Superplastic Deformation Behavior of Hot-rolled AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheet at Elevated Temperatures

1IntroductionAs a typical wrought magnesiumalloy,AZ31alloyhas a wide prospect for applications inthe fields of auto-mobiles,electronic appliances and aeronautic facili-ties[1,2].However,due to the hexagonal close-packed(HCP)structure of magnesium,the ductility of AZ31al-loy at roomtemperature is rather poor,which greatly re-stricts its applications in structural fields[3-5].Owing tothe activation of non-basal slip system[6],the ductility ofMg alloycan be significantlyimproved at elevatedtem…     

Superplasticity of Mg-5.8Zn-1Y-Zr alloy sheet fabricated by combination of extrusion and hot-rolling processes

Superplastic behaviors of quasicrystal phase containing Mg-5.8Zn-1Y-0.48Zr alloy sheets fabricated by combination of extrusion and hot-rolling processes have been investigated at temperature ranging from 623 to 753 K and at the strain rates ranging from 10-4 to 10-2 s-1 by uniaxial tensile tests. An excellent superplasticity with the maximum elongation to failure of 1020% was obtained at 753 K and the strain rate of 1.04×10-3 s-1 and its strain rate sensitivity, m, is as high as up to 0.75. The microstructure was stable during superplastic deformation due to the uniformly distributed fine quasicrystal particles. In addition, micro-cavities and their coalescences were observed in the superplastic deformation of the ZW61 magnesium alloy. Grain boundary sliding (GBS) was considered to be the main deformation mechanism during the superplastic deformation. Dislocation creep controlled by atom diffusion through grain boundaries or interior grains is suggested mainly to accommodate the GBS in super-plastic deformation.     

Effect of ECAP on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a high-Mg<Subscript>2</Subscript>Si content Al-Mg-Si alloy

A high-Mg₂Si content Al alloy was extruded by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) for 8 passes at 250 °C and an ultrafine-grained structure with an average grain size of about 1.5 μm was achieved. The coarse skeleton-shaped Mg₂Si phase presenting in the as-cast alloy are significantly fragmented into fine rod-shaped as well as equiaxed particles mostly less than about 230 nm and become relatively dispersed. The tensile strength 192.8 MPa and the elongation up to 31.3% at ambient temperature are attained in the 8-pass ECAPed alloy versus 163.3 MPa and 9.1% in the as-cast alloy. High-temperature creep test at 250 °C reveals that the ECAPed sample exhibits a high elongation close to 100% at a relatively high creep rate 7.64×10⁻⁵ s⁻¹, compared to the elongation 56% at a low strain rate 1.74×10⁻⁷ s⁻¹ in the as-cast alloy.     

Microstructure and flow stress of Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.5Zr magnesium alloy

The microstructure and flow stress of the Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.5Zr magnesium alloy was investigated by compression test at temperatures ranging from 350 to 500 ℃ and the strain rates ranging from 0.01 to 20 s-1. The flow stress of the magnesium alloy increased with strain rate and decreased with deformation temperature. Flow stress can be expressed in terms of the Zener-Hollomon parameter Z, which describes the combined influence of the strain rate and temperature using an Arrhenius function.The values of the deformation activation energy were estimated to be 245.9 and 171.5 kJ/mol at deformation temperatures below 400 ℃ and above 400 ℃, respectively. Two constitutive equations were developed to quantify the effect of the deformation conditions on the flow stress of the magnesium alloy. The effects of deformation temperature and strain rate on the microstructure of the magnesium alloy were also examined and quantified by measuring the volume fraction of dynamically recrystallized grain Xd. Xd increased with increasing of deformation temperature. When the deformation temperature was below 475 ℃, Xd decreased with strain rate until it reached 0.15 s-1, then it increased again. When the deformation temperature was above 475 ℃, Xd increased with strain rate.     

