Papers by Keyword: Grain Growth

Abstract: The paper presented the texture evolution during primary recrystallization and following grain growth in the heavily cold-rolled Ni3Al single crystals. It turned out that the texture evolution occurred in the two stages. First, primary recrystallization caused the drastic change of the as-rolled texture. Then, as grain growth proceeded, the texture returned to the same one as the as-rolled textures. This texture return can be designated as Texture memory effect. The mechanism of the texture memory effect was discussed based on the analysis of the orientation relationship between the as-rolled and the primary recrystallization textures.

Abstract: In-situ SEM/EBSP analysis has been performed during the evolution of the cube texture in a pure aluminum foil. In general, foils for capacitor are manufactured in an industrial process of casting, homogenizing, hot rolling, cold rolling (CR), partial annealing (PA), additional rolling (AR) and final annealing (FA). The foil samples after CR or AR in the process were analyzed by the SEM/EBSP technique at a constant temperature which was step-heated repeatedly by 10-20K from a room temperature to 623K or 598K. In a CRed sample, cube ({001}<100>) grains begin to grow preferentially at 503K to cover the sample. On the other hand, in a sample subjected to PA at 503K and AR, cube grains coarsened rapidly and preferentially at more than 533K in contrast to other oriented small grains remaining their sizes. Further, intragranular misorientation analysis revealed that the misorientation, which corresponds to dislocation density or strain, was much smaller in cube grains than in S ({123}<634>) and Cu ({112}<111>) ones.

Abstract: Twinned WC grains are sometimes observed in WC powder and sintered WC-Co alloys. The present investigation has studied the formation of twinned WC grains during carburization of an Eta phase. Eta grains were carburized at 700-1450°C for 1 min to 9 h. Twinned WC grains formed during the carburization. Crystallographic characterization of the formed twins were made using SEM and TEM. The formation of twins was found to be affected by the carbon activity during carburization. The twins formed under high carbon activities while no twins formed under low carbon activities. Two kinds of twins with different orientations were observed. The present experimental observation suggests that the twins formed via 2-dimensional nucleation and layer-bylayer growth on small WC clusters under high supersaturation and high driving force for the growth of WC grains.

Abstract: Growth behavior and kinetics of grains in a liquid matrix has been studied by computer simulation for various physical and processing conditions. The kinetics of growing and dissolving grains is considered to follow that of single crystals in a matrix. Depending on the crystal shape, i.e. rounded or faceted, different kinetic equations were adopted for growing grains and a single equation was assumed for dissolving grains. Effects of critical parameters such as step free energy, temperature, and liquid volume fraction were evaluated.

Abstract: SnO2 ceramics were co-doped with the aliovalent ions of CoO and Nb2O5 and the grain growth behavior of the SnO2 was investigated. When only CoO was doped, the grain growth exponent of SnO2 was 3. As the amount of Nb2O5 increased, the exponent changed from 3 to 2 when 0.505 mol% of Nb2O5 was added. The further addition of Nb2O5 changed the exponent from 2 to 3. When Nb2O5 content was 0.505 mol%, of which the grain growth exponent was 2, it is believed that an iso-electric point is formed without grain boundary segregation, since the respective space charges, generated by Nb5+ and Co3+ might compensate each other.

Abstract: Factors limiting the strain rate of superplastic deformation in oxide ceramics are discussed from existing knowledge about the mechanisms of high-temperature plastic deformation and intergranular cavitation. The discussion leads to the following guide: simultaneously controlling the initial grain size, diffusivity, dynamic grain growth, homogeneity of microstructure and the number of residual defects is essential to attain high-strain-rate superplasticity. Along this guide, high-strain-rate superplasticity (HSRS) is attainable in some oxides consisting of tetragonal zirconia, α-alumina and a spinel phase: tensile ductility reached 300-2500% at a strain rate of 0.01-1.0 s-1. Post-deformation microstructure indicates that some secondary phases may suppress cavitation damage and thereby enhance HSRS. The guide is also essential to lower the limit of deformation temperature for a given strain rate. In monolithic tetragonal zirconia, grain-size refinement combined with doping of aliovalnt cations such as Mg2+, Ti4+ and Al3+ led to HSRS at 1350 °C.

Abstract: The softening behaviour during annealing was investigated in cold and hot rolled AA3103 alloys after different heat treatments. It was found that the evolution of boundary spacing determined using gallium enhanced microscopy gives a very good representation of the softening behaviour. The results show that cold rolled Al-Mn alloys soften by continuous growth of the subgrain structure, “continuous recrystallisation”, provided the pre-treatment of the ingots has been made to avoid too high a density of dispersoids and the cold rolling reduction has been very large. The very high strain creates a microstructure with a large fraction of high angle boundaries that are mostly parallel to the sheet surface. A recently developed subgrain growth model which takes the effect of solute drag into account, gives a good description of the softening kinetics. The solute drag is controlled by bulk diffusion of Mn. The simultaneous precipitation of Mn from the solid solution takes place by grain boundary diffusion of the Mn atoms mainly to pre-existing particles. The solute concentration decreases as the inverse of the boundary spacing, which is due to the grain growth mainly in the thickness (normal) direction.

Abstract: This study presents in situ observations of recrystallization texture formation in Al-3mass%Mg using SEM concurrent with electron back scattering pattern (EBSP) with hot stage. In the present discussion, the emphasis is on the characteristics of the preferred growth or the shrinkage of Cube and other oriented grains. The in-situ observations of recrystallization demonstrate clearly that the nucleation, growth and shrinkage of recrystallized grains occur simultaneously in each orientation in each region. The overall development of recrystallization texture depends on the balance of nucleation/growth and shrinkage/disappearance of each orientation during recrystallization. The preferential growth is determined by the grain boundary mobility between recrystallized grains or the clusters composed of several similar oriented grains, i.e. Cube clusters or S clusters, and neighboring deformed matrix, and the competitive growth with the surrounding grains. On the other hand, the isolated oriented grain and the strain-stored grains tend to shrink and disappear during recrystallization and grain growth.

Abstract: A combination of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are used to establish that Ti-B-N films with different boron concentrations prepared by reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering exhibit a two-phase nanocomposite microstructure, showing nanocrystalline Ti(N, B) grains embedded in amorphous (TiB2, BN) matrices. Using Monte Carlo simulations and based on a simple model employing a kinetic grain growth theory, we also investigate the effects of the amorphous TiB2-BN phase on the microstructure evolution and grain growth in nanocrystalline-Ti(N, B). Our study demonstrates that the formation of such an amorphous phase at the grain boundary could hinder the growth of Ti(N, B) grains and the mean grain size shows an exponential decay with boron concentration, in good agreement with our experimental observations.

Abstract: In automotive industries, components have replaced steel with aluminum alloys since the automotive parts that used aluminum alloys have the ability to improve the environment by lower weights and recycling of waste materials. In this study, experiments were carried out to investigate the characteristics of the developed aluminum alloys according to the forming temperature and speed. The microstructure of forged product in hot forging process was also investigate. The results revealed that the grain size of aluminum alloys was grown according to the forming temperature and speed. Three-dimensional finite element analyses were also carried out to investigate the forming load, deformed shape, and the stress distribution of the workpiece in the hot forging process. The deformed shape of the workpiece was consistent with the trend of experimental results.