Influence of Powder Bed Temperature on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Fabricated via Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is being increasingly used in the fabrication of complex-shaped structure parts with high precision. It is easy to form martensitic microstructure in Ti-6Al-4V alloy during manufacturing. Pre-heating the powder bed can enhance the thermal field produced by cyclic laser heating during LPBF, which can tailor the microstructure and further improve the mechanical properties. In the present study, all the Ti-6Al-4V alloy samples manufactured by LPBF at different powder bed temperatures exhibit a near-full densification state, with the densification ratio of above 99.4%. When the powder bed temperature is lower than 400 °C, the specimens are composed of a single α′ martensite. As the temperature elevates to higher than 400 °C, the α and β phase precipitate at the α′ martensite boundaries by the diffusion and redistribution of V element. In addition, the α/α′ lath coarsening is presented with the increasing powder bed temperature. The specimens manufactured at the temperature lower than 400 °C exhibit high strength but bad ductility. Moreover, the ultimate tensile strength and yield strength reduce slightly, whereas the ductility is improved dramatically with the increasing temperature, when it is higher than 400 °C.

Coloring variants of the Re3B type

The Re3B type, space group Cmcm, has boron-centered trigonal prisms as central building units and is one of the basic structure types with numerous binary and ternary representatives. The coloring of different atoms on the two crystallographically independent rhenium sites leads to a manifold of compounds with different bonding peculiarities that are rather isopointal than isotypic with the prototype. Typical compounds are the S-phase precipitate MgCuAl2, the silicide ScPt2Si or the iodide Th0.5Pb0.5I3 (PuBr3 type). Differences in size or composition might force symmetry reductions. This is discussed for YZn3 (space group Pnma) and the different coloring variants ScRhSi2 and TaNi2P which show different twists of the trigonal prisms. Striking singular representatives with lower symmetry structures are BaThBr6 (Pmma) and NbCo2B (P21/c) which allow different ordering/distortion patterns for the prisms. All these crystal chemical details are discussed on the basis of group subgroup schemes (Bärnighausen trees).

Influence of Thermal Ageing on Microstructure and Tensile Properties of P92 Steel

Microstructure and tensile properties of P92 steel in the normalized and tempered, and thermal aged at 923 K for 5000 h and 10,000 h conditions have been investigated. Laves phase precipitate was observed in the thermal-aged steels. The size of Laves phase precipitate increased with increase in thermal exposure. This was also confirmed from the observation that the area fraction of Laves phase precipitate was higher in the 5000 h aged condition which decreased with further increase in thermal exposure. On the other hand, the size and area fraction of M23C6 precipitate were found increased in the 5000 h aged steel, further continued to enhanced precipitation of fine M23C6 in the 10,000 h aged steel. This resulted in significant increase in area fraction and comparable size with the steel aged for 5000 h. Hardness of the steel was decreased with increase in the duration of ageing. Thermal-aged steels exhibited lower yield stress, ultimate tensile strength and relatively higher ductility in comparison with steel in the normalized and tempered condition. The increase in lath width and recovery of dislocation structure under thermal-aged condition resulted in lower tensile strength and hardness. An extensive Laves phase formation and coarsening by loss of tungsten in the matrix led to decrease in the tensile strength predominantly in the 5000 h aged steel. The tensile strength of 10,000 h aged steel was comparable with that of 5000 h aged steel due to enhanced precipitation of fine M23C6 in the steel due to enhanced mobility of carbon in the absence of tungsten in the matrix.