Flow stress behavior of Cu13Zn alloy deformed at elevated temperature

Ｃｏｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｉｖｅｍｏｄｅｌｉｓａｍａｔｈｅｍａｔｉｃａｌｒｅｐｒｅｓｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎｏｆｔｈｅｄｅｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎｒｅｓｐｏｎｓｅｏｆａｍａｔｅｒｉａｌｔｏｅｘｔｅｒｎａｌｌｙａｐ ｐｌｉｅｄｌｏａｄｉｎｇ ,ｉｎｃｌｕｄｉｎｇｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｆａｃｔｏｒｓ .Ｔｈｅｐｒｅ ｃｉｓｅｋｎｏｗｌｅｄｇｅｏｆｔｈｅｃｏｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｉｖｅｂｅｈａｖｉｏｒｏｆｔｈｅｍａｔｅｒｉａｌｉｓｔｈｅｆｏｕｎｄａｔｉｏｎｏｆｎｕｍｅｒｉｃａｌｓｉｍｕｌａｔｉｏｎｔｅｃｈｎｏｌｏｇｙｏｆｍａｔｅｒｉ…     

Synthesis and tribological behaviors of Ti3SiC2 material prepared by vacuum sintering technique

The bulk Ti₃SiC₂ specimens with less than 1 wt% TiC impurity were prepared by vacuum sintering technique, and the average grain size was about 5–6 μm in the elongated direction. When the sintering temperature, soaking time and heating rate were 1 400 °C, 1 h and 10 °C·min^?1, respectively, the highest relative density of Ti₃SiC₂ specimens could reach 97.8%. Meanwhile, the lowest coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rate (WR) of the Ti₃SiC₂ samples were 0.55 and 1.37×10^?3 mm³(Nm)^?1 at a sliding speed of 0.35 m/s, load pressure of 10 N and ambient condition, respectively. The COF of the Ti₃SiC₂ sample reduced with the increasing of the load pressure, while the WRs fluctuated little. The WR increased with the increasing of the sliding speed, and weakly influenced the COF. These changing behaviors could be attributed to the presence and coverage of the amorphous mixture oxide film of Ti, Si, Al, and Fe on the Ti₃SiC₂ friction surface. The self-antifriction mechanism led to reducing of the COF. The increasing of the WR was attributed to the wearing consumption.     

Investigation of stress corrosion cracking initiation of 7A52 aluminum alloy

The stress corrosion cracking(SCC) behaviour of 7A52 aluminum alloy in air and in 3.5% NaCl solution was researched by slow strain rate test(SSRT) and SEM-EDS. The SCC susceptibility was estimated with the loss of the reduction in area. The experimental results indicate that the SCC susceptibility of 7A52 aluminum alloy in 3.5% chloride solution is the highest at strain rate of 1×10-6 s-1. The lowest one is under the condition of 1×10-5 s-1. Stress concentration and anode dissolving around Al-Fe-Mn intermetallics initiate micropores which will result in microcracks. The existence of intermetallics in the microstructure may play an important role in understanding the SCC initiation mechanisms of 7A52 aluminum alloy.     

A high strength Mg-6Zn-1Y-1Ce alloy prepared by hot extrusion

Microstructures and tensile properties of Mg-6Zn-1Y-1Ce alloy extruded in a temperature range between 300 °C and 400 °C were investigated. The yield strength of the material increased as the extrusion temperature decreased due to grain refinement. The yield strengths and grain sizes of extruded samples met Hall-Petch equation. The microstructure of the alloy extruded at 300 °C had a bimodal grain size distribution with an average grain size of 2.7 μm and showed a yield strength of 327 MPa with an elongation of 9%. The fine-grained microstructures were attributed to the dynamic recrystallization and the pinning effect of fine strengthening particles.     

