Materials Science Forum Vol. 1016

Abstract: The needs for advanced functional materials are expected to provide a boost in powder metallurgy, where impurities on powder surfaces are incorporated as grain boundary segregation. This paper has three aims. After the consistency check, we analyze whether the reported data of Ni and Fe hosts can be correlated to the Mendeleev number of chemical elements. The data of the solvents were analyzed using the software R for principal component analysis (PCA). We grouped and correlated the data to Mendeleev number. The third aim is correlation with other element data such as solubility. As a result, we found that the embrittlement depends strongly on the chemical bonding. Surprisingly, the geometry of the grain boundary type such as interlayer distances, and local atomic volumes has only a minor influence.

Abstract: Research in the field of modern battery materials demands characterization techniques which allow an inspection of atomistic processes during battery charging and discharging. Two powerful tools for this purpose are magnetometry and positron-electron annihilation. The magnetic moment serves as highly sensitive fingerprint for the oxidation state of the transition metal ions, thus enabling to identify the electrochemical ”active” ions. The positron lifetime on the other hand, is sensitive to open volume defects of the size of a few missing atoms down to single vacancies providing an unique insight into lattice defects induced by charging and discharging. An overview will be given on operando magnetometry studies of the important class of LiNiCoMn-oxide cathode materials (so-called NMC with Ni:Co:Mn ratios of 1:1:1 and 3:1:1) as well as of sodium vanadium phosphate cathodes. First operando positron annihilation studies on a battery cathode material (NMC 1:1:1) demonstrate the capability of this technique for battery research.

Abstract: Fe-6.5wt%Si steel is an excellent soft magnetic material due to the near-zero magnetostriction and low core losses. In this study, a 0.3 mm-thick grain-oriented 6.5wt%Si steel sheet was produced by a novel strip casting and two-stage rolling. The microstructure and texture evolution were investigated with a special emphasis on the nucleation and growth of Goss grains. The thin normalized strip was composed of large columnar grains and small equiaxed grains. During intermediate annealing, Goss grains nucleated in the shear bands of the deformed <111>//ND grains, and the deformed {111}<112> grains provided most of the nucleation sites. After primary annealing, the Goss grains distributed across the entire thickness, which was different from the conventional rolling route. The fraction of high-angle boundaries (20°-45°) surrounding the Goss grains was apparently higher than those of the matrix grains, which promoted the abnormal growth of the Goss grains during secondary recrystallization.

Abstract: The paper studies the microstructure of two-phase ultrafine-grained titanium VT8M-1 alloy (Ti-5.7Al-3.8Mo-1.2Zr-1.3Sn), which was obtained by rotary swaging (RS). Parameters of the microstructure and the change of the phase elemental / chemical composition were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electronic microscopy. It was shown that the silicide particles like S₂ - (Ti,Zr)₆Si₃ were precipitated in the process of rotary swaging_. The influence of silicide precipitations on the characteristics of high temperature strength of the ultrafine-grained two-phase titanium VT8M-1 alloy was discussed in the paper. The alloy microstructure was analyzed after the creep-rupture tests in the operation temperature range 300-400^oС.

Abstract: 17-7PH stainless steel is high age-hardening property due to precipitate NiAl intermetallics by aging heat treatment after the deformation induced martensitic transformation by cold working. In this study, the effect of aging conditions on stress relaxation behavior of 17-7PH stainless steel was investigated, and the mechanism of the stress relaxation was discussed. The 0.2% proof stress after aging at 753K for 180s-18ks is about 450MPa, and then decreases after 18ks. On the other hand, the stress relaxation ratio decreases by long time aging at 753K. The dislocation density of 17-7PH decreases by long time aging at 753K. The formation of NiAl clusters around 5nm by 3D-AP analysis is observed in 17-7PH aged at 753K for 1.8ks. It is suggested that the reduction of the stress relaxation ratio after long time aging at 753K is caused by NiAl clusters and decreasing mobile dislocation density.

