain boundaries (GBs). A predictive thermodynamic model indicates that the thermodynamic stabilization can be expected.

Electromagnetic Stirring versus ECAP: Morphological Comparison of Al-Si-Cu Alloys to Make the Microstructural Refinement for Use in SSM Processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Vanderlei Torres

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This work evaluates the morphological evolution at the semisolid state of the Al-4.0wt%Si-2.5wt%Cu alloy produced by direct chill casting under electromagnetic stirring (EMS and by one equal channel angular pressing (ECAP pass. The ECAP emerged as a promising technique capable of reduction and homogeneous metals microstructure imposing large deformations occurs in a matrix that contains two channels of the same cross-sectional area and forms an angle of 120°. The materials were submitted to reheating treatment in condition of 60% solid fraction at treatment times of 0, 30, and 90 s. Comparing the two cases, we have the presented ECAP process that had an excellent response to the recovery and recrystallization mechanisms, and refined microstructures ideal for thixoforming were produced. Primary particle sizes of about 45 μm and grain sizes of about 75 μm and a circularity shape factor of more than 0.60 were obtained. The low silicon alloy, Al-4.0wt%Si-2.5wt%Cu, presented excellent refinement when processed via equal channel angular pressing, presenting good morphological stability at the semisolid state, without significant changes in size or shape of the solid particles. This fully globular structure is favourable for thixoforming processes.

Differential Effects of Red Meat/Refined Grain Diet and Dairy/Chicken/Nuts/Whole Grain Diet on Glucose, Insulin and Triglyceride in a Randomized Crossover Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yoona Kim

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Epidemiological studies suggest that a diet high in processed meat, with a high glycemic index is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. It is not clear if this is due to altered insulin sensitivity or an enhanced postprandial glucose. We aimed to compare the acute metabolic response of two different types of meals after ingestion of the matching diet for four weeks. The study was a randomized, crossover acute meal study. Volunteers consumed either a red meat/refined grain meal or a dairy/chicken/nuts/wholegrain meal after four weeks of the matching diet. After a three-week washout period and four weeks of the alternate diet, they consumed the matching meal. The diets differed with respect to both protein and carbohydrate sources. Blood samples were taken for 180 min for the measurement of glucose, insulin, C-peptide and triglyceride. Fifty-one participants (age: 35.1 ± 15.6 years; body mass index: 27.7 ± 6.9 kg/m2, 17 with normal and 34 with impaired glucose tolerance completed two meal tests. The area under the curve (p < 0.001 and incremental area under the curve (p = 0.001 for insulin was significantly higher after the red meat/refined grain diet than after the dairy/chicken/nuts/whole grain diet. There was an interaction between meal and glucose tolerance group (p < 0.05 in the area under the curve (AUC and the incremental area under the curve (iAUC of glucose; the red meat/refined grain diet increased glucose relative to the dairy/chicken/nuts/whole grain diet only in the normal group (+2.5 mmol/L/3 h. The red meat/refined grain diet increased glucose and insulin responses compared with the dairy/chicken/nuts/whole grain diet. This meal pattern would increase pancreatic stress long term and may account for the increased risk of type 2 diabetes with this diet.

Development of Pb-Free Nanocomposite Solder Alloys

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Animesh K. Basak

2018-04-01

Full Text Available As an alternative to conventional Pb-containing solder material, Sn–Ag–Cu (SAC based alloys are at the forefront despite limitations associated with relatively poor strength and coarsening of grains/intermetallic compounds (IMCs during aging/reflow. Accordingly, this study examines the improvement of properties of SAC alloys by incorporating nanoparticles in it. Two different types of nanoparticles were added in monolithic SAC alloy: (1 Al2O3 or (2 Fe and their effect on microstructure and thermal properties were investigated. Addition of Fe nanoparticles leads to the formation of FeSn2 IMCs alongside Ag3Sn and Cu6Sn5 from monolithic SAC alloy. Addition of Al2O3 nano-particles do not contribute to phase formation, however, remains dispersed along primary β-Sn grain boundaries and act as a grain refiner. As the addition of either Fe or Al2O3 nano-particles do not make any significant effect on thermal behavior, these reinforced nanocomposites are foreseen to provide better mechanical characteristics with respect to conventional monolithic SAC solder alloys.

