Effect of Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Si Cp/2024 Aluminum Matrix Composite

SiCp/2024 aluminum alloy matrix composite was prepared by powder metallurgy method. Effects of heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of composite were investigated by SEM, EDS, XRD, HREM, tensile and hardness tests. The experimental results showed that SiC particles distributed uniformly in the matrix and were in good combination with matrix. The tensile strength and hardness were improved significantly after heat treatment. With the increase of solid solution temperature, the alloy phases dissolved in the matrix gradually. When the solid solution temperature arrived at 505 ℃, the alloy phases dissolved thoroughly, and the composite exhibited the highest tensile strength and hardness（σb=360 MPa, HBS=104）. The main strengthening phase was Al2Cu, which was granular and distributed dispersively in the matrix. Effect of T6 was better than that of T4 at the same solid solution temperature.

Effect of Post Weld Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Fracture Toughness of Friction Welded Joint

The effect of post weld heat treatment on the microstructure and fracture toughness of friction welded joints of Ti-6.5Al-1Mo-1V-2Zr alloy was studied. The experimental results show that equiaxial grains were formed at the center of the weld metal while highly deformed grains were observed in the thermomechanically affected zone. The fracture toughness of the weld metal was lower than that of the thermomechanically affected zone under as-weld and post weld heat treatment conditions. With increasing temperature of post weld heat treatment, the fracture toughness of weld center and thermomechanically affected zone increased. The fractographic observation revealed that the friction welded joints fractured in a ductile mode.

Synergistic effects of composition and heat treatment on microstructure and properties of vacuum die cast Al-Si-Mg-Mn alloys

The purpose of this study was to prepare high-quality Al-Si-Mg-Mn alloy with a good combination of strength and ductility employing the vacuum-assisted high-pressure die cast process. An orthogonal study of heat treatments was conducted to design an optimized T6 heat treatment process for both Al-10%Si-0.3%Mg-Mn and Al-11%Si-0.6%Mg-Mn alloys. The results demonstrate that no obvious blisters and warpage were observed in these two alloys with solid solution treatment. After the optimal T6 heat treatment of 530°C×3 h + 165°C×6 h, Al-11%Si-0.6%Mg-Mn alloy has better mechanical properties, of which tensile strength, yield strength and elongation reached 377.3 MPa, 307.8 MPa and 9%, respectively. The improvement of mechanical properties can be attributed to the high density of needle-like β″(Mg_5Si_6) precipitation after aging treatment and the fine and spherical eutectic Si particles uniformly distributed in the α-Al matrix.

Effects of Sm addition on microstructural evolution of Mg-6Zn-0.4Zr alloy during semi-solid isothermal heat treatment

The application of segmental semi-solid thixoforming of magnesium alloys is confined due to the dimensional distinction existing in solid particles of the alloy billet from edge to center zones. In the present study, the effects of Sm addition on the microstructural evolution of Mg-6Zn-0.4Zr and Mg-6Zn-4Sm-0.4Zr alloys by semi-solid isothermal heat treatment were investigated, to obtain optimum semi-solid microstructures for the subsequently thixoforming. The results indicate that the grains of the Sm-bearing alloy are evidently refined and gradually evolve from dendritic to globular and elliptic particles. In addition, the distinctly dimensional effect of the Mg-6Zn-0.4Zr alloy is eliminated with 4% Sm addition; the particle sizes in all zones from center to the edge of the billet are almost identical. With the increment of isothermal heat treatment temperature, the dendritic microstructures completely disappear, and meanwhile, the irregular and globular particles gradually form. The size, morphology and the distribution of solid particles mainly depend on the formation and permeation of the liquid phase in the process of isothermal heat treatment. As the isothermal temperature increases from 570 °C to 610 °C, the average size and shape factor of solid particles of both the alloys with and without Sm addition gradually decrease while the liquid fraction gradually increases.

