Materials Science Forum Vol. 1016

Abstract: It is know that rapid solidification promotes solid solubility larger than at equilibrium, in association with very fine grains and eutectic microstructures. Consequently, the precipitation behaviour in additive manufacturing alloys can be quite different from that of alloys quenched after a solution treatment and aged. In this study, Al10SiMg samples were produced by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) while keeping the table at 150°C continuously during the job. The effect of temperature on mechanical properties of the samples was investigated as function of time or distance along the built axis (300 mm). The hardness behaviour was measured by micro Vickers indentations and significant inhomogeneities were detected along the built axes. These results were also confirmed by tensile property values. The tensile strength varied of 80 MPa from the bottom to the top of the sample. The microstructure was investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy; the observations showed variable precipitate distributions that justify the mechanical response along the built axis.

Abstract: In the present study, the microstructure, martensitic transformation and damping characteristics of Fe-17Mn-xNb (x = 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 wt. %) alloys were investigated. Nb addition leads to the variation in both the volume fraction and the size of ε martensite, in addition, the formation of Fe₂(Nb, Mn) precipitates. The martensitic transformation exhibits a tiny dependence on the content of Nb. The addition of Nb helps to enhance the damping capacity of Fe-17Mn. The maximum value of tan δ = 0.054 is achieved in Fe-17Mn-1Nb alloy, which is increased by 42% over Fe-17Mn. The damping mechanism caused by adding Nb is discussed in terms of the volume fraction and the size of ε martensite. Besides, the role of Fe₂(Nb, Mn) is also taken into account.

Abstract: Hot and cold deformation behavious and microstructure evolutions of Mn18Cr18N were investigated by thermo-mechanical modeling experiments and microstructure analysis. The results show that hot deformation flow stress curves characterized by the same work hardening and subsequent stress softening varied with temperatures and strain rates for both of as-cast and as-forged samples. And flow stresses are sensitive to strain rate. At strain rates lower than 0.01s^-1, the flow stresses are lower, and microstructure evolution controlled by dislocation mechanism dynamic recrystallization; At strain rates higher than 0.1s^-1, the flow stresses are higher, and microstructure evolution controlled by twinning mechanism dynamic recrystallization. But the dynamic recrystallzed fraction of the as-cast sample was much less than that of the as-forged sample. For cold deformation, the simple uniaxial tensile sample shows that the monotone increasing flow stress curve and monotone decreasing work-hanrdening rate. However, for the uniaxial and biaxial compression-tensile samples with different previous compression, the subsequent tensile yield stress, the maximum tensile stress, the reduction of cross sectional area and the elongation have extremums respectively at the previous compressive deformation of about 25%-30%. Microstructure evolution mechanisms during cold deformation were planar slipping and twinning.

Abstract: The present work was undertaken to understand the phase transformation behaviour in a third generation steel 0.22C-2.1Mn-1.0Si during continuous cooling. The microstructure at various cooling rates were examined by using different techniques, such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, dilatation test and X-ray measurement. The results show that the amount of bainite that forms during continuous cooling is limited and there is a bainitic transformation stop temperature for this kind of steels. A continuous cooling transformation diagram of the steel is established.

Abstract: High-pressure torsion (HPT) was conducted under 6.0 GPa on commercial purity titanium up to 10 turns. An ultrafine-grained (UFG) pure Ti with an average grain size of ~96 nm was obtained. The thermal properties of these samples were studied by using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) which allowed the quantitative determination of the evolution of stored energy, the recrystallization temperatures, the activation energy involved in the recrystallization of the material and the evolution of the recrystallized fraction with temperature. The results show that the stored energy increases, beyond which the stored energy seems to level off to a saturated value with increase of HPT up to 5 turns. An average activation energy of about 101 kJ/mol for the recrystallization of 5 turns samples was determined. Also, the thermal stability of the grains of the 5 turns samples with subsequent heat treatments were investigated by microstructural analysis and Vickers microhardness measurements. It is shown that the average grain size remains below 246 nm when the annealing temperature is below 500 °C, and the size of the grains increases significantly for samples at the annealing temperature of 600 °C.

