Development of Electrochemical Surface Treatment to Visualize Critical Corrosion-Inducing Inclusions of Zr in Chloride Environments

An electrochemical surface treatment was developed to visualize the corrosion-inducing inclusions of Zr in chloride environments. Pure Zr and Zr alloy (Zr-0.5O-0.5C) were evaluated in this study. The electrochemical surface treatment consisted of repeated galvanostatic anodic polarization and potentiostatic cathodic polarization. After the electrochemical surface treatment, only one brittle and non-conductive shell of Zr oxide was observed at the corrosion initiation site on the tested surface. The corrosion-inducing inclusions were found inside the corrosion pit under the optimum polarization conditions. At the corrosion initiation site on pure Zr, the area inside the corrosion pit contained larger amounts of O, C, and Si than the surrounding matrix. In the case of the Zr-0.5O-0.5C alloy, relatively larger inclusions were observed after the treatment. Extremely large amounts of Si, together with O and C, were present in the inclusions. The inclusions that induced localized corrosion on the pure Zr and Zr-0.5O-0.5C specimens were found to be precipitated, involving the specific aggregation of Si. The surface treatment developed in this study is expected to be utilized as a powerful tool to elucidate the localized corrosion mechanism of Zr in chloride environments.

Effect of Corrosion Pit on the Structural Characteristics of Foil Journal Bearings

Due to corrosive environment, material loss in a localized area leads to formation of a corrosion pit. It diminishes the structural integrity and performance of product. To predict and analyze the effect of corrosion pit on the performance of gas foil bearings (GFBs), FEM analysis of bump-type GFBs is carried out. The effect of corrosion pit is investigated for three different shapes: circular, square and triangular. In this study, the FEM analysis of bump-type GFBs is performed in ANSYS software. Firstly, the influence of a corrosion pit is analyzed for various shapes under different pressure loading. These results show that the presence of a corrosion pit developed high-stress crack intensity, which can result in crack initiation in foil bearings. As pressure loading increased, the stress crack intensity in foil bearings increased. Among different pit shapes, the circular pit shape induces the maximum stress crack intensity in foil bearings, which shows that the crack initiation in foil bearings is observed for a circular pit. Then, the influence of a corrosion pit on the structural stiffness of foil bearings is evaluated for various foil materials under different friction coefficients. These results show that the influence of friction coefficient in foil bearings is increased within the presence of a corrosion pit.

STUDY ON ALTERNATE IMMERSION CORROSION BEHAVIOR AND MECHANISM OF SDCM DIE STEEL FOR HOT STAMPING

In this paper, the alternate immersion corrosion test of Cr-Mo-V series SDCM steel for hot stamping was carried out, and different stresses were loaded with self-made fixture. The results shown that regardless of hardness and stress, the corrosion mode of the material is uniform corrosion. Stress could significantly increase the corrosion rate, with lower hardness and higher corrosion rate. Because of the existence of Corrosion Removal Layer (CRL), the maximum corrosion pit depth would be reduced. The maximum corrosion pit depth and Corrosion Pit density (CPD, ρv) were used to describe the degree of corrosion damage. From low to high hardness, the CPD ρv and corrosion resistance increased gradually. With the increased of tempering temperature, the hardness decreased, and the percentage of carbide area in the field of view increased from 16.36% to 24.32%. The irregular spherical carbide M23(C, N)6 rich in Cr coarsens and consumes Cr element in the material, which lead to the decrease of corrosion resistance. Through the polarization curve of the dynamic potential, we known that the current density was increased with the hardness decreased, from 28.53 μA/mm2 to 40.93 μA/mm2.

Research on Micro-Size Electrical Discharge Grinding Polycrystalline Cubic Boron Nitride Based on Single Pulse

Polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PcBN) was a high temperature and high pressure composite material with high hardness. With its high wear resistance and good chemical stability, it conforms to the basic characteristics of modern advanced cutting technology of "high efficiency, high precision, high efficiency and green". Currently, it was widely used in the field of ferrous metal cutting tools. Electrical discharge grinding was one of the most effective methods for machining polycrystalline cubic boron nitride cutters. It was especially suitable for machining complex shapes and thin edge cutters. Single pulse electrical discharge grinding is the basis of continuous EDG machining and an effective method to study micro-scale electrical discharge grinding. In this study, the morphology of single pulse discharge corrosion pits and the relationship between discharge parameters and material removal rate, such as the deep-diameter ratio of the corrosion pits, the pulse width and the deep-diameter relationship of the corrosion pits, were studied with the polycrystalline cubic boron nitride composite sheet of 2 micron particle size as the test material and the independently developed single pulse discharge power supply as the device. The experimental results show that the radius and heat affected area of the discharge corrosion pit increase rapidly, then slowly, and finally gradually with the extension of pulse duration. The corrosion depth generally varies gently in the range of 0.2 ~ 0.5 micron, and the pulse duration has no obvious effect on the depth of the discharge corrosion pit. With the extension of pulse duration, the ratio of radius to depth of the corrosion pit changed in the range of 13 ~ 20, and the ratio basically declined.

Thermal Cycling Behavior of Bi-layer Yb2Si2O7/SiC EBC Coated Cf/SiC Composites in Burner Rig Tests

To improve the oxidation resistance of carbon fiber reinforced SiC ceramic matrix composites (Cf/SiC) at high-temperature and high-speed gas scour environment in burner rig tests, a novel bi-layer Yb2Si2O7/SiC EBC was prepared on the surface of Cf/SiC composites by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and sol-gel method united with air spraying. Results show that bi-layer Yb2Si2O7/SiC coating showed better oxidation resistance for Cf/SiC specimens before 20 thermal cycles (300 min), which can efficiently prevent the oxidation of Cf/SiC specimens in a gas scour environment at 1773 K for 300 min with a weight loss of 5.93 × 10-3 g·cm-2. After 20 thermal cycles (≥300 min), the weight loss of the coated specimen is rapidly increased due to the formation of penetrating cracks. After the corrosion of 36 thermal cycles (540 min), some obvious annular corrosion pit area were found on the surface of Yb2Si2O7 outer coating, the center of the corrosion pit was easier to be the origin area of the cracks due to the greater impact force of the gas.