Fabrication of high strength carbon nanotube/7055Al composite by powder metallurgy combined with subsequent hot extrusion

Bimodal carbon nanotube reinforced 7055Al(CNT/7055Al) composites containing coarse grain bands and ultra-fine grain zones were fabricated by high energy ball milling, vacuum hot pressing followed by hot extrusion. The effect of extrusion temperature varied from 320℃ to 420℃ on the microstructure evolution and tensile properties were investigated. Microstructure observation indicates that the elongated coarse grain bands aligned along the extrusion direction after extrusion. The width of the coarse grain bands increased, and the length of the coarse grain bands increased firstly and then decreased with the increase of extrusion temperature. The grain size of the ultra-fine grain zones changed little after hot extrusion, but the ultra-fine grains coarsened after subsequent heat treatment, especially for the composite extruded at low temperature of 320℃. By observing the CNT distribution, it was found that the higher temperature extrusion was beneficial to the CNT orientation along the extrusion direction.Furthermore, a precipitated free zone formed at the boundary between the coarse grain band and the ultra-fine grain zone as the composite extruded at high temperature of 420℃. As the result of the comprehensive influence of the above microstructure, the tensile strength of the composite extruded at moderate temperature of 370℃ reached the highest of 826 MPa.     

Simulation of dynamic recrystallization for aluminium alloy 7050 using cellular automaton

The prediction of microstructure evolution plays an important role in the design of forging process. In the present work, the cellular automaton (CA) program was developed to simulate the process of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) for aluminium alloy 7050. The material constants in CA models, including dislocation density, nucleation rate and grain growth, were determined by the isothermal compress tests on Gleeble 1500 machine. The model of dislocation density was obtained by linear regression method based on the experimental results. The influences of the deformation parameters on the percentage of DRX and the mean grain size for aluminium alloy 7050 were investigated in details by means of CA simulation. The simulation results show that, as temperature increases from 350 to 450 °C at a strain rate of 0.01 s⁻¹, the percentage of DRX also increases greatly and the mean grain size decreases from 50 to 39.3 μm. The mean size of the recrystallied grains (R-grains) mainly depends on the Zener-Hollomon parameter. To obtain fine grain, the desired deformation temperature is determined from 400 to 450 °C. Foundation item: Project(2005CB724105) supported by the Major State Basic Research Program of China; Project(IRT0549) supported by Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University     

Property and microstructure analysis of ZK60 alloy superplastic sheet

It was investigated that the superplastic mechanical properties of fine-grained ZK60 magnesium alloy sheets at the temperature range of 200-420 ℃ and strain rate range of 5.56 × 10-4 -5.56 ×10-2 s-1 by tensile tests.And the microstructure evolution during the superplastic deformation of ZK60 magnesium alloy was examined by metallurgical microscope and transmission electronic microscope (TEM).The results showed that fine-grained ZK60 magnesium alloy starts to exhibit superplasticity from 250 ℃ and the maximum elongation is about 1106% at 400 ℃ and 5.56 × 10-4 s-1.The strain rate sensitivity is significantly enhanced with the increase of temperature and with the decrease of strain rate.The predominate superplastic mechanism of ZK60 magnesium alloy is grain boundary slide (GBS) at the temperature range of 300-400 ℃.The grains of ZK60 alloy remain equaxial after superplastic deformation,and dynamic continuous recrystallization (DCRX) is an important softening mechanism and grain stability mechanism during the superplastic deformation of the alloy.The curved grain boundaries and crumpled bands at grain boundaries after deformation prove GBS generates during superplastic deformation of ZK60 magnesium alloy.     

Synthesis of refractory cordierite from calcined bauxite, talcum and quartz

A cordierite was synthesized from calcined bauxite, talcum, and quartz. The properties and microstructure of the cordierite sintered samples were characterized by Archimedes’ method, thermal dilatometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and so on. The experimental results showed that calcined bauxite could broaden the range of synthesizing temperature from 1300 °C to 1420 °C and get pure cordierite. The bulk density and linear thermal expansion coeffi cient of the sample synthesized at 1420 °C for 2 h were 1.97 g·cm^?3 and 2.1×10^?6 °C^?1, respectively. The XRD analysis showed that the major crystalline phase was α-cordierite with almost no glassy matters, the SEM images illustrated a small vent hole and the size were 5–100 μm, the well-grown hexagonal and granular cordierite grains had the sizes distributed among 0.1–8 μm, and providing high mechanical strength and lower linear thermal expansion coeffi cient.     

