Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Wire + Arc Additively Manufactured 2050 Al–Li Alloy Wall Deposits

Aluminum–Lithium(Al–Li) alloy is a topic of great interest owing to its high strength and light weight, but there are only a few applications of Al–Li alloy in wire ss, a special AA2050 Al–Li alloy + arc additive manufacturing(WAAM) process. To identify its feasibility in WAAM procewire was produced and employed in the production of straight-walled components, using a WAAM system based on variable polarity gas tungsten arc welding(VP-GTAW) process. The influence of post-deposited heat treatment on the microstructure and property of the deposit was investigated using optical micrographs(OM), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD), hardness and tensile properties tests. Results revealed that the microstructures of AA2050 aluminum deposits varied with their location layers. The upper layers consisted of fine equiaxed grains, while the bottom layer exhibited a coarse columnar structure. Mechanical properties witnessed a significant improvement after post-deposited heat treatment, with the average micro-hardness reaching 141 HV and the ultimate tensile strength exceeding 400 MPa. Fracture morphology exhibited a typical ductile fracture.     

Study of the intrinsic mechanisms of nickel additive for grain refinement and strength enhancement of laser aided additively manufactured Ti–6Al–4V

It is well-known that grain refiners can tailor the microstructure and enhance the mechanical properties of titanium alloys fabricated by additive manufacturing(AM). However, the intrinsic mechanisms of Ni addition on AM-built Ti–6Al–4V alloy is not well established. This limits its industrial applications. This work systematically investigated the influence of Ni additive on Ti–6Al–4V alloy fabricated by laser aided additive manufacturing(LAAM). The results showed that Ni addition yields three ...     

Additive manufacturing of ceramic structures by laser engineered net shaping

Ceramic is an important material with outstanding physical properties whereas impurities and porosities generated by traditional manufacturing methods limits its further industrial applications. In order to solve this problem, direct fabrication of Al2O3 ceramic structures is conducted by laser engineered net shaping system and pure ceramic powders. Grain refinement strengthening method by doping Zr O2 and dispersion strengthening method by doping Si C are proposed to suppress cracks in fabricating Al2O3 structure. Phase compositions, microstructures as well as mechanical properties of fabricated specimens are then analyzed. The results show that the proposed two methods are effective in suppressing cracks and structures of single-bead wall, arc and cylinder ring are successfully deposited. Stable phase of α-Al2O3 and t-Zr O2 are obtained in the fabricated specimens. Micro-hardness higher than 1700 HV are also achieved for both Al2O3 and Al2O3/Zr O2, which are resulted from fine directional crystals generated by the melting-solidification process. Results presented indicate that additive manufacturing is a very attractive technique for the production of high-performance ceramic structures in a single step.     

High-efficiency approach for fabricating MTE rotor by micro-EDM and micro-extrusion

Micro-gas turbine engine（MTE） rotor is an important indicator of its property, therefore, the manufacturing technology of the microminiature rotor has become a hot area of research at home and abroad. At present, the main manufacturing technologies of the MTE rotor are directed forming fabrication technologies. However, these technologies have a series of problems, such as complex processing technology high manufacturing cost, and low processing efficiency, and so on. This paper takes advantage of micro electric discharge machining（micro-EDM） in the field of microminiature molds manufacturing, organizes many processing technologies of micro-EDM reasonably to improve processing accuracy, presents an integrated micro-EDM technology and its process flow to fabricate MTE rotor die, and conducts a series of experiments to verify efficiency of this integrated micro-EDM. The experiments results show that the MTE rotor die has sharp outline and ensure the good consistency of MTE rotor blades. Meanwhile, the MTE rotor die is applied to micro extrusion equipment, and technologies of micro-EDM and micro forming machining are combined based on the idea of the molds manufacturing, so the MTE rotor with higher aspect ratio and better consistency of blades can be manufactured efficiently. This research presents an integrated micro-EDM technology and its process flow, which promotes the practical process of MTE effectively.     

Experimental Study on Titanium Alloy Cutting Property and Wear Mechanism with Circular-arc Milling Cutters

Titanium alloy has been applied in the field of aerospace manufacturing for its high specific strength and hardness.Nonetheless, these properties also cause general problems in the machining, such as processing inefficiency, serious wear, poor workpiece face quality, etc. Aiming at the above problems, this paper carried out a comparative experimental study on titanium alloy milling based on the CAMC and BEMC. The variation law of cutting force and wear morphology of the two tools were obtained, ...     

Grinding/Cutting Technology and Equipment of Multi-scale Casting Parts

Multi-scale casting parts are important components of high-end equipment used in the aerospace, automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, and other industries. Residual features such as parting lines and pouring risers that inevitably appear during the casting process are random in size, morphology, and distribution. The traditional manual processing method has disadvantages such as low efficiency, high labor intensity, and harsh working environment. Existing machine tool and serial robot grinding...     

