Cu Partitioning Behavior and Its Effect on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 0.12C-1.33Mn-0.55Cu Q&P Steel

Cu, as an austenitic stable element, is added to steel in order to suppress the adverse effects of high content of C and Mn on welding. Based on C partitioning, Cu and Mn partitioning can further improve the stability of retained austenite in the intercritical annealing process. A sample of low carbon steel containing Cu was treated by the intercritical annealing, then quenching process（I＆Q）. Subsequently, another sample was treated by the intercritical annealing, subsequent austenitizing, then quenching and partitioning process（I＆Q＆P）. The effects of element partitioning behavior in intercritical region on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the steel were studied. The results showed that after the I＆Q process ferrite and martensite could be obtained, with C, Cu and Mn enriched in the martensite. When intercritically heated at 800 ℃, Cu and Mn were partitioned from ferrite to austenite, which was enhanced gradually as the heating time was increased. This partitioning effect was the most obvious when the sample was heated at 800 ℃ for 40 min. At the early stage of α→γ transformation, the formation of γ was controlled by the partitioning of carbon, while at the later stage, it was mainly affected by the partitioning of Cu and Mn. After the I＆Q＆P process, the partitioning effect of Cu and Mn element could be retained. C was assembled in retained austenite during the quenching and partitioning process. The strength and elongation of I＆Q＆P steel was increased by 5 305 MPa% compared with that subjected to Q＆P process. The volume fraction of retained autensite was increased from 8.5% to 11.2%. Hence, the content of retained austenite could be improved significantly by Mn and Cu partitioning, which increased the elongation of steel.

The partitioning behavior of trace elements in subduction zones:Advances and prospects

The partitioning behavior of trace elements is of key importance for understanding the geochemical process and material cycle mechanism in subduction zones.This paper focuses on the advances and prospects on the studies of trace element partitioning in subduction zones from the following four aspects.(1)The properties of fluids derived from subducting slabs and their ability in element transport.How slab-derived solute-rich fluids and supercritical fluids are formed and what the roles and key control factors of these fluids are in transferring of elements(especially the high field strength elements)from slab to wedge are discussed.We point out that the detailed investigations of supercritical fluids may provide a new perspective for the element migration mechanism,material cycle process,arc magma genesis and so on.(2)The behavior of transition elements during mantle wedge melting.The behavior of the first row transition elements(Sc,Ti,V,Cr,Mn,Fe,Co,Ni,Cu,Zn)in the mantle partial melting process is compatible or incompatible,depending on residual mineral assemblage and physicochemical conditions.The partitioning behavior of the elements such as Sc,Ti,Co,Ni and Zn whose valence states do not change in the melting process mainly depends on the residual mineral assemblage and temperature,whereas the partitioning behavior of the multivalent elements such as V and Fe is also the function of oxygen fugacity(fO_(2))in addition to mineral assemblage and temperature.Therefore,the partitioning behavior of transition elements has important applications in tracing lithologic inhomogeneity and fO_(2)of the mantle wedges.(3)The specificity of element partitioning behavior during arc magma evolution.Garnet has Dy/Yb partitioning behavior different from amphibole,and rutile has Nb/Ta partitioning behavior different from amphibole.Dy/Yb and Nb/Ta partitioning differences for these minerals enable to distinguish the specific evolution process of arc magmas.The Dy/Yb and Nb/Ta generally decrease with the increase of SiO_(2)in arc magmas,indicating that amphibole fractionation should be the most important during arc magma differentiation.(4)The behavior of sulfur and chalcophile elements and porphyry metallogeny.In subduction zones,the behavior of chalcophile elements such as Cu and Au is controlled by sulfide and fluid.Therefore,the stability of sulfide,the time at which the fluid exsolves from the melt relative to sulfide saturation,the fluid/sulfide mass ratio and fluid/melt Cu and Au partition coefficients in intermediate-felsic magma-H_(2)O systems are especially important in understanding Cu and Au enrichment in magma-hydrothermal processes.Intermediate-felsic magmas mainly originate from the differentiation of arc magmas at lower crustal reservoirs,and thus the fluid exsolution from the lower crustal reservoirs and the fluid/melt and fluid/sulfide partition coefficients of Cu and Au should be the keys to understanding quantitatively how Cu and Au are migrated from the deep crust to the shallow site of mineralization.

