On the role of cooling and tool rotational direction on microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir processed AZ91

This paper deals with an experimental investigation focused on the effects of water cooling treatment, friction stir processing pass number, and tool rotational direction on the microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir processed AZ91 magnesium alloy. Specimens were produced using different combinations of process parameters. Parallel to increasing the amount of oxide particles in the processed area, water cooling was found to reduce the final grain size and enhance their hardness and strength. Changing the rotational direction in each pass reduces the grain size severely (from 150 to ~4?μm) and increases the hardness (from 63 to 98?HV) and strength (from ~130 to ~250?MPa). However, no significant difference was found in wear resistance of the specimens produced with different process parameters.     

试样重组技术在CRDM管座材料性能评估中的应用

由于试验材料有限,采用试样重组技术将前期破断冲击试样重组成新的试样,对某电站CRDM管座晶粒度和夹杂物尺寸超标的母材进行性能复验。采用无损检测、金相、硬度和冲击试验对焊接工艺进行验证后,将合格的焊接工艺应用于最终试样的重组中。最终重组试样的冲击功远高于RCC-M 2007规范中的指标要求,本批次材料晶粒度和夹杂物尺寸超标对母材的冲击性能没有造成明显的劣化。     

On the sampling of three-dimensional polycrystalline microstructures for distribution determination

How to sample three-dimensional microstructure and effectively reduce experimental error is a challenging problem. Taking seven single-phase polycrystalline structures generated by 400×400×400 Potts Monte Carlo simulation as the study object, effects of sampling strategy on the determination of various characteristic parameters of the grain size distribution and grain topology distribution are studied. The mean voxel value (or volume) of individual grains in the three-dimensional simulated microstructure varies from 4.56×10(4) to 1.0×10(3) , and the number of grains contained in the structure varies from 63 901 to 1403. The results show that, a minimum of 200 sampled grains can ensure the relative error to be less than 5% for determination of the mean grain volume, the mean grain face number and the coefficient of variance of the distribution of grain size and the grain face number. Whereas for the coefficient of the skewness and the kurtosis of grain size distribution or grain face number distribution, a minimum of 800 sampled grains are required for the same error level. However, if some exceptional big grains appear, e.g. a grain larger than with eight multiples of mean grain volume and/or three multiples of mean grain face number, abnormal values of the two parameters would be resulted, even the number of examined grains is over 1000.     

Microstructures and mechanical properties of friction stir welded dissimilar steel-copper joints

Welding dissimilar metals by fusion welding is challenging. It results in welding defects. Friction stir welding (FSW) as a solid-state joining method can overcome these problems. In this study, 304L stainless steel was joined to copper by FSW. The optimal values of the welding parameters traverse speed, rotational speed, and tilt angle were obtained through Response surface methodology (RSM). Under optimal welding conditions, the effects of welding pass number on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the welded joints were investigated. Results indicated that appropriate values of FSW parameters could be obtained by RSM and grain size refinement during FSW mainly affected the hardness in the weld regions. Furthermore, the heat from the FSW tool increased the grain size in the Heat-affected zones (HAZs), especially on the copper side. Therefore, the strength and ductility decreased as the welding pass number increased because of grain size enhancement in the HAZs as the welding pass number increased.     

Producing of AZ91/SiC composite by friction stir processing (FSP)

Friction stir processing (FSP) was used to fabricate SiC/AZ91 composite layer. Effect of process parameters such as rotational and traverse speeds, tool penetration depth and tilt angle on the formation of defects such as cracks, tunnelling cavity and also on sticking of matrix material to the tool was investigated. Also, effect of these parameters was studied on the mechanical properties and microstructures of specimens. Microstructure studies were carried out by optical and SEM. Results showed that FSP is an effective process to fabricate SiC/AZ91 composite layer with uniform distribution of SiC particles, good interfacial integrity and significant grain refinement. Increasing the rotational speed leads to a decrease in the grain size and an increase in the traverse speed leads to a decrease in the grain size. There are upper and lower limitations for these speeds which were determined. PD is a more effective parameter to produce sound surface layer. PD value was affected by traverse and rotational speeds and the tilt angle values. This study shows that by using 5 μm SiC particles, the stir zone grain size reduces from 150 to 7.17 μm and stir zone hardness increases from 63 to 96 Hv.     

