Enhancing fatigue performance of AZ31 magnesium alloy components fabricated by cold metal transfer-based wire arc directed energy deposition through LPB

Cold Metal Transfer-Based Wire Arc Directed Energy Deposition(CMT-WA-DED)presents a promising avenue for the rapid fabrication of components crucial to automotive,shipbuilding,and aerospace industries.However,the susceptibility to fatigue of CMT-WA-DED-produced AZ31 Mg alloy components has impeded their widespread adoption for critical load-bearing applications.In this study,a comprehensive investigation into the fatigue behaviour of WA-DED-fabricated AZ31 Mg alloy has been carried out and compared to commercially available wrought AZ31 alloy.Our findings indicate that the as-deposited parts exhibit a lower fatigue life than wrought Mg alloy,primarily due to poor surface finish,tensile residual stress,porosity,and coarse grain microstructure inherent in the WA-DED process.Low Plasticity Burnishing(LPB)treatment is applied to mitigate these issues,which induce significant plastic deformation on the surface.This treatment resulted in a remarkable improvement of fatigue life by 42%,accompanied by a reduction in surface roughness,grain refinement and enhancement of compressive residual stress levels.Furthermore,during cyclic deformation,WA-DED specimens exhibited higher plasticity and dislocation density compared to both wrought and WA-DED+LPB specimens.A higher fraction of Low Angle Grain Boundaries(LAGBs)in WA-DED specimens contributed to multiple crack initiation sites and convoluted crack paths,ultimately leading to premature failure.In contrast,wrought and WA-DED+LPB specimens displayed a higher percentage of High Angle Grain Boundaries(HAGBs),which hindered dislocation movement and resulted in fewer crack initiation sites and less complex crack paths,thereby extending fatigue life.These findings underscore the effectiveness of LPB as a post-processing technique to enhance the fatigue performance of WA-DED-fabricated AZ31 Mg alloy components.Our study highlights the importance of LPB surface treatment on AZ31 Mg components produced by CMT-WA-DED to remove surface defects,enabling their widespread use in load-bearing applications.

Fabrication of chitosan/silica hybrid coating on AZ31 Mg alloy for orthopaedic applications

Biocompatible conversion of chitosan and chitosan/silica hybrid coating were prepared to enhance the biocompatibility and corrosion resistance of biodegradable AZ31 Mg alloy. The coatings were optimized and analysed with potentiodynamic polarization, SEM, ATR-IR and XPS studies. Potentiodynamic polarization studies, revealed that the coatings exhibited high corrosion resistance. The surface morphology of the Ch-3/Si coating showed small globular rough structure. The presence of functional groups was confirmed by ATR-IR. For a better understanding of chitosan/silica hybrid coating, the chemical states were examined by XPS studies. The in-vitro bioactivity of the coated samples was evaluated in Earle’s solution, which formed a dense layer of coral-like structure and calcium-deficient apatite with less stoichiometric ratio than the hydroxyapatite. In-vitro cell culture studies exhibited a good cell proliferation rate and the fabricated Ch-3/Si coating was found to be non-hemolytic. The bacterial studies proved that Ch-3/Si coating possessed inherent antibacterial activity.

Unveiling the planar deformation mechanisms for improved formability in pre-twinned AZ31 Mg alloy sheet at warm temperature

To investigate the role of pre-twins in Mg alloy sheets during warm planar deformation, the stretch forming is conducted at 200 ℃. Results suggest the formability of the pre-twinned AZ31 Mg alloy sheet is enhanced to 11.30 mm. The mechanisms for the improved formability and the deformation behaviors during the planar stretch forming are systematically investigated based on the planar stress states. The Schmid factor for deformation mechanisms are calculated, the results reveal that planar stress states extremely affect the Schmid factor for {10-12}twinning. The detwinning is activated and the prismatic slip is enhanced in the pre-twinned sheet, especially under the planar extension stress state in the outer region. Consequently, the thickness-direction strain is accommodated better. The dynamic recrystallization(DRX) type is continuous DRX(CDRX) regardless of the planar stress state. However, the CDRX degree is greater under the planar extension stress state.Some twin lattices deviate from the perfect {10-12} twinning relation due to the planar compression stress state and the CDRX. The basal texture is weakened when the planar stress state tends to change the texture components.

