Integrated Computational Materials Engineering for the Development and Design of High Modulus Al Alloys

Integrated computational materials engineering(ICME)is to integrate multi-scale computational simulations and key experimental methods such as macroscopic,mesoscopic,and microscopic into the whole process of Al alloys design and development,which enables the design and development of Al alloys to upgrade from traditional empirical to the integration of compositionprocess-structure-mechanical property,thus greatly accelerating its development speed and reducing its development cost.This study combines calculation of phase diagram(CALPHAD),Finite element calculations,first principle calculations,and microstructure characterization methods to predict and regulate the formation and structure of composite precipitates from the design of highmodulus Al alloy compositions and optimize the casting process parameters to inhibit the formation of micropore defects in the casting process,and the final tensile strength of Al alloys reaches420 MPa and Young's modulus reaches more than 88 GPa,which achieves the design goal of the high strength and modulus Al alloys,and establishes a new mode of the design and development of the strength/modulus Al alloys.

Microstructure and thermal stability of mechanically alloyed Al_3Ti/Al alloy

The microstructure stability of Al 3Ti/Al alloy prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) was investigated in the simulating environment in which they may be used. The results show that the MA alloy possesses fine microstructure (the grain size is about 0.5 μm). After cycling loaded followed by heat exposure at 350 ℃ for 24 h, no microstructure coarsening of the alloy occurred, which means that the Al 3Ti/Al alloy behaves good microstructure stability at high temperature. The compression yield strength of the alloy reaches up to 247 MPa at 350 ℃. [

Effect of yttrium on the microstructure of a semi-solid A356 Al alloy

The semi-solid slurry of an A356 Al alloy, which was grain-fined by yttrium, was manufactured by low temperature pouring, The effects of grain-refining on the morphology and the grain size of the primary α phase in the semi-solid A356 Al alloy were researched. The results indicate that the semi-solid A356 AI alloy with particle-like and rosette-like primary α-Al can be prepared by low temperature pouring from a liquid grain-refined A356 alloy. The grain size and particle morphology of primary α-Al in the A356 Al alloy are markedly improved by the addition of 0.5 wt,% Y. The fining mechanism of Y on the morphology and grain size of the primary α-Al in the semi-solid A356 Al alloy was delved.

REHEATING TEMPERATURE CONTRAST AND MICROSTRUCTURES OF 7075 Al ALLOY CAST BY LIQUIDUS SEMI-CONTINUOUS CASTING

In this study, reheating of liquidus semi-continuous cast billets of 7075 Al alloy was carried out in a resistance furnace, and the temperature contrast of the outer and the center of the reheated billets was investigated, then the reheating microstructures were investigated. Results show that: the difference of temperature between the outer and center is small and the difference of their microstructures are also small. During reheating at 576℃ the spheroidization of grains is significant after 5min and no rosettes are visible after 20min by optical microscopy. Similar observations were madeon materials reheated at 596℃, but the ripening process is faster. The grains growup to 30-60μm, fine enough for thixoforming.

Crack behavior in Mg/Al alloy thin sheet during hot compound extrusion

A novel and effective method to co-extrude metallic alloys is described which named Direct Extrusion and Bending-Shear Deformation.The compound extrusion plates have cracked at 290℃ and 3 mm/s.According to this phenomenon,a model was built to investigate the crack generation and development between the 6061 Al and AZ31 Mg alloy during the compound extrusion process by DEFORM-3D.The cracking behavior of the Mg/Al composite rod with a soft Mg AZ31 core and a hard Al 6061 sleeve were systematically studied to disclose the influence of microstructure on crack in the different regions.The simulation results show that the distribution of strain and velocity has significant differences due to the influence of dies structure and material properties at different locations in the same region.The experimental results show that in the same conditions,there are differences in recrystallization and texture weakening of AZ31 Mg alloys and 6061 Al alloy,which are important factors for the formation of crack.Both the Mg layer and the Al layer have a homogeneous microstructure in the region d.