Abstract: Recently, the frequency of earthquakes has been increasing worldwide. As a result, steel reinforced with seismic performance that can satisfy the social needs to strengthen the existing seismic performance of existing infrastructure facilities and new buildings has become important. In general, to secure the yield strength of reinforcing bars and to reduce the production cost, reinforcing bars are produced by rolling the surface through a facility such as a Tempcore. In Korea, most of them have adopted the Tempcore process to ensure the mechanical requirements of the product. However, the use of a small amount of alloying elements and the application of Tempcore have limitations in producing reinforcing bars that require seismic performance. In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in the production and application of high strength rebars. Microalloying and fine-grain strengthening are the most effective methods in developing high strength rebars. That is, the precipitation of V (C, N) is promoted by the addition of V to improve the strength by precipitation strengthening of V-carbonitride. However, in V-microalloyed reinforcing bars, it was confirmed that the required strength did not increase proportional to the amount of V added. In this study, the effects of vanadium and other alloying elements on the mechanical properties and yield ratio of steel bars were investigated by tensile test results and microstructural evaluation.

Abstract: The microstructure and mechanical properties of the ultrafine-grained Ti–50.8 at.% Ni alloy after thermal cycling treatment with the number of cycles up to 250 was investigated. A fractographic analysis of the samples after tensile tests was carried out. The fracture pattern of the alloy in the UFG state has a viscous character with microdepths on the fracture surface. The average size of microdepths decreases as the number of thermal cycles increases up to n= 250.

Abstract: Phase Change Materials (PCMs) can be applied in Thermal Energy Storage and Thermal Management systems, exploiting the storage and release of latent heat associated to a phase transition. Among them, metallic PCMs can be used at medium and high temperatures (i.e. above 150°C), storing higher heat per unit volume at higher temperatures with respect to the most widely investigated polymeric and salt-based PCMs. Miscibility Gap Alloys (MGAs) can be used to obtain multiple-phase mixtures in which the active phase (the actual PCM) is mixed to a second, high-melting temperature phase, with negligible interaction between them. These can actually be considered as fully metallic composite materials specifically developed for thermal management. Suitable microstructures can prevent leakage of active phase when the solid-liquid transition occurs, resulting in a form-stable PCM (FS-PCM). However, obtaining these microstructures it is not trivial. The present study focuses on a solid-liquid FS-PCM consisting of a ‘classical’ fully metallic FS-PCM, an Al-Sn based MGAs produced by powder metallurgy. The goal was to evaluate the effect of different production processes on thermal and mechanical behaviour of the PCM. Particularly, powder metallurgy routes including both simple mixing and ball milling were compared and further combined. Moreover, several compression and sintering conditions were considered, also substituting Al powders with Al-alloy powders, in order to optimize the material microstructures in view of suitable thermal and mechanical properties. Finally, the casting route with a rapid solidification approach was investigated for the same alloy.

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a model that predicts the transition from internal to external oxidation. This variant is based on the simultaneous resolution of the diffusion equations and the equilibrium equation that stems from the assumption of the local instantaneous thermodynamic equilibrium. It accounts for the possible formation of large precipitates fractions that may act as diffusion barriers. This effect is modeled by introducing a dependence of the diffusion coefficients upon the mass fraction of precipitates. As a counterpart, it is generally impossible to solve the non-linear equations of the model analytically. Thus, a semi-analytical and a finite elements models are presented.

Abstract: Additive manufacturing (AM) is currently one of the most promising and advanced tools to make high-end components. For industrial acceptance of these components, there is a demand for the delivery of high quality parts, certified under recognized standards. Pre-requisites for such certified parts are the certification of the powder feed-stock and the use of qualified facilities. Such a certification and qualification project encompasses different challenges regarding both powder testing and print process stability. Today there are insufficient quantitative acceptance criteria for AM metal powders in the standards. The main challenge is determining which properties to test and how to define some key indicators that can guarantee consistent quality of the end product. To face this challenge several relevant powder properties were tested in order to link powder performance to the properties of the printed material. To guarantee process stability and repeatability, a good knowledge and control of the different process parameters and their influence on the material quality is needed. Hence, an extensive study on the homogeneity of properties over the 3D printer platform was performed. A qualification testing platform was designed to guarantee and periodically check the quality of the printed AM316L material. The proper procedures and parameter settings were determined and fixed. This methodology finally lead to the qualification of the ENGIE Laborelec Powder Lab and the ENGIE Fabricom AM printing facility and the certification of AM 316L material through a recognized external qualification body. This initiative paves the way to ensure industrial acceptance of the selective laser melting process for high quality applications.