Properties,Microstructures and Precipitate Morphology of Hot-rolled Interstital-Free(IF)Steel Sheets

In order to simplify production process and to decrease production cost of thicker cold-rolled iF steel sheets for deep drawing applications, a new hot-rolled IF steel sheet is developed through hot-rolling in or region. In this paper, properties, microstructures and precipitate morphology of hot-rolled iF steel sheets are described..

Effect of aging temperature on the microstructures and mechanical properties of ZG12Cr9Mo1Co1NiVNbNB ferritic heat-resistant steel

The effect of aging on the mechanical properties and microstructures of a new ZG12Cr9 MolColNiVNbNB ferritic heat resistant steel was investigated in this work to satisfy the high steam parameters of the ultra-supercritical power plant.The results show that the main precipitates during aging are Fe（Cr,Mo）23C6,V（Nb）C,and（Fe2Mo） Laves in the steel.The amounts of the precipitated phases increase during aging,and correspondingly,the morphologies of phases are similar to be round.Fe（Cr,Mo）23C6 appears along boundaries and grows with increasing temperature.In addition,it is revealed that the martensitic laths are coarsened and eventually happen to be polygonization.The hardness and strength decrease gradually,whereas the plasticity of the steel increases.What＇s more,the hardness of this steel after creep is similar to that of other 9%-12%Cr ferritic steels.Thus,ZG12Cr9 MolColNiVNbNB can be used in the project.

Effect of pre-annealing prior to cold rolling on the precipitation,microstructure and magnetic properties of strip-cast non-oriented electrical steels

A novel processing route involving strip casting, pre-annealing treatment, cold rolling and recrystallization annealing was applied to a Fe-2.6%Si steel to improve the magnetic properties. The impact of as-cast strip pre-annealing on the microstructure, texture, precipitation and magnetic properties were investigated by electron probe micro-analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis,etc. It was found that the precipitation of second-phase particles during strip casting was restrained by rapid solidification. The absence of pre-annealing led to the occurrence of a large amount of 20-50 nm Mn S precipitates in the final annealed sheets, which is responsible for fine grains and high core loss（4.01 W/kg） due to grain boundary pinning effect. Although the microstructure and texture of 900-1000？C pre-annealed samples were similar to those of as-cast strip, significant grain coarsening together with the strengthening of-fiber texture was observed in the 1100？C pre-annealed strips. In comparison with the case of as-cast strip, a higher amount of large-sized precipitates consisting of manganese sulfide and/or aluminum nitride occurred in matrix after pre-annealing. Correspondingly, in the final annealed sheets, the number density of precipitates with sizes smaller than 100 nm was substantially reduced, and100-200 nm and 200-500 nm sized particles became more dominant in samples subjected to 30-min and 120-min pre-annealing treatments respectively. In addition, the average grain size of final annealed sheets increased with the pre-annealing temperature and time because of the weakened pining effect of coarsen precipitates. Ultimately, the magnetic induction of samples subjected to pre-annealing was slightly increased and ranged from 1.73 T to 1.75 T owing to the enhancement of {100} recrystallization texture, and simultaneously the core loss significantly decreased until a minimum of 3.26 W/kg was reached. Nevertheless, large number of 200-500 nm particles presented during pre-annealing for 120 min could weaken the improvement in core loss which is likely associated with the pinning effect on magnetic domain wall.

Characterisation, Luminescence and Antibacterial Properties of Stable AgNPs Synthesised from AgCl by Precipitation Method

Silver nanoparticles （AgNPs） were synthesised using equimolar concentrations of redtlcing agent vitamin C and AgCl precursor by simple precipitation method. The synthesised AgNPs were characterised by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, UV-Visible, photoluminescence and field emission scanning electron microscopy （FESEM） analysis. The formation of AgNPs was confirmed by the typical surface plasmon resonance band at 426 nm. The presence of elemental silver and pure crystalline face centre cubic （fcc） structure was confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray analysis and XRD analysis, respectively. The FESEM images showed the formation of spherical AgNPs for lower concentrations （0.1 and 0.3 mol/L） while spike and flower shaped particles were formed for higher concentration. Photoluminescence characteristic band was observed with no shift at 390 nm indicating the stable nature of AgNPs. The antibacterial property of the AgNPs was tested against gram negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa by using Cissus quadrangular as a control and the result showed that vitamin C reduced AgNPs have good antibacterial activity.

