Materials Science Forum Vols. 730-732

Abstract: In this paper, the mechanical behaviour of extruded AZ31 magnesium alloys under multiaxial fatigue loading conditions is studied. The monotonic properties of the AZ31 magnesium alloy were determined by tests on the specimens which were machined from extruded rods. Then, the cyclic deformation under multiaxial loading conditions was simulated by ANSYS and a plasticity program with the Jiang & Sehitoglu plasticity model. The fatigue lives were estimated by the critical plane models coupled with Coffin-Manson rule, such as Findley, Fatemi-Socie, Brown-Miller, SWT and Liu models. Four loading paths were considered with different levels of non-proportionality, the results show significant loading path dependence.

Abstract: The effects of chemical composition and cooling rate on the delta ferrite formation in austenitic stainless steels have been investigated. Ferrite fractions measured by a magnetic method were in the range of 0 to 12% and were compared with those calculated by empirical formulas available in the literature. The delta ferrite formation (amount and distribution) was strongly affected by the steel chemical composition, but less affected by the cooling rate. Among several formulas used to calculate the amount of delta ferrite, the best agreement was obtained with those proposed independently by Schneider and Schoefer, the latter being recommended in the ASTM 800 standard.

Abstract: The amorphization process by mechanical alloying in the Fe-Si alloy system has been studied. High energy ball milling has been applied for alloys synthesis. X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to monitor the structural and phase transformations through the different stages of milling. The addition of amorphous boron in the milling process and the increase of the milling time were used to improve the formation of the amorphous phase. Heating the samples resulted in the crystallization of the synthesized amorphous alloys and the appearance of equilibrium intermetallic compounds.

Abstract: The organic-inorganic hybrid sol-gel films have been reported as an effective anti-corrosion and environmentally friendly alternative to Cr(VI) pre-treatment for aluminium alloys. The sol-gel process used to obtain these coatings allows the variation of the different synthesis parameters to achieve coatings with optimized properties. In this work, hybrid films with different Zr/Si ratios were synthesized from glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) and zirconium n-propoxide (TPOZ) precursors. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) was used to evaluate the corrosion behaviour of coated aluminium specimens in 0.5 M NaCl solution. The morphology and chemical structure of the hybrid coatings prepared were studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). It was found that increasing Zr/Si ratio leads to a more cross linked inorganic network, resulting in higher initial coatings resistance, but may turn coatings more hydrophilic, prone to rapid degradation in water, due to a less connected organic network. Consequently, the best anticorrosive performance derives from the balance between the two opposite trends and it was achieved with Zr/Si molar ratio of 0.25.

Abstract: Solder joints are strongly dependent on how well the solder alloy can wet the substrate. One of the parameters which can be used to characterize the wettability of solder alloys on a substrate is the heat transfer coefficient at the interface alloy/substrate, h_i. This study focus on the effect of the surface roughness of the substrate on the interfacial heat transfer coefficient during solidification of solder alloys. A comparative study is carried out with two lead-free solders alternatives and the traditional Sn-Pb solder (Sn 0.7wt%Cu, Sn 3.5 wt%Ag and Sn 38wt%Pb, respectively). These alloys were directionally solidified using a solidification apparatus having a water cooled bottom made of low carbon steel with two different surface finishing: machined and polished. The experimental thermal data collected by thermocouples positioned along the casting length were used as input information into an Inverse Heat Transfer Code implemented in this work in order to determine the h_i variation in time. A power–law function given by (where a and m are constants which depend on the alloy composition, substrate and melt superheat and t is the time) which is based on both theoretical and experimental analyses is proposed. The transient h_i profile has a typical drastic reduction from a high initial value due to the development of an air gap, followed by a recovery to an essentially constant value. The literature generally reports a decrease in h_i with increasing surface roughness. However, in the present work an opposite behavior has been detected, which is explained based on contact interactions between alloy and substrate that are subjected to thermal contraction and thermal expansion during the soldering process, respectively.

Abstract: The unexpected collapse of engineering structures is often caused by the fatigue phenomenon resulting from degradation of mechanical properties of materials due to multiaxial cyclic loadings. The interpretation of such degradation is a topic of intensive research in multiaxial fatigue. The fatigue strength is commonly evaluated by the equivalent stress based on the shear stress in the octahedral plane. However, the use of this kind of equivalent stress in the multiaxial fatigue criteria has been proven to be inappropriate. The degradation of mechanical properties of materials is dependent on several factors, e.g. the loading path has a strong influence on the fatigue strength. Non-proportional loadings cause higher damage in materials than proportional loadings for the same maximum equivalent stress. The purpose of this work is to study the effect of different multiaxial loadings on the 42CrMo4 steel and to improve the understanding about the relation between the fatigue strength and the sequential loading proportionality. The considered loadings were defined with the same history but with different load sequences and equivalent stress. To implement this work a biaxial servo-hydraulic fatigue machine was used. The fatigue life and crack angle were measured for each specimen. An analysis was made in order to correlate the crack initiation and fatigue life with the theoretical models, some remarks regarding these topics are presented.

