Martensite decomposition during post-heat treatments and the aging response of near-α Ti–6Al–2Sn–4Zr–2Mo (Ti-6242) titanium alloy processed by selective laser melting (SLM)

Ti–6Al–2Sn–4Zr–2Mo (Ti-6242), a near-[Formula: see text] titanium alloy explicitly designed for high-temperature applications, consists of a martensitic structure after selective laser melting (SLM). However, martensite is thermally unstable and thus adverse to the long-term service at high temperatures. Hence, understanding martensite decomposition is a high priority for seeking post-heat treatment for SLMed Ti-6242. Besides, compared to the room-temperature titanium alloys like Ti–6Al–4V, aging treatment is indispensable to high-temperature near-[Formula: see text] titanium alloys so that their microstructures and mechanical properties are pre-stabilized before working at elevated temperatures. Therefore, the aging response of the material is another concern of this study. To elaborate the two concerns, SLMed Ti-6242 was first isothermally annealed at 650[Formula: see text]C and then water-quenched to room temperature, followed by standard aging at 595[Formula: see text]C. The microstructure analysis revealed a temperature-dependent martensite decomposition, which proceeded sluggishly at [Formula: see text]C despite a long duration but rapidly transformed into lamellar [Formula: see text] above the martensite transition zone (770[Formula: see text]C). As heating to [Formula: see text]C), it produced a coarse microstructure containing new martensites formed in water quenching. The subsequent mechanical testing indicated that SLM-built Ti-6242 is excellent in terms of both room- and high-temperature tensile properties, with around 1400 MPa (UTS)[Formula: see text]5% elongation and 1150 MPa (UTS)[Formula: see text]10% elongation, respectively. However, the combination of water quenching and aging embrittled the as-built material severely.

Aging Behavior of Intercritically Quenched Ductile Iron

Although extensive aging and strain aging (bake hardening, BH) studies have been carried out on dual-phase steels, the aging behavior of the dual matrix structure (DMS) ductile iron (DI), as a potential way to improve its mechanical properties, has not been addressed until now. This research was designed to study the aging behavior of DI with a ferrite-martensite matrix structure. DMS-DI with a martensite volume fraction of 30% was produced by intercritical austenitizing at 785 °C followed by quenching in water to room temperature. Aging treatments were carried out without pre-straining at aging temperatures of 140, 170, and 220 °C for 2–10,000 min. DMS-DI was investigated by light optical microscopy (LOM) for unaged samples and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for selected samples after aging treatments. The effect of aging conditions on the mechanical properties were investigated. Microhardness measurements for ferrite and martensite were also examined as a function of aging conditions. The increase in yield strength due to aging was determined. The results indicate that the aging conditions have a small effect on the ultimate tensile strength UTS. It is shown that the yield strength increased to a maximum value of 45 MPa (~11% increase) after aging for particular time, which is found to be dependent on the aging temperature. The peak aging response is followed by a decrease in yield strength, which is observed to be attributed to martensite tempering as confirmed by microhardness measurements.

Precipitation during Quenching in 2A97 Aluminum Alloy and the Influences from Grain Structure

The quench-induced precipitation and subsequent aging response in 2A97 aluminum alloy was investigated based on the systematic microstructure characterization. Specifically, the influence on precipitation from grain structure was examined. The results indicated the evident influence from the cooling rate of the quenching process. Precipitation of T1 and δ′ phase can hardly occur in the specimen exposed to water quenching while become noticeable in the case of air cooling. The yield strength of 2A97-T6 alloy de-graded by 234 MPa along with a comparable elongation when water quenching was replaced by air cooling. Sub-grains exhibited a much higher sensitivity to the precipitation during quenching. The presence of dislocations in sub-grains promoted the quench-induced precipitation by acting as nucleation sites and enhancing the diffusion of the solute. A quenching rate of 3 °C/s is tolerable for recrystallized grains in 2A97 Al alloy but is inadequate for sub-grains to inhibit precipitation. The study fosters the feasibility of alleviating quench-induced precipitation through cultivating the recrystallization structure in highly alloyed Al–Cu–Li alloys.

High-Temperature Equal-Channel Angular Pressing of a T6-Al-Cu-Li-Mg-Ag-Zr-Sc Alloy

Equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) is known to induce significant grain refinement and formation of tangled dislocations within the grains. These are induced to evolve to form low-angle boundaries (i.e., cell boundaries) and eventually high-angle boundaries (i.e., grain boundaries). On the other hand, the precipitation sequence of age hardening aluminum alloys can be significantly affected by pre-straining and severe plastic deformation. Thus, ECAP is expected to influence the T6 response of aluminum alloys. In this study, a complex Al-Cu-Mg-Li-Ag-Zr-Sc alloy was subjected to ECAP following different straining paths. The alloy was ECAP at 460 K via route A, C, and by forward-backward route A (FB-route A) up to four passes. That is, ECAP was carried out imposing billet rotation between passes (route A), billet rotation by +90° between passes (route C), and billet rotation by +90° and inversion upside down between passes (FB-route A). The alloy was also aged at 460 K for different durations after ECAP. TEM microstructure inspections showed a marked influence of the different shearing deformations induced by ECAP on the alloy aging response. The precipitation kinetics of the different hardening secondary phases were affected by shearing deformation and tangled dislocations. In particular, the T1-Al2CuLi phase was the one that mostly showed a precipitation sequence speed up induced by the tangled dislocations formed during ECAP. The T1 phase was found to grow with aging time according to the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner low-power regime.