Dynamic behaviour of high strength steel parts developed through laser assisted direct metal deposition

High strength steel alloys are good candidates for many engineering applications particularly those involving high strains and impact loads. Such applications in energy absorption devices require materials that can sustain dynamic loading and remain strong under demanding conditions. But the processing cost of these alloys has been a prohibitive factor, thus re-enforcing the research on porous and cellular structures made of stainless steels. Direct metal deposition (DMD) is a process which employs the power of a CO₂ laser to melt and deposit metallic powders onto steel substrates. Such structures offer advantages of creating novel configurations only by computer control of laser “tool path”. This research investigates the mechanical behaviour of solid and porous parts with prismatic cavities under quasi-static and dynamic compressive loading. Apart from two main deficiencies of relatively large variations of properties among the test specimen and sufficiently low modulus of elasticity, the stress strain behaviour is very close to the commercial grades of stainless steel produced by rolling and forming. The energy absorption behaviour of porous specimen is also very encouraging and renders DMD as a suitable process for manufacturing of customized sandwich and graded structures that can be used as a substitution for many engineering applications such as monolithic compression plates and explosion shields.     

Investigate the causes of cracks in welded 310 stainless steel used in the Flare tip

The present study examines the causes of the cracks in welded 310 stainless steel that has been used in the Flare tip. According to the tests, including metallographic examination, macroscopic hardness test and scanning electron microscopic analysis, the reasons for the nucleation and growth of the cracks in the weld zone have been discussed. The results show that, because of the service temperature of Flare tip between 500 and 900 °C, and hydrocarbon gases such as methane, ethane, sour gas and carbon dioxide that are the combustion products, the component surface has been oxidized and carburized. Thus, the surface carburized oxide layer and also the subsurface damage can be fertile field for the nucleation of cracks. Likewise, the presence of sigma phases, austenite dendrites and interdendritic delta ferrite can cause a drop in toughness in the weld zone and provide fields for the crack growth in the weld zone.     

Post-forming monotonic and cyclic behavior in a HSLA steel sheet after large deformations by in-plane compression

The effects of large prestrains (18–40%), produced by in-plane compression, on the asymmetry and the anisotropy of the stress response and on the fatigue life are investigated under fully reversed axial strain for a 345 MPa yield strength V–N high strength low alloy steel sheet. After prestraining, the hysteresis loops are asymmetric and the stress response is anisotropic, i.e., the response differs in directions parallel and perpendicular to that of the compressive prestrain. To understand the cyclic flow stress asymmetry, monotonic tension and compression tests were conducted in these two directions after prestraining. It is shown that the loop asymmetry is related to the Bauschinger effect after prestraining. Two cyclic stress strain curves, one corresponding to the tension side of the hysteresis loops and the other to the compression side, are defined to accurately describe the post-prestraining behavior. The amount of strengthening gained by prestraining is partially retained after cycling. Prestraining increases the fatigue life at low strain amplitudes but decreases it at high strain amplitudes.     

Euro PM2007 congress and exhibition

Abstract

Threatened with bureaucratic over-regulation under the EU's newly enacted REACH legislation, and other competitive challenges, the large tonnage section of the European PM industry did not seem to be facing a rosy future as it met in the Ville Rose city of Toulouse. Nevertheless, the EPMA was seen as having a key role in moving the industry forward and resisting the pressures from the large end users, low cost (Asian) producers, and competing technologies. Europe still leads the world in the manufacture of hard materials, but China is expected to overtake Europe in tungsten carbide and diamond tools production within the next 3–5 years. European sales of metal injection moulded parts continue to grow strongly, doubling in value to E140 million between 1997 and 2003. PM research in Europe is very active, with 40 universities and institutes and over 500 researchers involved. These provided the large majority of the European presentations at PM2007.     

Dissipative aspects in thermographic methods

Object of this paper is to emphasize some dissipative aspects of steels in high cycle fatigue from the thermographic point of view by relating anelastic and microplastic behaviours to loading levels respectively below and above the fatigue limit. To this aim, the Two Curves Thermographic Method has been modified by using both a parabola and a power curve as regression laws instead of the traditional linear ones. Two new thermal parameters have also been considered, the thermal increment and the subtended area by the thermal profile at a very low number of cycles. Experimental data referred to C45 standard and 25CrMo4 notched steel specimens have been processed using both original and modified Two Curves methodologies and both traditional and new thermographic parameters. All changes introduced in the present paper provide good results both in terms of fatigue limit values and for as concerns the rapidity of the fatigue tests.     

Experience with the use of the acoustic emission technique for monitoring scale failure in wet and dry environments

Abstract

A brief survey of the acoustic emission technique for monitoring scale cracking and failure on 2.25–24% Cr steels in wet and dry environments is given. A number of acoustic emission test rigs are described. Some of the more simple test rigs are used for testing small oxidation coupons during isothermal oxidation. More sophisticated rigs have been used for testing full size heat exchanger tubes during thermal cycling.

Most acoustic emission measurements in a wet environment come from testing at temperatures below 650°C. There are examples from Alloy 800 and thermal barrier coatings that were tested at higher temperatures, 900°C and 1100°C, respectively. Through the years acoustic emission tests have been performed in dry air, dry air+10%H₂O, dry air+0.5%SO₂, and Ar+5%H₂+50%H₂O. Consequently, a wide variety of exposure temperatures and atmospheres can be investigated using acoustic emission techniques.

Qualitative acoustic emission results can detect when scale cracking occurs at exposure temperature, where such cracks are produced by growth stress. Acoustic emission signals have been measured during sample cooling, where the signal arises from scale cracking that is caused by the thermal expansion mismatch stress. Measured results have clearly shown that scale cracking caused by both growth stress and thermal expansion mismatch stress are affected by water vapor in the exposure environment. Post-test metallographic investigations show that crack orientation and the oxide scale phases are also affected by the gas composition in the test rig. Additionally the sample mass gain and scale thickness is affected by water vapor content.

Finally, acoustic emission techniques are helpful for understanding the phenomena of breakaway oxidation and spallation/exfoliation.     

Consideration of influence factors between small‐scale specimens and large components on the fatigue strength of thin‐plated block joints in shipbuilding

Shipbuilding in blocks, as being usual on all larger shipyards, requires that the blocks will finally be welded together manually or semi‐automatically, that is, with butt‐welds in transverse direction that have to withstand relatively high dynamical loads. Modern shipbuilding aims at lightweight construction with thin plates that may have a plate thickness down to 4 mm. Previous investigations showed that manually produced butt‐welds in such thin structures did not reach the calculated fatigue life as required in the rules. Up to the present, this problem has not yet been solved, and it is questioned if all influence factors on the fatigue behaviour of real structures are correctly considered as no damage cases at butt joints that are known yet. In the investigation described here, results from small‐scale specimens tested with cyclic loads will be transferred to large components, considering the effects of recorded pre‐deformations induced by welding as well as measured differences in residual stresses between small‐scale specimens and large components, thus clarifying how far for instance a detrimental stress ratio should be taken into account by the rules for thin plates.