Effect of Post-weld Heat Treatment on Mechanical Characteristics of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Welded Joints

Tungsten inert gas（TIG） welding was performed on 2.7 mm thick commercial extruded AZ31 B magnesium alloy plates. We investigated the effect of post-weld heat treatment（PWHT） on the microstructure, mechanical properties and precipitated phase of the weld joints. The results showed that during the annealing treatment（200 ℃-1 h, 250 ℃-1 h, 300 ℃-1 h, 350 ℃-1 h, 400 ℃-1 h, and 450 ℃-1 h）, the average grain size in the weld seam was the minimum after annealing at 400 ℃ for 1 hour, and then abnormally grew up after annealing at 450 ℃ for 1 hour. The mechanical properties enhanced when the joints were processed from 200 ℃-1 h to 400 ℃-1 h but sharply decreased with increasing annealing temperature. In contrast to the annealing treatment, solution treatment（250 ℃-10 h, 300 ℃-10 h, 350 ℃-10 h, 400 ℃-10 h, and 450 ℃-10 h） exhibited a better ductility but a slight deterioration in tensile strength. Especially speaking, no eutectic compounds（such as Mg17 Al12） were observed in the weld seam. The supersaturated Al atoms were precipitated in a coarse spherical shape dispersed in the weld seam. The precipitated Al atoms dissolved in the matrix substances at the condition（400 ℃-1 h） or（250 ℃-10 h）. The solution treatment caused grain coarsening and precipitated Al atoms dissolved in the weld seam substantially, which resulted in a drop in micro-hardness at the weld seam compared to the area of the annealed joints.

A study of microstructure and properties of cast Fe-10Cr-1.5B alloy

In the present study, the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast Fe-10Cr-1.5B（FCB） alloy after different heat treatments were studied. The results showed that the as-cast microstructure of FCB alloy consists of α-Fe, M（M=Cr, Fe, Mn）2（B, C） and M（M=Cr, Fe, Mn）7（C, B）3 type borocarbides, and small amounts of pearlite and austenite. After oil quenching treatment, metal matrix transformed into the martensite from the mixture of martensite, pearlite and austenite. There are many M（M=Cr,Fe,Mn）23（C,B）6 type borocarbide precipitates in the metal matrix, and eutectic borocarbide appears with an apparent disconnection and isolated phenomenon. When the quenching temperature reaches 1,050℃, the hardness of FCB alloy is the highest, but the change of quenching temperature has no obvious effect on impact toughness of FCB alloy. After tempering, the eutectic microstructure of FCB alloy appears with a ＂two links＂ trend. With the increase of tempering temperature, the hardness of FCB alloy decreases gradually and impact toughness increases gradually. Cast FCB alloy oil-quenched from 1,050℃ and tempered from 200℃ has excellent combined properties; its hardness and impact toughness are 61.5 HRC and 8.8 J·cm^-2 respectively.

Effect of friction stir processed microstructure on tensile properties of an Al-Zn-Mg-Sc alloy upon subsequent aging heat treatment

An as-cast Al-Zn-Mg-Sc alloy was friction stir processed varying tool related parameters, yielding microstructures with different grain sizes （0.68, 1.8 and 5.5 μm）. Significant increases in room temperature ductility were obtained in these materials with reasonable enhancement in strength. It is demonstrated that the type of microstructure produced by friction stir processing （FSP） has a significant influence on the choice of post-FSP heat treatment design for achieving improved tensile properties. It is also found that the ultrafine grained FSP material could not achieve the desired high strength during the post-FSP heat treatment without grain coarsening, whereas the micro-grained FSP materials could reach such strength levels （〉560 MPa） under conventional age hardening heat treatment conditions.

Microstructure improvement related coercivity enhancement for sintered NdFeB magnets after optimized additional heat treatment

The micro structure, especially the Nd-rich phase and the grain boundary, in sintered NdFeB magnets plays an important role in magnetic reversal and coercivity mechanism. To better understand the effects of the microstructure on the coercivity, we investigated the microstructure and properties improvements of a commercial sintered NdFeB magnet after optimized additional heat treatment. The coercivity is enhanced from 1399 to 1560 kA/m. This enhancement has been explained in terms of the evolution of the grain boundary structure, and the formation of continuous thin layers of Nd-rich phase is important for high coercivity. The micromagnetic simulation together with the numerical analysis based on the nucleation model suggest that the reversed magnetic domains nucleate mainly at the interface of multijunctions of Nd_2 Fe_（14）B grains with high stray fields during the demagnetization process. Both improved anisotropy fields at grain boundaries and reduced stray fields at multi-junction Nd-rich phases contribute to the coercivity enhancement. This work has importance in understanding the crucial micro structure parameters and enhancing the obtainable properties for sintered NdFeB magnets.

