Investigation on the effect of friction stir processing on the superplastic forming of AZ31B alloy

Superplastic forming has now become conventional for forming complex parts from sheet metals. In many superplastically formed aerospace components, only a selective region undergoes superplastic forming. In those cases, instead of selecting a material exhibiting superplastic properties, a light weight and low cost material can be chosen and its microstructure can be modified locally by the Friction Stir Processing (FSP) technique. In this work, AZ31B magnesium alloy is chosen, and friction stir processing is performed by varying the process parameters, such as tool axial force, tool traversing speed and tool rotational speed. The process parameter that produced equiaxed grains in the stirred zone with a grain size less than 10 μm is selected. With this parameter, single pass FSP, multiple pass FSP without overlapping and multiple pass FSP with overlapping are performed on the AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets and their superplastic behaviour was examined. Also the theoretical modelling was carried out to determine the strain rate sensitivity for the friction stir processed AZ31B magnesium alloy and for the nonprocessed AZ31B magnesium alloy. It is found that the strain rate sensitivity for the friction stir processed component has increased, when compared to the base metal.     

THE EFFECT OF GRAIN SIZE ON FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH IN AN ALUMINIUM MAGNESIUM ALLOY

Abstract Fully reversed uniaxial fatigue tests were performed on aluminium magnesium alloy Al 5754 with four different grain sizes in order that the effect of grain size on fatigue crack growth could be examined. Surface cracks were monitored by a plastic replication technique. Fatigue strength was shown to improve with a decrease in grain size. The endurance stress is a function of the inverse square root of the grain size and is described empiricdty by a Hall-Petch type relation. The effect of grain size on fatigue crack growth is most significant when the crack length is of the order of the microstructure. Fluctuations in the growth rate of microstructurally short cracks are most marked in a fine grained microstructure and may be related to the need to transfer slip to adjacent grains. Crack path deviation is greatest in the coarsest grained microstructure and SEM fractography reveals a more pronounced crack surface roughness in the coarser grained alloy than in the finer grained alloy.     

Application of superplasticity in commercial magnesium alloy for fabrication of structural components

Abstract

An investigation of the superplastic characteristics of magnesium alloys with several grain sizes revealed that grain boundary sliding took place more easily with grain refinement. The required grain size for high strain rate superplastic forming was estimated to be ～2 µm. The required grain structure could be obtained by several procedures, hot extrusion with a high extrusion ratio, severe plastic deformation via equal channel angular extrusion, consolidation of machined chip, and/or powder metallurgy processing of rapidly solidified powders, on a laboratory scale. The processing route of hot extrusion was selected in this study. An experimental study of superplastic press forming was conducted for a commercially extruded ZK60 alloy. The fabricated product did not essentially contain macroscopic defects, i.e. cracks or cavities. From an examination of tensile characteristics, it was found that the post-formed alloy exhibited higher strength and higher ductility compared with some conventional cast magnesium alloys, aluminium alloys, and steels. The experimental results support the possibility of using superplastically formed magnesium to produce structural components.     

Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of back-extruded Al 7075 alloy in the semi-solid state

The thixoforming process is a new method for manufacturing complicated and net shape components through which high strength materials can be formed more easily. In this study 7075 Al alloy which has low extrudability has been thixoformed by backward extrusion process. The recrystallisation and partial melting (RAP) route was used to obtain the semi-solid feedstocks for thixoforming. Microstructural evolution during partial remelting was studied at temperatures for times. Results showed that a fine and globular microstructure can be obtained by the RAP route. The results showed that high semisolid isothermal temperature would increase the liquid volume fraction and accelerate the spherical processing of the solid particles. Furthermore at long holding time, the globular grains coarsened slightly and the average grains size are increased. The experimental results showed that when the semisolid billet is hold at 580°C with the holding time, less than 30 min, the microstructure of the billet is composed of spherical grains and remnant liquids, the average grain size are smaller than 100 μm. So the remelted billet is suitable for thixoforming. In this paper, a back-extruding of 7075 Al alloy with a high solid fraction in the semi-solid state at 580°C for 10 min was performed. Mechanical properties of thixoformed components at room temperature were examined. Tempering treatment T6 has been applied after thixoforming to investigate the effects of heat treatment on mechanical properties of thixoformed parts. The tensile properties and low hardness values in the as-thixoformed 7075 Al alloy were improved by subsequent heat treatment. Post-forming heat treatment is one of the key parameters for improving the mechanical properties of thixoformed parts.     

