Effects of Ta C on microstructure and mechanical properties of coarse grained WC-9Co cemented carbides

Coarse grained WC-9Co cemented carbides with 0-1.0% TaC(mass fraction) were fabricated by HIP-sintering and gas quenching. The effects of TaC on the microstructures and mechanical properties were investigated using scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis(EDS), X-ray diffractometry(XRD) and mechanical properties tests. The results show that the maximum values of hardness and strength are HV 1124 and 2466 MPa respectively when 0.4% TaC is added. When the content of TaC is more than 0.6%, the grain size of WC is no longer affected by the amount of TaC, and(W,Ta)C occurs as well. Moreover, the strength and fracture toughness increase and the(Ta+W) content decreases with the increase of TaC content. The dependence of(Ta+W) content on the mechanical properties indicates that(Ta+W) content in Co should be decreased as low as possible to improve the mechanical properties of coarse grained WC-TaC-9Co cemented carbides with the microstructure of WC+γ two phase regions.

EFFECT OF GRAIN BOUNDARY CARBIDE ON CREEP CRACK GROWTH IN Fe-Cr15-Ni25 ALLOY

Creep crack growth behavior of Fe-Cr15-Ni25 alloys with different grain boundary features has been studied.Cavities nucleate at triple junctions of grain boundaries for the single phase alloy and at grain boundary carbide for the alloy with grain boundary carbide.Grain bounda- ry carbide particles are obstacles to cavity growth and coalescence,and therefore increase the creep crack growth resistance greatly.

Effect of vanadium carbide on commercial pure aluminum

The effect of vanadium carbide（VC） on the grain size of commercial pure aluminum was experimentally investigated by varying the content of VC, the holding time, and casting temperature. The refining efficiencies of VC and Al5Ti1 B were also compared. The refined samples of commercial pure aluminum were examined using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and energy-dispersive spectroscopy（EDS）. The results suggest that VC is a good refiner of commercial pure aluminum. The addition of only 0.3wt% VC can decrease the grain size of aluminum to 102 μm, whereas the casting temperature and holding time have little effect on the grain size. The refining efficiency of VC is better than that of Al5Ti1 B. The VC particles in molten aluminum act as nuclei and the grain refinement of aluminum alloys by VC particles is achieved via heterogeneous nucleation.

Ultrafine Grained Austenite in a Low Carbon Vanadium Microalloyed Steel

Ultrafine austenite grains with average size of 2μm were successfully obtained by combining thermo-mechanical control process followed by reheating in a vanadium microalloyed steel.The mixed microstructure transformed from pancaked austenite formed during controlled rolling has a higher density of high angle boundaries,compared to that transformed from equiaxial austenite.It contributes to increasing nucleation density of austenite grain during the reheating process.A certain volume fraction of undissolved nano-sized（Ti,V）C particles,which are formed during the controlled rolling process and/or the reheating process,effectively inhibit austenite grain growth and consequently refine austenite grain size significantly.The critical grain size of austenite calculated by Gladman model agrees well with the experimental result.

Comparison of microstructure and property of high chromium bearing steel with and without nitrogen addition

Microstructure and property of bearing steel with and without nitrogen addition were investigated by microstructural observation and hardness measurement after different heat treatment processing. Based on the microstructural observation of both 9Cr18 steel and X90N steel, it was found that nitrogen addition could effectively reduce the amount and size of coarse carbides and also refine the original austenite grain size. Due to addition of nitrogen, more austenite phase was found in X90N steel than in 9Cr18 steel. The retained austenite of X90N steel after quenching at 1050℃ could be reduced from about 60% to about 7 9% by cold treatment at -73℃ and subsequent tempering, and thus finally increased the hardness up to 60 HRC after low temperature tempering and to 63 HRC after high temperature tempering. Furthermore, both the wear and corrosion resistance of X90N steel were found much more superior than those of 9Cr18 steel, which was attributed to the addition of nitrogen. It was proposed at last that nitrogen alloying into the high chromium bearing steel was a promising way not only to refine the size of both carbides and austenite, but also to achieve high hardness, high wear property and improved corrosion resistance of the stainless bearing steel.

Effect of Solution Annealing on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of a Ni-Cr-W-Fe Alloy

The effect of solution annealing on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a Ni-Cr-W-Fe alloy developed for advanced 700？C ultra-supercritical power plants was investigated. Test samples in this study were subjected to different solution treatments and the same aging treatment（at 760？C for 1 h）.When solution annealing temperature was elevated from 1020？C to 1150？C, the stress-rupture life at750？C/320 MPa was increased from 60 h to 300 h, the stress-rupture elongation was enhanced from12% to 17%, and the elongation of the tensile at 750？C was improved from 11% to 24%. All tensile and stress-rupture samples displayed an intergranular dimple mixed fracture. Intergranular micro-cracks had a great relationship with the morphology of grain boundary carbides. Most carbides retained the morphology of globular shape and continuous thin plate. After tensile and stress-rupture tests, a few carbides were converted into lamellar. The results showed that intergranular micro-cracks were easier to form at continuous thin plate carbides than at globular shape carbides. Lamellar carbides hardly caused the nucleation of micro-cracks. Besides, grain boundaries sliding and elements diffusion during stressrupture tests led to the formation of precipitate free zones, which accelerated the extension of microcracks and influenced the stress-rupture life.