ANALYSIS OF MECHANICS IN BALL SPINNING OF THIN-WALLED TUBE

Ball spinning is applied to manufacturing thin-walled tube with high precision and high mechanical properties. On the basis of plastic mechanics, by simplifying ball spinning of thin-walled tube as plane strain problem, slab method is used for the purpose of calculating the contact deformation pressure. The spinning force components, the torsional moment, the deformation power and the deformation work are calculated further as well. The influence of the two important process parameters such as the feed ratio and the ball diameter on the spinning force components is analyzed in order to further control the spinning force components by regulating the two process variables during the ball spinning process. The stress and strain state in deformable zone as well as mechanics boundary conditions in ball spinning are obtained. The effect of the three spinning force components on the formability of the spun part is analyzed and validated through the ball spinning experiments. The theoretical and experimental results show that the radial spinning component plays a significant role in ball spinning of thin-walled tube, and the mechanics situation in backward ball spinning contributes to enhancing the plasticity of the metal material, but that in forward ball spinning contributes to advancing the axial flow of the metal material.     

METAL INERT GAS WELDING OF 2519-T87 HIGH STRENGTH ALUMINUM ALLOY

20 mm thick plates of 2519-T87 high strength aluminum alloy have been welded.The effects of the compositions of filler wires,the heat input and the compositions of shielding gas on the mechanical properties and microstructure of the welded joint have been investigated.The results indicate that finer microstructure,better mechanical properties and higher value of hardness of HAZ can be obtained by using lower heat input.The use of Ar/He mixed shielding gas has several advan- tages over pure Ar shielding gas.With the increase of the proportion of He in the mixed shielding gas, the grain size of the weld metal as well as porosity susceptibility decreases.When the volume ratio of He to Ar reaches 7:3,the porosity and the grain size of weld metal reach the minimum,and the po- rosity can be further reduced by filling some CO_2.     

In-situ Fabricated TiB2 Particle-whisker Synergistically Toughened Ti（C,N）-based Ceramic Cutting Tool Material

The mechanical properties of ceramic cutting tool materials can be modified by introducing proper content of nanoparticles or whiskers.However,the process of adding whiskers or nanoparticles has the disadvantages of high cost and health hazard as well as the agglomeration;although a new in-situ two-step sintering process can solve the above problems to some extent,yet the problems of low conversion ratio of the raw materials and the abnormal grain growth exist in this process.In this paper,an in-situ one-step synthesis technology is proposed,which means the growth of whiskers or nanoparticles and the sintering of the compact can be accomplished by one time in furnace.A kind of Ti(C,N)-based ceramic cutting tool material synergistically toughened by TiB_2 particles and whiskers is fabricated with this new process.The phase compositions,relationships between microstructure and mechanical properties as well as the toughening mechanisms are analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction(XRD)and scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The composite which is sintered under a pressure of 32 MPa at a temperature of 1700℃in vacuum holding for 60 min can get the optimal mechanical properties.Its flexural strength,fracture toughness and Vickers hardness are 540 MPa,7.81 MPa?m~(1/2)and 20.42 GPa,respectively.The composite has relatively high density,and the in-situ synthesized TiB_2 whiskers have good surface integrity,which is beneficial for the improvement of the fracture toughness.It is concluded that the main toughening mechanisms of the present composite are whiskers pulling-out and crack deflection induced by whiskers,crack bridging by whiskers/particles and multi-scale particles synergistically toughening.This study proposes an in-situ one-step synthesis technology which can be well used for fabricating particles and whiskers synergistically toughened ceramic tool materials.     

Numerical Simulation and Experimental Research on Microstructural Evolution During Compact Hot Extrusion of Heavy Caliber Thick-Wall Pipe

Compact hot extrusion(CHE) process of heavy caliber thick-wall pipe is a new material-saving production process. In order to reveal the optimum hot extrusion parameters in CHE process, the e ects of the extrusion parameters on the microstructural evolution are investigated systematically. The metadynamic recrystallization(MDRX) kinetic models and grain size models of as-cast P91 steel are established for the first time according to the hot compression tests performed on the Gleeble-3500 thermal-simulation machine. Then a thermal-mechanical and micro-macro coupled hot extrusion finite element(FE) model is established and further developed in DEFORM software. The results indicated that the grain size of the extruded pipe increases with the increasing of initial temperature and extrusion speed, decreases when extrusion ratio increases. Moreover, the grain size is more sensitive to the initial temperature and the extrusion ratio. The optimum hot extrusion parameters are including that, the initial extrusion temperature of 1250 °C, the extrusion ratio of 9 and the extrusion speed of 50 mm/s. Furthermore, in order to verify the simulation precisions, hot extrusion experiment verification on the heavy caliber thick-wall pipe is carried out on the 500 MN vertical hot extrusion equipment. The load–displacement curve of the extrusion process and the grain sizes of the middle part extruded pipe are in good accuracy with the simulation results, which confirms that the hot extrusion FE models of as-cast P91 steel could estimate the hot extrusion behaviors. The proposed hot extrusion FE model can be used to guide the industrial production research of CHE process.