Enhanced high-temperature mechanical properties of laser-arc hybrid additive manufacturing of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy via microstructure control

Recently,rapid and cost-effective additive manufacturing solutions for lightweight aluminum alloys with excellent high-temperature mechanical properties have been increasingly in demand.In this study,we combined laser-arc hybrid additive manufacturing with solution and artificial aging treatments to achieve Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy with favorable high-temperature strength via microstructure control.Hydrogen pores became the major defect in the as-deposited and heat-treated specimens.The continuous distribution of eutectics with hard-brittle characteristics at the grain boundaries was destructed following heat treat-ment.High-densityηprecipitates were uniformly dispersed in the heat-treated Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy,whereas appeared coarsened and dissolved at 473 K,owing to the rapid diffusion of Zn and Mg.The average 0.2%yield strength(318±16 MPa)and ultimate tensile strength(362±20 MPa)at 473 K af-ter heat treatment were enhanced by approximately 58%and 51%,respectively,compared to those of the as-deposited specimen.In addition,theηprecipitates contributed to lattice distortions and strain fields,which prevented dislocation motion and increased slip deformation resistance at high temper-atures.The as-deposited specimen exhibited intergranular fracture at 473 K,with cracks preferring to propagate along the aggregated eutectics.However,crack propagation proceeded in the sections with more pores in the heat-treated specimen.Our approach may provide a valid option for achieving alu-minum alloys with excellent high-temperature mechanical properties.

Effects of Cr Content on the Microstructure and Properties of 26Cr–3.5Mo–2Ni and 29Cr–3.5Mo–2Ni Super Ferritic Stainless Steels

By using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, strength and hardness measurements, the microstructure, precipitation, mechanical properties, and corrosion resis- tance have been investigated for two super ferritic stainless steels, 26Cr-3.SMo-2Ni and 29Cr-3.5Mo- 2Ni, with the aim to consider the effect of Cr content. The results showed that with the addition of Cr content, the recrystallization temperature was increased; the precipitation of Laves and Sigma （o） phases was promoted and the mechanical properties of super ferritic stainless steel were modified. Further- more, the pitting corrosion resistance and corrosion resistance to H2SO4 of the two super ferritic stainless steels were improved. In addition, suitable annealing processing is a key factor to maintain integrated performance by optimizing microstructure and removing detrimental precipitation phases.

Effects of substitution of Nd in a sand-cast Mg-2.5Nd-0.6Zn-0.5Zr alloy with x wt.% Sm(x=2.5, 4, and 6)

The microstructures and mechanical properties of a series of sand-cast Mg-Sm-Zn-Zr alloys under ascast, solution-treated and peak-aged states were thoroughly investigated. The OM, XRD, SEM and HRTEM were employed to characterize the microstructural evolution. The results indicate that substitution Nd in the conventional Mg-2.5 Nd-0.6 Zn-0.5 Zr alloy with different contents of Sm has comparative grain refinement effect and will fully change the dominant intermetallic phase. In addition, the substituted alloys perform clearly higher strength with comparative ductility at both as-cast and peakaged conditions and much greater aging hardening response than the referential alloy. It is obvious that the strength increments of this alloy are attributed to the changes of the eutectic intermetallic particles on grain boundaries.

Precipitation behavior of 14H-LPSO structure in Mg–12Gd–2Er–1Zn–0.6Zr Alloy

The microstructures of as-cast and as-solution Mg–12Gd–2Er–1Zn–0.6Zr alloys were investigated by optical microscopy（OM）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, transmission electron microscopy（TEM）, highresolution transmission electron microscopy（HRTEM）X-ray diffraction（XRD） and selected-area electron diffraction（SAED） in the present investigation. The results show that the primary eutectic phase Mg5（Gd, Er, Zn） and some flocculent features are found in the as-cast alloy; the SAED pattern indicates that these flocculent features are the dense areas of stacking faults. The 14H-LPSO structure precipitates in the temperature range of 673–793 K, and the volume fraction of 14H-LPSO structure increases with the extension of heating time; however, there is no precipitation of 14H-LPSO structure when the temperature reaches up to 803 K. In addition, the Mg5（Gd, Er, Zn） phase dissolves gradually along with the precipitation of 14H-LPSO structure.