Thermodynamic simulation of complex Pb-Bi concentrate oxidative bath smelting process

The element partitioning in a Pb-Bi concentrate oxygen-rich bath smelting process was studied using thermodynamic equilibrium simulation method. Effects of oxygen to feed ratio(OFR) and sulfur dioxide partial pressure(pSO2) on the partitionings of Bi, Pb, As, Sb, Cu and Ag were analyzed and compared with industrial data. The results suggested that the optimal OFR was between 6.3 and 6.8 kmol/t to maximize Bi, Pb, Cu and Ag partitioning in the metal phase. Further increase of OFR led to the drop of metal partitioning and increase of slag liquidus temperature. High pSO2 led to high deportment of Bi and Pb in the gas phase mainly in the form of sulfides, suggesting that a low pSO2 was conducive for reducing the dust ratio.

PARTITION OF UNITY FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR SHORT WAVE PROPAGATION IN SOLIDS

A partition of unity finite element method for numerical simulation of short wave propagation in solids is presented. The finite element spaces were constructed by multiplying the standard isoparametric finite element shape functions, which form a partition of unity, with the local subspaces defined on the corresponding shape functions, which include a priori knowledge about the wave motion equation in trial spaces and approximately reproduce the highly oscillatory properties within a single element. Numerical examples demonstrate the performance of the proposed partition of unity finite element in both computational accuracy and efficiency.

Kinetic transitions and Mn partitioning during austenite growth from a mixture of partitioned cementite and ferrite:Role of heating rate

Austenite formation from a ferrite-cementite mixture is a crucial step during the processing of advanced high strength steels(AHSS).The ferrite-cementite mixture is usually inhomogeneous in both structure and composition,which makes the mechanism of austenite formation very complex.In this contribution,austenite formation upon continuous heating from a designed spheroidized cementite structure in a model Fe-C-Mn alloy was investigated with an emphasis on the role of heating rate in kinetic transitions and element partitioning during austenite formation.Based on partition/non-partition local equilibrium(PLE/NPLE)assumption,austenite growth was found alternately contribute by PLE,NPLE and PLE controlled interfaces migration during slow-heating,while NPLE mode predominately controlled the austenitization by a synchronous dissolution of ferrite and cementite upon fast-heating.It was both experimentally and theoretically found that there is a long-distance diffusion of Mn within austenite of the slow-heated sample,while a sharp Mn gradient was retained within austenite of the fast-heated sample.Such a strong heterogeneous distribution of Mn within austenite cause a large difference in driving force for ferrite or martensite formation during subsequent cooling process,which could lead to various final microstructures.The current study indicates that fast-heating could lead to unique microstructures which could hardly be obtained via the conventional annealing process.

Influence of alloy element partitioning on strength of primary α phase in Ti-6Al-4V alloy

The partitioning effect of Al（α-phase stabilizer） and V elements（β-phase stabilizer） on strength of the primary α phases in the α/β Ti-6 Al-4 V alloy with the bimodal microstructure was investigated.It was found that partitioning of Al and V elements took place in the Ti-6 Al-4 V alloy during the recrystallization process,leading to the variation of the content of Al and V elements in the primary α phases with changing the volume fraction of the primary α phase.Nanoindentation tests reveal a general trend that the strength of the primary α phases increases with decreasing the volume fraction of the primary α phases,and such trend is independent on the loading direction relative to the c-axis of the α phase.The enhanced strength is attributed to the increase of the content of Al element in the primary α phase,but it is not dominated evidently by the change of the V content.The solid solution strengthening contributed from both the elastic strain introduced by the solute atoms and the variation of the density of states was estimated theoretically.

Elemental Partitioning Characteristics of Equilibrium Phases in Inconel 718 Alloy at 600-1100℃

The optimization of heat treatment and chemical composition for Inconel 718 alloy has been investigated uninterruptedly because of its excellent mechanical properties and metallurgical workability.The species , chemical compositions and content of equilibrium phases of Inconel 718alloy in the temperature range of 600-1 100℃ were calculated by using thermodynamic software ＂ Thermo-Calc ＂ and the latest relevant datebase of Ni-base superalloys.A concept of elemental partitioning fraction was used to study the partitioning characteristics of alloying elements in each equilibrium phase at different temperatures , such as Ni , Cr , Fe , Nb , Mo , Al , Ti and C , and some calculation results were confirmed under a scanning transmission electron microscope （ STEM ） .The results showed that the elemental partitioning characteristics with the change of temperature revealed the selective partitioning characteristic of alloying elements in equilibrium phases at different temperatures , such as Nb was mainly distributed in δ and γ′phase , C in carbides , Al and Ti in γ′phase and Cr , Mo in Laves phase.At the same time , the effect of the change of component and quantity for each precipitated phase on matrix phase can be helpfully understood , which provided a theoretic foundation to optimize the chemical composition and heat treatment in different environments for Inconel 718alloy.