端淬试样直径及晶粒度大小对50BA钢淬透性的影响

同炉50BA钢31 mm和21 mm试样在相同的热处理工艺和相同的端淬条件下,以及晶粒度在7-10级的试样进行端淬实验。结果表明,31 mm的试样的淬透性高于21 mm;21 mm的试样的晶粒度在7-10级之间端淬时,淬透性和晶粒度成反比。     

Ｑ２４５Ｒ钢非线性超声特性与晶粒度级别量化关系研究

利 用 非 线 性 超 声 检 测 技 术 ,对 不 同 晶 粒 度 级 别 的Ｑ２４５ Ｒ钢 试 件 进 行 非 线 性 超 声 特 性 实 验 。 测量 相 同 激 励 条 件 下 的 超 声 波 在 晶 粒 尺 寸 不 同 的Ｑ２４５ Ｒ钢 中 传 播 时 的 声 速 、衰 减 系 数 和 二 阶 非 线 性 系 数 ,并根 据 所 得 数 据 ,分 析 非 线 性 超 声 特 性 与Ｑ２４５ Ｒ钢 晶 粒 度 级 别 的 相 关 性 ,建 立 量 化 关 系 。 实 验 结 果 表 明 ,超 声波 在Ｑ２４５ Ｒ钢 中 传 播 时 ,声 速 随 晶 粒 尺 寸 改 变 的 变 化 并 不 明 显 ,衰 减 系 数 先 上 升 后 下 降 ,其 非 线 性 超 声 系 数随 着 晶 粒 度 级 别 的 增 大 而 呈 线 性 增 大 。     

室温和650 ℃下晶粒尺寸对GH4169合金疲劳小裂纹萌生和扩展行为的影响

在室温和650 ℃条件下,研究晶粒尺寸对GH4169合金疲劳小裂纹萌生机理和扩展行为的影响。通过在960 ℃、 1 010 ℃、1 020 ℃、1 050 ℃条件下,各保温1 h来改变试样晶粒尺寸。通过光学显微镜来观察不同热处理后的微观组织。利用覆膜法监测小裂纹扩展过程。结果表明,两种温度下疲劳小裂纹萌生机理和扩展模式在细晶组织和粗晶组织间均会发生转变。室温和650 ℃条件下,裂纹扩展速率在小裂纹阶段近似恒定。室温下,平均晶粒尺寸变化对小裂纹扩展速率几乎没有影响。650 ℃下,随着平均晶粒尺寸增加,小裂纹扩展速率增大。无论哪种温度下,一旦表面裂纹长度达到一定临界尺寸,小裂纹会加速扩展,进入长裂纹阶段。室温下不同平均晶粒尺寸试样临界裂纹长度基本相同,650 ℃下随着平均晶粒尺寸增加临界裂纹长度增加。     

Theoretical analysis on effects of grain size variation

Grinding wheels consist of abrasive grains, bonding materials and porous, which are specified by five factors; type of grain, size of grain, bonding material, bonding strength and grain concentration or volume fraction of grain. The grain size is represented by the mean diameter/radius of grains. However, the abrasives in a grinding wheel are randomly scraggly in size and shape. There is no particular aspect to regulate the variation in grain size. This paper addresses, via a theoretical analysis on the distribution of grain size, the average volume of a grain, the number of grains contained in a specific volume of the wheel, the number and protrusion distribution of grains exposed in a wheel working surface and the fraction of effective grain, when the grain size varies. The effect on the resultant finished surface roughness is also discussed.     

GH4169晶粒尺寸的多参数超声评价方法

考虑到单个超声响应特性参数反应出晶粒尺寸的特征信息不够全面,提出将多个超声参数相结合,构建面向GH4169晶粒尺寸无损定量表征的多参数超声评价方法。依据相关性度量准则,从声速、衰减系数、非线性系数等8个超声参数中选取有效参数;构建二次多项式的映射模型,将选取的多维参数降成单维参数并进行量纲一化处理;在对单维参数与晶粒尺寸拟合过程中,构建以两者平均绝对误差最小为目标的优化问题并结合进化算法进行求解,寻找最佳的映射函数和拟合函数系数;最终建立多参数超声评价模型。经测试样本验证表明,与单一参数的声速法模型、衰减系数法模型和背散射EMD法模型相比,所建模型评价结果精度高,性能稳定、误差小且有着良好的评价效应;融合了多个超声检测参数而保留了对晶粒尺寸的响应信息,提高了测量精度和抗干扰能力。     

Computational investigation of testing parameter effects on abrasive wear behaviour of AL2O3 particle-reinforced MMCS using statistical analysis

The wear rate model of 7.3?vol.% Al₂O₃ particle-reinforced aluminium alloy composites with 16 and 66???m particle sizes fabricated by molten metal mixing method was developed in terms of applied load, particle size of reinforcement, abrasive grain size and sliding distance based on the Taguchi method. The two-body abrasive wear behaviour of the specimens was investigated using a pin-on-disc abrasion test apparatus where the sample slid against different SiC abrasives under the loads of 2 and 5?N at the room conditions. The orthogonal array, signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance were employed to find out the optimal testing parameters. The test results showed that particle size of reinforcement was found to be the most effective factor among the other control parameters on abrasive wear, followed by abrasive grain size. Moreover, the optimal combination of the testing parameters was determined and predicted. The predicted wear rate results were compared with experimental results and found to be quite reliable.     

