Volume 111, Issue 11

This research manuscript explores the residual stress analysis, mechanical and metallurgical aspects of dissimilar welded joints between AISI 316 and Monel 400 developed by constant, pulse and Interpulse current TIG welding processes. The induced residual stresses have been measured experimentally by employing X-ray diffraction. The mechanical properties of welded joints have been determined by conducting tensile and Vickers hardness testing. The metallurgical properties of weldments have been analyzed by employing optical and scanning electron microscopy. From the experimental results, lower residual stresses have been observed in Interpulse current TIG weldment than the other two weldments. The tensile properties of the Interpulse current TIG weldment were observed to be higher than the other two weldments. In Interpulse TIG weldments, grain refinement and reduced heat affected zone near the fusion zone have been observed.

The effect of sub-zero treatments on dry sliding wear performance of Vanadis 6 tool steel was investigated by pin-ondisc tests against three counterpart types: alumina, 100Cr6 ball bearing steel, and CuSn6 bronze. The microstructure of the examined steel consists of tempered martensitic matrix with very small amounts of retained austenite, and three carbide types. Sub-zero treatments increase the carbides count. The hardness of the steel increases with increasing the austenitizing temperature but slightly decreases with the application of sub-zero treatments. Sub-zero treatments affect the wear performance of the Vanadis 6 steel when tempered at the secondary hardening peak as follows: almost no effect of this kind of treatment was detected when alumina was used as a counterpart but moderate amelioration was recorded when either 100Cr6 steel or CuSn6 bronze was used in the sliding couple. This behaviour is attributed to the combined effect of hardness variations and changes in population density of carbides, due to application of sub-zero treatment.

The effect of cooling rate on the microstructure of SGLX82A steel was systematically investigated by coupling of experimental characterizations and thermodynamic/ kinetic calculations. The as-received casting ingots were heated and hot-deformed using a Gleeble simulator before being subjected to continuous cooling with rates of 5, 10, 15 and 20 K s -1 . The microstructure of the SGLX82A steel was analyzed by using laser scanning confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The homogeneous microstructure with different proeutectoid ferrite fraction, pearlite colony size as well as pearlite lamellar spacing was examined at varied cooling rate. The calculation of the para-equilibrium phase diagram was performed by using Thermo-Calc software, while the DICTRA module was applied to calculate the diffusion-controlled ferrite formation and pearlite growth. Based on the calculations, the deviation between equilibrium and realistic eutectoid point was well explained, and the detected small amount of proeutectoid ferrite was attributable to the short duration before pearlite transformation. For the calculated pearlite lamellar spacings, good agreement was obtained compared with the experimental determinations. In addition, the present thermodynamic/kinetic method was also valid for a Crmodified steel SWRS87B, indicating the composition, processing parameters and microstructure of pearlitic steels can be reasonably designed with the aid of the present computational techniques.

Ni-based brazing coatings with tungsten or chromium carbides are used for wear and corrosion protection in various applications. Steam turbine blades especially present a highly stressed application in which in particular the resistance to erosion and corrosion is essential. Therefore, novel tape architectures of brazed coatings have been developed and investigated within this study. In contrast to the use of powders, the application by means of tapes offers a high potential with regard to later use in industry due to the reproducible handling and automation. In this work, different coating systems were successfully deposited by means of vacuum brazing on X12CrNiMo-12 steel substrate. In order to achieve a sufficient fracture toughness of the coatings, pure nickel powder was added to the tapes. The influence of this additive on the mechanical properties was analyzed by means of three-point bending tests. A positive effect has been observed when adding a volume fraction of φ(Ni) = 25% of nickel, increasing the flexural strength up to σ f = 580 MPa. Furthermore, the surface hardness of the coating has been analyzed depending on coating architecture and post-deposition treatment by grinding.