Microstructural stability and thermomechanical processing of boron modified beta titanium alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Cherukuri, Balakrishna

One of the main objectives during primary processing of titanium alloys is to reduce the prior beta grain size. Producing an ingot with smaller prior beta grain size could potentially eliminate some primary processing steps and thus reduce processing cost. Trace additions of boron have been shown to decrease the as-cast grain size in alpha + beta titanium alloys. The primary focus of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of boron on microstructural stability and thermomechanical processing in beta titanium alloys. Two metastable beta titanium alloys: Ti-15Mo-2.6Nb-3Al-0.2Si (Beta21S) and Ti-5Al-5V-5Mo-3Cr (Ti5553) with 0.1 wt% B and without boron additions were used in this investigation. Significant grain refinement of the as-cast microstructure and precipitation of TiB whiskers along the grain boundaries was observed with boron additions. Beta21S and Beta21S-0.1B alloys were annealed above the beta transus temperature for different times to investigate the effect of boron on grain size stability. The TiB precipitates were very effective in restricting the beta grain boundary mobility by Zener pinning. A model has been developed to predict the maximum grain size as a function of TiB size, orientation, and volume fraction. Good agreement was obtained between model predictions and experimental results. Beta21S alloys were solution treated and aged for different times at several temperatures below the beta transus to study the kinetics of alpha precipitation. Though the TiB phase did not provide any additional nucleation sites for alpha precipitation, the grain refinement obtained by boron additions resulted in accelerated aging. An investigation of the thermomechanical processing behavior showed different deformation mechanisms above the beta transus temperature. The non-boron containing alloys showed a non-uniform and fine recrystallized necklace structure at grain boundaries whereas uniform intragranular recrystallization was observed in boron containing

Influences of Gd on the microstructure and strength of Mg-4.5Zn alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Jie; Xiao Wenlong; Wang Lidong; Wu Yaoming; Wang Limin; Zhang Hongjie

2008-01-01

Microstructure and mechanical properties of peak-aged Mg-4.5Zn-xGd (x 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 wt.%) alloys have been investigated. The results showed that the grain size of the alloys was refined gradually with increasing Gd. Mg 5 Gd and Mg 3 Gd 2 Zn 3 phases were found in the Gd-containing alloys. The strengths were greatly improved with Gd additions, and the highest strength level was obtained in the Mg-4.5Zn-1.5Gd alloy, in which the ultimate tensile strength and yield strength were 231 MPa and 113 MPa, respectively. Through comparing with the Mg-4.5Zn alloy, the increments of ultimate tensile strength and yield strength were 22 MPa and 56 MPa, respectively. The improved strength was mainly correlated to the grain refining effect, the strengthening effect of the Mg 5 Gd and Mg 3 Gd 2 Zn 3 phases and also the hardening effect of the solutioned Gd atoms

Molecular dynamics study on microstructure of near grain boundary distortion region in small grain size nano- NiAl alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, J.Y.; Wang, X.W.; Rifkin, J.; Li, D.X.

2001-12-01

Using the molecular dynamics simulation method, the microstructure of distortion region near curved amorphous-like grain boundary in nano-NiAl alloy is studied. The results showed that due to the internal elastic force of high energy grain boundary, distortion layer exists between grain and grain boundary. The lattice expansion and structure factor decreasing are observed in this region. Stacking fault in sample with grain size 3.8nm is clearly observed across the distortion region at the site very close to grain. The influences of different grain sizes on average distortion degree and volume fractions of distortion region, grain and grain boundary are also discussed. (author)

High-Strength Low-Alloy (HSLA) Mg-Zn-Ca Alloys with Excellent Biodegradation Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Hofstetter, J.; Becker, M.; Martinelli, E.; Weinberg, A. M.; Mingler, B.; Kilian, H.; Pogatscher, S.; Uggowitzer, P. J.; Löffler, J. F.

2014-04-01

This article deals with the development of fine-grained high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) magnesium alloys intended for use as biodegradable implant material. The alloys contain solely low amounts of Zn and Ca as alloying elements. We illustrate the development path starting from the high-Zn-containing ZX50 (MgZn5Ca0.25) alloy with conventional purity, to an ultrahigh-purity ZX50 modification, and further to the ultrahigh-purity Zn-lean alloy ZX10 (MgZn1Ca0.3). It is shown that alloys with high Zn-content are prone to biocorrosion in various environments, most probably because of the presence of the intermetallic phase Mg6Zn3Ca2. A reduction of the Zn content results in (Mg,Zn)2Ca phase formation. This phase is less noble than the Mg-matrix and therefore, in contrast to Mg6Zn3Ca2, does not act as cathodic site. A fine-grained microstructure is achieved by the controlled formation of fine and homogeneously distributed (Mg,Zn)2Ca precipitates, which influence dynamic recrystallization and grain growth during hot forming. Such design scheme is comparable to that of HSLA steels, where low amounts of alloying elements are intended to produce a very fine dispersion of particles to increase the material's strength by refining the grain size. Consequently our new, ultrapure ZX10 alloy exhibits high strength (yield strength R p = 240 MPa, ultimate tensile strength R m = 255 MPa) and simultaneously high ductility (elongation to fracture A = 27%), as well as low mechanical anisotropy. Because of the anodic nature of the (Mg,Zn)2Ca particles used in the HSLA concept, the in vivo degradation in a rat femur implantation study is very slow and homogeneous without clinically observable hydrogen evolution, making the ZX10 alloy a promising material for biodegradable implants.