Experimental investigation of thixoforging parameters effects on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the helical gearbox cap

The purpose of this work is to discuss the microstructures and mechanical properties of thixoforged helical gearbox caps. The mechanical properties of semi-solid components can be improved by controlling the process parameters such as solid fraction of alloy, die temperature, applied pressure, punch velocity, and heat treatment conditions. In this paper, the effects of forming parameters on the microstructures and mechanical properties of thixoforged A356 helical gearbox caps with an arbitrary shape are studied. The mechanical characteristics were investigated by changing the applied pressure, die temperature, specimen temperature and holding time. The results showed that by increasing the applied pressure from 100 MPa to 150 MPa, the average grain diameter was decreased about 7% and the shape factor was increased about 11%. Also, by increasing the die temperature, the hardness and forming load were decreased about 13% and 21%, respectively. The results illustrated that by increasing the specimen temperature and holding time, there would be an increase in the grain size of primary α-Al phase, so the hardness of the specimens is decreased.     

Modeling of microstructure effects on the mechanical behavior of ultrafine-grained nickels processed by hot isostatic pressing

Bulk ultrafine-grained nickel specimens having grain sizes in the range of 0.25-5 μm were consolidated by hot isostatic pressing technique. The resulting microstructures were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. Compression tests were carried out at room temperature and at strain rate of 1.6×10⁻⁴ s⁻¹. It was found that the measured yield strength does not follow the Hall-Petch law as a consequence of the presence of oxide phase. Therefore, the use of micromechanics based model, which takes into account only the Hall-Petch relationship at grain level for predicting the grain sized effects on mechanical behavior of this kind of materials, is not accurate yet. In this study, a modification made to the generalized self-consistent model was proposed for studying both grain size and oxide phase dependence of ultrafine-grained materials behavior. Because of the novel modification, an optimization procedure with two steps was required to identify the parameters of micromechanical model. An acceptable agreement between experimental and numerical results was achieved. Moreover, the influence of texture on the yield strength and the application of the proposed model to the spark plasma sintering processed materials were also discussed.     

Comparison of ion beam sputtered chromium and iridium films for electron microscopy applications

The structure and composition of thin, conductive metallic films of chromium and iridium that are typical of the coatings used for electron microscopy is described. The purpose of this study was to determine the grain size and composition of the films deposited, with thicknesses of 1 nm, 2.5 nm, and 5 nm, onto amorphous carbon films using ion beam sputtering with argon as the sputtering gas. A comparison between chromium films deposited under conditions of liquid nitrogen (LN) trapping or of no trapping revealed slight differences in their microstructure. As expected, the grain size of the films increased with the thickness, and the average grain sizes varied between 10 and 25 nm. Grain size was also found to depend on the source of ion beam energy; the correlation between grain size and beam energy was more pronounced in the iridium films than in the chromium films. This effect was greater when the deposition chamber was not LN trapped. As the ion beam energy increased from 18 W to 24 W, there was a corresponding increase in grain size in some of the films. Although transmission electron diffraction analysis indicated the presence of about 5% chromium oxide in the chromium films, no oxide was detected in the iridium films.     

Statistical analysis to predict grain size and hardness of the weld nugget of friction-stir-welded AA6061-T6 aluminium alloy joints

AA6061 aluminum alloy has gathered wide acceptance in the fabrication of light weight structures requiring high strength-to-weight ratio and good corrosion resistance. Friction-stir welding (FSW) process is an emerging solid state joining process in which the material that is being welded does not melt and recast. This process uses a non-consumable tool to generate frictional heat in the abutting surfaces. The FSW process and tool parameters play a major role in deciding the joint strength. Joint strength is influenced by grain size and hardness of the weld nugget region. Hence, in this investigation an attempt was made to develop empirical relationships to predict grain size and hardness of weld nugget of friction-stir-welded AA6061 aluminium alloy joints. The empirical relationships are developed by response surface methodology incorporating FSW tool and process parameters. A linear regression relationship was also established between grain size and hardness of the weld nugget of FSW joints.     