Machine-learning-assisted prediction of the mechanical properties of Cu–Al alloy

The machine-learning approach was investigated to predict the mechanical properties of Cu–Al alloys manufactured using the powder metallurgy technique to increase the rate of fabrication and characterization of new materials and provide physical insights into their properties.Six algorithms were used to construct the prediction models, with chemical composition and porosity of the compacts chosen as the descriptors.The results show that the sequential minimal optimization algorithm for support vector regression with a puk kernel(SMOreg/puk) model demonstrated the best prediction ability. Specifically, its predictions exhibited the highest correlation coefficient and lowest error among the predictions of the six models. The SMOreg/puk model was subsequently applied to predict the tensile strength and hardness of Cu–Al alloys and provide guidance for composition design to achieve the expected values. With the guidance of the SMOreg/puk model, Cu–12Al–6Ni alloy with a tensile strength(390 MPa) and hardness(HB 139) that reached the expected values was developed.

Effect of Ca addition on grain refinement of Mg–9Li–1Al alloy

The as-cast and as-extruded Mg–9Li–1Al–xCa alloys(x=0,0.2;wt%)were prepared by a simple alloying process followed by hot extrusion with an extrusion ratio of 28.2.The microstructures of the as-cast and as-extruded Mg–9Li–1Al–xCa alloys were observed to investigate the effect of calcium(Ca)element on the Mg–9Li–1Al(LA91)alloy,and the crystallographic calculations between Al_(2)Ca and the matrix(α-Mg andβ-Li phases)were examined on the basis of the edge-to-edge matching model.The experimental results indicate that the addition of 0.2 wt%Ca into LA91 alloy reduce the size of theα-Mg phases in the as-cast alloy and that ofβ-Li phases in the as-extruded alloy due to the Al_(2)Ca particles distributed inside the matrix.Crystallographic calculation results suggested that there is a good crystallographic matching between the matrix and Al_(2)Ca,which confirmed that Al_(2)Ca particles can act as a heterogeneous nucleation site for bothα-Mg andβ-Li phases and were effective grain refiners for LA91 alloy.

Oxidation Behaviour of Sputtered Ni-3Cr-20Al Alloy

The oxidation behavior of sputtered Ni-3Cr-20Al coating at 900℃ in air was investigated. A dense Al2O3 layer was formed on the sputtered Ni-3Cr-20AI coating after 200 h oxidation. However, owing to the segregation of Ni3Al during oxidation process at high temperature, the spinel NiAI2O4 was also formed in the Al2O3 layer. It was found that the formation of NiAI204 had no detrimental effect on the oxidation resistance of the sputtered N?3O-20AI coating due to the excellent adhesion shown by the Al2O3 and NiAl2O4complex oxide scale.

Research on flow stress of spray formed 70Si30Al alloy under hot compression deformation

The flow stress of spray formed 70Si30Al alloy was studied by hot compression on a Gleeble- 1500 test machine. The experimental results indicated that the flow stress depends on the strain rate and the deformation temperature. The flow stress increases with an increase in strain rate at a given deformation temperature. The flow stress decreases with the deformation temperature increasing at a given strain rate. The relational expression among the flow stress, the swain rate, and the deformation temperature satisfies the Arrhenius equation. The deformation activation energy of 70Si30Al alloy during hot deformation is 866.27 kJ/mol from the Arrhenius equation.

EFFECT OF TOOL WEAR ON MICROSTRUCTURE, MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND ACOUSTIC EMISSION OF FRICTION STIR WELDED 6061 Al ALLOY

Tool condition is one of the main concerns in friction stir welding （FSW）, because the geometrical condition of the tool pin including size and shape is strongly connected to the microstrueture and mechanical performance of the weld. Tool wear occurs during FSW, especially for welding metal matrix composites with large amounts of abrasive particles, and high melting point materials, which significantly expedite tool wear and deteriorate the mechanical performance of welds. Tools with different pin-wear levels are used to weld 6061 Al alloy, while acoustic emission （AE） sensing, metallographic sectioning, and tensile testing are employed to evaluate the weld quality in various tool wear conditions. Structural characterization shows that the tool wear interferes with the weld quality and accounts for the formation of voids in the nugget zone. Tensile test analysis of samples verifies that both the ultimate tensile strength and the yield strength are adversely affected by the formation of voids in the nugget due to the tool wear. The failure location during tensile test clearly depends on the state of the tool wear, which led to the analysis of the relationships between the structure of the nugget and tool wear. AE signatures recorded during welding reveal that the AE hits concentrate on the higher amplitudes with increasing tool wear. The results show that the AE sensing provides a potentially effective method for the on-line manitoring of tool wear.