Effects of heating rate on the alloy element partitioning and mechanical properties in equiaxedα+βTi-6Al-4V alloy

The effects of heating rate on the alloy element partitioning and mechanical properties during the phase transformation ofα→βin Ti-6Al-4 V alloy under solution treatment have been investigated by the experiments and phase field simulations,which reveal the evolutions of microstructure and compositions at the non-equilibrium state and well verify the experimental results.The specific results indicate that the compositions measured through electron probe micro-analysis(EPMA)under a lower heating rate are close to the equilibrium ones corresponding to the solution temperature.Heating up to the target solution temperature,as the heating rate increases,the Al content decreases and V increases in the primaryα(α_(p))grain with a larger size,the volume fraction ofα_(p)increases and the composition gradient betweenα_(p)andβphases gets steeper.The interrelated relationship among the diffusion,compositions,solution temperature and free energy of the system has been discussed in detail.Moreover,increasing the heating rate(~20.0 K/min)may help to improve the mechanical properties of the alloy by mainly adjusting theα_(p)/β;volume fractions,α_(p)particle size and secondaryα(α_(p))size during the process of heating up to the solution temperature.These results may shed some light on the optimization of the knowledge-based heat treatment route.

Elemental partitioning as a route to design precipitation-hardened high entropy alloys

Precipitation-hardened high entropy alloys(HEAs)with carefully tuned compositions have shown excellent mechanical properties,demonstrating great potential for engineering applications.However,due to the lack of precise multiple phase diagrams,the composition design of multi-principal-component HEAs still inevitably relies on the extremely time-consuming trial-and-error approach.The present study,on the basis of powerful composition quantification ability of atom probe tomography(APT)technology,proposed a framework to guide the quantitative design of precipitation-hardened HEAs.In this framework,the elemental partitioning was used as a crucial route to avoid the thermodynamic challenge of designing precipitation-hardened HEAs.As a case study,the role of Ti/Al ratio in the design ofγ-γ’HEAs was predicted through the proposed framework and then validated by experimental studies.The framework predicted that when the total content of Ti and Al is fixed,a higher Ti/Al ratio makesγ-γ’HEA stronger.APT and mechanical results agreed well with these predictions and validated the feasibility of the framework.These findings provided a new route to design the precipitation-hardened alloys and a deeper insight into the design ofγ-γ’HEA.

Hierarchical structure and deformation behavior of a novel multicomponent β titanium alloy with ultrahigh strength

Based on the general [Mo] equivalent criterion and d-electron orbital theory, a new ultrahigh-strength βtitanium alloy with eight major elements(Ti-4.5Al-6.5Mo-2Cr-2.6Nb-2Zr-2Sn-1V, TB17) for industrial applications was developed. An ingot of five tons was successfully melted by thrice vacuum consumable arc melting. The microstructure and elements partitioning of different conditions were investigated systematically. The results suggest that the hierarchical structures of micro-scale first α phase(αf), nano-scale secondary α phase(αs), and ultrafine FCC substructures can be tailored by solution plus aging(STA) heat treatment. The lateral and epitaxial growth of αfphase promotes the HCP-α to FCC substructure transformation with the help of elements partitioning during the aging process. Moreover, the element V, generally regarded as β stabilizer, is found to mainly concentrate in the Al-rich αfphase in this study probably due to its relatively lower content and the strong bonding energy of Al-V. The hierarchical structure has a strong interaction with dislocations, which contributes to achieve a superhigh strength of 1376 MPa.In addition, the plastic strain is partitioned in the multi-scale precipitates(such as the α and FCC substructures) and β matrix, resulting in a considerable plasticity. TEM observation demonstrates that high density entangled dislocations at interfaces and mechanical twins exist in the STA sample after tensile test. It can be deduced that both dislocation slipping and twinning mechanisms are present in this alloy.Therefore, TB17 alloy can serve as an excellent candidate for structural materials on aircrafts that require high strength and lightweight.