Real-time synchrotron x-ray observations of equiaxed solidification of aluminium alloys and implications for modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, A.; Liotti, E.; McDonald, S. D.; Nogita, K.; Yasuda, H.; Grant, P. S.; StJohn, D. H.

2015-06-01

Recently, in-situ observations were carried out by synchrotron X-ray radiography to observe the nucleation and growth in Al alloys during solidification. The nucleation and grain formation of a range of Al-Si and Al-Cu binary alloys were studied. When grain refiner was added to the alloys, the location of the nucleation events was readily observed. Once nucleation began it continued to occur in a wave of events with the movement of the temperature gradient across the field of view due to cooling. Other features observed were the settling of the primary phase grains in the Al-Si alloys and floating in the Al-Cu alloys, the effects of convection with marked fluctuation of the growth rate of the solid-liquid interface in the Al-Si alloys, and an absence of fragmentation. The microstructures are typical of those produced in the equiaxed zone of actual castings. These observations are compared with predictions arising from the Interdependence model. The results from this comparison have implications for further refinement of the model and simulation and modelling approaches in general. These implications will be discussed.

Effect of Cryorolling and Aging on Fatigue Behavior of Ultrafine-grained Al6061

Science.gov (United States)

Yadollahpour, M.; Hosseini-Toudeshky, H.; Karimzadeh, F.

2016-05-01

The effects of cryorolling (rolling at liquid nitrogen temperature) and heat treatment on tensile and high-cycle fatigue properties and fatigue crack growth rate of Al6061 alloy have been investigated in the present work. First, the solid solution-treated bulk Al6061 alloy was subjected to cryorolling with 90% total thickness reduction and subsequent short annealing at 205°C for 5 min and peak aging at 148°C for 39 h to achieve grain refinement and simultaneous improvement of the strength and ductility. Then, hardness measurements, tensile tests, fatigue life, and fatigue crack growth rate tests including fractography analyses using scanning electron microscopy were performed on bulk Al6061 alloy, cryorolled (CR), and cryorolled material followed by peak aging (PA). The PA specimen showed improved yield strength by 24%, ultimate tensile strength by 20%, and ductility by 12% as compared with the bulk Al6061 alloy. It is shown that the fatigue strength of both CR and PA specimens under a high-cycle fatigue regime are larger than that of the bulk Al6061 alloy. Also, fatigue crack growth rates of the CR and PA specimens show significant enhancement in fatigue crack growth resistances as compared with the bulk Al6061 alloy, as a result of grain refinement.

Mechanical behavior and strengthening mechanisms in ultrafine grain precipitation-strengthened aluminum alloy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Kaka; Wen, Haiming; Hu, Tao; Topping, Troy D.; Isheim, Dieter; Seidman, David N.; Lavernia, Enrique J.; Schoenung, Julie M.

2014-01-01

To provide insight into the relationships between precipitation phenomena, grain size and mechanical behavior in a complex precipitation-strengthened alloy system, Al 7075 alloy, a commonly used aluminum alloy, was selected as a model system in the present study. Ultrafine-grained (UFG) bulk materials were fabricated through cryomilling, degassing, hot isostatic pressing and extrusion, followed by a subsequent heat treatment. The mechanical behavior and microstructure of the materials were analyzed and compared directly to the coarse-grained (CG) counterpart. Three-dimensional atom-probe tomography was utilized to investigate the intermetallic precipitates and oxide dispersoids formed in the as-extruded UFG material. UFG 7075 exhibits higher strength than the CG 7075 alloy for each equivalent condition. After a T6 temper, the yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of UFG 7075 achieved 734 and 774 MPa, respectively, which are ∼120 MPa higher than those of the CG equivalent. The strength of as-extruded UFG 7075 (YS: 583 MPa, UTS: 631 MPa) is even higher than that of commercial 7075-T6. More importantly, the strengthening mechanisms in each material were established quantitatively for the first time for this complex precipitation-strengthened system, accounting for grain-boundary, dislocation, solid-solution, precipitation and oxide dispersoid strengthening contributions. Grain-boundary strengthening was the predominant mechanism in as-extruded UFG 7075, contributing a strength increment estimated to be 242 MPa, whereas Orowan precipitation strengthening was predominant in the as-extruded CG 7075 (∼102 MPa) and in the T6-tempered materials, and was estimated to contribute 472 and 414 MPa for CG-T6 and UFG-T6, respectively

