Enhanced Aluminum Properties by Means of Precise Droplet Deposition

1999 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Orme ◽  
Robert F. Smith

The use of molten aluminum droplets is investigated for potential application to precision droplet-based net-form manufacturing (PDM). In the proposed application, final structural components are made from the raw stock in one integrated operation by depositing molten metal droplets, layer after layer, via computer information. This work investigates the feasibility of the proposed technology by investigating the issues associated with generating molten aluminum droplets from capillary stream break-up, and examining the mechanical characteristics of the fabricated aluminum components. New results are presented which illustrate the generation of stable streams of molten aluminum droplets at rates of 24,000 droplets/second for a droplet stream speed of 10.9 m/s, corresponding to throughput rates of 2.3×10−4 kg/s (1.85 lb./hour). The droplets travel 2,500 droplet diameters in an inert environment before impingement with the substrate. Microstructural images are completely devoid of splat boundaries, which have been removed by remelting, and the grain size is approximately uniform throughout the field of view of the image that, in most cases presented, contains easily upwards of 30 splats. Also, it has been found that the presence of aluminum oxide in the melt does not influence the average grain size of the component. An oxide barrier however will encapsulate each grain if the oxides are not removed by filtration in the pre-jetting stage. The presence of aluminum oxide in the melt does not prohibit the removal of the splat boundaries. Mechanical analysis shows that fabrication with molten aluminum droplet deposition results in a 30 percent increase in ultimate tensile strength compared to the raw ingot stock. [S1087-1357(00)02402-3]

2011 ◽  
Vol 66-68 ◽  
pp. 845-849
Author(s):  
Xiao Wei Chen ◽  
Ya Gao ◽  
Hong Liang Zhao ◽  
Kang Rong Weng ◽  
Bao Feng Zhang

Al-3Ti-0.5B master alloy was prepared by reaction of Ti sponge, KBF4with aluminum melt. The morphology and distribution of the second phases effected by the feeding methods have been discussed. And the grain refining performance and the resistance to fading of the master alloy were investigated. The result shows that the Al-3Ti-0.5B master alloy which was prepared by adding mixture of Ti sponge and KBF4power into molten aluminum contains a large number of granular TiB2phase and blocky TiAl3phase. The average grain size of commercial purity aluminum was refined from 920μm to 120μm by adding 0.5wt.% of the master alloy. And the refining performance of the master alloy shows no obviously fading phenomenon when the holding time up to 30min.


2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Zielinska ◽  
J. Sieniawski

Superalloy René 77 is very wide used for turbine blades, turbine disks of aircraft engines which work up to 1050°C. These elements are generally produced by the investment casting method. Turbine blades produced by conventional precision casting methods have coarse and inhomogeneous grain structure. Such a material often does not fulfil basic requirements, which concern mechanical properties for the stuff used in aeronautical engineering. The incorporation of controlled grain size improved mechanical properties. This control of grain size in the casting operation was accomplished by the control of processing parameters such as casting temperature, mould preheating temperature, and the use of grain nucleates in the face of the mould. For nickel and cobalt based superalloys, it was found that cobalt aluminate (CoAl2O4) has the best nucleating effect. The objective of this work was to determine the influence of the inoculant’s content (cobalt aluminate) in the surface layer of the ceramic mould on the microstructure and mechanical properties at high temperature of nickel based superalloy René 77. For this purpose, the ceramic moulds were made with different concentration of cobalt aluminate in the primary slurry was from 0 to 10% mass. in zirconium flour. Stepped and cylindrical samples were casted for microstructure and mechanical examinations. The average grain size of the matrix ( phase), was determined on the stepped samples. The influence of surface modification on the grain size of up to section thickness was considered. The microstructure investigations with the use of light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) enable to examine the influence of the surface modification on the morphology of ’ phase and carbides precipitations. Verification of the influence of CoAl2O4 on the mechanical properties of castings were investigated on the basis of results obtained form creep tests.


Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Husák ◽  
Hynek Hadraba ◽  
Zdeněk Chlup ◽  
Milan Heczko ◽  
Tomáš Kruml ◽  
...  

Oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) materials contain homogeneous dispersions of temperature-stable nano-oxides serving as obstacles for dislocations and further pinning of grain boundaries. The strategy for dispersion strengthening based on complex oxides (Y-Hf, -Zr, -Ce, -La) was developed in order to refine oxide dispersion to enhance the dispersion strengthening effect. In this work, the strengthening of EUROFER steel by complex oxides based on Y and elements of the IIIB group (lanthanum, scandium) and IVB group (cerium, hafnium, zirconium) was explored. Interparticle spacing as a dispersoid characteristic appeared to be an important factor in controlling the dispersion strengthening contribution to the yield strength of ODS EUROFER steels. The dispersoid size and average grain size of ODS EUROFER steel were altered in the ranges of 5–13 nm and 0.6–1.7 µm, respectively. Using this strategy, the yield strength of the prepared alloys varied between 550 MPa and 950 MPa depending on the doping element.


2021 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 003685042110294
Author(s):  
Khaled Abd El-Aziz ◽  
Emad M Ahmed ◽  
Abdulaziz H Alghtani ◽  
Bassem F Felemban ◽  
Hafiz T Ali ◽  
...  

