Microstructures and phase selection in rapidly solidified Zn-Mg alloys

The Zn-Mg system has potential glass-forming ability, and therefore studies were made of rapidly solidified zinc-based Zn-Mg alloys containing up to 6 wt% Mg. These alloys exhibited interesting eutectic phase selections and structural transitions across the ribbon thickness which are represented on a microstructure selection diagram for rapid solidification conditions. Although rapid solidification is known in many cases to produce metastable phases, in this case the equilibrium eutectic mixtures of Zn-Mg₂Zn₁₁ are observed after rapid solidification, whereas the metastable eutectic mixture Zn-MgZn₂ forms under normal solidification conditions. However, in the melt-spun Zn-Mg alloy which is exactly at eutectic composition, three different structures are observed across the ribbon thickness. These three structures do not exist simultaneously in the same region, but structural transitions occur as the thickness increases from the wheel side to the free side. Eutectic and hypereutectic alloys show a tendency to form a metallic glass. In these alloys a critical growth velocity exists beyond which eutectic solidification is not possible, suggesting a possible transition from eutectic solidification to amorphous phase formation. The eutectic phase selection and the extent to which a specific microstructure is present depends on the variation in growth rate and solid-liquid interface stability during rapid solidification.[/p]     

Crystallization and precipitation structures of quasicrystalline phase in rapidly solidified Al-Mn-X ternary alloys

Tranmission electron microscopic observations were carried out to reveal the solidification and precipitation structures of rapidly solidified Al-Mn-X alloys (X=Si or Zr), with particular focus on the formation of the icosahedral quasicrystals. On increasing the manganese content, the distribution of the icosahedral quasicrystals in the rapidly solidified alloys changed from the type of cell-boundary segregation to that of one component in the eutectic and the primarily dendritic phase. The precipitation of the icosahedral quasicrystals from the supersaturated solid solutions of the present alloys was restricted in the surface layers and/or largeangle grain boundaries. The orientation relationships between the icosahedral quasicrystals and the aluminium matrix were such that three mutually perpendicular two-fold axes of the icosahedron lie along the [100], , and [011] axes of the fcc crystallographic directions. The 15-fold symmetry diffraction pattern frequently obtained from (111) and/or (233) matrix planes could be explained by considering axial rotation between the five-fold and three-fold symmetry axes of the icosahedron and cubic lattices. It was suggested that the hierarchy of the free energies of the icosahedral phase and the other crystalline phases was very close.     

Cu-Cr二元合金宏观偏析与温度场的数值模拟

Cu-Cr材料是两相复合材料,铬粒子通常以嵌入在铜基体中的形式存在,凝固过程中存在着严重的偏析现象,进而对凝固温度场的分布产生影响.为分析Cr相偏析对温度场分布的影响,基于Eulerian-Eulerian方法,建立了三维凝固偏析模型,利用Fluent模拟计算,偏析模型采用浓度梯度"SCr和分布面积梯度▽SCr来表示,得到了Cu-6.5%Cr的凝固偏析分布和温度场分布.结果表明:由于Cr的熔点比较高,当tt_a时,Cr先发生侧向凝固,形成糊状区;同时,Cr相的密度比Cu小,内部Cr相会发生上浮,向合金顶部移动;当tt_a时,顶部的Cr会大量聚集,形成顶部偏析,两侧Cr相"困"于糊状区,形成壁面偏析;随着凝固界面横向推移,壁面偏析对壁面温度场的分布产生影响,Cu的传热系数是Cr的3.85倍,随着Cr相偏析度的增加,降低了基体壁面的传热效率,导致温度梯度变大.研究工作将模拟结果与实验结果进行了对比,证明了模型的准确性.     

Hardening and phase stability in rapidly solidified Al–Fe–Ce alloys

Rapidly solidified (RS) Al–Fe–Ce alloys were prepared by melt spinning. The phases present and the thermal stability, at temperatures up to 500 °C, were then followed by X-ray analysis, chemistry, hardness and thermal analysis techniques. The results obtained indicated that the alloys studied have enhanced mechanical properties compared to commercial aluminium alloys and castings of the same alloy compositions, and the RS alloy also exhibit good stability up to about 300 °C; a result of stable second phase particles. It is suggested that these results indicate that there are two mechanisms responsible for the hardening and stability of the RS alloys: solid solution strengthening at lower temperatures, and semicoherent particles formed from supersaturated solid solution at higher temperature. The maximum hardness, after 2 h ageing occurred at about 300 °C. At higher temperatures the dispersed phase became incoherent with a dramatic loss in hardness.     

Structure of rapidly solidified aluminum alloys

This paper is a summary of an extensive research program carried out by the authors on the structure of rapidly solidified aluminum alloys; and a comparison with the work of others also involved in this field. The paper discusses the changes in the dendritic and non-dendritic structure of the matrix at cooling rates from 10^–3 to 10¹⁰ K/s and discusses the hetergeneity of the structure caused by interdendritic-segretion during solidification.     

