Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 835

Abstract: The aim of work consist in the investigation of the influence of alloying elements in ZnAl5 alloy on thermal and mechanical properties. The ZnAl5Cu (1-3), ZnAl5Mg (1-3), ZnAl5Ag (1-5) and ZnAl5In1(Ga1) solder alloys were used experiments. Solders were assessed by DSC analysis and by measuring tensile strength and Vickers hardness. It was found out that by adding of alloying elements, the melting temperature is decreasing. The opposite was observed in the case of ZnAl5Mg (1-3) alloys. By adding of In or Ga to ZnAl5, tensile strength and Vickers hardness are decreasing. Addition of Ag (1-5) resulted in increasing of tensile strength and Vickers hardness. In case of ZnAl5Cu (1-3) and ZnAl5Mg (1-3) solder, decreasing of tensile strength and increasing of Vickers hardness was observed.

Abstract: Friction stir welding is a widely used welding process for aluminum alloys because it avoids many of the problems of conventional fusion welding. This process is beneficial especially for lithium containing aluminum alloys in which the reactive property of element Li causes porosity and hot cracking during melting and solidification. In friction stir welding process, each region undergoes different thermo-mechanical cycles and produces a non-homogeneous microstructure. In the present study, the mechanical properties and microstructure of a 2195-T8 aluminum alloy joined with friction stir welding were investigated. The change in microstructure across the welded joint was found to correspond to microhardness measurement. The microstructure was characterized by the presence of severely deformed grains and fine recrystallized grains depending on the region. Tensile tests shows the optimum condition was obtained at the tool rotating speed of 600rpm and the traveling speed range from 180 to 300mm/min.

Abstract: In this paper we have studied primary radiation damage in body-centered cubic (BCC) Fe under the strain. Molecular dynamics method has been used to simulate atomic displacement cascades of the energy of 10 keV for the initial crystal temperature of 300 K. The strain has been simulated with tensile and compressive stress of 0.25 and 2.5 GPa. We have considered the hydrostatic and uniaxial loadings along the [100], [111], [112] and [210] directions. The average number of produced Frenkel pairs has been evaluated. Also, we have studied clustering of point defects and crystallographic orientation of interstitial configurations. The obtained results show a good agreement with the data reported earlier.

Abstract: The average plastic strain ratio (the R-value) and the anisotropy parameter |ΔR| calculated from the measured texture of AA1050 Al alloy sheet treated by the heavy asymmetric rolling by 84% reduction in thickness and subsequent annealing for 1 h at 500 °C, followed by light rolling by 10% or 20% reduction in thickness and the subsequent annealing for 1 h at 500 °C increased by 1.52 times that of the non-processed specimen and reduced to 1/12 times that of the non-processed specimen, respectively.

Abstract: The paper deals with the friction stir welding (FSW) of the high strength EN AW 7075-T651 aluminium alloy with the aim to analyze the influence of welding parameters on the mechanical properties of Al-weld joints. FSW represents relatively novel solid-state technology of material joining which can be successfully applied for welding of several metallic alloys including the high-strength aluminium alloys that are hard to weld by conventional fusion welding processes. In cooperation with VÚZ - PI SR Bratislava, nine experimental weld joints of samples with dimensions of 300 × 150 × 10 mm were prepared using the welding machine of the FSW-LM-060 type and different parameters of welding – the welding speed from 60 to 120 mm/min and the tool rotation rate from 600 to 1000 rpm in clockwise direction. The quality of weld joints was evaluated by static tensile tests and micro-hardness measurements. According to obtained results of tensile testing, the average values of ultimate strength of weld joints are by 32.2 % lower comparing with the ultimate strength of the base material. On the other hand, the ductility increased by 7.2 %. The highest micro-hardness of weld joints at the level of 129 HV was measured in thermo-mechanically affected zone on the retreating side.

