Papers by Author: Derek O. Northwood

Abstract: High nitrogen stainless steel (HNSS) is becoming an increasingly important engineering material because of its excellent corrosion resistance and good mechanical properties. A hot rolled Cr₁₉Mn₁₉Mo₂N_0.7 HNSS, having a microstructure consisting of banded ferrite and dotted/dendritic nitrides dispersed in the austenite matrix, was solution treated at 1160oC for various times. It is shown that the nitride can be dissolved, and the shape of ferrite can be changed by the solution treatment. The microhardness of both austenite and ferrite decreases with increasing solution treatment time. This is attributed to an increased grain size and a homogeneous distribution of alloying elements. The results are helpful in controlling the thermomechanical processing of HNSSs in commercial practice.

Abstract: Austempered ductile iron (ADI) has been widely used in various industries due to its excellent combination of high strength, ductility and good wear resistance. The tensile behavior of an unalloyed commercial ADI with a multiphase structure designed by a novel multi-step austempering treatment is investigated. The developed austempering process consists of austenitizing at 890°C for 20min, then initial rapid quenching to 180°C, and isothermal holding at 190, 220, 250°Cfor 120min, and finally air cooling to room temperature. The optimum mechanical properties with an ultimate tensile strength of 1350MPa, a yield strength of 1090MPa, as well as an elongation of 3.5% is achieved at 220°C. This is attributed to a synergistic strengthening effect of multiphase structure including a prior martensite with fine needle bainitic ferrite and film retained austenite.

Abstract: The effects of heat treatment on distortion, residual stress, and retained austenite were compared for case-carburized 4320 steel, in both the austempered and quench-and-tempered condition. Navy C-ring samples were used to quantify both size and shape distortions, as well as residual stress. The austempering heat treatment produced less distortion and a higher surface residual stress. Both hoop and axial stresses were measured; the difference between them was less than seven percent in all cases. Depth profiles were obtained for residual stress and retained austenite from representative C-ring samples for the austempered and quench-and-tempered heat treatment conditions. Austempering maintained a compressive residual stress to greater depths than quench-and-tempering. Quench-and-tempering also resulted in lower retained austenite amounts immediately beneath the surface. However, for both heat treatments, the retained austenite content was approximately one percent at depths greater than 0.5 mm.

Abstract: Dissolution of secondary phases during thermal treatment in cast magnesium alloys influences their engineering properties. In this study, a kinetic model based on a Kissinger-type method has been developed for describing dissolution of secondary phases in the high pressure die cast magnesium alloy AM50 during a thermally activated heating process. Also, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was effectively used for investigating the dissolution kinetics of secondary phases in the AM50 alloy. By fitting a kinetic model to the DSC results, the activation energy of the dissolution of the secondary phases can be determined. In parallel, the microstructure of the alloy was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that the distribution of secondary phases and the concentration of alloying elements both at the grain boundaries and in the grains play an important role in the solid-state transformation kinetics of die cast magnesium alloy AM50.

Abstract: Carbonitriding is a metallurgical surface modification technique that is widely used in the automotive industry to increase surface hardness and wear resistance. Given the problems associated with carbonitriding, such as dimensional distortion, oxidation and non-uniform surface hardness, nitrocarburizing has been proposed as an alternative heat treatment method to improve the surface characteristics. The major advantages of ferritic nitrocarburizing are the minimal dimensional changes and distortion due to the low process temperature at which no phase transformations occur. This increases productivity and product quality, and decreases costs. The focus of this study was to determine the effects of carbonitriding and ferritic nitrocarburizing processes on the dimensional changes and residual stresses in a steel used for automotive applications. Navy C-ring specimens and prototype stamped parts made from SAE 1010 plain carbon steel were used in the testing. Gas, vacuum and ion ferritic nitrocarburizing processes with different heat treatment parameters were investigated. X-ray diffraction techniques were used for the residual stresses evaluation and surface phase analysis of the specimens.

