The Role of the Atmosphere on Boron-Activated Sintering of Ferrous Powder Compacts

Boron has been known to activate densification during sintering of ferrous powder compacts, though with risk of embrittlement. In the present study, specimens Fe-B and Fe-C-B prepared from standard atomized iron powder with addition of ferroboron Fe-21%B were sintered in different atmospheres, and the resulting microstructures and properties were studied. It showed that the activating effect of boron is observed during sintering in argon and in hydrogen while sintering in N2 containing atmospheres results in rapid deactivation of boron, through formation of stable BN. In hydrogen atmosphere, surface deboronizing was observed to considerable depth. Ar is chemically inert, but Ar trapped inside closed pores tends to inhibit further densification. The impact energy data indicated that the embrittling effect of boron is enhanced significantly by presence of carbon. In the fracture surfaces, transgranular cleavage fracture can be observed both at very low and high impact energy values.

Embrittling Components in Sintered Steels: Comparison of Phosphorus and Boron

In ferrous powder metallurgy, both boron and phosphorus have been known to be sintering activators for a long time. However, the use has been widely different: while P is a standard additive to sintered iron and steels, boron has been frequently studied, but its use in practice is very limited. Both additives are also known to be potentially embrittling, though in a different way. In the present study the differences between the effects of both elements are shown: while P activates sintering up to a certain threshold, in part by stabilizing ferrite, in part by forming a transient liquid phase, boron is the classical additive enhancing persistent liquid phase, being virtually insoluble in the iron matrix. The consequence is that sintered steels can tolerate quite a proportion of phosphorus, depending on composition and sintering process; boron however is strongly embrittling in particular in combination with carbon, which requires establishing a precisely defined content that enhances sintering but is not yet embrittling. The fracture mode of embrittled materials is also different: while with Fe-P the classical intergranular fracture is observed, with boron a much more rugged fracture surface appears, indicating some failure through the eutectic interparticle network but mostly transgranular cleavage. If carbon is added, in both cases transgranular cleavage dominates even in the severely embrittled specimens, indicating that no more the grain boundaries and sintering necks are the weakest links in the systems.

The Influence of Thermal Exposure and Hydrogen Charging on the Notch Tensile Properties and Fracture Behaviour of Dissimilar T91/TP316H Weldments

The effects of ageing and hydrogen charging on the notch tensile properties and fracture behaviour of individual heat-affected zones (HAZ) and Ni-based weld metal (Ni WM) of T91/TP316H weldments were investigated. After the post-weld heat treatment at 750 °C for 1 h the weldments were annealed at 600 °C for 1000 h and 5000 h, respectively. All heat-treated states were studied in condition without as well as with hydrogen charging. Thermal expositions led to additional precipitation and microstructure coarsening but their influence on tensile strength was insignificant. In contrast, remarkable plasticity decrease and the fracture mode transition from ductile dimple tearing to transgranular cleavage were observed. The combined effects of thermal exposure and hydrogen charging were more complex. Whereas the regions of Ni WM and TP316H HAZ did not show any significant change in strength, the hydrogen effect caused the strength increase in T91 HAZ. Although the hydrogen embrittling effects were clearly manifested by decreasing plasticity, their significance was getting smaller with increasing annealing duration. The fracture behaviour of thermally exposed and hydrogen charged regions exhibited mixed fracture modes including transgranular cleavage, intergranular dimple fracture and intergranular decohesion.

Fracture of Irradiated Austenitic Stainless Steel with Special Reference to Irradiation Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking

This paper deals with fracture of neutron irradiated austenitic Ti-stabilized stainless steel 08Ch18N10T. The steel had been tested in air and in water environment (320°C) using several tests representing different stress strain conditions for crack initiation and growth; Slow Strain Rate and Crack Growth Rate tests were performed in the water. Without irradiation the steel did not suffer from stress corrosion cracking in the water, but on irradiated specimens appeared areas of intergranular fracture mixed with transgranular cleavage-like facets and secondary cracks typical for IASCC phenomenon. The differences between fracture of irradiated and non-irradiated specimens in air and in water are documented and discussed.

Fracture Behaviour of Fe3Al and FeAl Type Iron Aluminides

Fracture behaviour of two intermetallic alloys based on FeAl and Fe3Al was studied. On the alloys Fe-40Al-1C (at%) and Fe-29.5Al-2.3Cr-0.63Zr-0.2C (at%) (FA06Z), a basic characterization, the fracture toughness tests and fractographic analysis were carried out. Tensile tests and fracture toughness tests were performed at 20, 200, 400 and 600°C. The fracture toughness values range from 26 MPa.m1/2 at 20°C to 42 MPa.m1/2 at 400°C. In addition, Jintegral dependence on a obtained by potential method was measured. The fractographic analysis showed that samples fractured at 20, 200 and 400°C in the tensile or fracture toughness tests exhibit transgranular cleavage fracture, while at 600°C the ductile dimple fracture predominates.

Metallurgical Control of the Ductile-Brittle Transition in High-Strength Structural Steels

The models that have been successfully used to control the ductile-brittle transition in high strength structural steels are qualitative in nature, and address the microstructural control of the mechanisms of brittle fracture. The basic idea is incorporated in the “Yoffee diagram”, which dates from the 1920's and attributes the ductile-brittle transition to the competition between deformation and fracture; the more difficult brittle fracture becomes, the lower the temperature at which ductile processes dominate. There are two important brittle fracture modes: intergranular separation and transgranular cleavage. The intergranular mode is usually due to chemical contamination, and is addressed by eliminating or gettering the contaminating species. There are also examples of brittle fracture that is due to inherent grain boundary weakness. In this case the failure mode is overcome by adding beneficial species (glue) to the grain boundary. Transgranular cleavage is made more difficult by refining the effective grain size. In high strength steel this is done by refining the prior austenite grain size, by interspersing islands of metastable austenite that transform martensitically under plastic strain, or by disrupting the crystallographic alignment of ferrite grains or martensite laths. The latter mechanism offers intriguing possibilities for future steels with exceptional toughness.

Microstructural and Thermoelectric Properties of P-Type Te–Doped Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 And N-Type SbI3-Doped Bi2Te2.85Se0.15 Compounds

The p-type Te-doped Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and n-type SbI3-doped Bi2Te2.85Se0.15 thermoelectric compounds were fabricated by hot pressing in the temperature range of 380 to 440 °C under 200 MPa in Ar. Both the compounds were highly dense and showed high crystalline quality. The grains of the compounds were preferentially oriented and contained many dislocations through the hot pressing. The fracture path followed the transgranular cleavage planes, which are perpendicular to the c-axis. In addition, with increasing the pressing temperature, the figure of merit was increased. The highest values of figure of merit for the p- and n-type compounds, which were obtained at 420 °C, were 2.69 × 10−3/K and 2.35×10−3/K, respectively.