Effect of brass interlayer on microstructure, mechanical and corrosion behaviour of friction stir welded AA6061-T6 alloy

In this study, friction stir welding (FSW) was performed on AA6061-T6 with and without brass interlayer. The FSW with interlayer was performed for various tool rotational speeds (600–1000 r/min) and at constant travel speed (25 mm/min). The defect-free joint with uniform distribution of brass particles in the stir zone (SZ) and formation of the uniform composite structure was observed at an intermediate optimized tool rotational speed of 800 r/min due to the proper material flow. A strong metallurgical bond between brass particles with aluminium alloy resulted in the formation of Al2Cu and Al4Cu9 strengthening intermetallic compounds (IMCs). The average grain size obtained for the weld with interlayer is smaller than weld without interlayer. The presence of the interlayer enhanced the hardness and the tensile strength compared to the weld without interlayer. This improvement in mechanical properties with interlayer is attributed to the formation and uniform distribution of strengthening IMCs. The corrosion analysis was carried out in 3.5% NaCl solution using immersion test and electrochemical polarization test. The weld with interlayer showed enhanced corrosion resistance than the weld without interlayer which is attributed to the formation of major Al2Cu IMC which has less activation energy for the corrosion process.

Express Wire Coil Cladding (EW2C) As an Advanced Technology To Accelerate Additive Manufacturing and Coating

Metal shafts are indispensable components in mobility, energy and mechanical engineering. In such applications, the shafts need to withstand severe mechanical loads, friction, high temperature or corrosive media. This is why shafts are often completely made of high-performance alloys. From a technical point of view, coating an inexpensive base shaft with a thin layer of high-performance material is mostly sufficient to ensure its functionality. Adding functional parts such as shoulders or bearing seats by Additive Manufacturing (AM) instead of creating them by subtractive manufacturing is an advantageous approach to increase flexibility and material efficiency. Reliable and economic AM and coating processes need to be developed further, and laser-based processes such as wire-based Laser Metal Deposition (LMD-w) offer high potential to accomplish this. They can generate a stable metallurgical bond between the base material and the cladding or the added feature without excessively heating the work piece. Due to their low build-up rate, however, LMD processes are not economically competitive with high-speed subtractive technologies such as drilling or turning, which are predominately used for shaft production. Motivated by this challenge, we present an alternative approach that increases the deposition rate for laser-based shaft cladding. Instead of adding the filler wire continuously, wire coils are wound and preplaced on the shaft. In a second step, laser processing while rotating the part generates a metallurgical bond between the wire and the substrate. In this study, several solid and flux-cored wires were analyzed regarding their suitability for this two-step coil winding and LMD process. The results from LMD experiments give an overview of the resulting surface state and of the welded joint quality after deposition. Metallographic cross sections show low porosity of the deposited layers and small heat-affected zones in the base shaft. Thanks to its good scalability, this innovative two-step process can help strongly increase the build-up rate compared to classic LMD-w.

In-Situ Formed Al3Zr Compounds Reinforced Al Composites and Tribological Application

An Al3Zr-reinforced Al matrix composite using metal powders was fabricated via in-situ synthesis in vacuum; these were subjected to a pin-on-disc wear test with a SUS304 disc specimen under oil lubrication. The elemental mixture of Al and ZrH2 particles was sintered in vacuum for the in-situ-formed Al3Zr. ZrH2 particles were thermally decomposed in the reaction with the Al matrix to form hard Al3Zr intermetallic compounds. The friction coefficient and wear volume values of the Al–Al3Zr composites were significantly lower than those of the pure Al specimen. This is attributed to the uniform dispersion of Al3Zr particles in the Al matrix, which prevented the metallurgical bond from falling and blocked the direct contact between the Al matrix and SUS304 disc.

CHARACTERISTIC OF INTERFACE BIMETAL ALUMINUM-COPPER FOR BIMETAL BUSHING PRODUCED BY CENTRIFUGAL CASTING

Bimetallic is a type of metal composite that combines two metals that form a metallurgical bond. The manufacture of bimetallic bushings by centrifugal casting has not been developed much. Recently, there is no recommendation yet for optimum temperature and speed of rotation to produce bimetallic bushings. The research was conducted to determine the rotation of the mold in centrifugal casting so as to produce a well-integrated interface. The materials used are aluminum and copper. Aluminum was melted at 750 °C, while copper was melted at 1200 °C. Molten metal was pouring alternately. First, aluminum was poured into the mold, and then after the aluminum temperature reached 400º C, copper was poured into the mold to form a bushing aluminum-copper bimetallic. The molten metal was poured into a rotating sand mold with a constant filling speed of about 0.15 kg s-1. The variations of the rotational speed of the mold were 250, 300, and 350 rpm. The result shows that the interface’s width increases as the mold rotation increases during the pouring process. Interface hardness and wear are increased compared to the base metal. Hence, centrifugal casting with 350 rpm is recommended for aluminum-copper bimetal bushing applications.

