Mixed grain structure and mechanical property anisotropy of AZ40 magnesium alloy bar with diameter of 160 mm

The mixed grain structure and mechanical property anisotropy of AZ40 magnesium alloy bar with a diameter of 160 mm manufactured by ＂multi-direction forging（MDF） ＋ extrusion ＋ online cooling＂ technique were investigated by optical microscopy（OM）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, X-ray diffraction macro-texture measurement and room temperature（RT） tensile test. The results show that mixed grain structure is caused by the micro-segregation of Al in semi-continuous casting ingot. Homogenization of（380 °C, 8 h） ＋（410 °C, 12 h） cannot totally eliminate such micro-segregation. During MDF and extrusion, the dendrite interiors with 3%-4% Al（mass fraction） transform to fine grain zones, yet the dendrite edges with about 6% Al transform to coarse grain zones. XRD macro-textures of the outer, R/2 and center show typical fiber texture characteristics and the intensity of [0001]//Ra D orientation in the outer（11.245） is about twice as big as those in the R/2（6.026） and center（6.979）. The as-extruded AZ40 magnesium alloy bar has high elongation（A） and moderate ultimate tensile strength（Rm） in both extrusion direction（ED） and radius direction（Ra D）, i.e., A of 19%-25% and Rm of 256-264 MPa; however, yield strength（Rp0.2） shows anisotropy and heterogeneity, i.e., 103 MPa in Ra D, 137 MPa in ED-C（the center） and 161 MPa in ED-O（the outer）, which are mainly caused by the texture.（155 °C, 7 h） ＋（170 °C, 24 h） aging has no influence on strength and elongation of AZ40 magnesium bar.

Methods and mechanisms for uniformly refining deformed mixed and coarse grains inside a solution-treated Ni-based superalloy by two-stage heat treatment

The uniform refinement mechanisms and methods of deformed mixed and coarse grains inside a solution-treatment Ni-based superalloy during two-stage annealing treatment have been investigated.The two-stage heat treatment experiments include an aging annealing treatment(AT)and a subsequent recrystallization annealing treatment(RT).The object of AT is to precipitate someδphases and consume part of storage energy to inhibit the grain growth during RT,while the RT is to refine mixed and coarse grains by recrystallization.It can be found that the recrystallization grains will quickly grow up to a large size when the AT time is too low or the RT temperature is too high,while the deformed coarse grains cannot be eliminated when the AT time is too long or the RT temperature is too low.In addition,the mixed microstructure composed of some abnormal coarse recrystallization grains(ACRGs)and a large number of fine grains can be observed in the annealed specimen when the AT time is 3 h and RT temperature is 980℃.The phenomenon attributes to the uneven distribution ofδphase resulted from the heterogeneous deformation energy when the AT time is too short.In the regions with a large number ofδphases,the recrystallization nucleation rate is promoted and the growth of grains is limited,which results in fine grains.However,in the regions with fewδphases,the recrystallization grains around grain boundaries can easily grow up,and the new recrystallization nucleus is difficult to form inside grain,which leads to ACRGs.Thus,in order to obtain uniform and fine annealed microstructure,it is a prerequisite to precipitate even-distributedδphase by choosing a suitable AT time,such as 12 h.Moreover,a relative high RT temperature is also needed to promote the recrystallization nucleation aroundδphase.The optimal annealing parameters range for uniformly refining mixed crystal can be summarized as:900℃×12 h+990℃×(40-60 min)and 900℃×12 h+1000℃×(10-15 min).

A method for simulating sediment incipient motion varying with time and space in an ocean model(FVCOM):development and validation

We modified the sediment incipient motion in a numerical model and evaluated the impact of this modification using a study case of the coastal area around Weihai, China. The modified and unmodified versions of the model were validated by comparing simulated and observed data of currents, waves, and suspended sediment concentrations(SSC) measured from July 25^(th) to July 26^(th), 2006. A fitted Shields diagram was introduced into the sediment model so that the critical erosional shear stress could vary with time. Thus, the simulated SSC patterns were improved to more closely reflect the observed values, so that the relative error of the variation range decreased by up to 34.5% and the relative error of simulated temporally averaged SSC decreased by up to 36%. In the modified model, the critical shear stress values of the simulated silt with a diameter of 0.035 mm and mud with a diameter of 0.004 mm varied from 0.05 to 0.13 N/m^2, and from 0.05 to 0.14 N/m^2, respectively, instead of remaining constant in the unmodified model. Besides, a method of applying spatially varying fractions of the mixed grain size sediment improved the simulated SSC distribution to fit better to the remote sensing map and reproduced the zonal area with high SSC between Heini Bay and the erosion groove in the modified model. The Relative Mean Absolute Error was reduced by between 6% and 79%, depending on the regional attributes when we used the modified method to simulate incipient sediment motion. But the modification achieved the higher accuracy in this study at a cost of computation speed decreasing by 1.52%.

Formation mechanism of basin-like depression defect in electric upsetting process of Ni80A superalloy

A kind of surface instability,basin-like depression defect companied by mixed grain structure at the bottom of large-scale valve during electric upsetting process,would significantly influence the microstructures and mechanical properties of components.In order to analyze the forming process of the basin-like depression defect,a finite element model for the electric upsetting process of Ni80A superalloy was developed using multi-field and multi-scale coupling analysis method.Subsequently,a series of parameters loading path schemes for force and current were designed by varying the initial value,peak value and value level,and their effects on basin-like depression and mixed grain structure were simulated and uncovered.It is concluded that the changes of heating speed and pressurization speed result in the different flow velocities between the inner and outer layers of billet,thus exerting the basin-like depression.Simulation results also indicate that these defects can be optimized through the parameter coordination between force and current.Finally,the validity and reliability of the finite element model were verified by physical experiments in electric upsetting process.