Effect of Solidifying Structure on Centerline Segregation of S50C Steel Produced by Compact Strip Production

Medium-high carbon steels having a high quality are widely used in China. It is advantageous to produce high value-added hot-rolled plates with the crystal refined and chemical composition homogenized in the casting slabs. However, element segregation occurs easily during high-medium carbon steels’ production. Generally, the centerline segregation is improved by enlarging the equiaxed zone with low-superheat casting and electromagnetic stirring (EMS). Studies were conducted on centerline segregation of S50C steel slabs with a thickness of 52 mm produced by the compact strip production (CSP) process in China without EMS equipped. By sampling along the width at different position, the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) was measured after etching and picture processing, based on which the cooling rate was calculated. It was found that the cooling rate increased from the center to the surfaces of the slabs ranging in 1~20 K/s, 10 times faster than that of a conventional process. The faster cooling rate led to a refined solidifying structure and columnar dendrite through the center of the slabs. The SDAS tended to increase from surfaces to the center, ranging only 32~120 μm smaller than that of a conventional process in 100~300 μm, indicating a finer solidifying structure by the CSP process. Results by EPMA indicated that elements C, Si, and Mn distribute in dispersed spots, increasing towards the center, and the centerline segregation changed in a narrow range: for C mainly in 1.0~1.1, Si in 0.98~1.08, Mn in 0.96~1.02, respectively, meaning a more chemical homogenization than that of thick slabs. Elements’ segregation originated from solute redistribution between solid and liquid. According to thermodynamic calculation, δ region of S50C is so narrow that the solute redistribution mainly occurred between γ-Fe and liquid during solidification. As the equilibrium partition coefficient of element C was the smallest, it was easy for C to be rejected to the residual liquid in the inter-dendritic space, leading to obvious segregation, relatively. Besides, as a result of high-cooling intensity, the solidifying structure became so fine that the Fourier number increased and the volume of the residual liquid decreased, making centerline segregation alleviated effectively both in volume and degree. Although bulging was observed during the industrial experiment, the centerline segregation was still inhibited obviously as the refining solidifying structure with permeability ranged only in 0.1~2.3 μm2 from the surfaces to centerline, which showed a good resistance on the residual flow towards the centerline.

Coarse Columnar Dendrites of GH3039 Nickel-Based Alloy at Diverging Grain Boundaries during Wire and Laser Additive Manufacturing: A Phase Field Simulation

Coarse columnar dendrite greatly reduced the mechanical performance of GH3039 nickel-based alloy in the additive manufactured parts, which limited its application in the engineering fields. This study provides a comparison of overgrowth behaviors at diverging grain boundaries through two-dimensional phase field simulation, and the effect of dendrite orientation on overgrowth behavior was analyzed. Moreover, our results show that the primary spacing becomes larger as the increasing of dendrite orientation. The columnar dendrites branch new dendrites near grain boundaries to refine the primary arm spacing in the process of wire and laser additive manufacturing (WLAM).

Microstructure and mechanical properties of melt-grown alumina-mullite/glass composites fabricated by directed laser deposition

Melt-grown alumina-based composites are receiving increasing attention due to their potential for aerospace applications; however, the rapid preparation of high-performance components remains a challenge. Herein, a novel route for 3D printing dense (< 99.4%) high-performance melt-grown alumina-mullite/glass composites using directed laser deposition (DLD) is proposed. Key issues on the composites, including phase composition, microstructure formation/evolution, densification, and mechanical properties, are systematically investigated. The toughening and strengthening mechanisms are analyzed using classical fracture mechanics, Griffith strength theory, and solid/glass interface infiltration theory. It is demonstrated that the composites are composed of corundum, mullite, and glass, or corundum and glass. With the increase of alumina content in the initial powder, corundum grains gradually evolve from near-equiaxed dendrite to columnar dendrite and cellular structures due to the weakening of constitutional undercooling and small nucleation undercooling. The microhardness and fracture toughness are the highest at 92.5 mol% alumina, with 18.39±0.38 GPa and 3.07±0.13 MPa·m1/2, respectively. The maximum strength is 310.1±36.5 MPa at 95 mol% alumina. Strength enhancement is attributed to the improved densification due to the trace silica doping and the relief of residual stresses. The method unravels the potential of preparing dense high-performance melt-grown alumina-based composites by the DLD technology.

In Situ Formation of Laser-Cladded Layer on Thin-Walled Tube of Aluminum Alloy in Underwater Environment

The first study of thin-walled aluminum-alloy tubes with underwater-laser-nozzle in situ melting technology was carried out. The study mainly covered the influence of the water environment on the laser melting process, melting appearance, geometric characteristics, microstructure, regional segregation and microhardness. During the transfer of the cladding environment from air to water, the uniformity of the cladding layer became poor, but excellent metallurgical bonding was still obtained. The dilution rate (D) decreased from 0.46 to 0.33, while the shape factor (S) increased from 4.38 to 5.98. For the in-air and underwater samples, the microstructure of the melting zone (MZ) and the cladding zone (CZ) were columnar dendrites and equiaxed grains, respectively. In addition, the microstructure of the overlapping zone (OZ) was composed of columnar dendrites and equiaxed grains. The underwater average grain size was smaller than that of in-air. In addition, the water environment was beneficial for reducing the positive segregation in the columnar dendrite region. Compared with the in-air cladding sample, the precipitated phases in the OZ of the underwater cladding sample reduced. Under the combined action of grain refinement and precipitated phase reduction, the microhardness value of the underwater OZ was higher than that of the in-air OZ.

