Plasma Sprayed NiAl Intermetallic Coating Produced with Mechanically Alloyed Powder

In the present research, mechanically alloyed Ni-AI powder was utilized to develop plasma sprayed coatings, and the effect of the spray distance and heat treatment on the phases, microstructure, and hardness of the coat- ings were examined. Coatings were analyzed by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, energy-dispersive spectroscopy （EDS） and through microhardness measurements. Although mechanically alloyed Ni-AI powder showed no intermetallic phases, the coatings did. Different spray distances from 5 to 19 cm were employed for plasma spray and the specimens were heat treated at different temperatures, then the amount of oxides, porosity and hardness of the coatings were changed according to the spray condition. The thermal energy of the plasma spray caused the formation of NiAI phases while particles flew to the substrate or after that. Extreme increase in heat treatment temperature and spray distance resulted in oxidation and reduction in the quality of the coating. Furthermore, the best spray distance and heat treatment temperature to gain the NiAI intermetallic coating were established.

Fluid Flow and Mixing in Non-Isothermal Water Model of Continuous Casting Tundish

Fluid flow and mixing of molten steel in a twin-slab-strand continuous casting tundish were investigated using a mixing model under non-isothermal conditions.This model led to a set of ordinary differential equations that were solved with a Runge-Kutta algorithm.Steady state water modeling was carried out under non-isothermal conditions.Experimental data obtained from the water model were used to calibrate the mixing model.Owing to the presence of a mixed convection in the non-isothermal conditions,a channelizing flow would be created in the fluid inside the tundish.A mixing model was designed that was capable of predicting RTD（residence time distribution）curves for different cases in non-isothermal conditions.The relationship between RTD parameters and the Tu（tundish Richardson number）was obtained for various cases under non-isothermal conditions.The results show that the RTD parameters were completely different under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions.The comparison of the RTD curves between the isothermal and non-isothermal conditions presents that the extent of mixing in the tundish in non-isothermal conditions is lower than the mixing extent in isothermal conditions.

Effects of Annealing on the Fabrication of Al-TiAl3 Nanocomposites Before and After Accumulative Roll Bonding and Evaluation of Strengthening Mechanisms

The strengthening mechanisms of Al-TiAl_(3) nanocomposite, fabricated using cold roll bonding, annealing, and accumulative roll bonding(ARB) on Al sheets sandwiching with pure Ti powder were investigated in the present study. With annealing at 590 ℃ for 2 h, TiAl_(3) intermetallic compound was formed. After subsequent ARB process up to 5 cycles, final composite consists of ultrafine Al grains of less than 500 nm with TiAl_(3) particles larger than 200 nm. The strength and hardness of the final composite are 2.5 and 3.5 times the initial values, with an ultimate tensile strength of 400 MPa, which is dominated by grain-boundary strengthening due to the ultrafine Al grains, and Orowan strengthening due to the small TiAl_(3) particles. For comparison, an alternative fabrication route of cold roll bonding–ARB–annealing was also studied. This study showed that annealing before ARB is a critical factor in producing an ultrafine grain structure containing TiAl_(3) particles.