Materials Science Forum Vols. 571-572

Abstract: Y3Al5O12:Nd3+ nanoceramics were obtained by sintering nanocrystalline Y3Al5O12:Nd3+ powders at 450 oC under different pressures between 2 and 8 GPa. The structural purity, residual stress, strain, texture, and crystallite size of the products were analysed with X-ray powder diffraction. The results indicate that the average crystallite size remains unchanged at about 30 nm in spite of the heating and the pressure applied. No texture was observed. On the other hand, the microstrains increase with increasing pressure, while the residual stresses are at their maximum in the green body and the sample processed at 8 GPa. Increasing strains were observed to increase the width of the luminescence lines and to decrease the luminescence decay times.

Abstract: Graded Al2O3/Y-ZrO2 ceramics are developed to receive a construction material combining favourable properties of both constituent components, alumina (low wear rate, high hardness) and zirconia (high strength and toughness). The high performance of this material can be reached by optimising the internal residual stress distribution resulting mainly from phase specific stresses after cooling from the sintering temperature. For this purpose, non-destructive neutron diffraction mapping of residual stresses has been employed. However, the application of the conventional method does not provide straightforward results on macroscopic residual stresses. This experimental technique uses the crystal lattice plane as a built in microscopic strain gauge and the measured quantities are then lattice strains detected in each constituent phase separately. Based on these experimental resources, the paper proposes a procedure of separation of the residual macroscopic stress from phase specific stresses. The application of the presented method is demonstrated on functionally graded materials (FGM) prepared by electrophoretic deposition (EPD).

Abstract: Thermal and cold spraying encompasses a great variety of techniques for deposition of fully or partially molten or cold particles of material to produce coatings with a specific microstructure and properties for the purpose of surface enhancement. Among the many factors influencing sprayed coating integrity, residual stress is very important since it will be the driving force for possible crack propagation and consequent coating failure. The very complex physical processes occurring during coating deposition make first principles treatment difficult. A number of empirical models have been proposed to predict and describe quantitatively the stress distribution in the coating/substrate system. However, there are a limited number of experimental measurements on through-thickness stress distribution and for only a few materials and few spraying techniques, to validate any model and to define its area of applicability. Several metal and ceramic coatings produced by different spraying techniques were measured by means of neutron diffraction. Through-thickness stress profiles were obtained and treated in the frame of the empirical progressive coating deposition model. The comparison between experimental and simulated results is discussed.

Abstract: The railway carbody structure for commuter and suburban train services in Japan is often made of austenitic stainless steel, which is used in the form of thin metal sheets manufactured by cold rolling. Spot welding and laser welding at lapped joints are used in the construction of such carbodies, but it is difficult to observe the strain distribution around these weld zones, which represent the critical area of the body structure’s strength. The objective of this study is to ascertain the strain distribution in the stainless steel around the weld zone of the carbody structure. To enable observation of this distribution, a strain scanning method using high-energy synchrotron radiation was applied to the strain measurement of austenitic stainless steel. The transmission method was applied in order to observe the internal weld zone. Using this method, we can measure the strain distribution from the surface to the inside of the weld zone. A lapped joint specimen, prepared by welding 2-mm-thick plates using the laser welding method, was used for measurement. Austenitic stainless steel generally poses problems in the measurement of strain due to its coarse grain and crystal texture. The gage volume in this measurement had a width of 3 mm and a height of 0.15 mm. The measurement provides the strain distribution of both residual strain and strain under loading, and the results obtained successfully show the distribution of strain in the weld zone. In addition, the differing tendency between the distribution of residual strain and that of strain under loading is clarified. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) value shows a difference between the tendency of the measured value of the weld zone and that of the base material.