Effect of Cerium on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Mg-8Li-3Al Alloy

Mg-8Li-3Al-xCe(x=0, 1.0, 3.0) alloys were prepared. And the effects of cerium content on the microstructure and mechanical properties were studied. Results show that the as-cast alloy is composed of α(Mg), β(Li) and Al2Ce. Cerium has obvious refining effect on α(Mg). And the strength and elongation of alloys were improved.

Effect of P/M value on the preforms and microstructures of spray formed 70Si30Al alloy

A novel 70Si30Al alloy was prepared by the spray forming process for electronic packaging materials. The effect of the ratio of atomization pressure to metal melt mass flux rate （P/M） on the preforms and microstructures of the spray-deposited 70Si30Al alloy was studied. The results indicate that the PIM value has a considerable influence on the formation of the preforms and the optimal value is in the range of 0.209-0.231 MPa/（kg.min^-1）. The microstructure of the spray formed 70Si30AI alloy is fine and homogenous. The primary silicon phases distributing in the aluminum matrix evenly are fine and irregular. The aluminum matrix is divided into two groups： supersaturated α-Al phase or α-Al phase and Al-Si pseudoeutectic phase or Al-Si eutectic phase.

Effect of Current Density on Al Alloy Microplasma Oxidation

The microplasma oxidation process of LY 12 Al alloy in Na2SiO3-KOH-NaAL2 system has been studied. The voltage-time curve of oxidation process is changed with the variation of current densities. The voltage breakdown and hardness of coating increase with increasing current density. The phase composition, morphologies, element and the distribution of ceramic coating are investigated by XRD, EPMA.

Influence of volume percentage of NanoTiB2 particles on tribological&mechanical behaviour of 6061-T6 Al alloy nano-surface composite layer prepared via friction stir process

The aim of present study is to analyze the influence of volume percentage(vol.%) of nano-sized particles(TiB_2: average size is 35 nm) on microstructure, mechanical and tribological behavior of 6061-T6 Al alloy surface nano composite prepared via Friction stir process(FSP). The microstructure of the fabricated surface nanocomposites is examined using optical microscopy(OM) and scanning electron microscope(SEM) for distribution of TiB_2 nano reinforcement particles, thickness of nano composite layer formed on the Aluminum alloy substrate and fracture features. The depth of surface nano composite layer is measured as 3683.82 m m along the cross section of stir zone of nano composite perpendicular to FSP. It was observed that increase in volume percentage of TiB_2 particles, the microhardness is increased up to132 Hv and it is greater than as-received Al alloy's microhardness(104 Hv). It is also observed that at 4volume percentage higher tensile properties exhibited as compared with the 2 and 8 vol. %. It is found that high wear resistance exhibited at 4 volume percentage as-compared with the 2 and 8 vol. %. The observed wear and mechanical properties are interrelated with microstructure, fractography and worn morphology.

Liquid Phase Behavior during Elevated Temperature Deformation of the Fine-Grained 5083 Al Alloy

The liquid phase behavior of the fine-grained 5083 AI alloy obtained through thermomechanical process was investigated during the tensile tests in a temperature range of 380-570℃ and strain rate range of 4.17× 10^-4- 1.0× 10^-2 s^-1. The maximum elongation 530% of the fine-grained 5083 AI alloy was obtained at 550℃ and 4.17× 10^-4 s^-1. Fracture analysis by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） indicated that the formation of filament （formed by liquid phase） was greatly affected by the tensile temperature and strain rate. The results also showed that the optimum morphology of formed filament was obtained at 550℃ and a strain rate of 4.17× 10^-4 s^-1. The effect of liquid phase on superplastic deformation of the alloy was further discussed.

