Grain boundary segregation and precipitation in an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy

High strength Al-alloys are highly susceptible to intergranular embrittlement, which severely limits their lifetime. This article summarizes our recent work on the effect of solute segregation in the precipitation behavior at grain boundaries (GBs) compared to the grain interiors. Solute segregation could accelerate the precipitation behavior at GBs, which causes the formation of coarse precipitates and precipitate free zones along GBs. Furthermore, the interplay of solute segregation and the local structure at GBs has been considered. We show that the distinct segregation and precipitation behavior occurs within the same GB, which makes the GB excess of solutes at one facet significantly higher than the other facet. This paper enriches the current understanding on the role of chemistry and structure at GBs related to intergranular fracture and corrosion resistance in high strength Al-alloys.

Towards a temperature dependent and probabilistic lifetime concept for nodular ductile cast iron materials undergoing isothermal and thermo-mechanical fatigue

In this investigation, the fatigue behaviour of a ductile cast iron with high content of silicon and molybdenum, was experimentally characterized by performing isothermal low cycle fatigue (LCF) tests as well as out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue (OPTMF) tests within the temperature range RT – 500 °C. The studied material shows an embrittlement at temperatures nearby 400 °C. A possible explanation for the observed lifetime reduction is intergranular embrittlement (IE). A mechanism based lifetime model is proposed for assessing the lifetime. The model is based on the assumption that the crack advance per cycle is correlated with the cyclic crack tip opening displacement (ΔCTOD) attributed to the crack tip blunting caused by accumulation of plastic and creep deformations ahead of the crack tip. Intergranular embrittlement is accounted for by introducing a temperature and strain rate dependent prefactor in the crack growth law, which only acts in a certain temperature range. The model is calibrated for a GJS material and successfully applied to predict the lifetime of this material when undergoing isothermal and non-isothermal mechanical loadings. A probabilistic interpretation of the scatter of the investigated material is presented in conjunction with the random nature of the initial defect size distribution.

Phosphorus in Sintered Steels: Interaction of Phosphorus with Mo

Phosphorus as an alloy element is quite common in powder metallurgy, the contents industrially used being markedly higher than those present in wrought steels. However, embrittlement effects are reported also for sintered steels, in part depending on the alloy elements present. In this study, the influence of phosphorus addition on the mechanical properties of PM steels alloyed with Mo, as the most common VI group element in sintered steels, was investigated. PM steels of the type Fe-x%Mo-0.7%Cy% P were manufactured with varying contents of Mo and P, respectively. It showed that P activates sintering also in these materials and enhances Mo homogenization, but there is in fact a risk of embrittlement in these steels that however strongly depends on the combination of Mo and P in the materials: If a critical level is exceeded, embrittlement is observed. At low Mo contents, higher P concentrations are acceptable and vice versa, but e.g. in a material Fe-1.5%Mo-0.7%C-0.45%P, pronounced intergranular embrittlement occurs, further enhanced by sinter hardening effects. This undesirable phenomenon is more pronounced at higher sintering temperatures and in case of faster heating/cooling; it was observed both in materials prepared from mixed and prealloyed powders, respectively. This typical intergranular failure observed with embrittled specimens, in particular after impact testing, indicates the precipitation of brittle phases at the grain boundaries, apparently when exceeding the solubility product between Mo and P.