Abstract: Metastable austenitic stainless steels are prone to strain-induced martensitic transformation (SIMT) during deformation at room temperature, as in the case of sheet metal forming processes. SIMT is influenced by chemical composition, grain size, temperature, deformation mode or stress state and strain-rate effects. In this work, uniaxial and plane-strain tension tests were performed in AISI 304L sheet to evaluate the SIMT as a function of strain-rate. Feritscope and temperature in-situ measurements were performed during the uniaxial tensile testing. Digital image correlation (DIC) technique was employed to determine the in-plane surface strains of the plane-strain tension specimen. From the uniaxial tensile and plane-strain tension results, the yield stress increased with the strain-rate in the small strain range whereas a cross-effect in the stress-strain curve is exhibited in the large strain domain. This effect is attributed to the specimen heat generation, which inhibits the SIMT phenomenon. Conversely, plane-strain deformation mode displayed a higher SIMT rate and an improved work-hardening behavior in comparison to the uniaxial tensile straining.

Abstract: Aluminium is a light-weight material and possesses high corrosion resistance, so that it is widely used in manufacturing industries. The Al-Zn series have the highest strength compared to other aluminium alloys. To further increase the strength of Al-Zn alloys, Mg and Cu are added and age hardening treatment is applied. This research studied the precipitation process in Al-9Zn-4Mg (wt. %) alloys with Cu content of 0, 1, 3 and 5 wt.%. The alloys were produced through investment casting taking the shape of turbine impeller. The samples were solution treated at 460 °C for 2 hours and then aged at 130 °C. The characterization included hardness testing to observe response of age hardening, microstructural observation and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) testing. Microstructural observation was conducted by optical microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) which was combined with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). The results showed that addition of Cu initially decreased the hardness during early ageing (2 hours) due to segregation of Cu-V complexes toward the grain boundaries which then decreased the hardness and enlarged the grain boundary phases. However, the peak hardness of the alloys was not affected by the increase in Cu content. due to high concentration of Zn and Mg. Exothermic reactions of formation of GP zones, η", η' and η (MgZn₂) were found during precipitation process while endothermic reaction were observed due to dissolution of the phases. Presence of MgZn₂ and Al₇Cu₂Fe second phases were observed in grain boundaries.

Abstract: In this work, the plastic behavior of cold-rolled zinc coated dual-phase steel sheets DP600 and DP800 grades is firstly investigated by means of uniaxial tensile and Forming Limit Curve (FLC) testing. The uniaxial tensile tests were carried out at 0^o, 45^o and 90^o angular orientations with respect to the rolling direction to evaluate the mechanical properties and the plastic anisotropy Lankford r-values. The forming limit strains are defined according to Nakajima’s procedure. Thickness measurements of tested Nakajima’s samples cut perpendicular to the fracture allowed to identify a rapid decrease of the strain, which governs the plastic instability that preceded the fracture in the drawing region of the FLC. Optical metallographic and scanning electron microscopy techniques helped to characterize and distinguish the orientation of rotated grains and flat fractured surface (ductile shear failure in blank specimens close to plane-strain tension) from no grain rotations and rough fractured surface (ductile tensile fracture in blank geometries in the biaxial stretching domain).

Abstract: Drilling process has many applications including making molds and dies, all requires different quality of the drilled hole. The aim of this study is to establish models and optimization of cutting parameter to get the best hole quality, including enlargement diameter, circularity error and surface roughness in drilling hardened steel. Drilling experiments have been performed using different cutting parameters (i.e. cutting speed and feed rate) and employ and uncoated carbide drill under flooded cooling. The experimental results show that both of the cutting speed and feed rate significantly affect all responses. Models for responses have been developed for investigation in this study, and their optimizations have been obtained, showing better quality of the drilled hole produced at higher cutting speed and lower feed rate. Desirability for the optimum criteria is 0.944 at the highest cutting speed (60 m/min) and lowest feed rate (0.05 mm/rev).

Abstract: Silicon has widely been used as a substrate material in various microfabrication processes. Cut depth and surface morphology of silicon obtained from laser ablation process have to be well controlled to achieve the required features of micro-components being made. Though laser power has been known as a major factor affecting these responses, the detailed investigations of this factor on cut geometries and surface quality have still been deficiency. In this research, the cut geometries and surface characteristics of silicon induced by a pulse laser were experimentally investigated. The increase in laser power not only increased the cut dimensions, but also increased the debris deposition on and inside the cut channel. Furthermore, an analytical model was developed in this study to predict the cut depth of silicon in pulsed laser ablation, and an agreement between the prediction and experiment was also demonstrated.