Tailoring strength-ductility balance of caliber-rolled AZ31 Mg alloy through subsequent annealing

Recently,multi-pass caliber rolling has been shown to be effective for Mg alloys.This study investigated the effect of subsequent annealing on the mechanical properties of a caliber-rolled AZ31 Mg alloy to modulate the strength-ductility relationship.This annealing gave rise to different trends in mechanical properties depending on the temperature regime.Low-temperature annealing(T≤473 K)exhibited a typical trade-off relationship,where an increase in annealing temperature resulted in increased ductility but decreased strength and hardness.Such a heat treatment did not degrade the high strength-ductility balance of the caliber-rolled alloy,suggesting that the mechanical properties could be tailored for different potential applications.In contrast,high-temperature annealing(T>473 K)caused a simultaneous deterioration in strength,hardness,and ductility with increasing annealing temperature.These differences are discussed in terms of the varying microstructural features under the different investigated annealing regimes.

The effect of Equal Channel Angular Pressing process on the microstructure of AZ31 Mg alloy strip shaped specimens

Equal Channel Angular Pressing(ECAP)is one of the most applicable Sever Plastic Deformation(SPD)processes which leads to strength and ductility improvement through the grain refining and development of a suitable texture.In this study,after designing and manufacturing a suitable die,4 pass ECAP process at route C is done on strip shaped specimens of AZ31 magnesium alloy in order to achieve desirable microstructural and mechanical properties.Microstructure then got studied through the optical microscopy.Results show that mean grain size is decreased and grain size distribution got close to normal distribution state by increasing the pass number.However,the grain size is reduced by increasing of ECAP temperature.

Formability of AZ31 Mg alloy sheets within medium temperatures

The stretching tests of the commercial AZ31 Mg alloy were conducted at 130 ℃, 170 ℃, 210 ℃, at the forming speeds of 10 mm/min and 50 mm/min, respectively. The formability of AZ31 sheets at high temperature was evaluated by forming limit diagrams (FLD). The fracture morphologies were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope. The results show that the FLD of AZ31 Mg alloy is affected by the forming temperature, in another word, the formability increases with the increasing of the forming temperature. That may be because the non-basal slip system starts to move by thermal activation at high forming temperature. It is also demonstrated that the formability of the AZ31 Mg alloy is on the decline with the increasing of the forming speed. The slipping performs thoroughly to release the stress during the deformation if the forming speed decreases. In addition, the higher the forming temperature is, the more obvious the effect of the forming speed is. The forming temperature is the main dominating factor on the formability of AZ31 Mg alloy.

Influence of bimodal non-basal texture on microstructure characteristics,texture evolution and deformation mechanisms of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet rolled at liquid-nitrogen temperature

Cryogenic rolling experiments have been conducted on the AZ31 magnesium(Mg)alloy sheet with bimodal non-basal texture,which is fabricated via the newly developed equal channel angular rolling and continuous bending process with subsequent annealing(ECAR-CB-A)process.Results demonstrate that this sheet shows no edge cracks until the accumulated thickness reduction reaches about 18.5%,which is about 105.6%larger than that of the sheet with traditional basal texture.Characterization experiments including optical microstructure(OM),X-ray diffractometer(XRD),and electron backscatter diffraction(EBSD)measurements are then performed to explore the microstructure characteristics,texture evolution and deformation mechanisms during cryogenic rolling.Experimental observations confirm the occurrence of abundant{10–12}extension twins(ETs),twin-twin interactions among{10–12}ET variants and{10–12}-{10–12}double twins(DTs).The twinning behaviors as for{10–12}ETs are responsible for the concentration of c-axes of grains towards normal direction(ND)and the formation of transverse direction(TD)-component texture at the beginning of cryogenic rolling.The twinning behaviors with respect to{10–12}-{10–12}DTs are responsible for the disappearance of TD-component texture at the later stage of cryogenic rolling.The involved deformation mechanisms can be summarized as follows:Firstly{10–12}ETs dominate the plastic deformation.Subsequently,dislocation slip,especially basal<a>slip,starts to sustain more plastic strain,while{10–12}ETs occur more frequently and enlarge continuously,resulting in the formation of twin-twin interaction among{10–12}ET variants.With the increasing rolling passes,{10–12}-{10–12}DTs incorporate in the plastic deformation and dislocation slip serves as the major one to sustain plastic strain.The activities of basal<a>slip,{10–12}ETs and{10–12}-{10–12}DTs benefit in accommodating the plastic strain in sheet thickness,which contributes to the improved rolling formability in AZ31 Mg alloy sheet with bimodal non-basal texture during cryogenic rolling.

