Effect of addition of Al-Si eutectic alloy on microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-12wt%Li alloy

Mg-12Li, Mg-12Li-3(Al-Si), Mg-12Li-7(Al-Si) and Mg-12Li-9(Al-Si) alloys (all in wt%) were fabricated by high frequency vacuum induction melting in a water cooled copper crucible. After subsequently hot-rolling and annealing, their microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. Experimental results show that mechanical properties of Mg-12Li alloy were significantly improved by the addition of Al-Si eutectic alloy. Mg-12Li-7(Al-Si) alloy shows the highest strength of 196 MPa of the investigated alloys, which is about 1.8 times of the strength of Mg-12Li alloy, and maintains high elongation of 27%. The improved mechanical property with addition of Al and Si in the eutectic proportion into Mg-12Li alloy was attributed to the solution strengthening effect of Al and precipitation hardening effect from AlLi and Mg₂Si precipitates.     

Effect of Ho on the microstructure and compressive properties of NiAl-based eutectic alloy

The effect of various holmium content on the microstructure and compressive behavior of NiAl-28Cr-6Mo-0.15Hf eutectic alloy has been investigated by using combination of SEM, TEM and compression test. The results suggest that appropriate Ho addition improves the compressive ductility at room temperature and the high temperature strength at 1273 K of the alloy significantly. In addition, lamellar microstructure inside of eutectic cell and eutectic cell get refinement gradually, but the intercellular region become coarse, with increase of Ho content. Furthermore, Ni₂Al₃Ho phase, with hexagonal crystal structure, is observed in the alloy.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Hf and Ho doped NiAl–Cr(Mo) near eutectic alloy prepared by suction casting

The microstructure and mechanical properties of 0.15 at.% Hf and 0.2 at.% Ho doped Ni–33Al–28Cr–6Mo near eutectic alloys prepared by conventionally casting and suction casting were investigated. The results reveal that the addition of Hf and Ho results in the formation of HfAlNi₂ and HoNi₂Al₃ phases respectively along the NiAl and Cr(Mo) phase interface in intercellular regions. Compared with the conventional-cast alloy, the suction casting optimizes the microstructure of the alloy further, which can be characterized by the refined NiAl/Cr(Mo) eutectic lamellar, high proportion of eutectic cell, and fine and homogeneously distributed HfAlNi₂ and HoNi₂Al₃ phases. In addition, the compression tests show that the suction-cast alloy has better mechanical properties, which can be attributed to the fine microstructure and uniform distribution of the HfAlNi₂ and HoNi₂Al₃ phases.     

Tensile deformation behavior and mechanical properties of a bulk cast Al_(0.9) CoFeNi_2 eutectic high-entropy alloy

In this study,a new Al0.9CoFeNi2 eutectic high entropy alloy(EHEA) was designed,and the microstructures as well as the deformation behavior were investigated.The bulk cast Al0.9CoFeNi2 EHEA exhibited an order face-centered cubic FCC(L12) and an order body-centered cubic(B2) dual-phase lamellar eutectic microstructure.The volume fractions of FCC(L12) and B2 phases are measured to be 60 % and 40 %,respectively.The combination of the soft and ductile FCC(L12) phase together with the hard B2 phase resulted in superior strength of 1005 MPa and ductility as high as 6.2 % in tension at room temperature.The Al0.9CoFeNi2 EHEA exhibited obvious three-stage work hardening characteristics and high workhardening ability.The evolving dislocation substructure s during uniaxial tensile deformation found that planar slip dominates in both FCC(L12) and B2 phases,and the FCC(L12) phase is easier to deform than the B2 phase.The post-deformation transmission electron microscopy revealed that the sub-structural evolution of the FCC(L12) phase is from planar dislocations to bending dislocations,high-density dislocations,dislocation network,and then to dislocation walls,and Taylor lattices,while the sub-structural evolution of the B2 phase is from a very small number of short dislocations to a number of planar dislocations.Moreover,obvious ductile fracture in the FCC(L12) phase and a brittle-like fracture in the B2 phase were observed on the fracture surface of the Al0.9CoFeNi2 EHEA.The re search results provide some insight into the microstructure-property relationship.     