Abstract: External corrosion is one of the most common causes of oilwell casing failure. Hostile environments can be due to acidizing treatments. Although it is common to add corrosion inhibitors and oxygen scavengers in acidic solutions to control external casing corrosion, their real efficiency is unknown yet. Therefore, it is important to establish how aggressive to steel are the different hostile environments to help decide which acidic systems can be used. A comparative evaluation of the corrosion of steel immersed in hardened cement slurries submitted to commonly acidizing agents is suggested. The performance of Special Class Portland Cement Slurries reinforced with polished SAE 1045 steel was evaluated by electrochemical measurements as a function of time. Open circuit potential, polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were studied. 15.0 wt% HCl, 12.0 wt% HCl + 3.0 wt% HF (regular mud acid), 10.0 wt% HAc + 1.5 wt% HF and a simulated hardened cement slurry pore solution were used as electrolytes. The most aggressive acid solution to plain Portland hardened cement slurries was the regular mud acid. 10.0 wt% HAc + 1.5 wt% HF electrolytes were the least aggressive ones, showing open circuit potentials around +250 mV compared to -130 mV of the simulated hardened cement slurry pore solution after the first 24 hours of immersion. This behavior was observed during two months at least. Similar corrosion rates were shown between both electrolytes, around 0.01 μA.cm^-2. Total impedance values, insipient arcs and large polarization resistance capacitive arcs on the Nyquist plots, indicating passivity process, confirmed the behaviour of the system in the 10.0 wt% HAc + 1.5 wt% HF electrolyte.

Abstract: During the last years a very significant effort to develop a melting crucible for induction melting of Ti based alloys at competitive cost has been carried out by many researchers, where the authors are included. Results obtained so far have shown that no material accomplishes the melting crucibles two main demands: inertness facing titanium alloys and suitable/enough thermal-shock resistance. Until now, yttrium and calcium oxides were those materials that performed best on what concerns to thermodynamic stability. However, in both cases, crucibles thermal-shock resistance was very poor, and there are references to crucibles that cracked during melting. Besides, calcium oxide reveals manipulation problems, due to its high higroscopicity. This paper concerns to the evaluation of zircon based crucibles with Y₂O₃ inner layer for induction melting of TiAl based alloys. A novel multi layered crucible production technique based in a centrifugally assisted slip casting process followed by a sintering operation is described, and results concerning to crucibles porosity and wall composition and morphology are presented. Crucibles obtained in different processing conditions were used to melt a Ti48Al alloy which was poured in graphite moulds. Experimental results include alloy chemical contamination with residual elements, mainly yttrium and oxygen, microhardness measurement and the presence of yttrium oxide and zircon inclusions in the cast samples. Results concerning to the crucibles behaviour are also presented with particular attention to cracks development. The Y₂O₃ crucible layer was found to suffer some erosion and be slightly dissolved by the molten alloy and the extent of those phenomena depends on the porosity of the layer surface, for fixed experimental melting conditions.

Abstract: Nickel based superalloys are structural materials with a chemical composition and structure which has been developed to enable good high temperature performances leading to a wider range of applications. Their unique properties are due to their microstructure characterized by the coexistence of L1₂-ordered intermetallic precipitates like Ni₃Al or Ni₃Ti - g’ phase - in a face-centered cubic nickel based solid solution matrix, (Ni) - g phase. Solid solution strengthening at high temperatures can also be provided by the addition of refractory alloying elements, like tungsten, W. Therefore, the mechanical properties behaviour of the alloys is very strongly related to their composition and microstructures. The purpose of this work is to study the effect of composition and microstructures in a series of Ni-rich prototype alloys, Ni_100-2x–Ti_x–W_x (in which x is in at.%), in order to understand and ultimately optimize the performance of these materials. The adopted strategy was to combine experimental studies using Neutron Diffraction, Electron Probe Micro Analysis – EPMA, Differential Scanning Calorimeter – DSC and micro-hardness measurements, with first principles calculations for structure optimization and Gibbs energies at different temperatures, for each phase, leading to thermodynamic assessment.

Abstract: Machining operations of cast parts usually generate considerable amounts of waste in the form of chips (usually 3–5% of the casting weight). Traditionally, swarf is sold to scrapers and remelters, but this option is quite expensive because the selling price is roughly 30% of the acquisition price of the commercial 2nd melt raw material. For most aluminium foundries that incorporate machining operations in their products, reusing aluminium chips as raw material for the melting stocks is perhaps the best option as waste management policy in what concerns to economical and technical aspects. Nevertheless, aluminium swarf is a low density product (0.25 kg/dm³) and is usually covered by a thin film of aluminium oxide and machining fluid. Melting such a product without suitable previous preparation leads to very low metal recovery rates, high energy consumption, gases and smoke generation and very low quality of the final product. During the last years, the authors have developed a high efficient and environmentally friend aluminium swarf recycling technique, using direct incorporation in aluminium melts. The influence of processing parameters, namely melt temperature and holding time, melting atmosphere, swarf briquetting pressure and melting charge composition in the metal recovery yield and dross generation was studied and characterized, and the optimal processing parameters were established. The microstructure of the final product obtained in those conditions was evaluated and is also presented. It is shown that the recycling efficiency depends on the swarf conditioning, the melting technique and the melt treatment methodology. Swarf moisture reduction, induction melting under protective atmosphere and a specially developed degassing technique were found the most important factors influencing the recycling process. By using the developed technique, cast ingots with microstructure and sanity similar to commercially available AlSi12Cu1 2nd melt raw material were successfully obtained with minimal dross formation and metal recovery rates around 90%, without using traditional salts and fluxes.