Grain refining and property improvement of AZ31 Mg alloy by hot rolling

Hot rolling of AZ31 Mg alloy was performed by using as-cast alloy ingot as the starting material.The microstructures and mechanical properties of the as-rolled alloy subjected to various rolling passes were investigated.The results show that the grain size of the alloy can be refined steadily with increasing rolling passes by dynamic recrystallization.With the steady refining of the grain size,both the mechanical strength and the plasticity of the alloy are improved correspondingly.In particular,when the grain size is reduced to about 5μm after 5 rolling passes,the yield strength,ultimate tensile strength and tensile fracture strain of the alloy are 211 MPa,280 MPa and 0.28 in the transverse direction,they are 200 MPa,268 MPa and 0.32 in the rolling direction,respectively.

Development of anti-corrosive coating on AZ31 Mg alloy subjected to plasma electrolytic oxidation at sub-zero temperature

Plasma electrolytic oxidation(PEO)is a promising surface treatment to generate adherent and thick anti-corrosive coating on light-weight metals(Al,Mg,Ti,etc.)using an eco-friendly alkaline electrolyte.High energy plasma,however,inevitably generates porous structures that limit their practical performance.The present study proposes a straight-forward simple method by utilizing sub-zero electrolyte(268 K)to alter the plasma characteristics during formation of the protective coating on AZ31 Mg alloy via PEO with a comparison to the electrolyte at room temperature(298 K).In refrigerated electrolyte,the formation of micro-defects is suppressed relatively at the expense of low coating growth,which is measured to be twice lower than that at 298 K due to the temperature-dependent soft plasma discharges contributing to the development of the present coating.As a consequence,corrosion resistance of the sample processed at 268 K is superior to that of 298K,implying that the effect of coating thickness is less dominant than that of compactness.This phenomenon is interpreted in relation to the ionic movement and oxide solidification controlled by soft plasma discharges arising from the temperature gradient between electrolyte and surface of the substrate during PEO.

On the cold rolling of AZ31 Mg alloy after Equal Channel Angular Pressing

Among the various Severe Plastic Deformation(SPD)processes,Equal Channel Angular Pressing(ECAP)is one of the most applicable one which improves strength and ductility due to grain refinement and suitable texture development.In this study,cold rolling were carried out on the 4 pass ECAPed(in route A and C)strip shaped specimens of AZ31 magnesium alloy to investigate the ECAP effects on the roll-ability.Results showed that reduction in area which can be concerned as an index for roll-ability increased after ECAP.It was also seen that ECAP in route C enhanced roll-ability more than route A.

Corrosion and wear resistance of coatings produced on AZ31 Mg alloy by plasma electrolytic oxidation in silicate-based K2TiF6 containing solution:Effect of waveform

In this research,plasma electrolytic oxidation coatings were prepared on AZ31 Mg alloy in a silicate-based solution containing K_(2)TiF_(6) using bipolar and soft sparking waveforms with 10,20,and 30%cathodic duty cycles.The coatings displayed a net-like surface morphology consisted of irregular micro-pores,micro-cracks,fused oxide particles,and a sintered structure.Due to the incorporation of TiO_(2) colloidal particles and the cathodic pulse repair effect,most of the micro-pores were sealed.Long-term corrosion performance of the coatings was investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy during immersion in 3.5 wt.%NaCl solution up to 14 days.The coating grown by the soft sparking waveform with a 20%cathodic duty cycle having the lowest porosity(6.2%)and a sharp layer concentrated in F element at the substrate/coating interface shows the highest corrosion resistance.The friction coefficient of this coating has remained stable during the sliding even under 5 N normal load,showing relatively higher wear resistance than other coatings.The coating produced using the equivalent unipolar waveform,as the reference specimen,showed the highest friction coefficient and the lowest wear resistance despite its highest micro-hardness.

Microstructure Evolution of AZ31 Mg Alloy during Change Channel Angular Extrusion

Microstructure evolution of AZ31 Mg alloy during change-channel angular extrusion （CCAE） was investigated. The grains of AZ31 Mg alloy were refined significantly from 500 mm to 15 mm after CCAE deformed at 523 K. Dislocations were induced at the initial stage of extrusion and they rearranged themselves to form dislocation boundaries and sub-grain boundaries during deformation. When the specimen through the horizontal change channel with the strain increased, the sub-boundaries evolved to high angle grain boundaries （HAGB）. The process of grain refinement can be described as continuous dynamic recovery and recrystallization （CDRR）.

