Phase constitution,microstructure and mechanical properties of a Ni-based superalloy specially designed for additive manufacturing

In this study, a kind of Ni-based superalloy specially designed for additive manufacturing (AM) was investigated. Thermo-Calc simulation and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis were used to determine phases and their transformation temperature. Experimental specimens were prepared by laser metal deposition (LMD) and traditional casting method. Microstructure, phase constitution and mechanical properties of the alloy were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission scanning electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and tensile tests. The results show that this alloy contains two basic phases, γ/γ', in addition to these phases, at least two secondary phases may be present, such as MC carbides and Laves phases. Furthermore, the as-deposited alloy has finer dendrite, its mean primary dendrite arm space (PDAS) is about 30-45 μm, and the average size of γ' particles is 100-150 nm. However, the dendrite size of the as-cast alloy is much larger and its PDAS is 300-500 μm with secondary and even third dendrite arms. Correspondingly, the alloy displays different tensile behavior with different processing methods, and the as-deposited specimen shows better ultimate tensile stress (1,085.7±51.7 MPa), yield stress (697±19.5 MPa) and elongation (25.8%±2.2%) than that of the as-cast specimen. The differences in mechanical properties of the alloy are due to the different morphology and size of dendrites, γ', and Laves phase, and the segregation of elements, etc. Such important information would be helpful for alloy application as well as new alloy development.     

Methods and mechanisms for uniformly refining deformed mixed and coarse grains inside a solution-treated Ni-based superalloy by two-stage heat treatment

The uniform refinement mechanisms and methods of deformed mixed and coarse grains inside a solution-treatment Ni-based superalloy during two-stage annealing treatment have been investigated.The two-stage heat treatment experiments include an aging annealing treatment(AT)and a subsequent recrystallization annealing treatment(RT).The object of AT is to precipitate some δ phases and consume part of storage energy to inhibit the grain growth during RT,while the RT is to refine mixed and coarse grains by recrystallization.It can be found that the recrystallization grains will quickly grow up to a large size when the AT time is too low or the RT temperature is too high,while the deformed coarse grains cannot be eliminated when the AT time is too long or the RT temperature is too low.In addition,the mixed microstructure composed of some abnormal coarse recrystallization grains(ACRGs)and a large number of fine grains can be observed in the annealed specimen when the AT time is 3 h and RT tem-perature is 980℃.The phenomenon attributes to the uneven distribution of δ phase resulted from the heterogeneous deformation energy when the AT time is too short.In the regions with a large number of δ phases,the recrystallization nucleation rate is promoted and the growth of grains is limited,which results in fine grains.However,in the regions with few δ phases,the recrystallization grains around grain boundaries can easily grow up,and the new recrystallization nucleus is difficult to form inside grain,which leads to ACRGs.Thus,in order to obtain uniform and fine annealed microstructure,it is a prereq-uisite to precipitate even-distributed δ phase by choosing a suitable AT time,such as 12 h.Moreover,a relative high RT temperature is also needed to promote the recrystallization nucleation around δ phase.The optimal annealing parameters range for uniformly refining mixed crystal can be summarized as:900℃×12 h+990℃×(40-60 min)and 900℃×12 h+1000℃×(10-15 min).     

Hydrogen production enhancement using hot gas cleaning system combined with prepared Ni-based catalyst in biomass gasification

This paper investigates the hot gas temperature effect on enhancing hydrogen generation and minimizing tar yield using zeolite and prepared Ni-based catalysts in rice straw gasification. Results obtained from this work have shown that increasing hot gas temperature and applying catalysts can enhance energy yield efficiency. When zeolite catalyst and hot gas temperature were adjusted from 250 °C to 400 °C, H₂ and CO increased slightly from 7.31% to 14.57%–8.03% and 17.34%, respectively. The tar removal efficiency varies in the 70%–90% range. When the zeolite was replaced with prepared Ni-based catalysts and hot gas cleaning (HGC) operated at 250 °C, H₂ contents were significantly increased from 6.63% to 12.24% resulting in decreasing the hydrocarbon (tar), and methane content. This implied that NiO could promote the water-gas shift reaction and CH₄ reforming reaction. Under other conditions in which the hot gas temperature was 400 °C, deactivated effects on prepared Ni-based catalyst were observed for inhibiting syngas and tar reduction in the HGC system. The prepared Ni-based catalyst worked at 250 °C demonstrate higher stability, catalyst activity, and less coke decomposition in dry reforming. In summary, the optimum catalytic performance in syngas production and tar elimination was achieved when the catalytic temperature was 250 °C in the presence of prepared Ni-based catalysts, producing 5.92 MJ/kg of lower heating value (LHV) and 73.9% tar removal efficiency.     