Effect of Ageing at 700℃ on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of S31042 Heat Resistant Steel

To investigate the effect of high temperature ageing on the microstructure and mechanical properties of S31042steel,solid solution treatment at 700℃ was carried out for various time from 10to 6 000h.Experimental results showed that the change of mechanical properties is closely related to the amount of precipitated phases.During ageing from 10to 300h,precipitation in the tested steel increases rapidly,and correspondingly,the high temperature yield strength and room temperature hardness of tested steel increase rapidly.Meanwhile,the thickness of the secondary phase on grain boundaries widens sharply and the room temperature Charpy impact absorb energy decreases.Ageing beyond 300h,the precipitation in the steel increases gradually and the precipitates coarsen to a certain extent.The high temperature yield strength of the steel keeps stable,and the room temperature Charpy impact energy and hardness decrease slowly.Ageing beyond 3 000h,the mechanical properties of the steel tend to be stable.The main precipitates are M23C6,NbCrN and NbC in the tested steel.

Accelerated precipitation behavior of cast Mg-Al-Zn alloy by grain refinement

This study demonstrates that the precipitation behavior of 13-Mg17Al12 phase during aging and the resultant variation in hardness and mechanical properties of cast Mg-Al-Zn alloy are strongly dependent on initial grain size. Grain size reduction accelerates discontinuous precipitation at the early stage of aging treatment by increasing the area fraction of grain boundaries that can act as nucleation sites for discontinuous precipitates （DP）, but it does not influence DP growth rate. Grain refinement also prematurely terminates continuous precipitation because the formation of a large number of DP reduces the amount of AI dissolved in the matrix, which is required for the formation of continuous precipitates （CP）. This promotion of DP formation and early termination of CP formation significantly decrease the peak-aging time to one-third. The enhanced precipitation behavior also leads to an additional hardness improvement in the aged alloy, along with an increase in hardness owing to grain boundary strengthening by grain refinement. The amount of increase in hardness changes with aging time, which is determined by the variation of three variables with aging time： DP fraction difference between refined and nonrefined alloys, hardness difference between DP and matrix, and matrix hardness difference between the two alloys. Grain refinement improves both tensile strength and ductility of the homogenized alloy owing to grain boundary strengthening and suppression of twinning activation, respectively. However, the loss of ductility after peak-aging treatment is greater in the refined alloy because of the larger amount of DP acting as a crack source in this alloy.

Precipitation Behavior of Cu-1.9Be-0.3Ni-0.15Co Alloy During Aging

In this paper,the evolutions of microstructure and mechanical properties of Cu-l.9Be-0.3Ni-0.15Co alloy were studied.The alloys in the condition of the solution treated（soft state） and 37% cold rolled（hard state） were aged at 320 ℃for different time,respectively.The mechanical properties,electrical conductivity and microstructure of the alloy aged for different time were analyzed.Additionally,the precipitation kinetics of Cu-1.9Be-0.3Ni-0.15Co alloys was investigated.X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy results reveal that both continuous precipitation and discontinuous precipitation existed in the hard-state Cu-l.9Be-0.3Ni-0.15Co alloy during the whole aging process;the sequence of continuous precipitation is G.P.zone →γ″→γ′→γ.Furthermore,the precipitation transformation mechanism of softstate alloy is homogeneous nucleation,while hard-state alloy shows the heterogeneous nucleation（interface nucleation）with the nucleation rate of both states decaying rapidly to zero during aging at 320 ℃.

Effect of Solution Annealing on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of a Ni-Cr-W-Fe Alloy

The effect of solution annealing on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a Ni-Cr-W-Fe alloy developed for advanced 700？C ultra-supercritical power plants was investigated. Test samples in this study were subjected to different solution treatments and the same aging treatment（at 760？C for 1 h）.When solution annealing temperature was elevated from 1020？C to 1150？C, the stress-rupture life at750？C/320 MPa was increased from 60 h to 300 h, the stress-rupture elongation was enhanced from12% to 17%, and the elongation of the tensile at 750？C was improved from 11% to 24%. All tensile and stress-rupture samples displayed an intergranular dimple mixed fracture. Intergranular micro-cracks had a great relationship with the morphology of grain boundary carbides. Most carbides retained the morphology of globular shape and continuous thin plate. After tensile and stress-rupture tests, a few carbides were converted into lamellar. The results showed that intergranular micro-cracks were easier to form at continuous thin plate carbides than at globular shape carbides. Lamellar carbides hardly caused the nucleation of micro-cracks. Besides, grain boundaries sliding and elements diffusion during stressrupture tests led to the formation of precipitate free zones, which accelerated the extension of microcracks and influenced the stress-rupture life.