Microstructural characteristics of adiabatic shear localization in a metastable beta titanium alloy deformed at high strain rate and elevated temperatures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhan, Hongyi, E-mail: h.zhan@uq.edu.au [Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacture, School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 (Australia); Zeng, Weidong [State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, School of Materials, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi' an 710072 (China); Wang, Gui [Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacture, School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 (Australia); Defence Material Technology Centre, Level 2, 24 Wakefield St, Hawthorn, VIC 3122 (Australia); Kent, Damon [School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland 4575 (Australia); Dargusch, Matthew [Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacture, School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 (Australia); Defence Material Technology Centre, Level 2, 24 Wakefield St, Hawthorn, VIC 3122 (Australia)

2015-04-15

The microstructural evolution and grain refinement within adiabatic shear bands in the Ti6554 alloy deformed at high strain rates and elevated temperatures have been characterized using transmission electron microscopy. No stress drops were observed in the corresponding stress–strain curve, indicating that the initiation of adiabatic shear bands does not lead to the loss of load capacity for the Ti6554 alloy. The outer region of the shear bands mainly consists of cell structures bounded by dislocation clusters. Equiaxed subgrains in the core area of the shear band can be evolved from the subdivision of cell structures or reconstruction and transverse segmentation of dislocation clusters. It is proposed that dislocation activity dominates the grain refinement process. The rotational recrystallization mechanism may operate as the kinetic requirements for it are fulfilled. The coexistence of different substructures across the shear bands implies that the microstructural evolution inside the shear bands is not homogeneous and different grain refinement mechanisms may operate simultaneously to refine the structure. - Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • The microstructure within the adiabatic shear band was characterized by TEM. • No stress drops were observed in the corresponding stress–strain curve. • Dislocation activity dominated the grain refinement process. • The kinetic requirements for rotational recrystallization mechanism were fulfilled. • Different grain refinement mechanisms operated simultaneously to refine the structure.

Analysis of grain growth process in melt spun Fe-B alloys under the initial saturated grain boundary segregation condition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Z.; Liu, F.; Yang, X.Q.; Fan, Y.; Shen, C.J.

2012-01-01

Highlights: → We compared pure kinetic, pure thermodynamic and extended thermo-kinetic models. → An initial saturated GB segregation condition of nanoscale Fe-B alloys was determined. → The controlled-mechanism was proposed using two characteristic times (t 1 and t 2 ). - Abstract: A grain growth process in the melt spun low-solid-solubility Fe-B alloys was analyzed under the initial saturated grain boundary (GB) segregation condition. Applying melt spinning technique, single-phase supersaturated nanograins were prepared. Grain growth behavior of the single-phase supersaturated nanograins was investigated by performing isothermal annealing at 700 deg. C. Combined with the effect of GB segregation on the initial GB excess amount, the thermo-kinetic model [Chen et al., Acta Mater. 57 (2009) 1466] was extended to describe the initial GB segregation condition of nanoscale Fe-B alloys. In comparison of pure kinetic model, pure thermodynamic model and the extended thermo-kinetic model, an initial saturated GB segregation condition was determined. The controlled-mechanism of grain growth under initial saturated GB segregation condition was proposed using two characteristic annealing times (t 1 and t 2 ), which included a mainly kinetic-controlled process (t ≤ t 1 ), a transition from kinetic-mechanism to thermodynamic-mechanism (t 1 2 ) and pure thermodynamic-controlled process (t ≥ t 2 ).

Synthesis of Al-5Ti-1B Refiner by Melt Reaction Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LI He

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Al-5Ti-1B refiner was successfully prepared by melt reaction method. Through the thermodynamics calculation, the initial reaction temperature was determined. The influence of reaction temperature on microstructure and absorption rate of the alloy was investigated. The phase and microstructure of the alloy were observed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer. The Al-5Ti-1B refiner was extruded at high temperature to wire with the diameter of 9.5mm, and then the refinement experiment was carried out on pure aluminium. The results indicate that the refiner consists of TiB2, TiAl3 and α-Al, and the microstructure prepared at 850℃ is the optimum and the absorption rate of Ti and B matches the best. The TiAl3 and TiB2 phases distribute homogeneously in the matrix after extrusion. When adding 0.2%(mass fraction of Al-5Ti-1B refiner, the grain size of pure aluminium reduces from 3.99mm to 0.45mm.