Quasi-in vivo corrosion behavior of AZ31B Mg alloy with hybrid MWCNTs-PEO/PCL based coatings

This study investigated the effects of multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs) and polycaprolactone(PCL) on the quasi-in vivo corrosion behavior of AZ31B Mg alloy treated by plasma electrolytic oxidation(PEO). Thin(~2 μm, PCTPCL4) and thick(~60 μm, PCTPCL6) PCL layers were applied only onto the MWCNTs-PEO coating(PCT) as it showed better corrosion performance. Findings reveal that incorporation of MWCNTs induced several structural and functional modifications in the PEO coating, such as increased roughness, a thicker inner barrier layer, and reduced hydrophilicity.Quasi-in vivo corrosion testing was carried out under controlled temperature, p H, and fluid flow in simulated body fluid(SBF) by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS) and hydrogen evolution experiments. EIS results revealed that, after 48 h immersion, a diffusion process controlled hydration of the ceramic coatings. Comparison of the collected hydrogen after 15 days of immersion in the quasi-in vivo environment revealed that the PEO and PCT ceramic coatings decreased hydrogen generation by up to 74% and 91%, respectively, compared to non-coated alloy.PCTPCL6 coating exhibited the lowest amount of collected hydrogen(0.2 m L/cm^(2)). The thick PCL layer delayed the onset of substrate corrosion for at least 120 h, reducing the corrosion rate by 85% compared with the PCT.

Influence of bimodal grain size distribution on the corrosion behavior of friction stir processed biodegradable AZ31 magnesium alloy

In the present study,AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets were processed by friction stir processing(FSP)to investigate the effect of the grain refinement and grain size distribution on the corrosion behavior.Grain refinement from a starting size of 16.4±6.8µm to 3.2±1.2µm was attained after FSP.Remarkably,bimodal grain size distribution was observed in the nugget zone with a combination of coarse(11.62±8.4µm)and fine grains(3.2±1.2µm).Due to the grain refinement,a slight improvement in the hardness was found in the nugget zone of FSPed AZ31.The bimodal grain size distribution in the stir zone showed pronounced influence on the corrosion rate of FSPed AZ31 as observed from the immersion and electrochemical tests.From the X-ray diffraction analysis,more amount of Mg(OH)_(2) was observed on FSPed AZ31 compared with the unprocessed AZ31.Polarization measurements demonstrated the higher corrosion current density for FSPed AZ31(8.92×10^(−5)A/cm^(2))compared with the unprocessed condition(2.90×10^(−5)A/cm^(2))that can be attributed to the texture effect and large variations in the grain size which led to non-uniform galvanic intensities.

Crack behavior in Mg/Al alloy thin sheet during hot compound extrusion

A novel and effective method to co-extrude metallic alloys is described which named Direct Extrusion and Bending-Shear Deformation.The compound extrusion plates have cracked at 290℃ and 3 mm/s.According to this phenomenon,a model was built to investigate the crack generation and development between the 6061 Al and AZ31 Mg alloy during the compound extrusion process by DEFORM-3D.The cracking behavior of the Mg/Al composite rod with a soft Mg AZ31 core and a hard Al 6061 sleeve were systematically studied to disclose the influence of microstructure on crack in the different regions.The simulation results show that the distribution of strain and velocity has significant differences due to the influence of dies structure and material properties at different locations in the same region.The experimental results show that in the same conditions,there are differences in recrystallization and texture weakening of AZ31 Mg alloys and 6061 Al alloy,which are important factors for the formation of crack.Both the Mg layer and the Al layer have a homogeneous microstructure in the region d.

The tribological behavior of a surface-nanocrystallized magnesium alloy AZ31 sheet after ultrasonic shot peening treatment

A magnesium alloy AZ31 sheet was processed by ultrasonic shot peening treatment to fabricate a surface nanocrystalline,and a ball-on-disk dry sliding wear test was performed to evaluate the tribological behavior after treatment.The microstructure observation indicated a gradient nanocrystalline structure was formed after USSP treatment.The microhardness at the top surface was improved from 60 HV to 145 HV after treatment.The formed nanocrystalline resulted in an easy formation of MgO patches on the surface and reduced the coefficient of friction.Moreover,the formed nanocrystalline leaded to a retard of delamination with increasing the sliding speed and applied load,which was due to its stronger sub-surface.Under high sliding speed(0.5 m/s)and high applied load(50 N),it was firstly found that the formed nanocrystalline prevented the happening of thermal softening and melting.The possible reasons accounting for the prevention of thennal softening and melting were discussed accordingly.