Fabrication of magnetic nanosized γ-FeNi-coated ceramic core-shell microspheres by heterogeneous precipitation and thermal reduction

Precursors with NiCO3-2Ni（OH）2.2H2O- and Fe203.nH20-coated alumina, graphite and cenosphere were synthesized by precipitation using ferrous sulfate, nickel sulfate, ammonium bicarbonate, alumina, graphite and cenosphere as the main starting materials. Magnetic γ-FeNi-coated alumina, graphite and cenosphere core-shell structural microspheres were subsequently prepared by thermal reduction of the as-prepared precursors at 600℃ for 2 h. Precipitation parameters, e.g. concentration of ceramic micropowders （lOg/L）, sulfate solution （0.2mol/L）, rate of adding reactants （3 mL/min） and pH value were optimized by a trial-and-error method. Powders of the precursors and the resulting coating of γ-FeNi with grain size below 40 nm on alumina, graphite and cenosphere microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, energy dispersive spectroscopy （EDS） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The magnetic properties of the nanosize γ-FeNi-coated alumina, graphite and cenosphere microspheres were measured by vibrating sample magnetometer （VSM）. The results show that the core-shell structural γ-FeNi-coated ceramic microspheres exhibited higher coercivity than pure γ-FeNi powders, indicating that these materials can be used for high-Derformance functional materials and devices.

Effect of N on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of High Si Martensitic Heat-Resistant Steels

In order to investigate the effect of N on the microstructure and room temperature mechanical properties of new-type high silicon martensitic heat-resistant steels,three steels containing the same total content of C and N but different N contents have been designed and prepared according to the thermo-calc calculation.The thermodynamic calculation and experiments indicate that the replacing of C by N changes the kind and volume fraction of precipitates of the high Si martensitic steel significantly.Along with the N content increasing,the precipitates in the samples after 750 °C tempering change from（Cr23C6？ VN ？ TaC） to（Cr23C6？ VN ？ TaC ？ TaN） and finally to（Cr23C6？ VN ？ Cr2N）according to both experimental results and thermodynamic calculations.The room temperature mechanical tests show that the strength of the steel decreases as the N content increases.However,the Charpy impact toughness increases with N content increasing.According to the calculation and SEM observation,it is inferred that the decrease of amount and size of precipitates accounts for the changes of the mechanical properties.

The East Asian Subtropical Summer Monsoon：Recent Progress

The East Asian subtropical summer monsoon（EASSM） is one component of the East Asian summer monsoon system,and its evolution determines the weather and climate over East China.In the present paper,we firstly demonstrate the formation and advancement of the EASSM rainbelt and its associated circulation and precipitation patterns through reviewing recent studies and our own analysis based on JRA-55（Japanese 55-yr Reanalysis） data and CMAP（CPC Merged Analysis of Precipitation）,GPCP（Global Precipitation Climatology Project）,and TRMM（Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission） precipitation data.The results show that the rainy season of the EASSM starts over the region to the south of the Yangtze River in early April,with the establishment of strong southerly wind in situ.The EASSM rainfall,which is composed of dominant convective and minor stratiform precipitation,is always accompanied by a frontal system and separated from the tropical summer monsoon system.It moves northward following the onset of the South China Sea summer monsoon.Moreover,the role of the land-sea thermal contrast in the formation and maintenance of the EASSM is illustrated,including in particular the effect of the seasonal transition of the zonal land-sea thermal contrast and the influences from the Tibetan Plateau and midlatitudes.In addition,we reveal a possible reason for the subtropical climate difference between East Asia and East America.Finally,the multi-scale variability of the EASSM and its influential factors are summarized to uncover possible reasons for the intraseasonal,interannual,and interdecadal variability of the EASSM and their importance in climate prediction.

Optimizing the Preparation Parameters of Nanocrystalline Zirconia for Catalytic Applications

Nanocrystalline zirconia powder with high surface area and high tetragonal phase percentage is prepared by the precipitation method using ammonium hydroxide as a precipitating agent. The pH of precipitation, preparation temperature and calcinations＇ temperature are optimized.Crystallite size, specific surface area, tetragonal phase percentage and the thermal stability of the prepared samples are identified by diferent characterization tools such as X-ray difraction（XRD）, thermo gravimetric analysis（TGA）, diferential scanning calorimetry（DSC）, BET surface area, scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and transmission electron microscopy（TEM）. The optimum preparation parameters for obtaining nanocrystalline zirconia with high percentage of tetragonal phase and high surface area are pH 9, preparation temperature of 80℃ and calcinations＇ temperature of 400℃. The sample prepared under optimized conditions showed a high specific surface area of 179.2 m2/g, high tetragonal phase percentage of 81% and high catalytic activity（60%） for synthesis of butyl acetate ester.