Predicting the grain size and hardness of AZ91/SiC nanocomposite by artificial neural networks

In the present study, SiC nanoparticles were added to as-cast AZ91 magnesium alloy through friction stir processing (FSP) and an AZ91/SiC surface nanocomposite layer was produced. A relation between the FSP parameters and grain size and hardness of nanocomposite using artificial neural network (ANN) was established. Experimental results showed that distribution of nanoparticles in the stirred zone (SZ) was not uniform and SZ was divided into two regions. In the ANN modeling, the inputs included traverse speed, rotational speed, and region types. Outputs were hardness and grain size. The model can be used to predict hardness and grain size as functions of rotational and traverse speeds and region types. To check the adequacy of the ANN model, the linear regression analyses were carried out to compute the correlation coefficients. The calculated results were in good agreement with experimental data. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the parametric impact on the model outputs.     

Application of ANN in the prediction of the pore concentration of aluminum metal foams manufactured by powder metallurgy methods

In this work, the effect of fabrication parameters on the pore concentration of aluminum metal foam, manufactured by the powder metallurgy process, has been studied. The artificial neural network (ANN) technique has been used to predict pore concentration as a function of some key fabrication parameters. Aluminum metal foam specimens were fabricated from a mixture of aluminum powders (mean particle size 60 μm) and NaCl at 10, 20, 30, 40(wt)% content under a pressure of 200, 250, and 300 MPa. All specimens were then sintered at 630°C for 2.5 h in argon atmosphere. For pore formation (foaming), sintered specimens were immersed into 70°C hot running water. Finally, the pore concentration of specimens was recorded to analyze the effect of fabrication parameters (namely, NaCl ratio, NaCl particle size, and compacting pressure) on the foaming behavior of compacted specimens. It has been recorded that the above-mentioned fabrication parameters are effective on pore concentration profile while pore diameters remain unchanged. In the ANN training module, NaCl content (wt)%, NaCl particle size (μm), and compacting pressure (MPA) were employed as inputs, while pore concentration % (volume) of compacts related to fabrication parameters was employed as output. The ANN program was successfully used to predict the pore concentration % (volume) of compacts related to fabrication parameters.     

Prediction of surface roughness during abrasive flow machining

An analytical model is proposed to simulate and predict the surface roughness for different machining conditions in abrasive flow machining (AFM). The kinematic analysis is used to model the interaction between grain and workpiece. Fundamental AFM parameters, such as the grain size, grain concentration, active grain density, grain spacing, forces on the grain, initial topography, and initial surface finish (R _a value) of the workpiece are used to describe the grain-workpiece interaction. The AFM process is studied under a systematic variation of grain size, grain concentration and extrusion pressure with initial surface finish of the workpiece. Simulation results show that the proposed model gives results that are consistent with experimental results.     

Grain size distribution analysis in polycrystalline LiF thin films by mathematical morphology techniques on AFM images and X-ray diffraction data

The influence of the deposition temperature on the grain size of polycrystalline lithium fluoride (LiF) thin films is studied using a mathematical morphology method. On atomic force microscopy images of the LiF surface, the grain sizes and shapes are determined by applying the watershed technique, together with a shape factor algorithm. Also, the domain size of the film structure, determined by an X-ray diffraction data analysis, is compared and correlated with the mean grain size as a function of the deposition temperature. In both cases a linear increase with temperature and a very good agreement among the two structural parameters (grain and domain size) was found.     

Development of a dynamic surface roughness monitoring system based on artificial neural networks (ANN) in milling operation

In the current research, a new method is applied to modify the conventional friction stir welding (FSW) process. Fixture, which fixes the workpieces, is shaken mechanically during FSW in a direction normal to weld line in order to increase the straining of weld region material. In other words, vibration of workpieces is accompanied by the rotating motion of tool. This new process can be described as friction stir vibration welding (FSVW). Al 5052 alloy specimens are welded by two welding methods, FSW and FSVW. Microstructure and mechanical properties of welded specimens are compared. Metallography analyses indicate that grain size decreases and hardness increases as FSVW method is applied. Tensile test results also show that strength and ductility values of friction stir vibration (FSV)-welded specimens are greater than those relating to friction stir (FS)-welded specimens. It is because of more work hardening of plasticized material, during FSVW, which leads to more generation and movement of dislocations. Correspondingly, grain size decreases and mechanical properties improve. Additionally, it is observed that the mechanical properties of the weld improve as vibration frequency increases.