Abstract: In proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), the bipolar plates supply the reactant gases through the flow channels to the electrodes and serve the purpose of electrochemically connecting one cell to another in the electrochemical cell stack. Requirements of the bipolar plate material are: high values of electronic conductivity; high values of thermal conductivity; high mechanical strength; impermeability to reactant gases; resistance to corrosion; and low cost of automated production. Metallic materials meet many of these requirements but the challenge has been in obtaining the required corrosion resistance. In the paper, six metallic materials were investigated as potential bipolar plate materials. The results showed that the corrosion rates were too high even for the most corrosion resistant metals (SS316L and grade 2 Ti), and that coatings would be required.

Abstract: Mg-Al-Ca alloys with 1wt.% and 2 wt.% Ca additions (AC51 and AC52) were cast by the Permanent Mold technique. The microstructures of the as-cast Mg-Al-Ca alloys were observed by SEM with EDS analysis. The secondary phases were mainly precipitated along the grain boundaries and exhibited a continuous network microstructure for the AC52 alloy and a divorced microstructure for the AC51 alloy. EDS microanalysis showed that the solute (Ca) content in the grains of the AC52 alloy is higher than that in the AC51. A three-sided pyramidal (Berkovich) diamond indenter was used to characterize the local nano-creep behavior at room temperature within the α-Mg in grains. The nano-creep results showed that the AC52 alloy has better creep resistance than the AC51 alloy at all loads at room temperature. The creep exponent n, obtained from the indentation creep data, changes from 6.3 to 3.0 for AC51 alloy and from 6.6 to 3.2 for AC52 alloy at a critical stress (132 MPa for the AC51 and 145 MPa for the AC52). The transition in creep behavior at higher stresses is associated with a change in the deformation mechanisms.

Abstract: Corrosion performances of several metallic materials (Al6061 and Al319 alloys, 304 stainless steel and grey cast iron) in the ethanol-gasoline alternative fuels were investigated. Cyclic potentiodynamic polarization tests were used to study their corrosion behavior. Anodizing and plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) techniques were used to produce oxide coatings on the Al6061 and Al319 alloys, and the corrosion properties of these coatings in the alternative fuel environments were also evaluated. The results showed that, the 304 stainless steel, Al6061 and the coating materials are compatible with the alternative fuels. The oxide coatings on both Al alloys provided effective corrosion protection in the alternative fuel environments.

Abstract: SAE 8620 steel is typically used in the carburized condition for powertrain applications in the automotive industry, e.g. gears, roller bearings, camshafts. Such steels always contain retained austenite to varying degrees in the as-hardened and also in the tempered microstructures. As well as retained austenite, heat treatment can produce residual stresses, which lead to distortion (size and shape). The intent of this study was to investigate the effect of heat treatment parameters on the amount of retained austenite, residual stress and distortion in carburized SAE 8620 steel. A specially designed specimen, the Navy C-ring, was used for this study. The steel was first normalized prior to machining the Navy C-ring specimens. The specimens were then heat treated by carburizing at 927°C or 954°C (1700°F or 1750°F) at four levels of carbon potential (0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2) followed by oil quenching and tempering at either 149°C or 177°C (300°F or 350°F). The distortion of the C-ring was evaluated by dimensional measurements of the inner diameter, outer diameter, gap width and thickness for size distortion, as well as flatness, cylindricity and roundness for shape distortion. X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were used to determine the residual stress and the amount of retained austenite. The amount of retained austenite was also measured by optical metallography. The amount of retained austenite and the residual stress increased with increasing carburizing temperature and carbon potential and decreased upon tempering. There was not a significant further reduction in the amount of retained austenite and residual stress when the tempering temperature was increased from 149°C to 177°C. Distortion was influenced by both the amount of retained austenite and the magnitude of the residual stress. With increasing retained austenite/residual stress, the distortion became more serious. Based on the distortion data for 3 parameters (OD, gap width and flatness) for the quenched and tempered specimens, the amount of retained austenite for minimum distortion was approximately 25%.