Hot forming of shape memory alloys in steel shells: formability, interface, bonding quality

Metal forming of shape memory alloys (SMA) can be challenging since these are very often brittle due to their intermetallic character. However, formability is often needed not only for realising the desired geometry but also for tailoring the microstructure and the functional properties. To investigate whether the encapsulation in a steel shell can improve the formability of shape memory alloys, Co49Ni21Ga30 and Ni49.5Fe14.5Mn4.0Ga26.0Co6.0 samples were subjected to tensile tests, upsetting, rolling and extrusion. A ferritic steel (1.0503) was used as the shell material. The shell was employed to curtail the formation of tensile stresses in the core, to maintain high temperatures during processing and to prevent oxidation. With this approach, not only forming of the SMA in the steel shell was possible but also an intensive metallurgical bond between the SMA and the steel shell can be achieved during hot rolling or extrusion.

Challenges in the Forging of Steel-Aluminum Bearing Bushings

The current study introduces a method for manufacturing steel–aluminum bearing bushings by compound forging. To study the process, cylindrical bimetal workpieces consisting of steel AISI 4820 (1.7147, 20MnCr5) in the internal diameter and aluminum 6082 (3.2315, AlSi1MgMn) in the external diameter were used. The forming of compounds consisting of dissimilar materials is challenging due to their different thermophysical and mechanical properties. The specific heating concept discussed in this article was developed in order to achieve sufficient formability for both materials simultaneously. By means of tailored heating, the bimetal workpieces were successfully formed to a bearing bushing geometry using two different strategies with different heating durations. A metallurgical bond without any forging defects, e.g., gaps and cracks, was observed in areas of high deformation. The steel–aluminum interface was subsequently examined by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that the examined forming process, which utilized steel–aluminum workpieces having no metallurgical bond prior to forming, led to the formation of insular intermetallic phases along the joining zone with a maximum thickness of approximately 5–7 µm. The results of the EDS analysis indicated a prevailing FexAly phase in the resulting intermetallic layer.

Cladding techniques that achieve a solid metallurgical bond with the least amount of base material dilution - An overview

Metals and alloys can undergo intergranular corrosion attack, wear and ultimately can result in failure under various service conditions. To reduce this possibility of failure by different modes, metals and alloys are employed with certain surface treatment processes. Out of numerous surface treatment processes available today cladding has evolved itself as one of the noble techniques in this era to provide and act as a protective layer that enables the component or specimen to withstand and enhance the service life under extreme conditions. There is a various additive method of cladding who found to be economical and efficient over the perspective of providing a good metallurgical bond with the least possible dilution of the base material. This study tries to figure out the possibilities concerning conventional and unconventional cladding techniques based on processing techniques, metallurgical bonding, advantages associated, and limitations as attached to it.

Microscopic Characteristics and Properties of Fe-Based Amorphous Alloy Compound Reinforced WC-Co-Based Coating via Plasma Spray Welding

Plasma spray welding, as one of the material surface strengthening techniques, has the advantages of low alloy material consumption, high mechanical properties and good coating compactness. Here, the Co alloy, WC and Fe-based amorphous alloy composite coating is prepared by the plasma spray welding method, and the coating characteristics are investigated. The results indicate that the coatings have a full metallurgical bond in the coating/substrate interface, and the powder composition influences the microstructures and properties of the coating. The hardness of coatings increases with the mass fraction of the Fe-based amorphous alloy. The spray welding layer has a much higher wear resistance compared with the carbon steel, and the Fe-20 exhibits a superior wear resistance when compared to others. The results indicate that the amorphous alloy powders are an effective additive to prepare the coating by plasma spray welding for improving the wear resistance of the coating.

Effects of Shoulder Geometry on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Probeless Friction Stir Spot Welded Aluminum 7075-T651 Sheets

In this work, three types of probeless tools (archimedes, involute, and concave tools) were designed. A 7075-T651 sheet of 1.0 mm thickness was welded using the designed probeless tools. It was found that the stir zone and hook defect varied a lot for different joints. Plunge depth was the dominant process parameter for joint property. The joint’s maximum failure load (5.73 kN) was obtained with the concave tool when the target plunge depth was 0.55 mm. Two typical joint fracture modes (shear fracture and plug fracture) were found using three designed tools with different plunge depths, rotation speeds, and dwell times. Shoulder geometry presented little influence on heat generation. Compared with involute grooves, archimedes grooves showed to be more effective on the material flow. The properties of the joints with the archimedes tool were more sensitive to welding parameters. Compared with the flat tool, the concave tool decreased the escape of plasticized material, improved the forge force, and optimized the metallurgical bond at the interface.

Clad rolled reinforcing bars

Premature destruction of reinforced concrete structures exposed to aggressive environmental influences is a serious problem, both from a technical and economic point of view. Carbon steel reinforcing bar embedded in concrete is usually not subject to corrosion due to the formation of a protective ion-oxide film that passivates the steel under conditions of strong alkalis in the concrete pores. However, this passivity can be disrupted by chlorides penetrating the concrete, or by carbonation reaching the surface of the reinforcing bar. Then the corrosion begins.An example of a solution to this problem is the replacement of conventional steel reinforcement with clad steel during construction. Through the closely spaced interface of two solid metals, the atoms diffuse with each other at different speeds, at a high temperature, and at a certain pressure. This creates a metallurgical bond between two solid metals, the integrity or «strength» of which depends on the «purity» of the interface between the two metals and on the atoms that make up this «transition zone» or bond.The article investigates plated rebar, to determine the possibility of production in a mill 320 OJSC «BSW – Management Company of the Holding «BMC». To study the new type of reinforcing bars, special types of research were conducted as determining the chemical composition, microstructure, and mechanical properties. The main advantages of this type of product are defined in the article.