In this paper, ceramic coatings were prepared on the surface of 7050 high strength aluminum alloy using a micro-arc oxidation process in a silicate electrolyte combined with the rare earth element cerium or graphene. To analyze the surface morphology, roughness, phase composition, and corrosion resistance, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry, and electrochemical measurements were used, respectively. It was shown that the micropore size of the composite coatings, which mainly consisted of α-Al 2 O 3 and γ-Al 2 O 3 , decreases and the density improved with the simultaneous addition of 4 g · L-1 of CeO 2 and 10 g · L -1 of graphene to the electrolyte. In addition, with the addition of CeO 2 and graphene, the roughness was the lowest and the corrosion resistance was significantly improved.

Direct chill (DC) casting is used to cast aluminum alloy ingots. Casting speed influences the distribution and types of iron intermetallics in aluminum ingot microstructure. This study attempted to identify and quantify the iron intermetallic phases in the microstructure of laboratory scale DC Al- 0.13Si-0.3Fe samples using differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Both stable and non-stable iron intermetallic phases were observed but to different extents in all alloy samples’ microstructure. Two different types of iron-rich, AlFeSi globular particles were observed in the alloy samples’ microstructure. As a result, an attempt was made to understand the formation temperature and composition of these small, globular particles. DSC results confirmed that the enthalpy change of phase formation is dependent mainly on the volume fraction of the iron intermetallic phase in the microstructure. A good agreement was observed between the quantitative analysis results and the DSC analysis, which supports the reliability of the quantitative methods used in this study. The results obtained in this study bridge existing gaps in literature on the effect of cooling rate on the selection of iron intermetallic phases, in general, and in the AlSiFe globular particles, in particular.

Near-eutectic Al-Si alloys have low strength and high brittleness because of the presence of many eutectic b-Si flakes, needle-like Al-Fe-Si intermetallics, and coarse α-Al grains. This study disclosed the effects of cerium-rich RE (rare earth) element modification on orientation characters of crystals, formation of Al-Ce compounds, and microstructural refinement to improve the microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloys. The RE addition depressed preferential growth along the close-packed and/or sub-closepacked planes and promoted growth along the non-closepacked planes, in which La and other elements were dissolved into needle-like Al 11 Ce 3 phase. When the temperature decreased, Al 11 Ce 3 was preferentially crystallized from the melts and then devitrified by attaching to the surface of β-Al 5 FeSi needles. Moreover, many small Al 11 Ce 3 particles were precipitated in the matrix and on the Si surface by a T6 heat treatment. Eutectic β-Si phases were constructed into discontinuous networks, short rods, and even particles by RE additions, which were further transformed into fine nodules following the T6 treatment. α-Al grains and primary β-Al 5 FeSi needles were simultaneously refined. The addition of 1.0 wt.% REs and subsequent T6 treatment yielded the highest tensile strength, elongation, and hardness of the alloy.

Suitable material selection with emphasis on a specific property or application is an indispensable part of engineering sciences. It is a complex process that involves multiple criteria and often multiple decision makers. The tendency of decision makers to specify their preference in terms of imprecise qualitative statements like ‘good’, ‘bad’ etc. poses a further challenge. Thus, in this research, a comprehensive multicriteria decision-making study was conducted to select the optimal Zn-Al alloy based on performance in a corrosive environment. Four variants of technique for order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution were used to perform the multicriteria decision-making analysis. Group decision and imprecise decision making is handled by incorporating the fuzzy theory concept in a technique for order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution. The effect of addition of aluminium to zinc was studied by examination of microstructure, hardness, and corrosion behaviour. The result indicates that an increase in Al content increases the formation of dendrites. The dendrites were rich in the α phase, which results in an increase in hardness. An increase in Al content in Zn (Zn-22Al and Zn-55Al) results in the uniform distribution of the a phase in the microstructure and reduction of non-equilibrium phases. The potentiodynamic polarisation test revealed that an increase in Al in the alloy decreases the corrosion current density. The weight loss test carried out to validate the potentiodynamic test findings exhibited higher weight loss in pure Zn and lowest in Zn-55Al. Similar results were observed in the salt spray test. The multicriteria decision-making analysis revealed that Zn-55Al is the most suitable alloy in a corrosive environment among the tested alloys.