Papers by Keyword: Coarsening

Abstract: A summary is given of the history of our understanding of dendrite coarsening, including particularly fragmentation. Much is now understood about this process as it takes place in directional solidification of a quiescent melt. Much less is understood about it in the rapidly cooled, turbulent environment of semi-solid casting. The importance of dendrite fragmentation in semi-solid processing is that it is key to obtaining fine final grain size, grain spheroidicity and rapid production rate. I have chosen in this keynote paper to talk about the fundamentals of an important part of the semisolid casting process ... that of “dendrite fragmentation.” The paper is written with an eye to its possible practical usefulness to researchers in process innovation. If we understood the dendrite fragmentation mechanism better, could we achieve finer, more numerous, grains than we do now Could fully non dendritic structures be obtained industrially in short processing times

Abstract: Low alloy quench and tempered (Q&T) steels plates up to 100mm thick are used in applications such as cranes and earth movers due to their combination of high strength and toughness. In order to ensure that appropriate tempering conditions are used to give optimum properties through thickness in Q&T steels it is desirable to be able to predict the effect of composition and tempering conditions (time and temperatures) on the microstructure and hence the hardness evolution. In this paper, the types and coarsening rates of carbides formed in a low alloyed Q&T steel have been investigated on tempering at 600 °C. It has been found that in the as-quenched condition auto-tempered martensite is present with needle-shaped epsilon and cementite particles, whilst after different tempering times (1 - 16 hours) cementite becomes the stable phase with an elliptical shape, which coarsens with time. Besides, the coarsening of inter-lath cementite with a faster rate is independent from that of intra-lath ones.

Abstract: In the present study an investigation has been carried out for spheroidization of 100Cr6 bearing steel used in forging industry. Three different spheroidization processes were considered. The first one was the annealing of normalized steel under A_c1 temperature for a long time. The second one was the annealing of normalized steel above A_r1 temperature after heating between A_c1 and A_cm for one hour. The third one was the annealing of hardened steel under A_c1 temperature for a long time. For evaluation of cold workability with different spheroidization annealing periods, the yield strength and percentage of reduction in area in uniaxial tension were recorded. The present results indicate that low alloyed carbon bearing steels can be easily processed to achieve unique microstructures and properties.

Abstract: In this work, the effect of stirring conditions on agglomeration and coalescence-coarsening in isothermal, globulitic, semisolid AlCu10%wt was investigated. It is shown that for the investigated system, a shear rate regime exists which promotes crystallographic alignment of the agglomerated grains, leading to a rapid coalescence process, thereby the formation of rosettes. It is also experimentally validated that for lower shear rates, the size and porosity of aggregates are increased compared to that at higher level of shear.

Abstract: The details of the lamellar microstructure in TiAl intermetallic alloys, such as the lath thickness and interfaces type governs the strength, ductility, creep properties and the long term microstructure stability of the alloy. The lamellar microstructure coarsening may induce property degradation of materials when the working temperature is high especially for the aero-engine turbine blades. At the same time, the reliability of the structure will decreases dramatically during long term working. In order to customize highly stable microstructure in high temperature, the phenomenon of lamellar formation during the solid-solid α→α₂+γ phase transformation in fully lamellar TiAl alloys was investigated by phase field simulations. The lamellar structure morphology obtained with simulation is coincides with the experimental results. It is found that the independent nuclei and twin-related nuclei co-exist in the nucleation stage for the random noise nucleation. During growth stage, the independent nuclei grow slowly or disappear for the interfacial energy and elastic energy minimization. While most twin-related nuclei survived. During the following coarsening stage, big nuclei swallow small nuclei for interfacial energy minimization. The statistical character of twin area fraction changes complicated during these processes and it will be analyzed in detail. These findings could shed light on the understanding of the lamellar formation and coarsening mechanisms during phase transformation in TiAl alloys.