Evolution and characterization of damage of concrete under freeze-thaw cycles

To study the internal damage of concrete under freeze-thaw cycles, concrete strains were measured using embedded strain gauges. Residual strain and coefficients of freezing expansion (CFE) derived from strain-temperature curves were used to quantify the damage degree. The experimental results show that irreversible residual strain increases with the number of freeze-thaw cycles. After 50 cycles, residual strains of C20 and C35 concretes are 320με and 100με in water, and 120 με and 60 με in saline solution, respectively. In lower temperature range (-10 ℃ to -25 ℃) CFE of C20 and C35 concretes decrease by 9.82×10-6/K and 8.44×10-6/K in water, and 9.38×10-6/K and 5.47×10-6/K in saline solution, respectively. Both residual strains and CFEs indicate that during the first 50 freeze-thaw cycles, the internal damage of concrete in saline solution is less than that of concrete in water. Thus residual strain and CFE can be used to measure the frost damage of concrete.     

Microstructure and properties of Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.5Zr alloys processed by ECAP and extrusion

Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) processing and conventional extrusion (Ex) were applied to the Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.5Zr (wt%) magnesium alloy in order to evaluate the potential improvement in the mechanical properties. The ECAP experiment was conducted at 380 ℃ in a die having an included angle of 90° between two channels by the Bc route with the billet rotated by 90° about its longitudinal axis. Subsequently, some billets were processed by conventional extrusion at 300 ℃. The microstructures were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental results indicate that the grain size is refined effectively, but the basal planes are highly inclined (about 40o) from the extrusion axis introduced by ECAP, which impairs the grain boundary strengthening effect. The conventional extrusion, following the ECAP, can modify the grains in hard orientation. Based on grain boundary strengthening due to ECAP and texture strengthening due to Ex, the strength is improved effectively. The enhanced activity of the non-basal slips, due to the refined grains and the reduction in c/a ratio, is responsible for good ductility and high strain hardening rate in samples obtained by the two-step process.     

Mechanical behaviors of polycrystalline NiTi SMAs of various grain sizes under impact loading

This work presents mechanical properties of the NiTi polycrystalline superelastic shape memory alloys(SMA) of 5 different grain sizes under high-speed impacts. The amorphous, nanocrystalline(40, 80, 120 nm) and coarse grain(20 μm) sheets are manufactured with cold rolling and suitable heat treatments. A Hopkinson tensile bar is used to perform tests up to 45 m/s. Highspeed camera system and digital image correlation method are used to get the strain field and particle velocity field at a sampling frequency of 2×10~6 frames/s with a resolution of 924×768 pixels. Nominal stress-strain curves are obtained for all the sheets with a strain rate of about 1000 s~(-1) and they have a similar evolution to the quasi-static case but with much higher stress levels. The rate sensitivity is increased with the grain size and the stress level can reach up to a 70% growth for a coarse grain sheet but be totally insensitive for the amorphous sheet in the strain rate from 10~(-4) to 10~3 s~(-1). A single transformation front can be found under high-speed impact(45 m/s) at the early loading stage. The speed of the transformation front is calculated from strain time histories and the highest front speed of 811 m/s is observed which is never observed before. It also reveals that the front speed depends also on the grain size. With the same loading speed, the bigger the grain size is, the slower the transformation front speed is.     

Temperature effect on the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange under UV-vis light irradiation

PTA sol was prepared using titanium tetrachloride (TiCl₄), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and ammonia (NH₃·H₂O), and then stable anatase-TiO₂ hydrosol was synthesized by refluxing the PTA sol at 100 °C. It was found that TiO₂ hydrosol can efficiently photo-degrade methyl orange (MO) under UV-vis light irradiation. Photocatalytic reactions at the temperature of 38 to 100 °C all followed pseudo-first-order rate law, and the temperature had a great effect on the reaction rate. The rate constants increased by about 6 times from 3.52×10^?4 to 2.17×10^?3 min^?1 when the temperature was adjusted from 38 to 100 °C. Consequently, this photocatalytic course can be accelerated by using the infrared light of solar energy to increase the temperature of the photo-catalytic reaction, it should be a potential way to make full use of solar light in photocatalysis in practice.     

