Preparation of FeCoNi medium entropy alloy from Fe^(3+)-Co^(2+)-Ni^(2+)solution system

In recent years,medium entropy alloys have become a research hotspot due to their excellent physical and chemical performances.By controlling reasonable elemental composition and processing parameters,the medium entropy alloys can exhibit similar properties to high entropy alloys and have lower costs.In this paper,a FeCoNi medium entropy alloy precursor was prepared via sol-gel and coprecipitation methods,respectively,and FeCoNi medium entropy alloys were prepared by carbothermal and hydrogen reduction.The phases and magnetic properties of FeCoNi medium entropy alloy were investigated.Results showed that FeCoNi medium entropy alloy was produced by carbothermal and hydrogen reduction at 1500℃.Some carbon was detected in the FeCoNi medium entropy alloy prepared by carbothermal reduction.The alloy prepared by hydrogen reduction was uniform and showed a relatively high purity.Moreover,the hydrogen reduction product exhibited better saturation magnetization and lower coercivity.

Influence of introducing Zr,Ti,Nb and Ce elements on externally solidified crystals and mechanical properties of high-pressure die-casting Al–Si alloy

High pressure die casting(HPDC)AlSi10Mn Mg alloy castings are widely used in the automobile industry.Mg can optimize the mechanical properties of castings through heat treatment,while the release of thermal stress arouses the deformation of large integrated die-castings.Herein,the development of non-heat treatment Al alloys is becoming the hot topic.In addition,HPDC contains externally solidified crystals(ESCs),which are detrimental to the mechanical properties of castings.To achieve high strength and toughness of non-heat treatment die-casting Al-Si alloy,we used AlSi9Mn alloy as matrix with the introduction of Zr,Ti,Nb,and Ce.Their influences on ESCs and mechanical properties were systematically investigated through three-dimensional reconstruction and thermodynamic simulation.Our results reveal that the addition of Ti increased ESCs'size and porosity,while the introduction of Nb refined ESCs and decreased porosity.Meanwhile,large-sized Al_3(Zr,Ti)phases formed and degraded the mechanical properties.Subsequent introduction of Ce resulted in the poisoning effect and reduced mechanical properties.

Effects of the extrusion parameters on microstructure,texture and room temperature mechanical properties of extruded Mg-2.49Nd-1.82Gd-0.2Zn-0.2Zr alloy

Microstructure,texture,and mechanical properties of the extruded Mg-2.49Nd-1.82Gd-0.2Zn-0.2Zr alloy were investigated at different extrusion temperatures(260 and 320℃),extrusion ratios(10:1,15:1,and 30:1),and extrusion speeds(3 and 6 mm/s).The experimental results exhibited that the grain sizes after extrusion were much finer than that of the homogenized alloy,and the second phase showed streamline distribution along the extrusion direction(ED).With extrusion temperature increased from 260 to 320℃,the microstructure,texture,and mechanical properties of alloys changed slightly.The dynamic recrystallization(DRX)degree and grain sizes enhanced as the extrusion ratio increased from 10:1 to 30:1,and the strength gradually decreased but elongation(EL)increased.With the extrusion speed increased from 3 to 6 mm/s,the grain sizes and DRX degree increased significantly,and the samples presented the typical<2111>-<1123>rare-earth(RE)textures.The alloy extruded at 260℃ with extrusion ratio of 10:1 and extrusion speed of 3 mm/s showed the tensile yield strength(TYS)of 213 MPa and EL of 30.6%.After quantitatively analyzing the contribution of strengthening mechanisms,it was found that the grain boundary strengthening and dislocation strengthening played major roles among strengthening contributions.These results provide some guidelines for enlarging the industrial application of extruded Mg-RE alloy.

Study on the hydrogen absorption properties of a YGdTbDyHo rare-earth high-entropy alloy

This study investigated the microstructure and hydrogen absorption properties of a rare-earth high-entropy alloy(HEA),YGdTbDyHo.Results indicated that the YGdTbDyHo alloy had a microstructure of equiaxed grains,with the alloy elements distributed homogeneously.Upon hydrogen absorption,the phase structure of the HEA changed from a solid solution with an hexagonal-close-packed(HCP)structure to a high-entropy hydride with an faced-centered-cubic(FCC)structure without any secondary phase precipitated.The alloy demonstrated a maximum hydrogen storage capacity of 2.33 H/M(hydrogen atom/metal atom)at 723 K,with an enthalpy change(ΔH)of-141.09 kJ·mol^(-1)and an entropy change(ΔS)of-119.14 J·mol^(-1)·K^(-1).The kinetic mechanism of hydrogen absorption was hydride nucleation and growth,with an apparent activation energy(E_(a))of 20.90 kJ·mol^(-1).Without any activation,the YGdTbDyHo alloy could absorb hydrogen quickly(180 s at 923 K)with nearly no incubation period observed.The reason for the obtained value of 2.33 H/M was that the hydrogen atoms occupied both tetrahedral and octahedral interstices.These results demonstrate the potential application of HEAs as a high-capacity hydrogen storage material with a large H/M ratio,which can be used in the deuterium storage field.