Superplastic Deformation Behavior of Hot-rolled AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheet at Elevated Temperatures

Uniaxial tensile tests were carride out in the temperature range of 250-450℃ and the strain rate range of 0.7×10^-3^-1.4×10^-1s^-1 to evaluate the superplasticity of AZ31 Mg aloy .The threshold stress which characterizes the difficulty for grain boundary sliding was calculated at various temperature .The surface relieves of superplastically deformed specimens were observde by using a scanning elctronic microscops （SEM）.Results show that ,at the temperature of 400℃ and strain rate of 1.7×10^-3^-1,the strain rate sensitivity exponent ,i e,m value reaches 0.47 and the maximum elongation of 362.5% is achieved .Grain boundary sliding （GBS）is the primary deformation mechanism and characterized by a pronounced improvement in the homogeneity with increasing temperatures.A large number of filaments were formed at the end of deformation and intergranular cavities produced with the necking and fracture of filaments.Finally ,the model for the formation of intergranular cavities was proposed.

Enhanced mechanical properties of Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy sheets through slope extrusion

A novel extrusion approach,entitled slope extrusion(SE),was employed to manufacture AZ31(Mg-3Al-1 Zn,wt%)alloy sheets.The microstructures,textures,and mechanical properties were investigated,compared with those of the AZ31 sheet fabricated by conventional extrusion(CE).Through the combination of finite element simulation and actual experiment,the ultimate results indicated that significant grain refinement(from 9.1 to 7.7 and 5.6μm)and strong basal texture(from 12.6 to 17.6 and 19.5 mrd)were achieved by the SE process.The essence was associated with the additional introduced inclined interface in the process of SE,which could bring about more asymmetric deformation and stronger accumulated strain along the ND when compared with the process of CE.As a consequence,the SE sheets exhibited a higher yield strength(YS)and ultimate tensile strength(UTS)than the counterparts of the CE sheet,which was mainly assigned to the synergistic effects from grain refining and texture strengthening.

Role of trace additions of Ca and Sn in improving the corrosion resistance of Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy

The limited wide applicability of commercial Mg alloys is mainly attributed to the poor corrosion resistance.Addition of alloying elements is the simplest and effective method to improve the corrosion properties.Based on the low-cost alloy composition design,the corro-sion behavior of commercial Mg-3Al-1Zn(AZ31)alloy bearing minor Ca or Sn element was characterized by scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy,hydrogen evolution,electrochemical measurements,and corrosion morphology analysis.Results revealed that the potential differ-ence of Al_(2)Ca/α-Mg and Mg_(2)Sn/α-Mg was(230±19)mV and(80±6)mV,respectively,much lower than that of Al_(8)Mn_(5)/α-Mg(430±31)mV in AZ31 alloy,which illustrated that AZ31-0.2Sn alloy performed the best corrosion resistance,followed by AZ31-0.2Ca,while AZ31 al-loy exhibited the worst corrosion resistance.Moreover,Sn dissolved into matrix obviously increased the potential ofα-Mg and participated in the formation of dense SnO_(2) film at the interface of matrix,while Ca element was enriched in the corrosion product layer,resulting in the cor-rosion product layer of AZ31-0.2Ca/Sn alloys more compact,stable,and protective than AZ31 alloy.Therefore,AZ31 alloy bearing 0.2wt%Ca or Sn element exhibited excellent balanced properties,which is potential to be applied in commercial more comprehensively.

Microstructure and properties of Nd：YAG laser welded AZ31B magnesium alloy

Biodegradable magnesium-based alloys are very promising materials for temporary implants. Laser welding is an important joining method in such application. In this study, the as-rolled AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets of 1 mm in thickness were successfully joined by Nd ： YAG laser welding. The microstructure and properties of the welded joint were investigated. The result shows that the welded joint is characterized by a narrow heat-affected zone, finer grains and a large number of precipitates distribute in the matrix in the weld. Microhardness of the weld is significantly improved to 72 HV 0. 05 as compared to 55 HV 0. 05 of the base metal. Tensile strength of butt-welded joint is 180. 24 MPa, which is 76. 8% that of the base metal. The electrochemical corrosion experiment shows that the corrosion resistance of laser welded joint is significantly improved in a 3.5 wt. % NaCl solution.