Cavitation erosion damage of self-fluxing NiCrSiB hardfacings deposited by oxy-acetylene powder welding

This paper comparatively investigates the cavitation erosion damage of two self-fluxing NiCrSiB hardfacings deposited via the oxy-acetylene powder welding method. Examinations were conducted according to the procedure given by ASTM G32 standard. In order to research cavitation erosion (CE), the vibratory apparatus was employed. The cavitation damaged surfaces were inspected using a scanning electron microscope, optical microscope and surface profilometer. The hardness of the A-NiCrSiB hardfacing equals 908HV while that of C-NiCrSiB amounts to 399HV. The research showed that the CE resistance of C-NiCrSiB is higher than that of A-NiCrSiB. The results demonstrate that in the case of multiphase materials, like the NiCrSiB hardfacings, hardness cannot be the key factor for cavitation erosion damage estimation whereas it is strongly subjected to material microstructure. In order to qualitatively recognise the cavitation erosion damage of the NiCrSiB self-fluxing hardfacings at a given exposure time, the following factors should be respected: physical and mechanical properties, material microstructure and also material loss and eroded surface morphology, both stated at specific testing time. The general idea for the cavitation erosion damage estimation of the NiCrSiB oxy-acetylene welds was presented.

Material Characterisation and Computational Thermal Modelling of Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing of Ti2448 Titanium Alloy

Ti-24Nb-4Zr-8Sn (Ti2448) is a metastable b-type titanium alloy developed for biomedical applications. In this work, cylindrical samples of Ti2448 alloy have been successfully manufactured by using the electron beam powder bed fusion (PBF-EB) technique. The thermal history and microstructure of manufactured samples are characterised using computational and experimental methods. To analyse the influence of thermal history on the microstructure of materials, the thermal process of PBF-EB has been computationally predicted using the layer-by-layer modelling method. The microstructure of the Ti2448 alloy mainly includes β phase and a small amount of α” phase. By comparing the experimental results of material microstructure with the computational modelling results of material thermal history, it can be seen that aging time and aging temperature lead to the variation of α” phase content in manufactured samples. The computational modelling proves to be an effective tool that can help experimentalists to understand the influence of macroscopic processes on material microstructural evolution and hence potentially optimise the process parameters of PBF-EB to eliminate or otherwise modify such microstructural gradients.

Advances in Multi-Scale Mechanical Characterization of Materials with Optical Methods

The mechanical characterization of materials embraces many different aspects, such as, for example, (i) to assess materials’ constitutive behavior under static and dynamic conditions; (ii) to analyze material microstructure; (iii) to assess the level of damage developed in the material; (iv) to determine surface/interfacial properties; and (v) to optimize manufacturing processes in terms of process speed and reliability and obtain the highest quality of manufactured products [...]

Modeling Payne effect on basis of linearization of a visco-hyperelastic model

The present work concerns the modeling of the Payne effect in nonlinear viscoelasticity. This effect is a characteristic property of filled elastomers. Indeed, under cyclic loading of increasing amplitude, a decrease is shown in the storage modulus and a peak in the loss modulus. In this study, the Payne effect is assumed to arise from a change of the material microstructure, i.e., the thixotropy. The so-called intrinsic time or shift time was inferred from solving a differential equation that represents the evolution of a material's microstructure. Then, the physical time is replaced by the shift time in the framework of a recent fractional visco-hyperelastic model, which was linearized in the neighborhood of a static pre-deformation. As a result, we have investigated the effects of static pre-deformation, frequency, and magnitude of dynamic strain on storage and loss moduli in the steady state. Thereafter, the same set of parameters identified from the complex Young's modulus was used to predict the stress in the pre-deformed configuration. Finally, it is demonstrated that the proposed model is reasonably accurate in predicting Payne effect.

Influence of Local Temperature Changes on the Material Microstructure in Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM)

This article considers effects of local heat transfer taking place insteel cutting by abrasive water jet machining (AWJM). The influence of temperature changes during AWJM has not been investigated thoroughly. Most studies on AWJM suggest that thermal energy has little or no effect on the material cut. This study focused on the analysis of the material microstructure and indentation microhardness in the jet impact zone and the adjacent area. The structure features revealed through optical metallography and scanning microscopy suggest local temperature changes caused by the impact of the abrasive water jet against the workpiece surface. From the microscopic examinationand hardness tests, it is clear that, during the process, large amounts of energy were transferred locally. The mechanical stress produced by the water jet led to plastic deformation at and near the surface. This was accompanied by the generation and transfer of large amounts of heat resulting in a local rise in temperature to 450 °C or higher.

Influence of the reagents’ ratio on photoelectric and optical properties of perovskite films for photovoltaics

The properties of the synthesized films of organic-inorganic perovskites CH3NH3PbI3 obtained at various ratios of starting reagents (PbI2 and CH3NH3I) have been studied. As a solvent, we used chemically pure dried dimethylformamide (DMF). Organic-inorganic perovskites are promising for photovoltaic applications. It has been shown that regardless of the ratio of the starting reagents, single-phase perovskites are formed, at the same time the microstructure of the films changes significantly. It has been reported photoelectric and optical properties of synthesized films, namely: experimental and theoretical spectral dependences of the low-signal surface photovoltage and transmission. The band gap and the Urbach parameter dependence on the ratio of precursors were determined. It has been found that the materials’ band gap depends on the ratio of precursors and equals to 1.59, 1.62 and 1.57 eV, while the characteristic Urbach energy equals to 18, 19 and 22 meV for the PbI2:CH3NH3I films with PbI2 ratio of 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3, respectively. It has been ascertained that the spectral dependences of the low-signal surface photovoltage are much more sensitive to the material microstructure and its electronic structure close to the absorption edge, while the optical transmission spectra are not so sensitive. The limiting value of the short-circuit current density for the films with different PbI2 and CH3NH3I ratios has been determined.

In Situ Mechanical Loading and Neutron Bragg-edge Imaging, Applied to Polygranular Graphite On IMAT@ISIS

Background Bragg edge imaging have seen significant developments in the last decade with the availability of new time-resolved detectors, however, there have been no studies of changes in local coherent scattering from grain reorientation and deformation with load. Such damage accommodation mechanism may occur in (quasi)-brittle materials. Objective We developed a novel method using in-situ Bragg imaging at the ISIS spallation neutron and muon source on the IMAT (Imaging and MATerials science and engineering) instrument using an energy-resolved detector setup. We collected and analysed data of a proof-of-concept experiment demonstrating the use of the method. Methods We have developed a loading apparatus that addresses the constraints posed by Bragg imaging, allowing us to resolve features in the material microstructure. We use energy-resolved neutron imaging to obtain images in energy bins and we have developed a set of codes to register and correlate these images, as well as detect changes in local coherent scattering, in situ. Results Preliminary results from this method on Gilsocarbon nuclear graphite allow qualitative observation of local changes in Bragg contrast, which may be due to deformation or grain reorientation. Conclusions We have demonstrated that we can track changes in local coherent scattering under mechanical load, with sufficient resolution to track features with a size above 100 microns. This method, apparatus and accompanying codes may be used on the IMAT instruments by users interested to better understand deformation in their materials.