Characterization of ultra-fine grained aluminum produced by accumulative back extrusion (ABE)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alihosseini, H.; Faraji, G.; Dizaji, A.F.; Dehghani, K.

2012-01-01

In the present work, the microstructural evolutions and microhardness of AA1050 subjected to one, two and three passes of accumulative back extrusion (ABE) were investigated. The microstructural evolutions were characterized using transmission electron microscopy. The results revealed that applying three passes of accumulative back extrusion led to significant grain refinement. The initial grain size of 47 μm was refined to the grains of 500 nm after three passes of ABE. Increasing the number of passes resulted in more decrease in grain size, better microstructure homogeneity and increase in the microhardness. The cross-section of ABEed specimen consisted of two different zones: (i) shear deformation zone, and (ii) normal deformation zone. The microhardness measurements indicated that the hardness increased from the initial value of 31 Hv to 67 Hv, verifying the significant microstructural refinement via accumulative back extrusion. - Highlights: ► A significant grain refinement can be achieved in AA1050, Al alloy by applying ABE. ► Microstructural homogeneity of ABEed samples increased by increasing the number of ABE cycles. ► A substantial increase in the hardness, from 31 Hv to 67 Hv, was recorded.

Microstructure and texture of a nano-grained complex Al alloy fabricated by accumulative roll-bonding of dissimilar Al alloys.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seong-Hee; Jeon, Jae-Yeol; Lee, Kwang-Jin

2013-01-01

An ultrafine grain (UFG) complex lamella aluminum alloy sheet was successfully fabricated by ARB process using AA1050 and AA6061. The lamella thickness of the alloy became thinner and elongated to the rolling direction with increasing the number of ARB cycles. By TEM observation, it is revealed that the aspect ratio of UFGs formed by ARB became smaller with increasing the number of ARB cycles. In addition, the effect of ARB process on the development of deformation texture at the quarter thickness of ARB-processed sheets was clarified. ARB process leaded to the formation of the rolling texture with shear texture and weak cube orientation. The subdivision of the grains to the rolling direction began to occur after 3 cycles of the ARB, resulting in formation of ultrafine grains with small aspect ratio. After 5 cycles, the ultrafine grained structure with the average grain diameter of 560 nm develops in almost whole regions of the sample.

Influence of grain size on the extraordinary Hall effect in magnetic granular alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Granovsky, Alexander B.; Kalitsov, Alan V.; Khanikaev, Alexander B.; Kioussis, Nicholas

2003-01-01

A quantum statistical theory of the influence of grain size on the residual extraordinary Hall effect (EHE) in magnetic metal-insulator granular alloys is presented. It is shown that under certain conditions the quasi-classical size-effect (QSE) can lead to similar behaviors of EHE in metal-metal and metal-insulator alloys. The possible dependences of EHE coefficient on the grain size and the role of the QSE in the giant EHE in nanocomposites are discussed

Influence of grain size on the extraordinary Hall effect in magnetic granular alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Granovsky, Alexander B. E-mail: granov@magn.ru; Kalitsov, Alan V.; Khanikaev, Alexander B.; Kioussis, Nicholas

2003-03-01

A quantum statistical theory of the influence of grain size on the residual extraordinary Hall effect (EHE) in magnetic metal-insulator granular alloys is presented. It is shown that under certain conditions the quasi-classical size-effect (QSE) can lead to similar behaviors of EHE in metal-metal and metal-insulator alloys. The possible dependences of EHE coefficient on the grain size and the role of the QSE in the giant EHE in nanocomposites are discussed.

Enhanced heterogeneous nucleation on oxides in Al alloys by intensive shearing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, H T; Wang, Y; Fan, Z

2012-01-01

Oxides, in liquid aluminium alloys, can cause severe difficulties during casting, contribute to the formation of cast defects and degrade the mechanical properties of cast components. In this paper, microstructural characteristics of naturally occurring oxides in the melts of commercial purity aluminium and Al-Mg binary alloys have been investigated. They are characterised by densely populated oxide particles within liquid oxide films. With intensive shearing, the particle agglomerates are dispersed into uniformly distributed individual particles. It was found that with intensive melt shearing, grain refinement of α-Al can be achieved by the dispersed oxide particles. The smaller lattice misfit between the oxide particles and the α-Al phase is characterised by a well defined crystallographic orientation relationship. And the mechanisms of grain refinement are discussed.