Microstructure and enhanced mechanical properties of an Mg-10Gd-2Y-0.5Zr alloy processed by cyclic extrusion and compression

The evolution of microstructure and texture of an extruded GW102K Mg alloy processed by cyclic extrusion and compression (CEC) at 450 °C were investigated. Tensile tests were performed at room temperature and strain rate 5 × 10⁻³ s⁻¹. The results show that the microstructure was effectively refined, and the initial fiber texture became disintegrated and developed a new texture after 14 CEC passes. It was found that the strength and ductility were simultaneously increased compared with the as-extruded alloy. In particular, the elongation and yield strength were related in a line relationship having a positive slope. As the texture changed and texture intensity decreased, substantial grain refinement was observed. The hard second-phase particles were considered to be responsible for the uncommon properties of the GW102K alloy processed by CEC.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Al-Zn alloy sheet fabricated by cold extrusion

Cold extrusion of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets was studied in this paper. Microstructure and texture distributions of the as-extruded sheet were investigated by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) method. The grains were significantly refined and the average grain size was 1.6 μm. Dynamic recrystallization has taken place during the extrusion process, which resulted in the high frequency of high angle grain boundaries in the sheet. After the cold extrusion, a weak double-peak type basal texture was formed. The formation of the texture was ascribed to the non-basal <c + a> slips. Tensile tests revealed that mechanical properties were enhanced due to grain size refinement, but mechanical anisotropy was obvious. It is believed that mechanical anisotropy was related to the splitting of basal texture.     

Structure and mechanical properties of the annealed TZAV-30 alloy

The Ti–30Zr–5Al–3V (wt.%, TZAV-30) alloy having good mechanical properties is a potential structural material to apply in the aerospace industry. The microstructure and mechanical properties of ZTAV-30 alloy underwent various annealing heat treatments were investigated. The specimens annealed from 500 to 800 °C are composed of α and β two phases. No compound is detected in specimens annealed in that temperature range. The microstructure of annealed specimens is characterized as a typical basketweave microstructure. Three microstructural parameters, thickness of plate α phase, relative fraction of β phase and aspect ratio of α grains, were measured in those annealed specimens. As the alloy annealed in the range from 500 to 800 °C, the average thickness of plate α grains increases with the increasing annealing temperature from 500 to 700 °C but decreases while annealed at 800 °C. The fraction of retained β phase increases with annealing temperature. And the aspect ratio of plate α grains decreases firstly but increases while the annealing temperature is higher than 700 °C. As the variation of those three microstructural parameters, the strength of examined alloy varies from 1269 to 1355 MPa for tensile strength and from 1101 to 1190 MPa for yield strength, inversely, the elongation changes in the range from 12.7% to 8.4%. The strengthening and toughening mechanism of the TZAV-30 alloy with basketweave microstructure is also discussed in this paper.     

Study on isothermal precision forging process of rare earth intensifying magnesium alloy

A three dimensional rigid-plastic finite element model is established to simulate the isothermal precision forging process of the magnesium alloy bracket based on DEFORM 3D in order to analyze the material flow rule and determine the forging process scheme. Some problems such as underfilling and too large forging pressure are predicted and resolved through optimizing the shapes of the billet successfully. Compared to the initial microstructure, the isothermal-forged microstructure of the alloy refines obviously and amounts of secondary phases precipitate on the matrix during isothermal forging process. In subsequent ageing process, large quantities of secondary phases precipitate from α-Mg matrix with increasing ageing time. The optimal comprehensive mechanical properties of the alloy have been obtained after aged at 473 K, 63 h with the ultimate tensile strength, tensile yield strength and elongation 380 MPa, 243 MPa and 4.07% respectively, which shows good potential for application of isothermal forging process of rare earth intensifying magnesium alloy.     

快速凝固/粉末冶金(RS/PM)高硅铝合金材料的研究

采用冷压 +热挤压工艺制备快速凝固高硅铝合金材料 ,并探讨了挤压温度、保温时间、挤压比等工艺参数对材料组织及性能的影响 .研究结果表明 ,与高硅铝合金铸造材料相比 ,本研究所制的材料硅相尺寸得到了显著细化 ,且分布更为均匀 ,材料的抗拉强度和延伸率有明显的提高 .采用光学金相显微镜、SEM、XRD等手段对快速凝固高硅铝合金粉末及大块材料的微观结构及相组织进行了深入研究 .     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg -2Gd -3Y -0.6Zr alloy upon conventional and hydrostatic extrusion

The Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.6Zr (wt. %) alloy was subjected to conventional and hydrostatic extrusion in two subsequent steps. The best combination of mechanical properties (strength and ductility) was achieved by RT hydrostatic extrusion following conventional extrusion at 430 °C, with the ultimate tensile strength (UTS), tensile yield strength (TYS) and elongation being 485 MPa, 413 MPa and 5.2% at room temperature. The texture results of extruded rods indicate that the c-axis of most grains was aligned preferentially perpendicular to the extrusion direction, forming a typical extrusion Mg fiber texture.     

