Papers by Keyword: Grain Refinement

Abstract: The structural changes that are related to the new fine grain development in a chromium-nickel austenitic stainless steel subjected to warm working by means of multiple forging and multiple rolling were studied. The multiple warm working to a total strain of 2 at temperatures of 500-900C resulted in the development of submicrocrystalline structures with mean grain sizes of 300-850 nm, depending on processing conditions. The new fine grains resulted mainly from a kind of continuous reactions, which can be referred to as continuous dynamic recrystallization. Namely, the new grains resulted from a progressive evolution of strain-induced grain boundaries, the number and misorientation of which gradually increased during deformation. In contrast to hot working accompanied by discontinuous dynamic recrystallization, when the dynamic grain size can be expressed by a power law function of temperature compensated strain rate as D ~ Z^-0.4, much weaker temperature/strain rate dependence of D ~ Z^-0.1 was obtained for the warm working.

Abstract: In the present study, the grain refinement, grain growth behavior, and tensile properties of rolled and annealed AZX311 Mg alloys were investigated. The yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the rolled material were 360 MPa and 370 MPa, respectively, and the total elongation was 5%. When annealing was performed at 423 K for 1hr, the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength were unchanged, but the elongation increased to 10%. Furthermore, the strength and elongation did not change for annealing temperatures of 473–673 K owing to Al₂Ca precipitations.

Abstract: Weld metal mechanical properties and weldability of materials are closely related to the microstructure of the weld metal. A significant amount of research has been studied to improve microstructure of weldments such as weld pool stirring by using magnetic arc oscillation and arc pulsation. In this work, the effect of ultrasonic vibration was used to modify weld metal solidification to improve microstructure of the weld metal. Microstructure and mechanical properties of carbon steel weld metal (ER70S-G filler metal) were studied. Filler metal was melted by using Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) in a water-cooled copper mold. Ultrasonic vibration with a frequency of 20 kHz was applied during solidification of the weld metal. Microstructure and mechanical properties of weld metal were compared with those of conventional weld metal (no ultrasonic vibration assistance). Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was also used to determine microstructure and phases at high magnification. The results showed that ultrasonic vibration applied during solidification promoted grain refinement in the weld metal. Mechanical properties of weld metal were improved significantly, microstructure analysis correlated well with the mechanical test results.

Abstract: The mechanical properties and corrosion performances of the ZL101 alloy modified by the composite master alloy were investigated. The results showed that the master alloy had not only obvious effect of grain refinement, but also a significant role in refining dendrite grain of ZL101 alloy. The grain size decreased dramatically from 150μm to 62μm when the addition of composite master alloy is up to 0.5%(mass fraction) and the temperature is 720 for 30 minutes,. Its tensile strength and elongation increased by 27% and 42% respectively. The grain refinement of ZL101 alloy decreased its corrosion performance. The morphology of Si changed into globular from needle modified by NaF, instead of AlTiB.

Abstract: The inoculation effect of Al₂Ca intermetallic compound on microstructure evolution was examined performed on as-cast AZ31 and AZ61 alloys. The refinement mechanism of Mg-Al alloys was discussed with the Miedema model and edge-to-edge matching model. Al₂Ca compound has a good crystallographic matching relation with Mg matrix, which formed in the solidification process. It is considered that Al₂Ca can act as a potential and effective heterogeneous nucleation center. The results reveal that the grain refinement effect of Al₂Ca compound has more pronounced in AZ31 alloy compared with in AZ61 alloy.

Abstract: In view of low strength and poor corrosion resistance of Mg alloys, a Mg-12Al-0.7Si alloy was designed, fabricated and subjected to equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) in order to refine the microstructure. Microstructure observation and electrochemical performance test were conducted to investigate the influence of the microstructural variation subjected to multi-pass ECAP processing on the corrosion behavior of the alloy. The results showed that both α-Mg matrix and β-Mg₁₇Al₁₂ of the alloy were significantly refined after processing for different passes (2,4,6,8) through route BC, and the 4-pass ECAPed alloy in 3.5% NaCl solution presents the lowest weight loss, lower corrosion current and higher corrosion potential in the polarization curves. The reason for high corrosion resistance of 4-pass ECAPed alloy and the effects of grain size of the matrix and the particle size, distribution of second phase and dynamic precipitates on corrosion behavior of the alloy were discussed.

Abstract: The microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-cast Zn-25Al-5Mg-2.5Si-xGd alloys at room and elevated temperature have been investigated in this work. The results show that the addition of element Gd leads to the grain refining and the formation of Al3Gd phase and GdZn12 phase in the microstructure, and the mechanical properties of the alloys rise at first and then drop with the Gd content increasing. When Gd content is 0.8wt.%, the optimization of microstructure and mechanical properties is obtained. The alloy can be increased by 13.9%, 37.7% and 45.6% in tensile strength and be increased by 13.4%, 76.9% and 78.2% in hardness at room temperature, 100°C and 180°C, respectively.

Abstract: The influences of different pulse voltage and mold temperature on solidified structure of 6061 alloy under low-voltage pulsed magnetic field (LVPMF) were studied. The results show that grain of 6061 alloy can be refined greatly by LVPMF treatment. The dendrite growth is restrained and the microstructure is changed from larger dendrite grains to smaller nondendritic grains. When the pulse voltage is at 0V-300V, grain size of the alloy decreases as pulse voltage increases, and the primary phase degrades from developed dendrites into rose-like or spherical crystals. When the mold temperature is at 20°C-600°C, the decrease of mold temperature enhances the refinement effect of LVPMF processing. With the decrease of the mold temperature, grain size of the alloy decreases.

Abstract: The effects of electromagnetic stirring and Al₄C₃ grain refiner on the grain refinement of semi-continuously cast AZ31 magnesium alloy were discussed in this investigation. The results indicate that electromagnetic stirring has effective refining effect on the grain size of AZ31 magnesium alloy under the effect of Al₄C₃ grain refiner. Electromagnetic stirring can “activate” the Al₄C₃ particles, resulting in more heterogeneous nucleation sites for the primary α-Mg grains. But, longer holding time can “inactivate” the Al₄C₃ particles, and the optimal experimental holding time is 60 min in the present investigation. The activated rate of the electromagnetic under the experimental condition ρ2=1.65%.

Abstract: Severe plastic deformation is one of the emerging and promising techniques applied to bulk materials to produce fine grain structure with attractive properties. This study aims to investigate the effect of extrusion parameters like extrusion temperature, number of passes on the equal channel angular pressing and twist extrusion forming behavior of AA7075-T6 Aluminum alloy by hot extrusion process. AA7075-T6 samples of 70x28x18 mm cross sections extruded by equal channel angular pressing and twist extrusion process was subjected to microstructure analysis, hardness and tensile tests in order to determine their mechanical properties. As a result of the experiments, it was determined that twist extrusion leads to more grain refinement at high temperatures with more number of passes compared to equal channel angular pressing. SEM micrographs show that there is severe orientation of the grains facilitated by the extrusion process which enhances the strength. The dense banding of the grains had effected in marginal hardness enhancement in the matrix of the specimens processed by twist extrusion and equal channel angular extrusion process.