Thermo-mechanical fatigue behavior of nickel-base powder metallurgy superalloy FGH96 under tension-tension loading

Thermo-mechanical fatigue （TMF） behavior of FGH96, a nickel-base powder metallurgy superalloy, has been studied under tension-tension loading at the temperature range from 550 to 720 ℃. The results show that TMF fracture mode is intergranular for the in-phase （IP）, but transgranular cleavage-like for the out-of-phase （OP） samples. The total content of Al, Ti and Nb in the γ＇ phases for the IP or OP samples and the partitioning ratio of γ＇/γin these elements for the IP samples are relatively higher at the lower strain amplitude, which is consistent with the case of the γ＇ size that is larger at the lower strain amplitude, the lattice parameter misfit is negative and the absolute value is lower at the lower strain amplitude that is correlative with the change of the γ＇ morphology. The deformation at the lower strain amplitude is mainly dominated by the dislocation lines and dislocation pairs in the matrix channels, at the higher strain amplitude dominated by the large numbers of superlattice stacking faults within the γ＇ phases.

Triangular element partition method with consideration of crack tip

In fracture simulation,how to model the pre-existing cracks and simulate their propagation without remeshing is an important topic.The newly developed triangular element partition method(TEPM)provides an efficient approach to this problem.It firstly meshes the cracked body regardless of the geometry integrity of the interesting object with triangular elements.After the meshing procedure is completed,some elements are intersected by cracks.For the element intersected by a crack,the TEPM takes the element partition technique to incorporate the discontinuity into the numerical model without any interpolation enrichment.By this approach,the TEPM can simulate fracture without mesh modification.In the TEPM,all the cracked elements are treated as the usual partitioned elements in which the crack runs through.The virtual node pairs(the intersection points of crack faces and elements)at the opposite faces of the crack move independently.Their displacements are respectively determined by their neighbor real nodes(nodes formatted in the original mesh scheme)at the same side of the crack.However,among these cracked elements,the element containing a crack tip,referred to as the crack tip element thereafter,behaves differently from those cut through by the crack.Its influence on the singular field at the vicinity of the fracture tip becomes increasingly significant with the element size increasing.In the crack tip element,the virtual node pair at the crack tip move consistently before fracture occurs while the virtual node pair separate and each virtual node moves independently after the fracture propagates.Accordingly,the crack tip element is automatically transformed into the usual partitioned element.In the present paper,the crack tip element is introduced into the TEPM to account for the effect of the crack tip.Validation examples indicate that the present method is almost free from the element size effect.It can reach the same precision as the conventional finite element method under the same meshing scheme.But the TEPM is much more efficient and convenient than the conventional finite element method because the TEPM avoids the troubles that the conventional finite element method suffers,e.g.,the meshing problem of cracked body,modification of mesh scheme,etc.Though the extended finite element method can also avoid these troubles,it introduces extra degrees of freedom due to node interpolation enrichment.Due to the simplicity of the present TEPM,it is believed that its perspective should be highly inspiring.

OPTIMAL ERROR ESTIMATES OF THE PARTITION OF UNITY METHOD WITH LOCAL POLYNOMIAL APPROXIMATION SPACES

In this paper, we provide a theoretical method（PUFEM）, which belongs to the analysis of the partition of unity finite element family of meshfree methods. The usual error analysis only shows the order of error estimate to the same as the local approximations[12]. Using standard linear finite element base functions as partition of unity and polynomials as local approximation space, in l-d case, we derive optimal order error estimates for PUFEM interpolants. Our analysis show that the error estimate is of one order higher than the local approximations. The interpolation error estimates yield optimal error estimates for PUFEM solutions of elliptic boundary value problems.

Element-Partition-Based Methods for Visualization of 3D Unstructured Grid Data

E lement- partition- based methods for visualization of 3D unstructured grid data are presented. First, partition schemes for common elements, including curvilinear tetrahedra, pentahedra, hexahedra, etc., are given, so that complex elements can be divided into several rectilinear tetrahedra, and the visualization processes can be simplified.Then, a slice method for cloud map and an iso-surface method based on the partition schemes are described.