Materials Science Forum Vol. 879

Abstract: This paper describes the details of a quantitative experimental and numerical study on the influence of solidification conditions, including the apparent interfacial heat transfer coefficient (IHTC) between the die and solidifying metal, on the resulting local microstructure. Multiple runs of the commercial casting simulation package, ProCASTTM, are used to model the mold filling and solidification events employing a range of IHTC values. The simulation results are used to estimate the centreline cooling curve at various locations through the casting. The centreline cooling curve, together with the die temperature and the thermodynamic properties of the alloy are then used as inputs to compute the solution to the Stefan problem of a moving phase boundary, thereby providing the through-thickness cooling curves at each chosen location of the casting. Finally, the local cooling rate is used to calculate the resulting grain size and skin thickness via previously established relationships. A comparison of the predicted and experimentally determined grain size profiles enables the determination of the apparent IHTC, which, in this study, was approximately 12000 W/m²·K. Additional useful observations from the numerical study suggest that the IHTC has a significant influence on the skin thickness and grain size in both the skin and core regions of the casting, while the effect of die temperature is limited to influencing the skin grain size only.

Abstract: The application of high strength steels in welded structures relies on easy to use quality assurance concepts for the welding process. For ferritic steels, one of the most common methods for estimating the mechanical properties of welded joints is the cooling time concept t8/5. Even without experimental determination, the calculation of cooling time with previously introduced formulas based on the welding parameters leads to good results. Because high strength structural steels and weld metals with a yield strength of 960 MPa contain higher quantities of alloying elements, the transformation start temperature Ar3 is found to be outside of the range of 800 °C to 500 °C. This leads to inadequate estimation results, as the thermal arrest caused by the microstructural transformation in this case is not considered. In this work the usage of the well-proven cooling time concept t8/5 is analyzed using high strength fine grained structural steels and suitable welding filler wires during gas metal arc and submerged arc welding processes. The results are discussed taking into account the microstructure and the transformation behavior. Based on the experimental work, an improved concept is presented.

Abstract: In the highly-correlated electron system Sr_1-xNd_xMnO₃ (SNMO) having the simple perovskite structure, there are interesting electronic states, which are related to degrees of charge, orbital, and spin freedoms for e_g electrons in Mn ions. Among these states, in the case of SNMO, the C-, A-and CE-type antiferromagnetic states were reported for 0.20 ≤ x ≤ 0.38, for 0.38 ≤ x ≤ 0.48, and for 0.48 ≤ x ≤ 0.52, respectively. The points to note here are that these antiferromagnetic states are directly associated with corresponding orbital orderings, and that the CE-type state also accompanies charge ordering. Because of these features, we were interested in the (A → CE) state change in SNMO. The crystallographic features of prepared SNMO samples with 0.46 ≤ x ≤ 0.50 have thus been investigated mainly by means of a transmission electron microscope equipped with a low-temperature holder. As a result, the state around 100 K for x = 0.48 was first understood to be identified as the Imma state, which includes a large number of orbital-modulated (OM) regions with an average size of about 10 nm. The feature of such regions is that the orbital modulation has an incommensurate periodicity and a charge modulation is absent in them. On the other hand, the CE-type state having the commensurate orbital and charge modulations was also confirmed to be present for x = 0.50. In addition to these two states, the state around 100 K for x = 0.46 was found to be characterized by the coexistence state consisting of the C-type orbital-ordered state and the Imma states including OM regions. In other words, the presence of the A-type orbital-ordered state could not be confirmed in the temperature range between 300 K and about 100 K for 0.46 ≤ x ≤ 0.50 in this study.

Abstract: We are developing plasma nanofabrication, namely, nanoand micro scale guided assembly using plasmas. We manipulate nanoand micro objects using electrostatic, electromagnetic, ion drag, neutral drag, and optical forces. The accuracy of positioning the objects depends on fluctuation of position and energy of a fine particle (= each object) in plasmas. Here we evaluate such fluctuations and discuss the mechanism behind them. In the first experiment, we grabbed a fine particle in plasma using an optical tweezers. The fine particle moves in a potential well made by the optical tweezers. This is a kind of Brownian motion and the position fluctuation can be caused by neutral molecule collisions, ion collisions, and fluctuation of electrostatic force. Among theses possible causes, fluctuation of electrostatic force may be main one. In the second experiment, we deduced interaction potential between two fine particles during their Coulomb collision. We found that there exist repulsive and attractive forces between them. The repulsive force is a screened Coulomb one, whereas the attractive force is likely a force due to a shadow effect, a non-collective attractive force. Moreover, we noted that there is a fluctuation of the potential, probably due to fluctuation of electrostatic force. These position and potential energy fluctuations may limit the accuracy of guided assembly using plasmas.