Electrical and mechanical properties of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy aged under imposed direct continuous current

The Cu-Cr-Zr alloys were aged at different temperatures for different time with different current densities. The results show that both the electrical conductivity and hardness are greatly improved after being aged with current at a proper temperature. The electrical conductivity increases approximately linearly with increasing current density while the hardness remains constant. The microstructure observation reveals that a much higher density of dislocations and nanosized Cr precipitates appear after the imposition of current, which contributes to the higher electrical conductivity and hardness. The mechanism is related with three factors： 1） Joule heating due to the current, 2） migration of mass electrons, 3） solute atoms, vacancies, and dislocations promoted by electron wind force.

Microstructure and properties of rare earth-containing Cu-Cr-Zr alloy

Cu-0.81Cr-0.12Zr-0.05La-0.05Y(mass fraction) alloy was successively subjected to hot rolling, solid solution treatment, cold rolling and aging treatments. Its microstructure, microhardness and electrical conductivity at different states were systematically investigated. The as-cast microstructure consists of three phases: Cu matrix, Cr and Cu5 Zr. Zr is completely dissolved into the matrix while partial Cr remains after the solid solution treatment. Aging of the cold-rolled sample makes nanocrystals of Cr and Cu5 Zr precipitate from the matrix, and the microhardness and electrical conductivity rise. A combination of high microhardness(HV 186) and high conductivity(81% IACS) can be obtained by aging the sample at 773 K for 60 min. As the aging temperature increases, the orientation degree of the Cu crystals gradually decreases to zero, but the microstrain in them cannot be eliminated completely owing to the presence of precipitates and dislocations. The Cr precipitates exhibit the N-W orientation relationship with the matrix when the coherence strengthening mechanism plays a main role.

Study on improvement of conductivity of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys

The influence of alloying, heat treatment, and plastic working on the performance of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys was investigated. The precipitated phases were characterized as Cr, Cu51Zr14 and Cu5Zr. Cu-Cr-Zr alloys demonstrate combination properties of high strength and high conductivity after solution treatment, aging treatment, and plastic deformation. Precipitation course of Cr is the main factor that influences the conductivity of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys, while adding Zr in the alloys adjusts the orientation relationship between Cr and matrix, and tends to increase the conductivity of aged Cu-Cr-Zr alloys after deformation.

Microstructure and Properties of Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy after Rapidly Solidified Aging and Solid Solution Aging

The structure and properties of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy were studied after rapidly solidified aging and solid solution aging.At the early stage of aging （500℃ for 15 rain）, the hardness and the conductivity of the alloy rapidly solidified are 143 HV and 72% IACS, respectively. Under the same aging condition, the hardness and electrical conductivity of the alloy solid solution treated can reach 86 HV and 47% IACS, respectively. The microstructure was analyzed, and the grain size after rapid solidification is much smaller than that after solid solution treatment. By rapidly solidified aging the fine precipitates distribute inside the grains and along the grain boundary, while by solid solution aging there are large Cr particles along the grain boundary.

Influence of Cerium and Yttrium on Cu-Cr-Zr Alloys

Testing results shows that alloying with Ce and Y improves the hardness and softens temperature of cold worked Cu-Cr-Zr alloys obviously, while the conductivity was fluctuant with the variation of RE content. Observation and analysis indicate that micro-dosage RE elements helps to refine microstructure and morphology of Cu-Cr-Zr-RE alloys, suppress microstructure coarsening and improves homogeneous level of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys. Alloying with 0.01% Ce causes about 1% IACS increment of conductivity, and reduces about 2% ~ 3.5% IACS conductivity after alloying with 0.03% ~ 0.04% RE (Ce or Ce + Y) for Cu-Cr-Zr alloys. The microstructure of as-cast Cu-Cr-Zr alloy is refined after alloying with 0.01% Ce while the plasticity is improved slightly. Alloying with 0.01% ~ 0.04% RE improves the softening temperature of deformed Cu-Cr-Zr alloys about 20 ~ 40 K; hardness is also improved about 20 ~ 35 HV . Test data indicate that alloying with Ce + Y raises softening temperature and hardness of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys more notably than alloying with pure Ce.

Prediction of Properties in Thermomechanically Treated Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy by an Artificial Neural Network

A supervised artificial neural network (ANN) to model the nonlinear relationship between parameters of thermomechanical treatment processes with respect to hardness and conductivity properties was proposed for Cu-Cr-Zr alloy. The improved model was developed by the Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm. A basic repository on the domain knowledge of thermomechanical treatment processes is established via sufficient data acquisition by the network. The results showed that the ANN system is an effective way and can be successfully used to predict and analyze the properties of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy.