Formability of laser welded steel/magnesium dissimilar metal with Sn powder-adhesive interlayer

The exploratory experiments of laser fusion welding with Sn powder and the automotive adhesive addition were conducted for DP590 dual-phase steel and AZ31B magnesium alloy in an overlap steel-on-magnesium configuration. The characteristics of metal vapor/plasma were analyzed by collecting and analyzing plasma shape and welding spectra. The microstructure of the welded was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). The temperature field distribution of the joint was simulated by COMSOL finite-element software. The results showed that the transfer of heat from steel to the magnesium alloy is hindered by the adhesive layer, which is conducive to the simultaneous melting of steel and magnesium with large differences in melting and boiling points. In addition, the width of the molten pool increases, but the depth is shallow on the magnesium side. Meanwhile, the recoil pressure induced by the splashing of the molten pool reduces, and the surface quality of the weld is improved. Some intermetallic compounds (IMCs), such as FeSn, Fe1.3Sn, and Fe3Sn, are formed inside the molten pool, while columnar dendrite Mg2Sn phase is also produced. The presence of these phases helps realize the bidirectional metallurgical bonding of steel/magnesium dissimilar metals.

The Interaction between Grains during Columnar-to-Equiaxed Transition in Laser Welding: A Phase-Field Study

A phase-field model was applied to study CET (columnar-to-equiaxed transition) during laser welding of an Al-Cu model alloy. A parametric study was performed to investigate the effects of nucleation undercooling for the equiaxed grains, nucleation density and location of the first nucleation seed ahead of the columnar front on the microstructure of the fusion zone. The numerical results indicated that nucleation undercooling significantly influenced the occurrence and the time of CET. Nucleation density affected the occurrence of CET and the size of equiaxed grains. The dendrite growth behavior was analyzed to reveal the mechanism of the CET. The interactions between different grains were studied. Once the seeds ahead of the columnar dendrites nucleated and grew, the columnar dendrite tip velocity began to fluctuate around a value. It did not decrease until the columnar dendrite got rather close to the equiaxed grains. The undercooling and solute segregation profile evolutions of the columnar dendrite tip with the CET and without the CET had no significant difference before the CET occurred. Mechanical blocking was the major blocking mechanism for the CET. The equiaxed grains formed first were larger than the equiaxed grains formed later due to the decreasing of undercooling. The size of equiaxed grain decreased from fusion line to center line. The numerical results were basically consistent with the experimental results obtained by laser welding of a 2A12 Al-alloy.

The Microstructure Evolution and Mass Transfer in Mushy Zone during High-Pressure Solidifying Hypoeutectic Al-Ni Alloy

The mushy zone of hypoeutectic Al-1.5 wt% Ni alloy during high-pressure synthesis was obtained by changing the structure of the graphite heater. Meanwhile, the evolution of the microstructure was investigated. The results demonstrated that three distinguished zones were successfully generated along with the direction of the temperature gradient, including the fully melted area consisting of the columnar dendrite. The mushy zone is composed of an α-Al phase, bulk β-Al3Ni phase, and a eutectic microstructure as well as a non-melted, solid region. In addition, the mass transfer velocity and the time required for the liquid pool to migrate through the mushy zone during thermal-stable treatment under different high pressures were also analyzed. The results showed that the mass transfer was greatly inhibited, and the minimum time required for a liquid droplet to go through the whole mushy zone at 1 GPa and 3 GPa was 746 h and 5523 h, respectively.

Effect of Heat Treatment and Drawing on High-Manganese Steel Pipe Welded by Gas Tungsten Arc

This study investigated the effect of post-weld processes including annealing and drawing on the microstructure and mechanical properties of high-Mn steel pipes welded by gas tungsten arc welding. The weld metal showed a solidified microstructure having coarse and elongated grains due to coalescence of columnar dendrite into welding heat direction. After post-annealing, the solidified microstructure changed into equiaxed grains due to recrystallization and grain growth. Mn segregation occurred during welding solidification and caused lower stacking fault energy (SFE) in the Mn-depleted region. Although ε-martensite formation in the as-welded state and during deformation was expected due to decreased SFE of the Mn-depleted zone, all regions showed a fully austenitic phase. The annealing process decreased strength due to grain coarsening but increased ductility. The drawing process increased strength of weld metal through work hardening. All pipes showed decreasing strain rate sensitivity (SRS) with deformation and negative SRS after certain strain levels. It was confirmed that negative SRS is related to less formation of mechanical twinning at a higher strain rate. This work provides fundamental insights into manufacturing a high-Mn steel pipe and manipulating its properties with annealing and drawing processes.