Abstract: The evolution of microstructure and porous defects of a spray-formed 7000 Aluminum alloy is researched in this paper. The spray-formed alloy is treated by hot isostatic pressing (HIP), homogenization, hot extrusion, solution and aging treatment. Metallographic microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and tensile test are used to research the microstructure and mechanical properties. The results show that, there are two kinds of porous defects in spray-formed alloy, which has gas and no gas. The porous defects of spray-formed ingot can be mostly eliminated by HIP and hot extrusion. After solution and aging treatment, the tensile strength and elongation reach 757MPa and 10.2%, respectively.

Abstract: Torsion tests have been proven to be a successful method to simulate the hot rolling of steels. Simulation work performed at a laboratory scale together with the analysis of the resulting mean-flow-stress behavior, leads to important metallurgical information to be considered during full-scale rolling processes. In this work, two different hot deformation schedules of C-Mn steels have been performed on a Gleeble simulation system in hot torsion mode. In addition to the torsion tests, the mean-flow-stresses of industrial rolling data were analyzed. Industrial hot deformation schedules simulated using hot torsion and the mean-flow-stress values were plotted versus the inverse of absolute temperature in the same graph. All points match the same behavior showing that torsion testing is a reliable hot working simulation method.

Abstract: In this communication, a new methodological approach is proposed to develop a biomimetic metallic femoral stem. The design of this stem starts with the definition of an outer skin by reproducing the shape and overall dimensions of a Stryker^® femoral stem to be implanted in an artificial femur model from Sawbones^®. In-house algorithms are then used to generate two types of porous structures inside the outer skin: either a stochastic cubic-based porous structure or an ordered diamond-type porous structure. Next, a model of the femur-stem assembly is developed using the finite element method. The fully dense Stryker stem replica and two porous stems are fabricated using selective laser melting technology. Then, comparative mechanical testing is carried out using the ISO 7206-4 (2010) guidelines. These tests are conducted on an intact artificial femur (reference case) and on the identical femurs, but now implanted with the fully dense and porous stems. Using digital image correlation tools, the results of four series of tests are compared to assess which implant design leads to the lowest stress shielding in the implanted femur. Finally, the experimentally measured strain fields are compared to the numerical predictions to validate the numerical models.

Abstract: A mean field model for discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) has been developed and chained with a post-dynamic recrystallization (PDRX) model to predict transient and steady-state flow stresses and average grain sizes. Numerical results are compared with experimental data obtained on a 304L stainless steel yielding to a good agreement in terms of average grain size. However an unrealistic grain-size distribution is observed using DDRX, which affects results of the PDRX model. This result is discussed with respect to the fundamental equations of DDRX.

Abstract: Measurement of residual strains by neutron diffraction of linear friction welded Inconel^® 718 (IN 718) superalloy acquired from a mid-service aero-engine disk was undertaken in this study. Residual strain and stress throughout the various weld regions including the heat affected zone (HAZ), thermomechanical affected zone (TMAZ) and dynamically recrystallized zone (DRX) were characterized. The residual stresses were observed to increase from the base material to the weld interface, with a peak stress at the weld interface in all orthogonal directions. The trends for residual stress across the weld are in agreement with other work published in literature for solid state welding of aerospace alloys, where high residual stresses were commonly reported at the weld interface.

Abstract: The technology of High Pressure Gas Quenching (HPGQ) in modern vacuum furnaces has already reached the level of 20 to 25 bar pressure and up to 80 m/s gas flow velocity. By using primarily nitrogen (N₂) it is possible to quench also low-alloyed steels, and to compete, in some cases successfully, with oil quenching. This depends basically on the hardenability of the steel and on the cross-section thickness of the quenched workpiece. The present work explains experimental testing of steels' hardenability when gas quenching is applied. For determination and vizualization of the hardening capacity of steels quenched by HPGQ, a computer aided method has been developed for axially symmetric workpieces of any complex shape, to show at a glance the complete hardness distribution on longitudinal section. An included database of relevant steel grades and possible gas quenching parameters enables to choose another steel grade and/or other quenching parameters, and see on the display another relevant hardness distribution, without performing additional experiments.