Microstructure and stress-rupture property of an experimental single crystal Ni-base superalloy with different heat treatments

The influence of heat treatment on the microstructure and stress-rupture property at 1,100 °C/140 MPa was investigated in a 5.0 wt% Re containing experimental single crystal Ni-base superalloy. The results indicate that the γmorphology is nearly cuboidal in the dendrite core after conventional heat treatment. The lattice misfit of alloy becomes more negative after modified heat treatment and results in more cuboidal γ precipitates than that after conventional heat treatment. The increased stress-rupture life after modified heat treatment is attributed to higher γ volume fraction, more negative lattice misfit, well-rafted structure, and narrower c channel width.

A high-strength,ductile Al-0.35Sc-0.2Zr alloy with good electrical conductivity strengthened by coherent nanosized-precipitates

Ductility and electrical conductivity of metallic materials are inversely correlated with their strength,resulting in a difficulty of optimizing all three simultaneously. We design an Al-Sc-Zr-based alloy using semisolid extrusion to yield a good trade-off between strength and ductility along with excellent electrical conductivity. The Al-0.35Sc-0.2Zr wire with a diameter of 3 mm exhibited the best combined properties： a tensile strength of 210 ± 2 MPa, elongation of 7.6% ± 0.5%, and an electrical conductivity of 34.9 ± 0.05 MS/m. The average particle size of nanosized Al3（Sc, Zr） precipitates increased from 6.5 ± 0.5 nm to 25.0 ± 0.5 nm as the aging time increased from 1 h to 96 h at 380 °C, accompanied by the corresponding volume fraction variation from（6.2 ± 0.1） × 10^（-4） to（3.7 ± 0.1） × 10^（-3）. As proved by transmission electron microscopy observation, the high strength originates from the effective blockage of dislocation motion by numerous nanosized Al3（Sc, Zr） precipitates whilst both electrical conductivity and ductility remain at a high level due to the coherent precipitates possessing an extremely low electrical resistivity.

Heat-treatable Mg-9Al-6Sn-3Zn extrusion alloy

Mg-9Al-6Sn-3Zn （wt%） alloy was extruded and heat treated in T5 and T6 conditions, and its mechanical properties and microstructures were investigated. The extruded product can be slightly strengthened by the T5 treatment as a result of sparse and heterogeneous precipitation. Significant increase in strength is achieved by the T6 treatment, and this is mostly attributed to the formation of lamellar discontinuous Mg17Al12 precipitates. The segregation of Al and Zn at grain boundaries is responsible for the discontinuous Mg17Al12 nucleation. The T6-treated alloy exhibits a tensile yield strength of 341 MPa and an ultimate tensile strength of 409 MPa, together with an elongation to fracture of 4%.

Influence of size and distribution of W phase on strength and ductility of high strength Mg-5.1Zn-3.2Y-0.4Zr-0.4Ca alloy processed by indirect extrusion

A high strength Mg-5.1Zn-3.2Y-0.4Zr-0.4Ca （wt%） alloy containing W phase （Mg3Y2Zn3） prepared by permanent mold direct-chill casting is indirectly extruded at 350 ℃ and 400 ℃, respectively. The extruded alloys show bimodal grain structure consisting of fine dynamic recrystallized （DRXed） grains and unre- crystallized coarse regions containing fine W phase and β2′ precipitates. The fragmented W phase particles induced by extrusion stimulate nucleation of DRXed grains, leading to the formation of fine DRXed grains, which are mainly distributed near the W particle bands along the extrusion direction. The alloy extruded at 350 ℃ exhibits yield strength of 373 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 403 MPa and elongation to failure of 5.1%. While the alloy extruded at 400 ℃ shows lower yield strength of 332 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 352 MPa and higher elongation to failure of 12%. The mechanical properties of the as-extruded alloys vary with the distribution and size of W phase. A higher fraction of DRXed grains is obtained due to the homogeneous distribution of micron-scale broken W phase particles in the alloy extruded at 400 ℃, which can lead to higher ductility. In addition, the nano-scale dynamic W phase precipitates distributed in the unDRXed regions are refined at lower extrusion temperature. The smaller size of nano-scale W phase precipitates leads to a higher fraction of unDRXed regions which contributes to higher strength of the alloy extruded at 350 ℃.