Role of heat balance on the microstructure evolution of cold spray coated AZ31B with AA7075

A promising solid-state coating mechanism based on the cold spray technique provides highly advantageous conditions on thermal-sensitive magnesium alloys.To study the effect of heat balance in cold spray coating on microstructure,experiments were designed to successfully coat AA7075 on AZ31B with two different heat balance conditions to yield a coated sample with tensile residual stress and a sample with compressive residual stress in both coating and substrate.The effects of coating temperature on the microstructure of magnesium alloy and the interfaces of coated samples were then analyzed by SEM,EBSD,TEM in high-and low-heat input coating conditions.The interface of the AA7075 coating and magnesium alloy substrate under both conditions consists of a narrow-band layer with very fine grains,followed by columnar grains of magnesium that have grown perpendicular to the interface.At higher temperatures,this layer became wider.No intermetallic phase was detected at the interface under either condition.It is shown that the microstructure of the substrate was affected by coating temperature,leading to stress relief,dynamic recrystallization and even dynamic grain growth of magnesium under high temperature.Reducing the heat input and increasing the heat transfer decreased microstructural changes in the substrate.

Design of binder jet additive manufactured co-continuous ceramic-reinforced metal matrix composites

Ceramic-reinforced metal matrix composites(MMCs)display beneficial properties owing to their combination of ceramic and metal phases.However,the properties are highly dependent on the reinforcing phase composition,volume fraction and morphology.Continuous fiber or network reinforcement morphologies are difficult and expensive to manufacture,and the often-used discontinuous particle or whisker reinforcement morphologies result in less effective properties.Here,we demonstrate the formation of a co-continuous ceramic-reinforced metal matrix composite using solid-state processing.Binder jet additive manufacturing(BJAM)was used to print a nickel superalloy part followed by post-processing via reactive sintering to form a continuous carbide reinforcing phase at the particle boundaries.The kinetics of reinforcement formation are investigated in order to develop a relationship between reactive sintering time,temperature and powder composition on the reinforcing phase thickness and volume fraction.To evaluate performance,the wear resistance of the reinforced BJAM alloy 625 MMC was compared to unreinforced BJAM alloy 625,demonstrating a 64%decrease in the specific wear rate under abrasive wear conditions.