Aluminum alloys are the most essential part of all shaped castings manufactured, mainly in the automotive, food industry, and structural applications. There is little consensus as to the precise relationship between grain size after grain refinement and corrosion resistance; conflicting conclusions have been published showing that reduced grain size can decrease or increase corrosion resistance. The effect of Al–5Ti–1B grain refiner (GR alloy) with different percentages on the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of Aluminum-magnesium-silicon alloy (Al–Mg–Si) was studied. The average grain size is determined according to the E112ASTM standard. The compressive test specimens were made as per ASTM: E8/E8M-16 standard to get their compressive properties. The bulk hardness using Vickers hardness testing machine at a load of 50 g. Electrochemical corrosion tests were carried out in 3.5 % NaCl solution using Autolab Potentiostat/Galvanostat (PGSTAT 30).The grain size of the Al–Mg–Si alloy was reduced from 82 to 46 µm by the addition of GR alloy. The morphology of α-Al dendrites changes from coarse dendritic structure to fine equiaxed grains due to the addition of GR alloy and segregation of Ti, which controls the growth of primary α-Al. In addition, the mechanical properties of the Al–Mg–Si alloy were improved by GR alloy addition. GR alloy addition to Al–Mg–Si alloy produced fine-grained structure and better hardness and compressive strength. The addition of GR alloy did not reveal any marked improvements in the corrosion properties of Al–Mg–Si alloy.


Coatings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Weiguang Zhang ◽  
Jijun Li ◽  
Yongming Xing ◽  
Xiaomeng Nie ◽  
Fengchao Lang ◽  
...  

SiO2 thin films are widely used in micro-electro-mechanical systems, integrated circuits and optical thin film devices. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to studying the preparation technology and optical properties of SiO2 thin films, but little attention has been paid to their mechanical properties. Herein, the surface morphology of the 500-nm-thick, 1000-nm-thick and 2000-nm-thick SiO2 thin films on the Si substrates was observed by atomic force microscopy. The hardnesses of the three SiO2 thin films with different thicknesses were investigated by nanoindentation technique, and the dependence of the hardness of the SiO2 thin film with its thickness was analyzed. The results showed that the average grain size of SiO2 thin film increased with increasing film thickness. For the three SiO2 thin films with different thicknesses, the same relative penetration depth range of ~0.4–0.5 existed, above which the intrinsic hardness without substrate influence can be determined. The average intrinsic hardness of the SiO2 thin film decreased with the increasing film thickness and average grain size, which showed the similar trend with the Hall-Petch type relationship.


Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 645
Author(s):  
Igor Litovchenko ◽  
Sergey Akkuzin ◽  
Nadezhda Polekhina ◽  
Kseniya Almaeva ◽  
Evgeny Moskvichev

The effect of high-temperature thermomechanical treatment on the structural transformations and mechanical properties of metastable austenitic steel of the AISI 321 type is investigated. The features of the grain and defect microstructure of steel were studied by scanning electron microscopy with electron back-scatter diffraction (SEM EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is shown that in the initial state after solution treatment the average grain size is 18 μm. A high (≈50%) fraction of twin boundaries (annealing twins) was found. In the course of hot (with heating up to 1100 °C) plastic deformation by rolling to moderate strain (e = 1.6, where e is true strain) the grain structure undergoes fragmentation, which gives rise to grain refining (the average grain size is 8 μm). Partial recovery and recrystallization also occur. The fraction of low-angle misorientation boundaries increases up to ≈46%, and that of twin boundaries decreases to ≈25%, compared to the initial state. The yield strength after this treatment reaches up to 477 MPa with elongation-to-failure of 26%. The combination of plastic deformation with heating up to 1100 °C (e = 0.8) and subsequent deformation with heating up to 600 °C (e = 0.7) reduces the average grain size to 1.4 μm and forms submicrocrystalline fragments. The fraction of low-angle misorientation boundaries is ≈60%, and that of twin boundaries is ≈3%. The structural states formed after this treatment provide an increase in the strength properties of steel (yield strength reaches up to 677 MPa) with ductility values of 12%. The mechanisms of plastic deformation and strengthening of metastable austenitic steel under the above high-temperature thermomechanical treatments are discussed.


Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 806
Author(s):  
Liqing Sun ◽  
Shuai Sun ◽  
Haiping Zhou ◽  
Hongbin Zhang ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
...  

In this work, vanadium particles (VP) were utilized as a novel reinforcement of AZ31 magnesium (Mg) alloy. The nanocrystalline (NC) AZ31–VP composites were prepared via mechanical milling (MM) and vacuum hot-press sintering. During the milling process, the presence of VP contributed to the cold welding and fracture mechanism, resulting in the acceleration of the milling process. Additionally, increasing the VP content accelerated the grain refinement of the matrix during the milling process. After milling for 90 h, the average grain size of AZ31-X wt % Vp (X = 5, 7.5, 10) was refined to only about 23 nm, 19 nm and 16 nm, respectively. In the meantime, VP was refined to sub-micron scale and distributed uniformly in the matrix, exhibiting excellent interfacial bonding with the matrix. After the sintering process, the average grain size of AZ31-X wt % VP (X = 5, 7.5, 10) composites still remained at the NC scale, which was mainly caused by the pinning effect of VP. Besides that, the porosity of the sintered composites was no more than 7.8%, indicating a good densification effect. As a result, there was little difference between the theoretical and real density. Compared to as-cast AZ31 Mg alloy, the microhardness of sintered AZ31-X wt % VP (X = 5, 7.5, 10) composites increased by 65%, 87% and 96%, respectively, owing to the strengthening mechanisms of grain refinement strengthening, Orowan strengthening and load-bearing effects.


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