Superplastische Eigenschaften einer konventionellen AM20‐Magnesiumlegierung

Superplastic Characteristics of a Conventional AM20 Magnesium Alloy Despite the increasing interest of the industry in lightweight materials during the last years, an intensive industrial use of magnesium based alloys due to the their restricted cold‐workability caused by the hexagonal lattice is still very limited. Considering this limitation a solution is provided by the superplastic forming of magnesium based alloys which, in contrast to other types of materials, is neither metallurgically developed nor process optimized. A very promising step is the extrusion of the conventional AM20 magnesium alloy followed by controlled cooling of the extruded material in order to reduce the grain growth caused by secondary recrystallisation are suitable means to produce a fine grained microstructure. After a short presentation of the theoretical background and methods to determine the superplastic characteristics, the strongly improved material properties of the AM20 magnesium alloy are revealed by increased m‐values and higher elongation‐to‐fracture‐values (ε_max = 550%) determined by tensile tests at constant strain rates.     

Tensile properties of friction stir welded and friction stir welded-superplastically formed Ti–6Al–4V butt joints

A University and Industry collaborative research project was undertaken to evaluate the performance of as friction stir welded (FSW) and friction stir welded-superplastically formed Ti–6Al–4V alloy sheets. The purpose of this particular effort was to evaluate the tensile properties of friction stir welded and superplastically formed friction stir welded Ti–6Al–4V. Welds were produced out of both standard grain and fine grained titanium and tested in the as welded, stress relieved (SR) and superplastically formed (SPF) conditions. The preliminary results of the FSW and post FSW–SPF joint were found to be close to that of as received titanium with respect to strength, but elongations were decreased.     

Mechanical behavior and wear characteristics of fine grained ZE41 magnesium alloy

ZE41 magnesium alloy was successfully produced by friction stir processing and grain refinement was achieved from a starting size of 107 μm±6.7 μm to 3.5 μm±1.5 μm. MgZn intermetallic which was appeared as network like structure at the grain boundaries before friction stir processing was greatly affected due to the severe plastic deformation and broken as small particles as observed from the microstructural studies. Higher hardness (≈30 %) was measured for the fine grained ZE41 magnesium alloy compared with the base alloy due to the grain refinement. From the tensile tests, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength was significantly increased at the cost of decreased ductility reflected in lower strain for the fine grained ZE41 compared with the base alloy. Wear studies showed higher coefficient of friction and lower mass loss for the grain refined ZE41 magnesium alloy. From the results, it can be understood that the grain refinement achieved by friction stir processing has a profound influence on enhancing the mechanical and tribological properties of ZE41 magnesium alloy.     

Superplastic Forming of an Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr Alloy Using Various Forming Paths

A series of experiments were performed by use of various forming paths during superplastic forming of an Al-Li based alloy. A fully recrystallized Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy could be formed superplastically using paths of either a constant or a variable strain rate. The distribution of thickness along the formed sheet was confirmed by the results as being not much sensitive to the forming paths. The uniformity of the formed part affected the microstructural characteristics; the grain size was larger in regions at which the plastic deformation was larger, an effect was believed due to strain-induced grain growth. Static growth of grain showed little effect on an Al-Li based alloy during superplastic forming. The strain-induced grain growth influenced the distribution of grain size, resulting in cavitation occurring in the regions of large grain size. A two-step variable forming path could reduce cavitation in the formed part.     

Structure and properties of AA3003 alloy produced by accumulative roll bonding process

The investigation of the microstructure and mechanical properties has been conducted on AA3003 alloy produced by a novel intense plastic straining process named accumulativev roll-bonding (ARB). The results show that ultra-fine grained 3003 alloy having mean grain size of 700–800 nm was successfully produced by the 250°C-ARB. The average grain sizes of 250°C-ARB samples were reduced greatly from about 10.2 m initially to 700–800 nm. After 6 cycles of ARB, the whole volume of the material was filled with ultra-fine grains with high angle boundaries. The tensile strength of the ARB processed 3003 alloy (after 6 cycles) is considerably higher than that of the initial material, and about 1.5 times higher than that of commercially available fully-hardened (H18) 3003 alloy. Strengthening in ARB processed 3003 alloy may be attributed to strain hardening and grain refinement hardening.     