Structure of rapidly solidified aluminium-silicon alloys

This paper present results obtained on rapid solidification of aluminium-silicon alloys from the liquid state. It shows that the limit of primary solid solubility is extended almost to the eutectic composition and that the large supersaturation is relieved on raising the annealing temperature to the range 110 to 450° C. This conclusion is based on measurements of lattice parameter and is also supported by corresponding changes in hardness and metallographic features.     

Characterization of rapidly solidified aluminium-silicon alloy

A metallographic investigation of as-cast LM-13 aluminium-silicon alloy, solidified at different cooling rates (using permanent moulds or a single-roll melt spinner), is presented with special reference to the modification of eutectic silicon. and the refinement of primary aluminium. The refinement of microstructure with the increase in cooling rate is mainly attributed to the limited growth kinetics of the nucleated phase during solidification. The rapidly solidified ribbon was heat-treated in order to determine the microstructural stability at high temperature. The tensile strength, percentage elongation and hardness values of as-solidified and heat-treated samples correlate well with the changes in the microstructure observed.     

Microstructures in rapidly solidified Mg–Mn

Abstract

A Mg–2 wt-%Mn alloy has been rapidly solidified by melt spinning to produce ribbons 200–300 μm thick, 3–10 mm wide, and up to 0·3 m long. The solidification microstructure has been analysed by optical microscopy, conventional and scanning transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and focused-probe microdiffraction. The rapid solidification resulted in Mg grain sizes between 10 and 20 μm. In regions extending from the substrate and partly through the thickness, the solidification structure was cellular with cell spacings between 1 and 2 μm. This structure exhibited an enriched Mn content between cells, an unusual segregation pattern for a peritectic system. The cell boundaries were decorated by rod-shaped particles, 10–20 nm long, of the metastable phase β-Mn. Outside the cellular region the solidification structure was similar to that of conventionally cast material. There were some coarse β-Mn particles of ~ 0·1 μm dia., probably as a result of precipitation from the melt.

MST/134     

Metastable microstructures in rapidly solidified zirconium alloys

Zirconium alloys exhibit a wide variety of phase transformations. The present review outlines some aspects of phase transformations, which are encountered in rapidly solidified zirconium alloys. The possibility of solidification of unalloyed zirconium directly into the low temperature phase is examined and the role that solidification microstructure plays in modifying the to martensitic transformation in rapidly solidified material is discussed. Zirconium alloys undergo two types of displacive transformations, namely, the martensitic transformation and the transformation. The influence of rapid solidification on the transition from the martensitic to the transformation is also discussed. Addition of transition metals are known to depress the melting point of zirconium alloys very drastically. As a consequence, glass forming abilities of a number of binary and ternary zirconium alloys are quite strong. A number of zirconium based metal-metal amorphous alloys have been synthesized using rapid solidification. In recent years, this work has been extended to bulk metallic glasses, which usually contain a larger number of alloying elements. Crystallization of these glasses and quasi-crystalline phase formation in these systems is also discussed.     

Grain refinement in rapidly solidified W-Si alloys

Grain refinement in rapidly solidified W-Si alloys has been investigated with respect to silicon content and solidification rate. Solid-solution W-Si alloys with varying silicon content were prepared into small buttons by arc melting, from which rapidly quenched foils of various thickness were made by the hammer and anvil technique. The grain size of the foils was studied with respect to thickness and silicon content. The results show that the grain size is inversely proportional to the thickness of a foil and also is an exponential function of silicon content on an empirical basis. The combined effect of cooling rate and silicon content on the grain size can be expressed by an exponential function.     

On precipitation in rapidly solidified aluminium-silicon alloys

The precipitation of silicon in rapidly solidified AlSi alloys was studied. For alloys with 2.4 and 11.0 wt % Si (2.3 and 10.3 at % Si, respectively) the lattice parameters of the Alrich and of the Si-rich phases were measured after ageing at 397,425 and 448 K. For alloys with 2.6 and 13.0 wt % Si crystallite sizes and lattice strains were determined by analysis of the X-ray diffraction line broadening. After ageing the lattice parameters of the Al-rich and the Si-rich phases were influenced by the difference in thermal expansion between both phases. After correction for this effect the amount of silicon dissolved in the Al-rich phase was estimated as a function of ageing time. Quenched-in (excess) vacancies influenced the precipitation kinetics. Activation energies for precipitation appeared to depend on the extent of transformation. Further, quenched-in vacancies caused anomalous maxima in the lattice parameter curves. The behaviour of the lattice microstrains on ageing was explained as a result of the disappearance of stresses due to quenching and the introduction and subsequent dissipation of stresses due to precipitation. After completed precipitation stresses due to the difference in thermal expansion between both phases still exist at room temperature.