Fabrication of an electrolyte-supported protonic ceramic fuel cell with nano-sized powders of Ni-composite anode

Composite anodes of nano-sized Ni and Ba(Zr_0.85Y_0.15)O_3-δ (BZY) were fabricated by infiltrating a single precursor solution of BZY and Ni into the BZY scaffold, and decreasing the calcination temperature to 1173 K. This decrease in the fabrication temperature of the Ni-cermet anode prevents the chemical reaction between the electrolyte and nickel, thus preventing a reduction in the conductivity of the electrolyte. By optimizing the amount of Ni in the Ni-cermet and infiltrating additional catalysts such as CeO₂ and Pd, the non-ohmic ASR of the Ni-cermet anode could be optimized. This resulted in a smaller non-ohmic ASR of anode than one that was fabricated by the conventional co-sintering method. Consequently, a high power density of 790 mW/cm² at 973 K can be obtained from electrolyte-supported cells.     

Perovskite materials for highly efficient catalytic CH4 fuel reforming in solid oxide fuel cell

SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell, SOFC) is recognized to be efficient green energy technology in the 21st century. However, when hydrocarbons are directly used as fuel, carbon deposition is easy to occur in Ni-based anode, thus losing electrochemical catalytic activity. Fuel pre-reforming is also called on-cell reforming of hydrocarbons, which has been a promising solution for alleviating the carbon deposition problem in cermet anodes to varying degrees. And the key factor is to find an efficient and stable fuel reforming catalyst. Perovskite oxides have stable structure, highly catalytic activity and adjustable thermal expansion coefficient for using on the cells, showing great potentials of application for fuel reforming. In this paper, we summarize the application of perovskite catalyst in CH₄ fuel reforming based on the research of our group and other scholars, and puts forward the corresponding views and perspective, especially in perovskite catalyst with Ni exsolution.     

镍基高温合金锥筒形件拉深旋压成形机理研究

针对镍基高温合金因加工硬化严重成形时极易产生破裂和起皱等典型缺陷的问题,以锥筒形壳体类零件为对象,提出了一种由锥形预制坯经过真空固溶处理后拉深旋压成形锥筒形件的方法,并对其成形机理进行了研究。基于Abaqus/Explicit平台,建立了锥筒形件拉深旋压有限元模型,分析了成形过程中的瞬态等效应力、等效塑性应变、切向应力、壁厚及三向应变分布规律。结果表明:在旋压成形过程中,最大瞬态等效应力位于旋轮接触区及附近区域、最大瞬态等效塑性应变位于坯料口部;瞬态切向压应力最大值位于旋轮接触区,而瞬态切向拉应力最大值位于旋轮接触区附近的两侧区域。筒形段中部壁厚减薄,而坯料口部壁厚增厚。旋压成形试验表明,锥形预制坯经拉深旋压后可获得壁厚均匀的锥筒形件。     

Wet abrasive wear behavior of WC-based cermet coatings prepared by HVOF spraying

In this study, three kinds of WC-based cermet coatings including WC–CoCr coating, WC–Ni coating and WC–Cr₃C₂–Ni coating were prepared by the high-velocity oxygen-fuel (HVOF) spraying process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS) and Vickers hardness tester were used to analyze the microstructure and mechanical properties of these coatings. The WC–CoCr coating presented the highest average microhardness of 1205 HV_0.3, and then followed by the WC–Cr₃C₂–Ni coating (1188 HV_0.3) and the WC–Ni coating (1105 HV_0.3). The abrasive wear behavior of the WC-based coatings under the conditions of different applied loads and sediment concentrations were studied by a wet sand-rubber wheel tester. The results indicated that the abrasive wear loss rates of all the coatings increased with the increment of applied load or sediment concentration. In addition, the coatings with higher microhardness appeared to have higher abrasive wear resistance. The abrasive wear resistance of the WC-based coatings was 4–90 times higher than that of AISI 304 stainless steel under the same testing condition. The abrasive wear mechanism of the WC-based coatings was deduced to be the extrusion and removal of binder phases, as well as the fragmentation and peel-off of hard phases.     