Multiscale Modeling of Grain Boundary Segregation and Embrittlement in Tungsten for Mechanistic Design of Alloys for Coal Fired Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luo, Jian; Tomar, Vikas; Zhou, Naixie; Lee, Hongsuk

2013-06-30

Based on a recent discovery of premelting-like grain boundary segregation in refractory metals occurring at high temperatures and/or high alloying levels, this project investigated grain boundary segregation and embrittlement in tungsten (W) based alloys. Specifically, new interfacial thermodynamic models have been developed and quantified to predict high-temperature grain boundary segregation in the W-Ni binary alloy and W-Ni-Fe, W-Ni-Ti, W-Ni-Co, W-Ni-Cr, W-Ni-Zr and W-Ni-Nb ternary alloys. The thermodynamic modeling results have been experimentally validated for selected systems. Furthermore, multiscale modeling has been conducted at continuum, atomistic and quantum-mechanical levels to link grain boundary segregation with embrittlement. In summary, this 3-year project has successfully developed a theoretical framework in combination with a multiscale modeling strategy for predicting grain boundary segregation and embrittlement in W based alloys.

Computer simulation of grain growth in HAZ

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Jinhua

Two different models for Monte Carlo simulation of normal grain growth in metals and alloys were developed. Each simulation model was based on a different approach to couple the Monte Carlo simulation time to real time-temperature. These models demonstrated the applicability of Monte Carlo simulation to grain growth in materials processing. A grain boundary migration (GBM) model coupled the Monte Carlo simulation to a first principle grain boundary migration model. The simulation results, by applying this model to isothermal grain growth in zone-refined tin, showed good agreement with experimental results. An experimental data based (EDB) model coupled the Monte Carlo simulation with grain growth kinetics obtained from the experiment. The results of the application of the EDB model to the grain growth during continuous heating of a beta titanium alloy correlated well with experimental data. In order to acquire the grain growth kinetics from the experiment, a new mathematical method was developed and utilized to analyze the experimental data on isothermal grain growth. Grain growth in the HAZ of 0.2% Cu-Al alloy was successfully simulated using the EDB model combined with grain growth kinetics obtained from the experiment and measured thermal cycles from the welding process. The simulated grain size distribution in the HAZ was in good agreement with experimental results. The pinning effect of second phase particles on grain growth was also simulated in this work. The simulation results confirmed that by introducing the variable R, degree of contact between grain boundaries and second phase particles, the Zener pinning model can be modified as${D/ r} = {K/{Rf}}$where D is the pinned grain size, r the mean size of second phase particles, K a constant, f the area fraction (or the volume fraction in 3-D) of second phase.

Microstructural response and grain refinement mechanism of commercially pure titanium subjected to multiple laser shock peening impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, J.Z.; Wu, L.J.; Sun, G.F.; Luo, K.Y.; Zhang, Y.K.; Cai, J.; Cui, C.Y.; Luo, X.M.

2017-01-01

The microstructural response and grain subdivision process in commercially pure (CP) titanium subjected to multiple laser shock peening (LSP) impacts were investigated by means of optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. The micro-hardness curves as a function of the impact time were also determined. The deformation-induced grain refinement mechanism of the close-packed hexagonal (hcp) material by laser shock wave was subsequently analyzed. Experimental results showed that uniform equiaxed grains with an average size of less than 50 nm were generated due to the ultra-high plastic strain induced by multiple LSP impacts. Special attention was paid to four types of novel deformation-induced microstructural features, including a layered slip band in the tension deformation zone, and inverse-transformation martensite, micro-twin grating and micro-twin collision in the compression deformation zone. Furthermore, the grain refinement mechanism in the near-surface layer of CP titanium subjected to multiple LSP impacts contains two types of simultaneous subdivision modes: multi-directional mechanical twin (MT)-MT intersections at (sub)micrometer scale, and the intersection between longitudinal secondary MTs and transverse dislocation walls at nanometer scale. In addition, both grain refinement (nanocrystallization) and the existence of a small amount of inverse-transformation martensite induced by multiple LSP impacts contribute to an increase in the micro-hardness of the near-surface layer.

Effect of molybdenum addition on aluminium grain refined by titanium on its metallurgical and mechanical characteristics in the as cast condition and after pressing by the equal angular channel process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaid, A. I. O.; Atieh, A. M.

