Graphite Nucleation in Cast Iron Melts Based on Solidification Experiments and Microstructure Simulation

Microstructure strongly influences the mechanical properties of cast iron. By inoculating the melt with proper inoculants, foreign substrates are brought into the melt and eventually the graphite can crystallize on them. The elements and substrates that really play a role for nucleation are yet unknown. Until now there is very little knowledge about the fundamentals of nucleation, such as composition and morphology of nuclei. In this work we utilized EN-GJL-200 as a base material and examined several produced specimens. The specimens were cast with and without inoculants and quenched at different solidification states. Specimens were also examined with a high and low oxygen concentration, but the results showed that different oxygen contents have no influence on the nucleation in cast iron melts. Our research was focused on the microscopic examination and phase-field simulations. For studying the samples we applied different analytical methods, where SEM-EDS, -WDS were proved to be most effective. The simulations were conducted by using the software MICRESS, which is based on a multiphase-field model and has been coupled directly to the TCFE3 thermodynamic database from TCAB. On the basis of the experimental investigations a nucleation mechanism is proposed, which claims MnS precipitates as the preferred site for graphite nucleation. This theory is supported by the results of the phase-field simulations.

Molecular Dynamics Study on Microstructure of Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphates Solution

Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to study the internal energy and microstructure of potassium dihydrogen phosphates （KDP） solution at different temperatures. The water molecule was treated as a simple-point-charge model, while a seven-site model for the dihydrogen phosphate ion was adopted. The internal energy functions and the radial distribution functions of the solution were studied in detail. An unusually large local particle number density fluctuation was observed in the system at saturation temperature. It has been found that the specific heat of oversaturated solution is higher than that of unsaturated solution, which indicates the solution experiences a crystallization process below saturation temperature. The radial distribution function between the oxygen atom of water and the hydrogen atom of the dihydrogen phosphate ion shows a very strong hydrogen bond structure. There are strong interactions between potassium cation and oxygen atom of dihydrogen phosphate ion in KDP solution, and much more ion pairs were formed in saturated solution.

Dendritic grain growth simulation in weld pool of nickel base alloy

Dendritic grain growth at the edge of the weld pool is simulated using a stochastic numerical model of cellular automaton algorithm. The grain growth miodel is established based upon the balance of solute in the solid/liquid interface of the dendrite tip. Considering the complicated nucleation condition and competitive growth, the dendrite moiphologies of different nucleation condition are simulated. The simulated results reproduced the dendrite grain evolution process at the edge of the weld pool. It is indicated that the nucleation condition is an important factor influencing the grain morphologies especially the morphologies of secondary and tertiary arms.

Simulation of electromagnetic-flow fields in Mg melt under pulsed magnetic field

The effects of a pulsed magnetic field on the solidified microstructure of pure Mg were investigated.The results show that microstructure of pure Mg is considerably refined via columnar-to-equiaxed growth under the pulsed magnetic field and the average grain size is refined to 260？？ under the optimal processing conditions.A mathematical model was built to describe the interaction of the electromagnetic-flow fields during solidification with ANSYS software.The pulsed electric circuit was first solved and then it is substituted into the magnetic field model.The fluid flow model was solved with the acquired electromagnetic force.The effects of pulse voltage frequency on the current wave and on the distribution of magnetic and flow fields were numerically studied.The pulsed magnetic field increases melt convection,which stirs and fractures the dendritic arms into pieces.These broken pieces are transported into the bulk liquid by the liquid flow and act as nuclei to enhance grain refinement.The Joule heat effect produced by the electric current also participates in the microstructural refinement.

Phase-field simulation of lamellar growth for a binary eutectic alloy

Using general multi-phase-field model,detailed microstructures corresponding to different initial lamellar sets were simulated in a binary eutectic alloy with an asymmetric phase diagram.The simulation results show that regular or unstable oscillating lamellar structures depend on the initial lamellar widths of two solid phases.A lamellar morphology map associating with the initial widths has been derived,which is capable of showing the condition of forming various lamella structures.For instance,a regular lamella was formed with fast solidification while large lamella resulted from disorder growth with low interfacial velocity. The investigated interface velocities indicate that with fast solidification to form regular lamella,a disorder growth manner or a large lamellar spacing causes a low interface velocity.These results are in good agreement with those proposed by Jackson-Hunt model.