Abstract: A density functional theory (DFT) is used to investigate the energetics of an epoxy resin adhere on a tin oxide and a hydroxylated-alumina surface within a supercell approach. Self—consistent geometry optimization is performed for models of adhesion interface, which is comprised of a fragment of epoxy resin and hydroxylated-Al₂O₃ (001), and SnO2(001) and (110) surface. The epoxy resin studied was simplified fragment based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA). It is found that the distance between the resin and the surface where the adhesion force is maximized is substantially the same for all models. Analysis of the energy-distance plot reveals that the fragment of DGEBA molecule adhere most strongly to the SnO₂(001) surface, suggesting that the adhesion force is induced by van der Waals (vdW) interaction.

Abstract: In order to partially improve the wear resistance for dies and jigs, layer-forming technologies for adding cemented tungsten carbide is effective way as an additive manufacturing technique. As one of the layer-forming technologies, directed energy deposition (DED) has attracted much attention from industry. However, many cracks are usually observed inside a formed layer processed by the DED due to the difference of material properties between an iron-based substrate and a cladded cemented tungsten carbide layer. In terms of durability of the formed layer, the crack formation is not preferable as well. In this study, as an attempt to suppress the crack initiation and propagation in cladded layers processed by the DED, formation of compositionally graded cemented tungsten carbide layer was performed by inserting a layer with low to medium tungsten carbide content between the substrate and cemented tungsten carbide layer. At first, single layers of cemented tungsten carbide having various tungsten carbide content were formed on iron-based substrates by the DED processing to understand the relationships between the tungsten carbide content and the number of formed cracks. By considering these experimental results, the compositionally graded cemented tungsten carbide layers were optimized. It was revealed that the crack initiation and propagation could be suppressed by compositionally graded cemented tungsten carbide layers.

Abstract: The Cu/55vol.%diamond (Ti) composites were fabricated by hot forging of the cold-pressed powder preforms, consisted of elemental copper powders and Ti-coated diamond particles, at 800 °C (800C-Cu/55Dia composite) and 1050 °C (1050C-Cu55Dia composite), respectively. Well bonded interface was achieved between the diamond and the copper matrix for the 800C-Cu/55Dia composite, and the coverage of diamond by interface was about 96%, attributed to homogeneously distributed nanospherical TiC interface formed on the diamond surface. However, obvious coarse TiC particle size and spallation of the formed interface were observed in the 1050C-Cu55Dia composite, implying that the composite had a relatively low bonding strength. The formed chemical bonding, good wettability and strong mechanical interlocking between the diamond and the copper matrix enable the 800C-Cu/55Dia composite having a high tensile strength of 145 MPa and a strain at fracture of 0.35%, which are about 260% and 170% higher than those of the 1050C-Cu55Dia composite, suggesting that the 800C-Cu/55Dia composite has the potential to have a high thermal conductivity and use as high-performance heat sink materials.

Abstract: In Al_xCoCrFeNi high entropy alloys (x = 0.3–0.5), the NiAl phase with the B2 structure is precipitated rapidly along the fcc grain boundaries. During recrystallization after conventional cold rolling, the NiAl precipitates effectively suppress the grain growth, which results in the ultrafine-grained microstructure. It should be noted that no severe plastic deformation is necessary to obtain the microstructure. The volume fraction of the NiAl precipitates increases with increasing x. As a result, the average grain size of the fcc matrix (d_m) after the recrystallization decreases with increasing x, and therefore, a minimum d_m of 0.5 μm can be obtained at x = 0.5. The grain refinement by the NiAl precipitates is consistent with the Zener-Smith model. At x = 0.5, the alloy with d_m = 0.5 μm exhibits a yield stress of 1163 MPa and an elongation of 24% at room temperature.

Abstract: Laminated metal composites are composed of alternating layers of metals or alloys, bonding together at their interface, which have gained extensive attention because of their advantages such as improved fracture toughness, impact behavior, corrosion, wear and damping capacity. Roll bonding is the most widely used method to process many metallic composites. In this study, we fabricated some kinds of Al/Ti/Al sandwich-like laminated composites by cryogenic roll bonding. We find that cryogenic roll bonding techniques can improve the mechanical properties of laminated composites. Finally, we will discuss the mechanism of improvement in bonding strength and mechanical properties.