2013-01-01

Aluminium and its alloys are versatile materials which are widely used in industrial and engineering applications due to their attractive characteristics. However, they solidify in columnar structure which tends to reduce their surface quality and mechanical strength. It is therefore, grain refined by grain refiners i.e. titanium or titanium+boron. The equal angular channel pressing, ECAP, process is a recent method for producing severe plastic deformation in materials. In this research work, the effect of addition of molybdenum either alone or in the presence of titanium to commercially pure aluminium on microstructure and mechanical behaviour is investigated in two conditions; first, in the as cast condition, and second after pressing by the ECAP process at room temperature. It was found that addition of Ti alone at a rate of 0.15 percentage weight to commercially pure Al resulted in grain refining of microstructure and a grain size of 91 meu m was obtained. However, after pressing by the ECAP process further refinement was achieved and the grain size was reduced to 18 meu m. Addition of Mo alone to aluminium at a rate of 0.1 percentage resulted in grain size of 76 meu m in the as cast condition and 32 meu m after pressing by the ECAP process. The combination of the two elements Ti and Mo together resulted in 48 meu m grain size in the as cast condition, compared to 40 meu m after pressing by the ECAP process. Furthermore, it was found that in the as cast condition: addition of Ti alone to Al resulted in enhancement of its mechanical behaviour by an increase of 5.2 percentage increase in its flow stress at 20 percentage true strain, whereas addition of Mo either alone or in the presence of Ti resulted in decrease of its flow stress at 20 percentage by 9 percentage and 5.6 percentage respectively. However, after pressing by ECAP: it was found that addition of Ti or Mo either alone or together to Al resulted in increase of its flow stress at 20 percentage strain by

Effect of molybdenum addition on aluminium grain refined by titanium on its metallurgical and mechanical characteristics in the as cast condition and after pressing by the equal angular channel process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaid, A I O; Atieh, A M

2014-01-01

Aluminium and its alloys are versatile materials which are widely used in industrial and engineering applications due to their attractive characteristics. However, they solidify in columnar structure which tends to reduce their surface quality and mechanical strength. It is therefore, grain refined by grain refiners i.e. titanium or titanium+boron. The equal angular channel pressing, ECAP, process is a recent method for producing severe plastic deformation in materials. In this research work, the effect of addition of molybdenum either alone or in the presence of titanium to commercially pure aluminium on microstructure and mechanical behaviour is investigated in two conditions; first, in the as cast condition, and second after pressing by the ECAP process at room temperature. It was found that addition of Ti alone at a rate of 0.15% weight to commercially pure Al resulted in grain refining of microstructure and a grain size of 91μm was obtained. However, after pressing by the ECAP process further refinement was achieved and the grain size was reduced to 18μm. Addition of Mo alone to aluminium at a rate of 0.1% resulted in grain size of 76μm in the as cast condition and 32μm after pressing by the ECAP process. The combination of the two elements Ti and Mo together resulted in 48μm grain size in the as cast condition, compared to 40μm after pressing by the ECAP process. Furthermore, it was found that in the as cast condition: addition of Ti alone to Al resulted in enhancement of its mechanical behaviour by an increase of 5.2% increase in its flow stress at 20% true strain, whereas addition of Mo either alone or in the presence of Ti resulted in decrease of its flow stress at 20% by 9% and 5.6% respectively. However, after pressing by ECAP: it was found that addition of Ti or Mo either alone or together to Al resulted in increase of its flow stress at 20 % strain by the following percentages 5.49, 4.74 and 10.3% respectively

Grain size refinement in nanocrystalline Hitperm-type glass-coated microwires

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Talaat, A.; Val, J.J. del; Zhukova, V.; Ipatov, M.; Klein, P.; Varga, R.; González, J.; Churyukanova, M.; Zhukov, A.

2016-01-01

We present a new-Fe 38.5 Co 38.5 B 18 Mo 4 Cu 1 Hitperm glass-coated microwires obtained by Taylor-Ulitovsky technique with nanocrystalline structure consisting of about 23 nm of BCC α-FeCo and an amorphous precursors in as-prepared samples. Annealing resulted in a considerable decrease of such nano-grains down to (11 nm). Obtained results are discussed in terms of the stress diffusion of limited crystalline growth and the chemical composition. Rectangular hysteresis loops have been observed on all annealed samples that are necessary conditions to obtain fast domain wall propagation. An enhancement of the domain wall velocity as well as mobility after annealing has been obtained due to the structural relaxation of such grains with positive magnetostriction. These structure benefits found in the nanocrystalline Hitperm glass-coated microwires are promising for developing optimal magnetic properties. - Highlights: • Grains size refinement upon annealing. • Enhancement of the domain wall velocity as well as mobility after annealing. • Nanocrystalline structure in as-prepared microwires.