Abstract: Sintering involves several interactions as particles bond and enable microstructure evolution toward a minimized energy condition, resulting in a complex interplay of measurement parameters. Overriding the evolution is energy minimization, and from that perspective some simple relations emerge. The natural progression is determined by energy reduction, measured by surface area, density, and grain boundary area (grain size). Contrary to the usual sintering analysis that starts with atomic level mass transport mechanisms, presented here is an approach that links to global energy reduction during sintering to simple monitors. Initially sintering converts surface area into lower energy grain boundary area. Subsequently grain growth annihilates grain boundary area. Thus, grain boundary area peaks at intermediate sintered densities, while surface area continuously declines. The trajectory follows a straightforward dependence on density as illustrated using data for a wide variety of materials and consolidation conditions.

Abstract: In the past few years, systems with slow dynamics have attracted considerable interest. Coarsening effects are exhibited in a wide range of systems. Non-equilibrium critical behavior of 2D XY-model demonstrates slow dynamics in a wide temperature range. The coarsening in pure and diluted 2D XY-model are investigated for various defects concentration. The period of logarithmic grows of cluster size was found.

Abstract: A quantitative phase field simulation was performed on the dynamics evolution of γ′ (L1₂-Ni₃X) phase in Ni-based superalloys, the microstructure, the volume fraction and the particle size distribution (PSD) of γ′ phase for Ni-Al alloys aged at 1173K with the Al concentration c=0.178, 0.180 and 0.182 were investigated, and the results were compared with Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner (LSW) theory and Brailsford-Wynblatt (BW) theory. As the Al concentration increases the γ′ phase morphology changed from the separated cuboidal shape to the connected rectangle shape, the nucleation and growth of γ′ phase became faster and the volume fraction of the γ′ phase increased. The average particle radius <r> of γ′ phase and the aging time t has a exponent relationship <r> ~ tⁿ at the coarsening stage with the exponents n=0.313, 0.235 and 0.204 for c=0.178, 0.180 and 0.182, respectively. The peaks of the fitted PSDs are less than the predicted value from the LSW theory and the fitted PSDs are wider than that of LSW predicted, while they are similar to that of the BW theory as the Al concentration increases. The peaks appear at a smaller r/<r> than the predictions of the LSW and BW theories.

Abstract: Liquid phase sintering (LPS) is widely used as a materials processing technique for hightemperature applications. In LPS, particle-particle contact size and distribution, 3-D coordination number, connectivity, and contiguity are important microstructure parameters which, to a large extent, determine the mechanical properties of the sintered materials. These features all depend on the grain size, solid volume fraction and dihedral angle during sintering. The dihedral angle is an important parameter in LPS. It is the angle formed between the 2 solid-liquid interfaces at the intersection of a grain boundary with the liquid. A higher solid volume fraction, on the other hand, favors a larger 3-D coordination number, connectivity, and contiguity. In practice, studying the correlation between these parameters and direct measurement of them is not a trivial task. Among them, 3-D measurement of dihedral angle is believed to be the most challenging one. In the current study, phase-field modeling is employed to simulate LPS in two phase systems (solid and liquid). Simulations are performed for the different ratios of grain boundary to solid-liquid energies and the different solid volume fractions. To create initial structures with high solid volume fraction, an advanced particle packing algorithm is employed. An extended sparse bounding-box algorithm is used to speed-up the computations and makes it computationally efficient for 3-D simulations. Contiguity, connectivity, and three dimensional coordination number were measured in the self similar regime. The results were compared with empirical rules and experimental data and are used to estimate the mean 3-D dihedral angle.

Abstract: The precipitation behavior of carbides in Fe-5.78Cr-0.35C (wt.%) alloy during aging at 850°C was studied. The type, particle size and distribution of carbides were determined and measured by the combination of HRTEM (High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope), XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) and quantitative metallography technique. Results show that the type of carbides was M₇C₃ and the obvious coarsening of carbides was observed during aging. In addition, the thermodynamic and kinetic calculation using Thermo-Calc software was conducted to study the precipitation of carbides. The stable phase in the alloy aging at 850°C was M₇C₃ carbide and austenite which is in accordance with experimental results. According to Ostwald coarsening mechanism, the average interfacial energy between γ phase and M₇C₃ carbide was calculated as 0.7 J·m^-2. Then the precipitation behavior of carbides in Fe-5.78Cr-0.35C alloy during aging was well predicted.