Post Deformation at Room and Cryogenic Temperature Cooling Media on Severely Deformed 1050-Aluminum

The annealed 1050-aluminum sheets were initially subjected to the severe plastic deformation through two passes of constrained groove pressing (CGP) process. The obtained specimens were post-deformed by friction stir processing at room and cryogenic temperature cooling media. The microstructure evolutions during mentioned processes in terms of grain structure, misorientation distribution, and grain orientation spread (GOS) were characterized using electron backscattered diffraction. The annealed sample contained a large number of “recrystallized” grains and relatively large fraction (78%) of high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs). When CGP process was applied on the annealed specimen, the elongated grains with interior substructure were developed, which was responsible for the formation of 80% low-angle grain boundaries. The GOS map of the severely deformed specimen manifested the formation of 43% “distorted” and 51% “substructured” grains. The post deformation of severely deformed aluminum at room temperature led to the increase in the fraction of HAGBs from 20 to 60%. Also, it gave rise to the formation of “recrystallized” grains with the average size of 13 μm, which were coarser than the grains predicted by Zener–Hollomon parameter. This was attributed to the occurrence of appreciable grain growth during post deformation. In the case of post deformation at cryogenic temperature cooling medium, the grain size was decreased, which was in well agreement with the predicted grain size. The cumulative distribution of misorientation was the same for both processing routes. Mechanical properties characterizations in terms of nano-indentation and tensile tests revealed that the post deformation process led to the reduction in hardness, yield stress, and ultimate tensile strength of the severely deformed aluminum.     

Effects of Neodymium and Calcium on the Thermal Stability of AZ71 Magnesium Alloys

The effects of an addition of 0–2 wt% Nd on thermal stability of 0–3 wt% Ca-containing modified AZ71 magnesium alloys was investigated. The ignition temperature was found to increase from that of AZ71, 574, to 825 °C with the addition of 0.5 wt% Ca and 1 wt% Nd. The ignition temperature was further increased to 1114 °C when 3 wt% Ca was added. The Ca- and Nd-added AZ71 was isothermally maintained at a temperature of 500 °C in air for 12 h. The MgO–CaO–Nd₂O₃ formed on the surface to improve the thermal stability of the AZ71–xCa–yNd alloys. While both the tensile strength and ductility decreased with the Ca concentration in the alloy, an addition of 1 wt% Nd was found able to alleviate the degradation effects of Ca on the tensile strength and ductility at 170 °C. Both solid solution formation and precipitation strengthening contributed to the increase in toughness. AZ71 containing 0.5–2 wt% Ca and 1 wt% Nd provides the optimum combination of ignition resistance and mechanical properties.     

First Principle and Experimental Study for Site Preferences of Formability Improved Alloying Elements in Mg Crystal

Some alloying elements (Al, Er, Gd, Li, Mn, Sn, Y, Zn) were proved recently by calculations or experiments to improve the formability of Mg alloys, but ignoring their site preference in Mg crystals during the calculated process. A crystallographic model was built via first principle calculations to predict the site preferences of these elements. Regularities between doping elements and site preferences were summarized. Meanwhile, in the basis of the crystallographic model, a series of formulas were deduced combining the diffraction law. It predicted that a crystal plane with abnormal XRD peak intensity of the Mg-based solid solutions, compared to that of the pure Mg, prefers to possess solute atoms. Thus, three single-phase solid solution alloys were then prepared through an original In-situ Solution Treatment, and their XRD patterns were compared. Finally, the experiment further described the site preferences of these solute atoms in Mg crystal, verifying the calculation results.     

Matrix Transformation in Boron Containing High-Temperature Co–Re–Cr Alloys

An addition of boron largely increases the ductility in polycrystalline high-temperature Co–Re alloys. Therefore, the effect of boron on the alloy structural characteristics is of high importance for the stability of the matrix at operational temperatures. Volume fractions of ε (hexagonal close-packed—hcp), γ (face-centered cubic—fcc) and σ (Cr₂Re₃ type) phases were measured at ambient and high temperatures (up to 1500 °C) for a boron-containing Co–17Re–23Cr alloy using neutron diffraction. The matrix phase undergoes an allotropic transformation from ε to γ structure at high temperatures, similar to pure cobalt and to the previously investigated, more complex Co–17Re–23Cr–1.2Ta–2.6C alloy. It was determined in this study that the transformation temperature depends on the boron content (0–1000 wt. ppm). Nevertheless, the transformation temperature did not change monotonically with the increase in the boron content but reached a minimum at approximately 200 ppm of boron. A probable reason is the interplay between the amount of boron in the matrix and the amount of σ phase, which binds hcp-stabilizing elements (Cr and Re). Moreover, borides were identified in alloys with high boron content.     

Effects of Solution Treatment Temperatures on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of TIG–MIG Hybrid Arc Additive Manufactured 5356 Aluminum Alloy

A novel additive manufacturing method with TIG–MIG hybrid heat source was applied for fabricating 5356 aluminum alloy component. In this paper the microstructure evolution, mechanical properties and fracture morphologies of both as-deposited and heat-treated component were investigated, and how these were affected by different heat-treated temperature. The as-deposited microstructure showed dominant equiaxed grains with second phase, and the size of them is coarse in the bottom region, medium in the middle region and fine in the top region owing to different thermal cycling conditions. Compared with as-deposited microstructure, the size of grain becomes large and second phases gradually dissolve in the matrix as heat-treated temperature increase. Different microstructures determine the mechanical properties of component. Results show that average ultimate tensile strength enhances from 226 to 270 MPa and average microhardness increases from 64.2 to 75.3 HV0.1 but ductility decreases from 33 to 6.5% with heat-treated temperature increasing. For all components, the tensile properties are almost the same in the vertical direction (Z) and horizontal direction (Y) due to equiaxed grains, which exhibits isotropy, and the mechanisms of these are analyzed in detailed. In general, the results demonstrate that hybrid arc heat source has the potential to fabricate aluminum alloy component.     