Recent research and developments on wrought magnesium alloys

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sihang You

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Wrought magnesium alloys attract special interests as lightweight structural material due to their homogeneous microstructure and enhanced mechanical properties compared to as-cast alloys. In this contribution, recent research and developments on wrought magnesium alloys are reviewed from the viewpoint of the alloy design, focusing on Mg-Al, Mg-Zn and Mg-rare earth (RE systems. The effects of different alloying elements on the microstructure and mechanical properties are described considering their strengthening mechanisms, e.g. grain refinement, precipitation and texture hardening effect. Finally, the new alloy design and also the future research of wrought magnesium alloys to improve their mechanical properties are discussed.

The role of ultrasonic cavitation in refining the microstructure of aluminum based nanocomposites during the solidification process.

Science.gov (United States)

Xuan, Yang; Nastac, Laurentiu

2018-02-01

Recent studies showed that the microstructure and mechanical properties of aluminum based nanocomposites can be significantly improved when ultrasonic cavitation and solidification processing is used. This is because ultrasonic cavitation processing plays an important role not only in degassing and dispersion of the nanoparticles, but also in breaking up the dendritic grains and refining the as-cast microstructure. In the present study, A356 alloy and Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles are used as the matrix alloy and the reinforcement, respectively. Nanoparticles were added into the molten A356 alloy and dispersed via ultrasonic cavitation processing. Ultrasonic cavitation was applied over various temperature ranges during molten alloy cooling and solidification to investigate the grain structure formation and the nanoparticle dispersion behavior. Optical Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy were used to investigate in detail the differences in the microstructure characteristics and the nanoparticle distribution. Experimental results indicated that the ultrasonic cavitation processing and Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles play an important role for microstructure refinement. In addition, it was shown in this study that the Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles modified the eutectic phase. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigation of columnar-to-equiaxed transition in solidification processing of AlSi alloys in microgravity – The CETSOL project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zimmermann, G; Sturz, L; Billia, B; Mangelinck-Noël, N; Thi, H Nguyen; Gandin, Ch- A; Browne, D J; Mirihanage, W U

2011-01-01

Grain structures observed in most casting processes of metallic alloys are the result of a competition between the growth of several arrays of dendrites that develop under constrained and unconstrained conditions. Often this leads to a transition from columnar to equiaxed grain growth during solidification (CET). A microgravity environment results in suppression of buoyancy-driven melt flow and so enables growth of equiaxed grains free of sedimentation and buoyancy effects. This contribution presents first results obtained in experiments on-board the International Space Station (ISS), which were performed in the frame of the ESA-MAP programme CETSOL. Hypoeutectic aluminium-silicon alloys with and without grain refiners were processed successfully in a low gradient furnace (MSL-LGF). First analysis shows that in the non grain refined samples columnar dendritic growth exists, whereas CET is observed in the grain refined samples. From analysis of the thermal data and the grain structure the critical parameters for the temperature gradient and the cooling rate describing CET are determined. These data are used for initial numerical simulations to predict the position of the columnar-to-equiaxed transition and will form a unique database for calibration and further development of numerical CET-modeling.

Properties of grain boundaries in BCC iron and iron-based alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terentyev, D.; He, Xinfu

2010-01-01

The report contains a summary of work done within the collaboration established between SCK-CEN and CIEA, performed during the internship of Xinfu He (CIAE) in the period of September 2009 to June 2010. In this work, we have carried out an atomistic study addressing the properties of grain boundaries in BCC Fe and Fe-Cr alloys. Throughout this work we report on the structural and cohesive properties of grain boundaries; thermal stability; interaction of grain boundaries with He and diffusivity of He in the core of the grain boundaries; equilibrium segregation of Cr near the grain boundary zone; cleavage fracture of grain boundaries; influence of the Cr precipitates, voids and He bubbles on the structure and strength of grain boundaries.

Properties of grain boundaries in BCC iron and iron-based alloys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Terentyev, D.; He, Xinfu

2010-08-15

The report contains a summary of work done within the collaboration established between SCK-CEN and CIEA, performed during the internship of Xinfu He (CIAE) in the period of September 2009 to June 2010. In this work, we have carried out an atomistic study addressing the properties of grain boundaries in BCC Fe and Fe-Cr alloys. Throughout this work we report on the structural and cohesive properties of grain boundaries; thermal stability; interaction of grain boundaries with He and diffusivity of He in the core of the grain boundaries; equilibrium segregation of Cr near the grain boundary zone; cleavage fracture of grain boundaries; influence of the Cr precipitates, voids and He bubbles on the structure and strength of grain boundaries.