Dependence of Microstructures and Mechanical Properties on the Growth Rate and Composition in Directionally Solidified Mg-Gd Alloys

Microstructures and mechanical properties of directionally solidified Mg-xGd (5.21, 7.96 and 9.58 wt.%) alloys were investigated at a wide range of growth rates (V = 10-200 μm/s) under the constant temperature gradient (G = 30 K/mm). The results showed that when the growth rate was 10 μm/s, different interface morphologies were observed in three tested alloys: cellular morphology for Mg-5.21Gd alloy, a mixed morphology of cellular structure and dendritic structure for Mg-7.96Gd alloy and dendrite morphology for Mg-9.58Gd alloy, respectively. Upon further increasing the growth rate, only dendrite morphology was exhibited in all experimental alloys. The microstructural parameters (λ1, λ2) decreased with increasing the growth rate for all the experimental alloy, and the measured λ1 and λ2 values were in good agreement with Trivedi model and Kattamis-Flemings model, respectively. Vickers hardness and the ultimate tensile strength increased with the increase of the growth rate and Gd content, while the elongation decreased gradually. Furthermore, the relationships between the hardness, ultimate tensile strength, the growth rate and the microstructural parameters were discussed and compared with the previous experimental results.

Effects of Grain Morphology on Flow Behavior of Semi-Solid Slurries

The flow behavior of semi-solid slurry determines the quality of the castings produced by the semi-solid forming process. Many studies have done to investigate the flow behavior of slurry under different conditions, and results show that the rheological behavior of slurry with dendritic structure is inappropriate for semi-solid forming. In this study, slurries with varying morphologies of grain for the same alloy with the same fraction solid have tested using a partial filling method. The SEED process was employed, and the pouring temperature adjusted to prepare semi-solid slurries with different grain morphologies. The flow pattern, entrapped air during the filling process, and also microstructure of the samples were examined to characterize the macro and micro flow behavior. The results show that a turbulent macro-flow, leading to entrapped air, and severe segregation appeared in the sample using slurry of Tpour ≥ 660 °C . For the slurry of Tpour < 660 °C, none of the three phenomena found in the sample. This investigation further showed that the detriment of dendrite on the semi-solid forming process, and implied that large size dendrite in semi-solid slurry must avoided.

Solidification and grain formation in alloys: a 2D application of the grand-potential-based phase-field approach

Solidification is a significant step in the forming of crystalline structures during various manufacturing and material processing techniques. Solidification characteristics and the microstructures formed during the process dictate the properties and performance of the materials. Hence, understanding how the process conditions relate to various microstructure formations is paramount. In this work, a grand-potential-based multi-phase, multi-component, multi-order-parameter phase-field model is used to demonstrate the solidification of alloys in 2D. This model has several key advantages over other multi-phase models such as it decouples the bulk energy from the interfacial energy, removes the constraints for the phase concentration variable, and prevents spurious 3rd-phase formation at the two phase interfaces. Here, the model is implemented in a finite-element-based phase-field modeling code. The role of various modeling parameters in governing the solidification rate and the shape of the solidified structure is evaluated. It is demonstrated that the process conditions such as temperature gradient, thermal diffusion, cooling rate, etc., influence the solidification characteristics by altering the level of undercooling. Furthermore, the capability of the model to capture directional solidification and polycrystalline structure formation exhibiting various grain shapes is illustrated. In both these cases, the process conditions have been related to the growth rate and associated shape of the dendritic structure. This work serves as a stepping stone towards resolving the larger problem of understanding the process-structure-property-performance correlation in solidified materials.

Structural phase variations in high-entropy alloy at irradiation by pulsed electron beam

The high-entropy alloy (HEA) of Al - Co - Cr - Fe - Ni system of nonequiatomic composition is obtained by the technology of wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) in atmosphere of pure nitrogen. By the methods of modern physical materials science it is shown that in the initial state the alloy has dendritic structure indicating nonhomogeneous distribution of alloying elements. It is a multiphase material whose main phases are Al3NCr3C2 , (Ni, Co)3Al4 . Nonadimensional particles (Ni, Co)3Al4 of cubic shape are located along interfaces of submicron phases Al3Ni and Cr3C2 . The HEA irradiation by pulsed electron beams with energy density Es = 10 + 30 J/cm2, pulse duration of 50 is, frequency of 3 Hz and pulse number of 3 leads to high-velocity melting and subsequent crystallization of surface layer. If Es = 10 J/cm2, no failure of dendritic crystallization structure happens. Interdendritic spaces are enriched in chemical elements Al, Ni and Fe, and dendrites themselves - in chromium atoms. The most liquating element of the alloy is Al, the least one is Co. If Es = 20 J/cm2, a nanocrystalline structure is formed in the layer 15 inn thick in bulk of grains. Size of crystallization cells amounts to 100 - 200 nm, size of inclusions in cell junctions is 20 - 25 nm, and along cell boundaries it is 10 - 15 nm. Cells of high-velocity crystallization are enriched in Al and Ni. The Co atoms are homogeneously distributed along the surface layer volume. The most liquating element is Cr, the least liquating one is Co. The increase in energy density of electron beam to 30 J/cm2 doesn't lead to substantial (as compared to Es = 20 J/cm2 ) variations in surface layer structure. The irradiation mode (Es = 20 J/cm2, 50 is, 3 pulses, 0.3 Hz) is detected that allows formation of the surface layer with the highest level of homogeneity of chemical element distribution in the alloy.