High Strength AA7050 Al alloy processed by ECAP: Microstructure and mechanical properties

Commercial AA7050 aluminium alloy in the solution heat-treated condition was processed by ECAP through routes A and B_C. Samples were processed in both room temperature and 150 °C, with 1, 3, and 6 passes. The resulting microstructure was evaluated by optical microscopy (OM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Only one pass was possible at room temperature due to the low ductility of the alloy under this condition. In all cases, the microstructure was refined by the formation of deformation bands, with dislocation cells and subgrains inside these bands. The increase of the ECAP temperature led to the formation of more defined subgrain boundaries and intense precipitation of spherical-like particles, identified as η′ and η phases. After the first pass, an increase in the hardness was observed, when compared with the initial condition. After 3 passes the hardness reached a maximum value, higher than the values typically observed for this alloy in the overaged condition. The samples processed by route B_C evolved to a more refined microstructure. ECAP also resulted in significant strength improvement, compared to the alloy in the commercial overaged condition.     

Friction stir welding of aluminium hollow extrusion: weld formation and mechanical properties

Novel friction stir welding (FSW) technique, characterised by big concave upper and small convex lower shoulders, for aluminium hollow extrusion was studied. Assisted with the lower shoulder, root flaws due to the lack of tool penetration have been eliminated. The tensile strength increased with increasing welding speed. As the welding speed increases from 50 to 200 mm min^?1, the width of the welding nugget zone (WNZ) decreases, and the ductile fractured location occurred at WNZ instead of heat affected zone (HAZ) adjacent to thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ). The interface between the TMAZ and HAZ exhibited the lowest microhardness. The results indicated that the novel FSW method has the potential to join tubular structures and hollow profiles widely used in transportation industries.     

Equal-channel angular sheet extrusion of interstitial-free (IF) steel: Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties

Interstitial-free steel (IF-steel) sheets were processed at room temperature using a continuous severe plastic deformation (SPD) technique called equal-channel angular sheet extrusion (ECASE). After processing, the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties have been systematically investigated. To be able to directly compare the results with those from the same material processed using discontinuous equal channel angular extrusion, the sheets were ECASE processed up to eight passes. The microstructural investigations revealed that the processed sheets exhibited a dislocation cell and/or subgrain structures with mostly low angle grain boundaries. The grains after processing have relatively high dislocation density and intense micro-shear band formation. The electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) examination showed that the processed microstructure is not fully homogeneous along the sheet thickness due probably to the corner angle of 120° in the ECASE die. It was also observed that the strengths of the processed sheets increase with the number of ECASE passes, and after eight passes following route-A and route-C, the yield strengths reach 463 MPa and 459 MPa, respectively, which is almost 2.5 times higher than that of the initial material. However, the tensile ductility considerably dropped after the ECASE. The limited ductility was attributed to the early plastic instability in the tensile samples due to the inhomogeneous microstructure. The specimen orientation with respect to the ECASE direction did not have a considerable effect on the stress-strain response. Appropriate low temperature annealing of ECASE-processed IF-steel resulted in a good strength-ductility balance.     

Effect of tool pin eccentricity on microstructure and mechanical properties in friction stir welded 7075 aluminum alloy thick plate

Four different tools with the pin eccentricity of 0.1 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm and 0.4 mm were designed to friction stir weld 10 mm thick AA7075-O plate. The effect of pin eccentricity on microstructure, secondary phase particles transformation and mechanical properties of the joints was investigated. The results show that the nugget area (A_NZ) increases firstly and then decreases with increasing the pin eccentricity. When the pin with 0.2 mm eccentricity is applied, the A_NZ is the largest; meanwhile the grains size is the smallest which is about 3 μm and secondary phase particles are the most dispersive in nugget zone compared with other tools. While the grains are coarsened to 7–11 μm as the eccentricity is more than 0.4 mm, some coarse hardening particles get to cluster in the thermo-mechanically affected zone. The joints produced by the pin with 0.2 mm eccentricity perform the highest tensile strength and elongation, which is attributed to better interfaces, finer grains and more dispersive secondary phase particles.     

