Thermodynamic Analysis on Interaction between Molten Ti Alloys and Oxide Molding Materials

A thermodynamic model has been built up for the interactions between molten Ti alloys and oxide molding materials in the way of decomposition and solution of molding materials, then the influences on the reaction free energy changes have been calculated and discussed.

Calibrating the linearity between grayscale and element content for X-ray KES imaging of alloys

Doped elements in alloys significantly impact their performance.Conventional methods usually sputter the surface material of the sample,or their performance is limited to the surface of alloys owing to their poor penetration ability.The X-ray K-edge subtraction(KES)method exhibits great potential for the nondestructive in situ detection of element contents in alloys.However,the signal of doped elements usually deteriorates because of the strong absorption of the principal component and scattering of crystal grains.This in turn prevents the extensive application of X-ray KES imaging to alloys.In this study,methods were developed to calibrate the linearity between the grayscale of the KES image and element content.The methods were aimed at the sensitive analysis of elements in alloys.Furthermore,experiments with phantoms and alloys demonstrated that,after elaborate calibration,X-ray KES imaging is capable of nondestructive and sensitive analysis of doped elements in alloys.

Theoretical Analysis on Geometry Structure and Electronic Structure of LaNi_4Co

The theoretical calculation of LaNi4Co, in which Co substituted for Ni at various sites, was performed by adopting the method of total energy based on the Density Functional Theory. The augmented plane wave function was selected as a basis set in combination with Ultra-soft Pseudopotential technology. The geometry of LaNi5 was optimized and the parameters and properties of the structure were given. The theoretical results accord well with experiments. This method provides a theoretical approach for the structure prediction of such alloy. The calculations of total energy, electronic density of states and Mulliken population of LaNi4Co were carried out. The electronic structure of LaNi4Co and the change of the electronic structure due to the Co-substitution in LaNi5 alloy were analyzed from the calculated results. The stability of the alloy in which Ni was partially substituted by Co at various sites was compared and the factors controlling stability were discussed. The theoretical value of formation heat was calculated.

Co-deposition of Co-Ni alloys and their microstructure analysis by PoSAP

PULSED-co-electrodeposition （PCD） is a new and promising technique for producing alloymaterials of nanometer grain size. In this letter, Co-Ni alloys were produced by PCD, and theeffect of CO+2 ion concentration in the depositing baths on the Co content and the microstruc-ture in the corresponding deposit was studied by the position sensitive atom probe （PoSAP）,TEM and X-ray diffraction. The Co-Ni phase diagram shows that, at room temperature,there are two phases in Co-Ni alloys, one is εCo with hcp lattice, the other is αCo of fcc lat-tice. A Co-Ni alloy with a Ni content below 27% consists of single εCo, beyond 36% consistsof single αCo, in between consists of εCo + αCo. The examination results of TEM, SEM andX-ray diffraction indicated that the Co-Ni deposits with average grain size of 70 nm and thick-

DISTRIBUTION OF Cu AND ITS EFFECT ON MICROSTRUCTURE OF Cu-BEARING STEEL

In order to investigate the distribution of Cu and its effect on the microstructure of Cu-bearing steel, a series of mild steels containing different contents of Cu are developed by vacuum electric arc furnace. These steels are annealed at 1 260℃, 1 100 ℃ and 1 000℃ respectively for one hour and followed by furnace cooling to room temperature to simulate the heat treatment before the rolling process. The results show that Cu did not obviously segregate in annealed steels. The scanning electron microscope （SEM） observation show that the main microstruetures in Cu-bearing steel are ferrite and pearlite; The volume fraction of pearlite in steel increase with increasing Cu content. The grain size reduces with the decrease of annealing temperature. The results of energy dispersive X-ray analysis （EDXA） suggest that the Cu content in pearlite is higher than that in ferrite, which means that the microstructure-segregatian of Cu exists. However, the cast specimens show that Cu content in MnS and S-rich phase is very high, and Cu changed the distribution of/vinS in steel. In addition, the optimal Cu content in steel between 0.2%-0.4% and the optimal annealing temperature between 1 100-1 200℃are determined by the economical and practical principles.

An analytical method for quantitative estimation of the cytotoxicity of dental alloys using MTT assay,ICP analysis and effective cytotoxicity calculation

The two most important criteria for dental materials are their biofunctional and biocompatible endurance within the anticipated life-span of the dental restoration in the mouth. Biocompatibility relates mainly to the allergenicity and the toxicity of the material. To test the non-specific toxicity of dental materials, in vitro cell culture assays have been developed. For in vitro screening, such tests are recommended to check the cytotoxicity of dental materials (ISO 10993 5). Various studies have already been performed to quantitatively determine the cytotoxicity level of dental alloys. However, as long as only dental alloys and the cell culture technique are applied, it is not possible to determine which of the alloying elements cause the cytotoxicity. Therefore, an analytical method is needed. Wataha et al determined in 1991 the TC50 values of 9 metal cations of various dental casting alloys, using cell culture methods. Kapert et al reported in 1994 a complex in vitro test concept, where the ICP analysis (inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy) was introduced to measure the trace elements extracted from various alloys. Experimentelle Zahnheilkunde, Universitts ZMK Klinik Freiburg, Germany (Lü XY and Kappert HF) The aim of the present study was to find a relation between the ICP results, the TC50 value of metal cations, and the cytotoxicity of dental alloys. The cytotoxicity levels of various dental alloys and the TC50 values of 10 metal cations were established using the MTT assay, an effective cell culture of method. Then, the concentrations of the corrosively soluted metal cations in the extracts of the alloys were measured using the ICP method. From all these experimental results it was found that the relation between the effective cytotoxicity Z eff of an alloy, the concentrations C i of i th trace element and the TC50 values T Ci of the i th metal cation can approximately be expressed by Z eff =∑iC i2·T Ci . Two significant applications of this expression are a) The cytotoxicity of an alloy can be estimated by ICP analysis of the extract if the TC50 values of the trace elements are know. b) The cytotoxicity of a new-developed-alloy can be estimated in advance, according to the alloying components.

