Thermal stability and microstructure development of cast and powder metallurgy produced Mg-Y-Zn alloy during heat treatment

Response to isochronal annealing up to 440 ℃ of squeeze cast Mg–Y–Zn alloy and of the same alloy prepared by powder metallurgy(PM)and extruded at 280 ℃ was studied by resistivity and microhardness measurement,differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)and microstructure investigation.Electrical resistivity was measured at 77 K and microhardness was measured at room temperature after each annealing step.DSC measurement was performed at various heating rates.Transmission and scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy revealed ribbons of long-period ordered structure(LPSO)18R and planar defects within grain boundaries.Relatively high density of planar defects was found in grain interiors of the cast alloy with the grain size approximately 50μm.Well pronounced subgrains were observed in the PM prepared alloy.Secondary phase particles decorate grain boundaries in this alloy.Three precipitation processes were detected in the cast alloy during repeated isochronal annealing up to 440 ℃,whereas only one significant process was revealed in the PM alloy.These processes were identified as embedding of stacking faults by solutes,development and rearrangement(18R→14H)of LPSO phase and development of grain boundary particles.A coarsening of grain boundary particles rich in Y and Zn only proceeds in the PM alloy.Activation energies of the precipitation processes were determined.Microhardness exhibits good thermal stability against annealing up to 360 ℃ in the PM alloy.

Selective Laser Melting of an Al–Fe–V–Si Alloy:Microstructural Evolution and Thermal Stability

Selective laser melting was used to produce an aluminum alloy Al-8.5Fe-1.3V-1.7Si（wt%）. The effects of heat treatment on microstructure evolution and phase stability during long-term thermal exposure of the deposits were investigated. Results show that the microquasi-crystalline phase, Al12（Fe,V）3Si and AlmF e metastable phases coexisted with α-Al in the as-produced alloy. Annealing at 400 ℃ resulted in decomposition of microquasi-crystalline phase and supersaturated α-Al into Al12（Fe, V）3Si phase in the fusion zone, accompanied by the decrease in alloy hardness. The activation energy of this decomposition process was 115 k J/mol. A more homogenous microstructure was obtained after annealing at 400 °C for 60 min,which was resistant to coarsening exposed at 425 °C up to 500 h. The Al12（Fe,V）3Si and AlmF e phases were coarsened at 475 and 525℃ with increasing the exposure time. Coarsening of Al12（Fe,V）3Si phase was attributed to a combination of volume diffusion and grain boundary diffusion mechanism of Fe. Heat treatment at 600℃ resulted in accelerated microstructure coarsening and formation of large-sized equilibrium phases, which signi？cantly degraded the room temperature microhardness.

Influence of thermal history on the crystallization behavior of high-Bs Fe-based amorphous alloys

A crucial step in creating cutting-edge soft magnetic alloys is the nanocrystallization of Fe-based amorphous alloys.However,it is unclear how the thermal history affects the nanocrystallization.In this work,high-precision nanocalorimetry and in-situ hightemperature transmission electron microscopy are used to systematically examine how the pre-annealing relaxation process affects the nanocrystallization of Fe-based amorphous alloys.We discover that the glass with more thermal energy storage will crystallize into superb nanocrystalline structures with exceptionally advanced soft magnetism.The soft magnetic properties of Fe-B nanocrystalline alloys can be improved by increasing the relaxation temperature.This finding provides solid and clear evidence for the influences of thermal history on crystallization behavior for Fe-based amorphous alloys,which is helpful for designing advanced soft magnetic nanocrystalline alloys.