Hot deformation behaviour and processing maps of AA6061-10 vol.% SiC composite prepared by spark plasma sintering

AA6061-10 vol.% SiC composite was successfully prepared by spark plasma sintering. The deformation behaviour of this composite was studied using the uniaxial compression test, which was conducted at temperatures between 300 and 500°C and strain rates between 0.001 and 1 s-1. Results indicate that the stress-strain curves of the AA6061-10 vol.% SiC composite typically feature dynamic recrystallization. The steady stress can be described by a hyperbolic sine constitutive equation, and the activation energy of the composite is 230.88 k J/mol. The processing map was established according to the dynamic materials model. The optimum hot deformation temperature is 450–500°C and the strain rate is 1–0.1 s-1. The instability zones of flow behaviour can also be identified using the processing map.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of submicron-grained NiAl-Al2O3 composite prepared by pulse current auxiliary sintering

Dense and submicron-grained NiAl-Al2O3 composite was fabricated by pulse current auxiliary sintering(PCAS).Its microstructure was analyzed by XRD,SEM and TEM,and its mechanical behavior was evaluated through compression test and fracture toughness test.The average grain sizes of NiAl and Al2O3 are about 200 nm and 100 nm respectively.The Al2O3 particles dispersed in NiAl matrix,forming intergranular structure and intragranular structure.During sintering,Al2O3 particles were remarkably spherized due to the unique sintering mechanism of PCAS,which is beneficial to the improvement of toughness.The NiAl-Al2O3 composite exhibits high compressive yield strength,whether at room temperature or elevated temperature.Its room-temperature(23 ℃) and elevated-temperature(1 200 ℃) compressive yield strength are up to 2 050 MPa and 140 MPa,respectively.Meanwhile,its fracture toughness is significantly enhanced,which is up to 8.2 MPa?m1/2.It is suggested that the main strengthening-toughening mechanisms are grain refinement strengthening and Al2O3 dispersion strengthening.The fracture of larger NiAl grain is the transgranular cleavage and this is induced by crack tip deflection and grain boundary weakening which are caused by intergranular and intragranular Al2O3 particles,respectively.     

Effect of annealing on microstructure and properties of Si_3N_4-AlN composite ceramics

Aiming at developing novel microwave-transparent ceramics with low dielectric loss,high thermal conductivity and high strength,Si3N4-AlN(30%,mass fraction) composite ceramics with La2O3 as sintering additive were prepared by hot-pressing at 1 800 °C and subsequently annealed at 1 450 °C and 1 850 °C for 2 h and 4 h,respectively.The materials were characterized by XRD and SEM.The effect of annealing process on the phase composition,sintering performance,microstructure,bending strength,dielectric loss and the...     

Study on the isothermal oxidation behavior in air of Ti3AlC2 sintered by hot pressing

The isothermal oxidation behavior at 900–1300°C for 20 h in air of bulk Ti₃AlC₂ with 2.8 wt% TiC sintered by means of hot pressing was investigated in the work. The isothermal oxidation behavior generally followed a parabolic rate law. The parabolic rate constants increased from 1.39×10⁻¹⁰ kg²·m⁻⁴·s⁻¹ at 900°C to 5.56×10⁻⁹ kg²·m⁻⁴·s⁻¹ at 1300°C. The calculated activation energy was 136.45 kJ/mol. It was demonstrated that Ti₃AlC₂ had excellent oxidation resistance due to the continuous, dense and adhesive protect scales consisted of a mass of α-Al₂O₃ and a little of TiO₂ and/or Al₂TiO₅. In principle, the oxide scale was grown by the inward diffusion of O²⁻ and the outward diffusion of Ti⁴⁺ and Al³⁺. The rapid outward diffusion of cations usually resulted in the formation of cracks, gaps, and holes.