Reducing resistance and curing temperature of silver pastes containing nanowires

Low temperature silver pastes can be widely applied on thin-film switch, flexible printing line and touch screen. In this article, we investigated printability and conductivity of silver pastes with silver wires of different diameters and content, and the conductivity of the silver pastes cured at different temperatures filled with different types silver powders and silver wires. The sheet resistance of silver pastes cured at 100 °C with Ag1 powders and Ag2 powders filled with 10 wt% silver wires of 100 nm diameters is 21.93?±?1.63 and 23.16?±?1.44 Ω/□, which is lower than the same samples cured at 135 °C without silver wire fillers. Tap density of Ag1 and Ag2 powders mixed with silver nanowires is higher than that of Ag3 powders mixed with nanowires, due to a higher filling ratio of Ag1 and Ag2 powders with silver nanowires. SEM results show silver pastes filled with Ag1 and Ag2 powders formed network when silver nanowires were added.     

Oscillation Transition Routes of Buoyant-Thermocapillary Convection in Annular Liquid Layers

There are various oscillation transition routes of buoyant-thermocapillary convection in an annular liquid layer. Three types of transition routes including quasi-periodic bifurcation, period-doubling bifurcation and tangent bifurcation have been observed. In our ground experiments, the depth of liquid layer is in a range of 1.6–2.4 mm. The silicone oil with Prandtl number of 28.6 is selected as the liquid medium. The temperature oscillation is detected by a single-point temperature measuring system and the surface oscillation is measured by a laser displacement-sensor with high resolution. The step-heating mode is adopted in the experiments. Transition routes of temperature oscillation and surface oscillation are studied systematically, and the relationship between them is discussed, too.     

Electrolytic synthesis of TiC/SiC nanocomposites from high titanium slag in molten salt

The molten salt electrolytic method for the preparation of titanium carbide and silicon carbide composites has been subjected to a systematic investigation by experimental analyses and thermodynamic calculations. It has been confirmed that the electrolysis of high titanium slag in the presence of mixed graphite powders generates intermediates CaTiO₃, Ti₂O₃, TiO, Fe₃Si and objective carbonous products TiC/SiC. It has been furthermore found that the deoxidization process depends critically on a number of process parameters, namely, electrolyte composition, graphitic regime, reaction temperature, cell voltage and reaction time. After careful optimization of these parameters, TiC/SiC nanocomposites with particle sizes of 10–174 nm has been produced by electrolysis of high titanium slag and graphite mixtures in molar ratio of 1:2 referred to Ti:C under 3.2 V at 900 °C for 6 h in 1 mol%CaO-CaCl₂-NaCl molten salt and with particle sizes of 12 nm~207 nm in 1 mol%CaO-CaCl₂ electrolyte.     

Carbon content-dependent microstructures,surface characteristics and thermal stability of mechanical alloying derived SiBCN powders

Three types of SiBCN: carbon-lean, -moderate and -rich powders with the same Si/B/N mole ratio were subjected to high-energy ball milling to yield an amorphous structure. The effects of carbon content on microstructures, solid-state amorphization, surface characteristics and thermal stability of the as-milled powders were studied in detail. Results showed that the increases in carbon content can drive solid-state amorphization accompanied by strain-induced, crystallite refinement-induced and/or chemical composition-induced nucleation of nano-SiC from an amorphous body. The specific surface area increases as carbon content increases. The amorphous networks of Si–C, C–B/C–C, C–N, B–N and C–B–N bonds that compose the amorphous nature, but the species and contents of the chemical bonds are carbon content-dependent. Carbon-moderate powders possess satisfying thermal stability while carbon-rich ones perform the worst. Mechanical alloying derived SiBCN powders have outstanding oxidation resistance below 800 °C; however only carbon-moderate powders show desirable anti-oxidation ability at higher temperatures. Thus, mechanical alloying of SiBCN appears a suitable technique for developing amorphous matrix materials for practical applications.     

Ablation behavior and mechanism of boron nitride - magnesium aluminum silicate ceramic composites in an oxyacetylene combustion flame

In the present study, ablation behavior and properties of BN-MAS (magnesium aluminum silicate) composites impinged with an oxyacetylene flame at temperatures up to 3100 °C were investigated. As ablation time ranged from 5 to 30 s, the mass and linear ablation rates increased from 0.0027 g/s and 0.001 mm/s to 0.0254 g/s and 0.087 mm/s, respectively. A SiO₂-rich protective oxide layer formed during the ablation process, which contributed to the oxidation resistance of the composites. Ablation products mainly consisted of magnesium-aluminum borosilicate glass, mullite, spinel and indialite. The thermal oxidation of h-BN during flame ablation and scouring of MAS by high-speed gas flow were the main ablation mechanisms.