Deformation mechanism of the spray formed 70Si30Al alloy during hot compression

The deformation mechanism of the spray formed 70Si30Al alloy was studied by hot compression on a Gleeble-1500 test machine. It is shown that hot deformation of the spray formed 70Si30Al alloy is achieved by liquid flow due to isostatic pressure and movement of solid particles due to shear force. Deformation condition depends on the nucleation rate and closure rate of the cavities. The flow stress slightly varies when the difference between the nucleation rate and closure rate of the cavities is small; however, it decreases when the nucleation rate of the cavities is greater than the closure rate of the cavities.

Correlation of the Mechanical Properties of Polycrystalline Ni_3Al Alloys with Their Electronic Structure

The electronic structure of Ni_3Al alloys with different B contents has been investigated by measuring the positron lifetime spectra.The segregation of B atoms to defects could form strong covalent bondings with Ni and Al atoms and make the electronic structure in those locations similar to that in bulk,thus strengthen their cohesion.The interaction of B atoms,which were solid-solutioned in the crystal lattice of Ni_3Al in a manner of occupying interstitial sites,with Ni and Al atoms resulted in the increase of the density of valent electrons,thus increased the bonding cohesion in bulk.The im- provement of the mechanical properties of Ni_3Al alloys by B doping was due to both“grain bounda- ry effect”and“bulk effect”of B,which correlated with their electronic structure.

Effect of ECAP Pass Number on Mechanical Properties of2Al2 Al Alloy

2A12 Al alloy was suffered from equal-channel angular pressing（ECAP） in this experiment. The influence of ECAP pass number on ultimate strength（UTS）, hardness and elongation was studied. The results show that during ECAP the number of sample passing through the channels is very important for mechanical properties and microstructure refinement. ECAP not only increases their plasticity and hardness but also leads to refined grain. But the elongation reduces from 17.5% tol 1.8 % after 1 pass ECAP, then almost tends to be unchanged with the increasing of pass number. The value of ultimate strength of 2A12 Al alloy increases by 135%, hardness by 51%, and ultra fine grains of about 200 nm can be observed after 8 passes.

Effects of homogenization temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of high-speed-extruded Mg–5Bi–3Al alloy

This study investigates the effects of billet homogenization temperature on the dynamic recrystallization behavior during high-speed extrusion and resultant microstructure and tensile properties of the Mg–5Bi–3Al(BA53,wt%)alloy.Two billets homogenized at 350 and450℃(350H and 450H billets)are extruded at a high speed of 69 m/min.The 350H billet has a relatively smaller grain size and a higher abundance of fine Mg3Bi2particles compared to the 450H billet.During extrusion of the 350H billet,enhanced dynamic recrystallization occurs as a result of its finer grains and abundance of particles,while the growth of recrystallized grains is suppressed by the grain-boundary pinning effect of particles.Ultimately,the extruded 350H material is characterized by smaller grains,relatively greater number of Mg3Bi2particles,and a higher internal strain energy than the extruded 450H material.The tensile strength of the extruded 350H material is higher than that of the extruded 450H material owing to stronger grain-boundary hardening,particle hardening,and strain hardening effects.The extruded 350H material also exhibits a higher tensile elongation as its smaller grains inhibit the formation of crack-inducing undesirable twins during tension.The results from this study demonstrate that a decrease in the homogenization temperature from 450 to 350℃leads to improved strength and ductility in the high-speed-extruded BA53 material.

Relationship Between the Processing Parameters and the Properties of Semi-solid Processed Al Alloys

Relationship between the processing parameters and the properties of semi-solid processed Al alloys were studied and microstructure and mechanical properties of semi-solid processed Al parts for automobile application as a function of processing parameters were compared with those of die-cast parts and forged parts. In addition, the locations for the gate during the semi-solid processing were varied to elucidate the distribution of micro-porosities and resulting mechanical properties and the T6 heat tre...