Development of ultrafine grained high strength age hardenable Al 7075 alloy by cryorolling

High strength age hardenable Al 7XXX series alloys are difficult to process by many of the severe plastic deformation processes at room temperature. The Al 7075 alloy has been processed at cryogenic temperature and room temperature up to different rolling strains, in the present work, with the objective of developing a processing strategy to obtain ultrafine grained microstructure with enhanced mechanical properties in the alloy. It has been identified that the Al 7075 alloy samples can be successfully cryorolled to higher strains (up to 3.4) if the reduction per pass is less than 0.3 mm, however it was found to be difficult to deform the samples at room temperature. A cryorolling strain of 3.4 has been found to be desirable for producing the ultrafine grained Al 7075 alloys with the high angle grain boundaries. However, the subgrains are not recrystallized up to this strain in the case of room temperature rolled Al alloys. The strength and hardness of the cryorolled Al 7075 alloy samples are higher than that of the room temperature rolled samples as observed in the present work. The improved strength and hardness of cryorolled samples are due to the grain size effect and higher dislocation density. The reduction in dimple size of cryorolled Al 7075 alloy upon failure confirms the grain refinement and strain hardening mechanism operating in the heavily deformed samples.     

A strategy for creating ultrafine-grained microstructure in magnesium alloy sheets

An Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy with fully recrystallized microstructure and a mean grain size of 1 μm has been produced by high-ratio differential speed rolling under the condition that the cold sheet is subjected to rolling with hot rolls preheated to 473 K, resulting in a total thickness reduction of 68% after two-step rolling. No surface or internal cracks were developed. The microstructure was homogenous along the thickness direction. A bimodal grain size distribution was obtained in which approximately 40% of the grains were ultrafine with submicron size coexisting with other grains with a size of several microns. The proposed processing method holds great potential for continuous production of ultrafine-grained magnesium alloy sheets.     

Effect of the grain refinement via severe plastic deformation on strength properties and deformation behavior of an Al6061 alloy at room and cryogenic temperatures

A coarse-grained (CG) Al6061 alloy after solution treatment is subjected to high pressure torsion at room temperature resulting in the formation of a homogeneous ultra-fine grained (UFG) microstructure with average grain size of 170 nm. Tensile tests are performed at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures for both CG and UFG conditions. Analysis of the surface relief of the tested specimens is performed. The effect of microstructure on the mechanical properties and on the deformation behavior of the material is discussed.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of ultrafine grain ZK60 alloy processed by equal channel angular pressing

The microstructure evolution and tensile properties of ZK60 magnesium alloy after equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) have been investigated. The results show that the two-step ECAP process is more effective in grain refinement than the single-step ECAP process due to the lower deformation temperature, a mean grain size of ~0.8 μm was obtained after two-step ECAP process at 513 K for four passes and 453 K for four passes. The EBSD examination reveals that ZK60 alloy after two-step ECAP process exhibits a more homogeneous grain size and misorientation distribution than single-step ECAP process. Both alloys after ECAP process present similar strong {0002} texture. The tensile strength of two-step ECAP alloy has also been improved compared with the single-step ECAP alloy. The strengthening effect was mainly ascribed to grain refinement.     

Effect of grain size on mechanical property and corrosion resistance of the Ni-based alloy 690

Mechanical property of coarse grained and nano/ultrafine grained alloy 690 and their corrosion resistance after immersion in high temperature borate buffer solution were investigated. The grain refinement significantly enhances the tensile strength of the alloy 690. In addition, the grain refinement facilitates the formation of the deformation twin which improves the ductility of the alloy 690. It has been found that the grain refinement promotes to form more Cr₂O₃ on the surface of the alloy 690 in high temperature borate buffer solution. At the same time, the grain refinement inhibits the formation of spinel type oxides. More hematite type oxides formed on nano/ultrafine grained alloy 690 improves its corrosion resistance in borate buffer solution. The hematite type oxides have a lower concentration of point defect than that of the spinel type oxides, which results in an excellent corrosion resistance of nano/ultrafine grained alloy 690. These results are supported by the Mott-Schottky analysis and the point defect model.     