Al-Si合金的储热性能

对Si含量为10％-13％的Al—Si合金进行了加速氧化、热循环和掺Fe实验,研究了其在不同热循环条件下的相变储热性能和可靠性．结果表明,在空气中经几百h的高温氧化后,氧化率小于0．01％,其影响可以忽略不计．经过0,4,23,60,100,200,300,400,500,600,700次熔化-凝固循环后,相变温度的变化为3．8-11．8℃,相变潜热从484．86kJ／kg下降到432．62kJ／kg．当Al—Si合金的掺铁量为0．5％时,相变潜热下降6．5％;对于缓冷的储能过程,偏析较小并在循环多次后趋于缓和和稳定．Al—Si合金成份和结构的变化对材料的储热性能影响较小,在长期的热循环过程中有良好和稳定的储热性能．     

Effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties of low alloy steel foams

Effect of heat treatment on compressive properties of low alloy steel foams (Fe–1.75 Ni–1.5 Cu–0.5 Mo–0.6 C) having porosities in the range of 47.4–71.5% with irregular pore shape, produced by the space holder-water leaching technique in powder metallurgy, was investigated. Low alloy steel powders were mixed with different amounts of space holder (carbamide), and then compacted at 200 MPa. Carbamide in the green compacts was removed by water leaching at room temperature. The green specimens were sintered at 1200 °C for 60 min in hydrogen atmosphere. Sintered compacts were heat treated by austenitizing at 850 °C for 30 min and then quenched at 70 °C in oil and tempered at 210 °C for 60 min. In this porosity range, compressive yield strengths of as-sintered and heat treated specimens were 28–122 MPa and 18–168 MPa, respectively. The resultant Young’s moduli of the as-sintered and heat treated specimens were 0.68–3.12 GPa and 0.47–3.47 GPa, respectively. The heat treatment enhanced the Young’s modulus and compressive yield strength of the foams having porosities in the range of 47.4–62.3%, as a consequence of matrix strengthening. However, the compressive yield stress and Young’s modulus of the heat treated foam having 71.5% porosity were lower than that of the as-sintered foam’s, as a result of cracks in the structure. The results were discussed in light of the structural findings.     

Optimization of magnetic arc oscillation process parameters on mechanical properties of AA 5456 Aluminum alloy weldments

The present work pertains to the improvement of mechanical properties of AA 5456 Aluminum alloy welds through magnetic arc oscillation process. Taguchi method was employed to optimize the magnetic arc oscillation welding process parameters of non-heat treatable AA 5456 Aluminum alloy welds for increasing the mechanical properties. The same optimum condition was observed in all the properties. Regression models were developed. The effect of welding current, welding speed, amplitude and frequency on mechanical properties was also studied. Analysis of variance was employed to check the adequacy of the developed models. Microstructures of all the welds were studied and correlated with the mechanical properties.     

Effects of neodymium rich rare earth elements on microstructure and mechanical properties of as cast AZ31 magnesium alloy

Abstract

The effects of neodymium rich rare earth elements [RE(Nd)] on microstructure and mechanical properties of as cast AZ31 magnesium alloy were investigated. The microstructures of as cast AZ31–xRE(Nd) alloys display a dendrite configuration, and the secondary dendrite spacing of the α-Mg phase was decreased with the increasing Nd content. The addition of RE(Nd) resulted in the formation of Al₂Nd and Mg₁₂Nd phases. Mechanical properties were improved significantly due to grain refinement and precipitation of intermetallic phases. When the amount of RE is 1·0 wt-%,The as cast AZ31 alloy reached its maximum tensile strength of 249 MPa at room temperature, yield strength of 169 MPa and elongation of 9·0%.     

Structure, mechanical and tribological properties of diamond-like carbon films on aluminum alloy by arc ion plating

The low hardness and poor tribological performance of aluminum alloys restrict their engineering applications. However, protective hard films deposited on aluminum alloys are believed to be effective for overcoming their poor wear properties. In this paper, diamond-like carbon (DLC) films as hard protective film were deposited on 2024 aluminum alloy by arc ion plating. The dependence of the chemical state and microstructure of the films on substrate bias voltage was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The mechanical and tribological properties of the DLC films deposited on aluminum alloy were investigated by nanoindentation and ball-on-disk tribotester, respectively. The results show that the deposited DLC films were very well-adhered to the aluminum alloy substrate, with no cracks or delamination being observed. A maximum sp³ content of about 37% was obtained at −100 V substrate bias, resulting in a hardness of 30 GPa and elastic modulus of 280 GPa. Thus, the surface hardness and wear resistance of 2024 aluminum alloy can be significantly improved by applying a protective DLC film coating. The DLC-coated aluminum alloy showed a stable and relatively low friction coefficient, as well as narrower and shallower wear tracks in comparison with the uncoated aluminum alloy.