Computer Simulating Calculation on the Microstructure Evolutions during Hot Strip Rolling of C-Mn Steels

The program to predict the microstructure evolutions during hot strip rolling of C-M n steels has been developed in this paper, BV using this program, the microstructure changes with the processing parameters were analysed in detail. showing not only a good agreement of prediction with the measured values, but also entirely possibility to optimize hot strip rolling precess by computer simulation

Research progress in CALPHAD assisted metal additive manufacturing

Metal additive manufacturing(MAM)technology has experienced rapid development in recent years.As both equipment and materials progress towards increased maturity and commercialization,material metallurgy technology based on high energy sources has become a key factor influencing the future development of MAM.The calculation of phase diagrams(CALPHAD)is an essential method and tool for constructing multi-component phase diagrams by employing experimental phase diagrams and Gibbs free energy models of simple systems.By combining with the element mobility data and non-equilibrium phase transition model,it has been widely used in the analysis of traditional metal materials.The development of CALPHAD application technology for MAM is focused on the compositional design of printable materials,the reduction of metallurgical imperfections,and the control of microstructural attributes.This endeavor carries considerable theoretical and practical significance.This paper summarizes the important achievements of CALPHAD in additive manufacturing(AM)technology in recent years,including material design,process parameter optimization,microstructure evolution simulation,and properties prediction.Finally,the limitations of applying CALPHAD technology to MAM technology are discussed,along with prospective research directions.

Modeling studies on divorced eutectic formation of high pressure die cast magnesium alloy

The morphology and content of the divorced eutectic in the microstructure of high pressure die casting(HPDC) magnesium alloy have a great influence on the final performance of castings. Based on the previous work concerning simulation of the nucleation and dendritic growth of primary α-Mg during the solidification of magnesium alloy under HPDC process, an extension was made to the formerly established CA(Cellular Automaton) model with the purpose of modeling the nucleation and growth of Mg-Al eutectic. With a temperature field and solute field obtained during simulation of the primary α-Mg dendrites as the initial condition of the modified CA model, modeling of the Mg-Al eutectic with a divorced morphology was achieved. Moreover, the simulated results were in accordance with the experimental ones regarding the distribution and content of the divorced eutectic. Taking a "cover-plate" die casting with AM60 magnesium alloy as an example, the rapid solidification with a high cooling rate at the surface layer of the casting led to a fine and uniform grain size of primary α-Mg, while the divorced eutectic at the grain boundary revealed a more dispersed and granular morphology. Islands of divorced eutectic were observed at the central region of the casting, due to the existence of ESCs(Externally Solidified Crystals) which contributed to a coarse and non-uniform grain size of primary α-Mg. The volume percentage of the eutectic β-Mg_(17)Al_(12) phase is about 2%-6% in the die casting as a whole. The numerical model established in this study is of great significance to the study of the divorced eutectic in the microstructure of die cast magnesium alloy.

Comprehensive unified model and simulation approach for microstructure evolution

The prediction of microstructure constituents and their morphologies is of great importance for the evaluation of material properties and design of advanced materials.There have been considerable efforts to model and simulate microstructure evolution using a wide spectrum of models and simulation approaches.This paper initially reviews the atomistic and mesoscale simulation approaches for microstructure evolution,emphasizing their advantages and disadvantages.Atomistic approaches,such as molecular dynamics,are restricted by the scale of the studied system because they are computationally expensive.Continuum mesoscale simulation approaches,such as phase field,cellular automata,and Monte Carlo,have inconsistent phenomenological equations,each of which only describes one aspect of microstructure evolution.To provide comprehensive insight into microstructure evolution,a unified model that is capable of equally evaluating the nucleation and growth processes is required.In this paper,a physics-based model is proposed that incorporates statistical mechanics,the energy conservation law,and the force equilibrium concept to include all aspects of microstructure evolution.A compatible simulation approach is also described to simulate microstructure evolution during thermomechanical treatments.Furthermore,the microstructure evolution of AISI 304 austenitic steel during isothermal heat treatment and fusion welding is simulated and discussed.The use of fundamental physical rules instead of phenomenological equations,together with the real spatial and temporal scales of the proposed model,facilitates the comparison of the simulation results with experimental results.To examine the accuracy of the proposed simulation approach,the isothermal heat treatment simulation results are compared with experimental data over a broad region of temperatures and time periods.

Influence of process parameters on the microstructural evolution of a rear axle tube during cross wedge rolling

In the shaping process of cross wedge rolling（CWR）, metal undergoes a complex microstructural evolution, which affects the quality and mechanical properties of the product. Through secondary development of the DEFORM-3D software, we developed a rigid plastic finite element model for a CWR-processed rear axle tube, coupled with thermomechanical and microstructural aspects of workpieces. Using the developed model, we investigated the microstructural evolution of the CWR process. Also, the influence of numerous parameters, including the initial temperature of workpieces, the roll speed, the forming angle, and the spreading angle, on the grain size and the grain-size uniformity of the rolled workpieces was analyzed. The numerical simulation was verified through rolling and metallographic experiments. Good agreement was obtained between the calculated and experimental results, which demonstrated the reliability of the model constructed in this work.