Abstract: Residual stress profiles were measured by neutron diffraction in Al2O3/Y-TZP ceramic composites containing 5 and 40 vol.% Y-TZP fabricated by conventional slip casting and by a novel tape casting route. Residual stresses in the zirconia are tensile and increase as its volume fraction decreases. For the alumina matrix, residual stress is compressive and increases with the zirconia volume fraction. In the composite with 5 vol.% zirconia, the processing route does not have an influence on residual stresses. However, in the composite with 40 vol.% zirconia, residual stresses are different in the samples obtained by both processing routes.

Abstract: The internal stress in solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) was evaluated during the thermal, reduction and re-oxidation cycles by using high-energy X-ray synchrotron radiation of about 70 keV at Beam line BL02B1 of SPring-8. The oxidized cell has a compression of about 400 MPa in the c-ScSZ electrolyte and a tension of 50-100 MPa in the NiO-YSZ anode at room temperature. In-situ measurement during the thermal cycle in an air atmosphere, the internal stress decreased with increasing temperature, becoming approximately zero at 1000 K. After the thermal cycle, the internal stress returned to its initial value. In the measurement during the reduction cycle, the internal stress was smaller than that measured during the cooling cycle after the anode was reduced from NiO-YSZ to Ni-YSZ. In the re-oxidation cycle of a reduced cell, the internal stress in the electrolyte went into tension above 800 K when the anode was re-oxidized from Ni-YSZ to NiO-YSZ. This tensile stress is responsible for possible fracture of unit cells in SOFCs.

Abstract: Recently a new welding technique, the so-called ‘Cold Metal Transfer’ (CMT) technique was introduced, which due to integrated wire feeding leads to lower heat input and higher productivity compared to other gas metal arc (GMA) techniques. Here microstructure formation and residual stress state in dissimilar steel to aluminum CMT welds are investigated. The intermetallic phase seam between the filler and the steel is only a few micrometers thick. Residual stress analyses reveal the formation of the typical residual stress state of a weld without phase transformation. Both in longitudinal and in transversal direction compressive residual stresses exist in the steel plate parent material, tensile residual stresses are present in the heat affected zone of the steel and the aluminum alloy. The area containing tensile residual stresses is larger in the aluminum alloy due to its higher heat conductivity than in the steel. Due to the symmetry in the patented voestalpine welding geometry and the welding from bottom and face side of the weld, the residual stress distributions at the top and at the bottom side of the weld are very similar.

Abstract: The residual stress distribution in three laser welded T-joint configurations of aerospace aluminium alloys were measured using neutron diffraction and FE-simulation was conducted to compare with the experimental results. A 2 mm thick AA 6013 T6 sheet (as clip) was welded to a 4.5 mm thick and 400 mm wide AA 6156 T4 base plate (as skin of the airframe). In two samples, the thickness of the plate was reduced in some areas after welding to produce so-called “pockets” with the purpose of the weight reduction to resemble the fabrication practise in aircraft industry. The effect of pocketing process, which produced two different geometries around the clip weld on the residual stress evolution was analysed. In the plain sample (without pockets), residual stresses were predicted using the SYSWELD finite element software. The strain measurements on the base plate were performed at three locations; namely, the middle of the weld length (mid-clip), welding start (run-in) and end (run-out) locations. In all welded plates, slightly higher longitudinal tensile residual stresses were detected at the midclip locations, whereas transverse residual stresses were similar for all locations. In the run-out location, higher longitudinal tensile residual stresses were present than in the run-in location, which was the case in our previous results on other samples. The first results of the SYSWELD FE-simulation of the plain sample were compared with experimental results. The comparison has shown particularly good agreement for the transverse stresses. Although the simulation yields higher longitudinal tensile stresses than the experimental results, the stress distributions were very similar.

Abstract: Microstructure, hardness and residual stresses of the laser beam overlap welds between AZ31B sheets and AZ31, AZ61 and AZ80 extruded profiles are investigated using microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The result of the investigations reveal that weld microstructure, the size of the HAZ, precipitate density and the maximum compressive residual stress values depend strongly on the Al content of the weld zone of two Mg-alloys.