超细晶工业纯钛的变形、应变速率敏感性和激活体积

在温度为250~450 ℃、应变速率为1×10-4-1 s-1的条件下，对超细晶工业纯钛进行变速率压缩实验，计算超细晶工业纯钛的应变速率敏感性因子和激活体积，并研究超细晶工业纯钛的变形行为。研究结果表明：超细晶工业纯钛在稳态变形阶段存在流变软化效应，这是受变形过程中大角度晶界和位错活动所控制的。超细晶工业纯钛的应变速率敏感性因子和激活体积在数值上都相对较低，应变速率敏感性随着变形温度的升高而增加，但激活体积独立于变形温度。应变速率敏感性和激活体积的数值表明晶粒内部位错之间的交互作用几乎不发生，而位错与晶界之间的交互作用显著影响超细晶工业纯钛的塑性变形。     

Preparation of O′-Sialon-based ceramics by two-stage liquid phase sintering and study on the toughening mechanism of ultrafine-grained sintered clusters

Ultrafine-grained O′-Sialon-based ceramics were prepared by two-stage sintering at 1250 °C, with large particle GH4169 superalloy powder and nano Al₂O₃–Y₂O₃ as composite sintering aids. The effects of these aids on the densification, microstructure, and mechanical properties of O′-Sialon-based ceramics during two-stage sintering were also studied. Studies have shown that the densification process of O′-Sialon-based ceramics promoted by composite sintering additives, presents with the characteristics of two-stage liquid-phase sintering. In the first stage, GH4169 formed ultrafine-grained sintered clusters in the sintered material through liquid phase diffusion. In the second stage, the uniformly dispersed nano Al₂O₃–Y₂O₃ realized the uniform sintering of the material. In the fracture process, the ultrafine-grained sintered clusters hindered the crack propagation and promoted multiple deflections of the crack around the edge of the clusters, achieving the effect of crack deflection toughening. This effect, dominated by ultrafine-grained sintered clusters, significantly improved the fracture toughness of O′-Sialon-based ceramics up to 8.52 MPa m^1/2.     

Additive-free superhard B4C with ultrafine-grained dense microstructures

A unique combination of high-energy ball-milling, annealing, and spark-plasma sintering has been used to process superhard B₄C ceramics with ultrafine-grained, dense microstructures from commercially available powders, without sintering additives. It was found that the ultrafine powder prepared by high-energy ball-milling is hardly at all sinterable, but that B₂O₃ removal by gentle annealing in Ar provides the desired sinterability. A parametric study was also conducted to elucidate the role of the temperature (1600–1800 °C), time (1–9 min), and heating ramp (100 or 200 °C/min) in the densification and grain growth, and thus to identify optimal spark-plasma sintering conditions (i.e., 1700 °C for 3 min with 100 °C/min) to densify completely (>98.5%) the B₄C ceramics with retention of ultrafine grains (∼370 nm). Super-high hardness of ∼38 GPa without relevant loss of toughness (∼3 MPa m^1/2) was thus achieved, attributable to the smaller grain size and to the transgranular fracture mode of the B₄C ceramics.     

Effect of V content on microstructure and mechanical property of a TiVCuNiAl composite fabricated by spark plasma sintering

Ultrafine-grained (Ti₄₀Cu_22.9Ni_19.4Al_17.7)_x(Ti₈₀V₂₀)_1−x (x = 0.35 and 0.55) composites were fabricated by spark plasma sintering and crystallization of amorphous phase. Outstanding difference in microstructure and mechanical property is found for the two composites. Microstructure observation shows that the two composites all consist of body-centered cubic β-Ti and face-centered cubic (Cu, Ni)–Ti₂ regions but have opposite matrix and reinforcing phases. Meanwhile, mechanical property examination indicates that the composites for x = 0.35 exhibit far higher fracture strength and far larger fracture strain compared with the composites for x = 0.55 fabricated under the same parameter conditions. The different mechanical properties for the two composites can be explained by the different fracture mechanisms resulted from their different microstructures.     

Effect of ultrafine grain refinement on hydrogen embrittlement of metastable austenitic stainless steel

Micro-tensile tests were performed on high-pressure-torsion-processed specimens of type 304 steel with grain sizes in the range of 0.1–0.5 μm to clarify the effect of ultrafine grain refinement on the hydrogen embrittlement (HE) of metastable austenitic steel. The ultrafine-grained (UFG) specimens with average grain sizes < ～0.4 μm exhibited a limited uniform elongation followed by a steady-stress regime in the stress–strain curves, which was attributed to a martensitic transformation. A high yield stress and a moderate elongation to failure were attained for the UFG specimens with an average grain size of ～0.5 μm in the uncharged state. Hall–Petch relationships well hold between the yield stress and the average grain size for each uncharged and hydrogen-charged specimen. Hydrogen charging increased the friction stress by 40% but did not change the Hall–Petch coefficient. Hydrogen-induced ductility loss was mitigated by ultrafine grain refinement. Ductility loss due to hydrogen charging manifested in the local deformation after a martensitic transformation. This indicates that hydrogen does not significantly affect the martensitic transformation, but shortens the subsequent local deformation process.     

A comprehensive evaluation of parameters governing the cyclic stability of ultrafine-grained FCC alloys

The current paper presents results of a thorough experimental program undertaken to shed light onto the mechanisms dictating the cyclic stability in ultrafine-grained (UFG) alloys with a face-centered cubic structure. Cyclic deformation responses of several copper- and aluminum-based UFG alloys were investigated and the corresponding microstructural evolutions were analyzed with various microscopy techniques. The important finding is that a larger volume fraction of high-angle grain boundaries and solid solution hardening significantly improve the fatigue performance of these alloys at elevated temperatures and high strain rates, and under large applied strain amplitudes.     

Fabrication of ultrafine-grained alumina ceramics by two different fast sintering methods

The preparation of ultrafine-grained alumina ceramics by the fast sintering technique Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis plus Quick Pressing (SHS-QP) method and spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique was reported. The effects of different heating rates (SHS-QP-1600 °C/min, SPS-200 °C/min) on the preparation of ultrafine structure were compared. The densification and grain growth as a function of sintering time and temperature were discussed. Within a short sintering time (<3 min), the full-dense alumina with ultrafine-grained structure was obtained by SHS-QP at 1550 °C under 100 MPa. By SPS, the sintering temperature was lower (1200 °C) than that of SHS-QP. The differences in densification parameters were explained by analyzing the thermodynamics of sintering process.     

Elastoplastic stress–strain relationship of Si2N2O–Si3N4 ultrafine-grained ceramics based on microhardness test and finite element simulation

A method for obtaining the stress–strain relationship of ceramic materials was proposed on the basis of the relationship between the maximum load and the indentation size obtained by microhardness test. The microhardness testing process of Si₂N₂O–Si₃N₄ ultrafine-grained ceramics was simulated using ABAQUS finite element software. The stress–strain relationship curve of the material was obtained by repeatedly modifying and comparing the experimental and simulation results. The hardness testing principle and elastic–plastic theory were comprehensively applied in this work in accordance with the geometrical characteristics of the Vickers diamond indenter. The theoretical formula for calculating the stress–strain relationship of hard and brittle materials using microhardness experimental data combined with finite element simulation was deduced. The elastic–plastic area division principle for calculating yield stress was proposed. The accuracy of the theoretical formula was verified by comparing the theoretical and simulation results.