Effect of MQL and nanofluid on the machinability aspects of hardened alloy steel

Abstract

The current research comprises of various machinability aspects of 4340 hardened alloy steel which are scrutinized with in context of improvements in main cutting force, tool flank wear, crater wear, surface roughness, micro-hardness, machined surface morphology, chip morphology, chip reduction coefficient and apparent coefficient of friction under three different cutting fluid applications i.e. compressed air, water soluble coolant and nanofluid (using eco-friendly radiator coolant as the base fluid and Al₂O₃ as the nanoparticle) using uncoated cermet cutting inserts and a comparative assessment was performed to select which fluid performed better in terms of various machining attributes among three cutting fluids. The minimum quantity lubrication technique (MQL) was used in which a smaller volume of coolant sprinkled at high pressure. This method is found as the most effective alternative to minimize health risks and machining costs, which is quite high in other setups. The test specimen was machined at three different cutting speeds i.e. 100, 120 and 140?m/min along with two machining parameters i.e. feed and depth of cut were kept constant respectively at 0.2?mm/rev and 0.4?mm. Outcomes made a conclusion that Al₂O₃ enriched ecofriendly nanocoolant outperformed both compressed air and water soluble coolant in terms of every machinability aspects.     

Novel core-shell-like Ni-supported hierarchical beta zeolite catalysts on bioethanol steam reforming

Hierarchical-Beta zeolites have been hydrothermally synthesized by adding a new gemini organic surfactant. The used gemini surfactant play the role of a “pore-forming agents” on the mesoscale, on the same time, providing alkaline environment for the system. With this hierarchical Beta zeolite as the core support, we successfully prepared a shell layer of Ni-containing (22 wt%) petal-like core-shell-like catalyst and applied it to bioethanol steam reforming. At the reaction temperature of 350 °C–550 °C, the conversion rate of ethanol and the selectivity of hydrogen were always above 85% and 70%. After reaction of 100 h on stream at 400 °C, there were not obvious inactivation could be observed on NiNPs/OH-MBeta catalyst.     

Role of Ru on the Microstructural Evolution During Long-Term Aging of Ni-Based Single Crystal Superalloys

Two experimental alloys containing different contents of Ru were investigated to study the effect of Ru on the microstructural evolution during long-term thermal exposure. The increase in Ru promoted the formation of cubical, tiny, and even γ′ phase after full heat treatment. Moreover, the samples after full heat treatment were exposed at 1100 °C for different time. Based on the classical model by Lifshitz, Slyozov, and Wagner, the coarsening of γ′ phase of the alloy containing 2.5 and 3.5 wt.% Ru during the long-term aging was controlled by the interface reaction and diffusion, respectively. The γ/γ′ lattice misfit was more negative with the increment of Ru addition, which induced the formation of stable rafted γ′ phase in the alloy containing 3.5 wt.% Ru at the initiation of long-term aging. Besides, the increase in Ru reduced the diffusion coefficient, which could restrain the γ′ phase coarsening. The lower γ/γ′ lattice misfit of the alloy containing 2.5 wt.% Ru promoted the interface reaction, which induced the rapid coarsening of γ′ phase. Therefore, the increase in Ru improved the microstructural stability of the alloys. On the other hand, the raise of Ru induced “reverse partitioning” behavior, which was effective in suppressing the emergence of the topologically close-packed phase (TCP phase). The TCP phase occasionally occurred in the alloy containing 2.5 wt.% Ru, which was attributed to the high temperature and the supersaturation of the γ matrix. Moreover, the TCP phase was determined as μ phase, which had a high concentration of Co, Re, Mo, and W. A sketch map describing the evolution of the TCP phase was also constructed.