Effect of Sn and Mo on Microstructure and Electrochemical Property of TiZrTaNb High Entropy Alloys

The effects of Sn and Mo alloying elements on the microstructure and electrochemical properties of TiZrTaNb high entropy alloys were studied by optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electrochemistry. TiZrTaNb, TiZrTaNbMo and TiZrTaNbSn alloys with equal atomic ratio were prepared by the arc melting method. The results showed that the microstructure of the high entropy alloys was dendritic structure with single BCC structure. The addition of Mo and Sn elements promoted the growth of the dendritic structure and accelerated the interdendritic segregation of the TiZrTaNb alloy. The TiZrTaNbMo alloy exhibited excellent corrosion properties compared to TiZrTaNb and TiZrTaNbSn alloys based on corrosion parameters Icorr, φcorr, Ipass. The corrosion mechanism is discussed based on the corrosion morphology. The alloying elements have an important effect on the microstructure and electrochemical properties of a high entropy alloy.

Effect of Short Solution Heat Treatment Time on the Microstructure and Properties of Al-Si-Mg-Cu Alloys

In this work, a solution heat treatment of Al-Si-Mg-Cu casting alloy was analyzed. A new short solution heat treatment (SHT) with only 60 min has been allowed. The results revealed that this short SHT enables the improvement of the dendritic structure and the spheroidization of the eutectic silicon particles. Furthermore, the alloy showed improved mechanical properties when compared to the same alloy subjected to a longer SHT of 4 h. It was observed that increasing the SHT temperature can accelerate the dissolution and homogenization of the silicon particles and intermetallic precipitates in the matrix.

Model the structure of nano-modified aluminium alloy with the addition of boron carbide

Nanocomposite thin films based on Al-Si alloy with the addition of boron carbide (B4C) particles are widely used in various fields of modern high-tech industry. For their synthesis, the method of laser nanomodification was used, which made it possible to obtain samples with a dendritic structure. The parameters of laser radiation were selected on the basis of preliminary modeling of the temperature field of the system. To describe the ensemble of nanodendrites on the surface, we used modeling of their structure in variable phase field and temperature for the initial stages, as well as the approximation of diffusion-limited aggregation and fractal Brownian motion for subsequent time intervals. The model showed satisfactory adequacy, estimated on the basis of the ratio of fractal dimensions of experimental and model structures. The proposed approach can be useful for predicting the structure of nanomodified aluminum alloys with various additions.

Structural and tribological properties of the re-casted dental NiCrMo alloy

The crisis related to the COVID 19 pandemic caused an increase in nickel prices on the global markets. From this perspective, it seems promising to search for the possibilities of effective recycling of nickel-based alloys as biomaterials. The topic of the recasting of Ni-Cr dental alloys is currently being broadly described in the literature. Nonetheless, there are still no conclusive results on the impact of recasting on the quality of the cast dentures. Considering the aforementioned, for research, the effect of recasting on the wear resistance and microstructure of NiCrMo dental alloy was investigated. The Heraenium NA alloy was used for testing. Abrasion resistance was tested by the ball on disc method. Microstructure and wear trace were observed using an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope. The tests showed a higher wear resistance of the re-casted material. The average coefficient of friction for the initially cast alloys was 0.664, while for the remelted samples the mean value was 0.441. The tested samples are characterised by an abrasive-adhesive wear mechanism. Piling up of the wear tracks edges was observed – the highest for H100. For the H100 samples, a slightly lower average hardness value (HV10) was observed – 226 compared to 233 (HV10) for the samples made from the re-casted alloy (H0). The presence of a dendritic structure of alloys was demonstrated. Blocky eutectic precipitations are visible against the matrix. The observed growth of interdendritic precipitations constitute a natural barrier for the counterpart material and increases its tribological properties. Obtained results suggest that alloy recasting does not constitute a limitation to its use.