Effect of lanthanum addition on microstructure and hardness of brass alloys produced by rheological squeeze casting

The effect of La addition(0-0.30 wt%)on the microstructure and hardness of rheological squeeze casting brass alloys was experimentally investigated.The rheological squeeze casting process is improved by controlling the wall surface crystals and melt flow rate to realise the preparation of semi-solid melt with flow,and a brass alloy workpiece with La is produced.The microstructure and properties of the brass alloy samples were investigated using metallography,scanning electron microscopy,energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy,X-ray diffraction and hardness testing.The results indicate that the hardness of the rheological squeeze casting brass alloy is increased by 20.4%from 108 to 130 HBW with an increase in the La content from 0 to 0.30 wt%.The micro structural analysis results show that La significantly refines the primary a-phase grains,and the main mechanism is the constitutional undercooling and heterogeneous nucleation caused by the La enrichment in the front of the solid-liquid interface.The squeeze pressure promotes undercooling,which improves the nucleation rate and affects the solute diffusion and nucleus growth.The dual effects of these two aspects aggravate the grain refinement process,consequently increasing the number of grain boundaries and improving the hardness of the brass alloy.

Corrosion behavior of dissimilar copper/brass joints welded by friction stir lap welding in alkaline solution

This study was done to evaluate the nugget zone(NZ)corrosion behavior of dissimilar copper/brass joints welded by friction stir lap welding(FSLW)in a solution of 0.015 mol/L borax(pH 9.3).To this end,dissimilar copper/brass plates were welded with two dissimilar heat inputs(low and high)during the welding procedure.The high and low heat inputs were conducted with 710 r/min,16 mm/min and 450 r/min,25 mm/min,respectively.Using open circuit potential(OCP)measurements,electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS)and Tafel polarization tests,the electrochemical behavior of the specimens in borate buffer solution was assessed.With the help of scanning electron microscope(SEM),the morphology of welded specimen surfaces was examined after immersion in the test solution.According to the results,the NZ grain size and resistance improvement reduced due to the nugget zone corrosion with a decreased heat input.The results obtained from Tafel polarization and EIS indicated the improved corrosion behavior of the welded specimen NZ with a decrease in the heat input during the welding process unlike the copper and brass metals.Furthermore,an increased heat input during the welding process shows a reduction in the conditions for forming the passive films with higher protection behavior.