Effects of Strain Rate,Temperature and Grain Size on the Mechanical Properties and Microstructure Evolutions of Polycrystalline Nickel Nanowires:A Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Through molecular dynamics（MD） simulation, the dependencies of temperature, grain size and strain rate on the mechanical properties were studied. The simulation results demonstrated that the strain rate from 0.05 to 2 ns–1 affected the Young＇s modulus of nickel nanowires slightly, whereas the yield stress increased. The Young＇s modulus decreased approximately linearly; however, the yield stress firstly increased and subsequently dropped as the temperature increased. The Young＇s modulus and yield stress increased as the mean grain size increased from 2.66 to 6.72 nm. Moreover, certain efforts have been made in the microstructure evolution with mechanical properties association under uniaxial tension. Certain phenomena such as the formation of twin structures, which were found in nanowires with larger grain size at higher strain rate and lower temperature, as well as the movement of grain boundaries and dislocation, were detected and discussed in detail. The results demonstrated that the plastic deformation was mainly accommodated by the motion of grain boundaries for smaller grain size. However, for larger grain size, the formations of stacking faults and twins were the main mechanisms of plastic deformation in the polycrystalline nickel nanowire.

Predicting gas and shrinkage porosity in solidification microstructure:A coupled three-dimensional cellular automaton model

Porosity formation during solidification of aluminum-based alloys,due to hydrogen gas and alloy shrinkage,has been a major issue adversely affecting the performance of solidification products such as castings,welds or additively manufactured components.A three-dimensional cellular automaton(CA)model has been developed,for the first time,to couple the predictions of hydrogen-induced gas porosity and shrinkage porosity during solidification microstructure evolution of a binary Al-Si alloy.The CA simulation results are validated under various cooling rates by porosity measurements in an experimental wedge die casting using X-ray micro computed tomography(XMCT)technique.This validated porosity moel provides a critical link in integrated computation materials engineering(ICME)design and manufacturing of solidification products.

Microstructure improvement related coercivity enhancement for sintered NdFeB magnets after optimized additional heat treatment

The micro structure, especially the Nd-rich phase and the grain boundary, in sintered NdFeB magnets plays an important role in magnetic reversal and coercivity mechanism. To better understand the effects of the microstructure on the coercivity, we investigated the microstructure and properties improvements of a commercial sintered NdFeB magnet after optimized additional heat treatment. The coercivity is enhanced from 1399 to 1560 kA/m. This enhancement has been explained in terms of the evolution of the grain boundary structure, and the formation of continuous thin layers of Nd-rich phase is important for high coercivity. The micromagnetic simulation together with the numerical analysis based on the nucleation model suggest that the reversed magnetic domains nucleate mainly at the interface of multijunctions of Nd_2 Fe_（14）B grains with high stray fields during the demagnetization process. Both improved anisotropy fields at grain boundaries and reduced stray fields at multi-junction Nd-rich phases contribute to the coercivity enhancement. This work has importance in understanding the crucial micro structure parameters and enhancing the obtainable properties for sintered NdFeB magnets.

Microstructure Evolution of Different Forging Processes for12%Cr Steel During Hot Deformation

Five forging experiments were designed and conducted to investigate the effect of process parameters on microstructure evolution during hot deformation for X12CrMoWVNbN10-1-1 steel.The experimental results indicated that average grain size became finer with the increasing number of upsetting and stretching.Especially,the size of stretching three times with upsetting twice had the most remarkable effect on refinement,and the size was only 27.36%of the original one.Moreover,the stress model was integrated into the software and finite element models were established.Simulation results demonstrated that the strain at center point of workpiece was far larger than critical strain value in each process,so that dynamic recrystallization(DRX) occurred in each workpiece,which implied DRX could occur for several times with the increasing number of upsetting and stretching,and uniform finer microstructure would be obtained.However,the results also showed that higher temperature was an unfavorable factor for grain refinement,so the times of heating should be limited for workpiece,and as many forging processes as possible should be finished in once heating.

Fine equiaxed dendritic structure of a medium carbon steel cast using pulsed magneto-oscillation melt treatment

The application of a pulsed magneto-oscillation （PMO） technique during the solidification of a commercial high melting point medium carbon steel ingot （φ0140 mm × 450 mm） produced fully equiaxed grains in the cast ingot, indicating that the PMO process significantly promotes heterogeneous nucleation near the solid-liquid interface. The vigorous convection induced by PMO forced the partly solidified grains to move from the solid-liquid interface and became randomly distributed throughout the melt, which resulted in the formation of uniformly sized equiaxed dendrites throughout the whole ingot. Building on the developed nucleation mechanism and a flow field simulation of pure aluminum, a PMO-induced grain refinement model for steel is proposed.

Science and technology in high-entropy alloys

As human improve their ability to fabricate materials, alloys have evolved from simple to complex compositions, accordingly improving functions and performances,promoting the advancements of human civilization. In recent years, high-entropy alloys（HEAs） have attracted tremendous attention in various fields. With multiple principal components, they inherently possess unique microstructures and many impressive properties, such as high strength and hardness, excellent corrosion resistance, thermal stability, fatigue,fracture, and irradiation resistance, in terms of which they overwhelm the traditional alloys. All these properties have endowed HEAs with many promising potential applications.An in-depth understanding of the essence of HEAs is important to further developing numerous HEAs with better properties and performance in the future. In this paper, we review the recent development of HEAs, and summarize their preparation methods, composition design, phase formation and microstructures, various properties, and modeling and simulation calculations. In addition, the future trends and prospects of HEAs are put forward.