Density of Na3AIF6-AIF3-LiF-MgF2-Al2O3-Sm2O3 molten salt melt for Al-Sm alloy

Samarium（Sm） has been widely used in making aluminum（Al）-Sm magnet alloy materials. The research team for this study developed a molten salt electrolyte system which directly produces AI-Sm alloy to replace the energy intensive conventional distillation technology. In this study, molten melt density was measured and operation conditions were optimized to separate AI-Sm alloy product from the fluoride molten melt electrolysis media based on density differences, Archimedes＇ principle was applied to measure density for the basic molten fluoride system（BMFS： Na_3 AlF_6-AlF_3-LiF-MgF_2）electrolysis media in the temperature range from 905 to 1055 ℃.The impact of temperature（t） and the Al_2O_3 and Sm_2O_3 addition ratio（w_（（Al2O3））,w_（（Sm2O3）） in the basic fluoride system on molten melt density was examined. The fluoride molten melt density relationship was determined to be：ρ=3.11701-0.00802 w_（（Al2O3））＋0.027825 w_（（Sm2O3））-0.00117 t. The test results showed that molten density decreases with increase in temperature and Al_2O_3 addition ratio, and increases with the addition of Sm_2O_3, and/or Al_2O_3＋Sm_2O_3. The separation of Al-Sm（density 2.3 g/cm^3） product melt from the BMFS melt is achieved by controlling the BMFS density to less than 2.0 g/cm3. It is concluded that the optimal operation conditions to control the BMFS molten salt density to less than 2.0 g/cm^3 are：maintain addition of Al_2O_3＋Sm_2 O_3（w_（（Al2O3））＋w_（（Sm2O3））〈9% of Na_3AlF_6,Al_2O_3/Sm_2O_3 ratio（w_（（Al2O3））：w_（（Sm2O3）））〉 7：3, and temperature between 965 and 995 ℃.

Fatigue response,fracture characteristic and life modeling of a near-alpha titanium alloy under typical cyclic loadings in service

Experimental investigations on the fatigue behavior of a near-alpha titanium alloy under typical cyclic loadings were carried out to simulate the service loading states applied on the engine blades.The axial stress-controlled tension–tension low-cycle fatigue（LCF） tests were carried out over a range of maximum stresses and stress ratios.The rotary bending tests were conducted using a step-loading procedure to reveal the high-cycle fatigue（HCF） limit stresses.The cyclic softening effect is observed in this material,and the strain ratcheting occurs obviously at the maximum LCF loading of 900 MPa.The LCF resistance is found to be dependent on both the maximum loading and the stress ratio.The HCF limit stresses for 1 9 107 and 1 9 106 cycles are determined as405.7 and 457.6 MPa,respectively.The macroscopic fatigue fracture mode and the failure features on fracture surfaces were analyzed by scanning electron microscope（SEM）.

Improving the Hydromechanical Deep-Drawing Process Using Aluminum Tailored Heat Treated Blanks

The present work demonstrates the effectiveness of combining the hydromechanical deep-drawing process with the Tailored Heat Treated Blank（THTB） technique. In the hydromechanical deep-drawing process, the fluid pressure is used for postponing the fracture occurrence in the blank, while the THTB technique allows to create a material property gradient through a suitable artificial aging treatment carried out prior to the forming process. Since the number of process variables is large, in the present work the authors propose an optimization loop for the determination of the parameters controlling the extension of the blank regions to be subjected to the aging treatment and the temperature levels to be set during the heat treatment. The proposed methodology couples a simple finite element model（Abaqus） with a multiobjective optimization platform（mode FRONTIER）. A preliminary experimental campaign was carried out for determining the effect of the aging treatment on the mechanical（through tensile tests） and deformative（through formability tests）behavior of the AC170 PX aluminum alloy. Optimization results prove the effectiveness of the adopted methodology and put in evidence that the adoption of properly aged blanks in the hydromechanical deep drawing allows to increase the limit drawing ratio and to simplify the process since it is conducted at room temperature.

Low cyclic fatigue behavior of electron-beam-welded Ti–6Al–4V titanium joint

The low cycle fatigue（LCF） tests were carried out using symmetrical cyclic loading under total strain amplitude control conditions.The present paper is devoted to investigating the cyclic deformation response of Ti–6Al–4V titanium and the electron-beam-welded（EBW） joint in the following aspects,i.e.,cyclic deformation behavior,fatigue life and fatigue fracture behavior.The results show that the softening of the joint is significant at larger strain ranges,while not obvious at smaller strain ranges.The joint shows shorter fatigue life at larger strain ranges and equivalent fatigue life at smaller strain ranges compared with Ti–6Al–4V base metal.A fatigue crack of the joint not only originates at the surface or subsurface,but also at defects in the fusion zone（FZ）.The crack propagation zone of Ti–6Al–4V base metal shows ductile fracture mechanism,while the joint shows brittle fracture mechanism.In all the fatigue fracture zones many dimples appear,showing the typical ductile fracture.