Effect of Ca, RE elements and semi-solid processing on the microstructure and creep properties of AZ91 alloy

The effects of calcium and rare earth elements (RE) on the microstructure and creep properties of as-cast and thixoformed AZ91 magnesium alloy have been investigated. It has been shown that the amount of β(Mg₁₇Al₁₂) intermetallic compound decreases by adding Ca and RE elements into AZ91 alloy and new Al₁₁RE₃ and Al₂Ca intermetallic compounds form in the microstructure. The coarsening of primary α(Mg) particles in AZ91 alloy and in the Ca and RE containing (AZRC91) alloy takes place by Ostwald ripening mechanism. Adding Ca and RE elements into AZ91 alloy results in a decrease in the coarsening rate of solid particles in semi-solid slurry, whereas it has no visible effect on the shape factor of the solid-particles. The creep properties of AZ91 alloy are improved by adding Ca and RE elements particularly, in the thixoformed condition.     

Mg／MmNi5—x（CoAlMn）x复合储氢合金的机械合金化制备

用高能球磨法制备了Ｍｇ／ＭｍＮｉ５－ｘ（ＣｏＡｌＭｎ）ｘ纳米晶复合储氢材料,通过对不同成分和球磨条件所得到的样品的组织结构进行Ｘ射线衍射,扫描电镜,能谱分析,获得了球磨参数对所制备的复合储氢合金组织结构的影响规律及所得组织的特点,结果表明,经过一定时间的球磨后的Ｍｇ／ＭｍＮｉ５－ｘ（ＣｏＡｌＭｎ）ｘ形成团粒组织,根据Ｘ射线衍射的结果估算了不同球磨条件及成分的复粉中的各相的晶粒尺寸其变化。     

Formation of ultrafine grained microstructure in the austenitic stainless steel and its impact on tensile properties

Commercial grade AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel was heavily cold rolled to 90% of thickness reduction. The cold rolled material was subjected to repetitive annealing treatment for short duration of 45-60 s at various temperatures. The microstructure of the cold rolled and after annealing was studied by optical as well as transmission electron microscope. The microstructural examination of the specimens after repetitive annealing process revealed the formation of ultrafine grain size microstructure. It was also noted that depending on the processing condition the grain size distribution varied widely. The tensile testing of the annealed specimen showed that the yield strength increased by 4-5 times that of the coarse grained material. However, a loss in the strain hardening ability was observed in these specimens. A good combination of yield strength and ductility for ultrafine grained stainless steel as compared to the coarse grained material could be obtained by the optimization of the microstructure.     

Effects of Ca combined with Sr additions on microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ91D magnesium alloy

Abstract

Weight reduction to improve automobile fuel economy has triggered renewed interest in magnesium. The effects of Ca/Sr separate and composite additions to AZ91D magnesium alloy on its microstructure and mechanical properties have been investigated. The results indicate Ca can refine both the grain and eutectic phase of AZ91D magnesium alloy. Sr hampers microstructure refinement when composite Ca/Sr additions are made. In addition, separate Ca additions to AZ91D magnesium alloy increase yield strength but decrease elongation of this alloy. By adjusting the Ca/Sr composite proportions, additions to AZ91D magnesium alloy are able to improve both microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloy.     

The effect of microstructure on the morphology of fatigue cracks in UDIMET® 720

The low cycle fatigue (LCF) behaviour of four variants of UDIMET^® 720 was investigated. The materials comprised a fine grained (approximately 10 μm), powder processed material with a fine bimodal distribution (～20 and 80 nm) of secondary γ′; the same material, but with enlarged secondary γ′ (～480 nm); a coarse grained powder processed material (grain size ～62 μm) and finally a cast and wrought material with a similar microstructural scale to the fine grained powder processed alloy, but with reduced interstitial element content. LCF testing was undertaken on corner notched square section specimens at 20, 300 and 600 °C with a frequency of 0.25 Hz, a cyclic stress range of 500 MPa and an R ratio of +0.1. At 20 and 600 °C fracture was found to be macroscopically flat for all materials. However, at 300 °C, significant shear fracture was observed in the two materials that had a fine grain size and a fine secondary γ′ size, leading to a characteristic ‘tear‐drop’ appearance. Only minor shear fracture was observed in the coarse grained and enlarged secondary γ′ materials. Tensile tests indicated that weak dynamic strain ageing occurred in all materials at 300 °C. The fine grained powder processed U720 also exhibited dynamic strain ageing at 600 °C, but this was not the case for the coarse grained or cast and wrought materials. The origin of the shear fracture are discussed and related to the microstructure.