Analysis of precipitation in a Cu-Cr-Zr alloy

Precipites in Cu-0.42%Cr-0.21%Zr alloy were analyzed by using scanning electron microscope （SEM）, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy （EDXS） and transmission electron microscope （TEM）. After the solid solution was performed at 980℃ for 2 h, water-quenched and aged at 450℃ for 20 h, the precipite had a bimodal distribution of precipitate size. The coarse precipitates are pure Cr and Cu5Zr, the dispersed fine precipitate is CrCu2（Zr, Mg） and pure Cr ranging from 1 to 50 nm. The coarse phases formed during solidification and were left undissolved during solid solution. The fine precipitates are the hardening precipitates that form due to decomposition of the supersaturated solid solution during aging.

Phase and Microstructure Analysis of Cu-Cr-Zr Alloys

Phases of Cu-（0.4%-2.0%） Cr-（0.05%-0.16%） Zr alloys were analyzed in both as cast and deformed state. Solute-rich clusters of Cr, which was supposed to form during aging treatment, were observed in as cast state; along with the morphology character, corresponding preferential orientation of Cr phase in as cast state was also investigated. Precipitates were observed to distribute in the matrix with a bimodal distribution, viz. coarse precipitates with dimension larger than several hundred nanometers and fine precipitates with size of 2- 10 nm. Three types of intermetallics, the common compound of Cu51Zr14, correspondingly infrequent Cu5Zr and rare Cu5Zr3, were characterized in different samples.

Establishing the knowledge repository of rapidly solidified aging Cu-Cr-Zr alloy on the artificial neural-network

The non-linear relationship between parameters of rapidly solidified agingprocesses and mechancal and electrical properties of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy is available by using asupervised artificial neural network (ANN). A knowledge repository of rapidly solidified agingprocesses is established via sufficient data learning by the network. The predicted values of theneural network are in accordance with the tested data. So an effective measure for foreseeing andcontrolling the properties of the processing is provided.

Effect of deep cryogenic treatment on mechanical behavior of a Cu-Cr-Zr alloy for electrodes of spot welding

The effects of deep cryogenic treatment on mechanical behavior of a Cu-Cr-Zr alloy for electrodes of spot welding were investigated employing Brinell-hardness testing unit, abrasion examination machine, electronic almighty testing machine and X-ray stress analyzer. Tensile fracture surfaces of the alloy were characterized by scanning electronic microscope （SEM） with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy （EDS）. The results showed that, after deep cryogenic treatment, σb and σ0.2 increased 23 MPa and 21 MPa respectively, the wear rate of the alloy exhibited the trend of decrease with the decreasing temperature and increasing time of deep cryogenic treatment, and the surface residual stress of the alloy was partially eliminated by deep cryogenic treatment.

DSC analysis of commercial Cu-Cr-Zr alloy processed by equal channel angular pressing

Samples of a commercial Cu-lCr-0.1Zr(mass fraction,%) alloy were subjected to equal channel angular pressing(ECAP) up to 16 passes at room temperature following route Bc.Differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) was used to highlight the precipitation sequence and to calculate the stored energy,recrystallization temperature and activation energy after each ECAP pass.On another hand,electrical properties were correlated with the dislocation density.Results show that the stored energy increases upon increasing ECAP pass numbers,while the recrystallization temperature decreases significantly.

Texture of deformed Cu-Cr-Zr alloys

The influences of plastic deformation, aging treatment, and alloying elements on the texture of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys were ex- plored. The texture component and intensity of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys under various working conditions after aging treatment were characterized using the orientation distributing function （ODF）. The influence of Zr content on the texture of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys was also analyzed. The reduction pass and deformation level were primary factors influencing the texture. Rolling texture appeared in a rolled plate and the fibrous textures of {111} and {001} were detected after 80% deformation. Fibrous texture with a main constituent of {111} improved the tensile strength of the alloy wire. The texture contents of {110}〈331〉 and {110}〈112〉 were predominated, whereas, those of {113}〈332〉 and {112}〈111〉 were in the minority in the Cu-Cr-Zr alloy with a higher Zr content （〉0.5wt%）. However, in the samples with a lower Zr content （〈0.1wt%）, the texture contents of {113}〈332〉, {112}〈111〉, and {111}〈110〉 were in the majority.

Effect of thermomechanical treatment on microstructure and properties of Cu-Cr-Zr-Ag alloy

The effects of thermomechanical treatment on the properties and microstructure of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy and Cu-Cr-Zr-Ag alloy were investigated. Ag addition improves the mechanical properties of the alloy through solid solution strengthening and brings a little effect on the electrical conductivity of the alloy. A new Cu-Cr-Zr-Ag alloy was developed, which has an excellent combination of the tensile strength, elongation, and electrical conductivity reaching 476.09 MPa, 15.43% and 88.68% IACS respectively when subjected to the optimum thermomechanical treatment, i.e., solution-treating at 920℃ for 1 h, cold drawing to 96% deformation, followed by aging at 400℃ for 3 h. TEM analysis revealed two kinds of finely dispersed precipitates of Cr and CuaZr. It is very important to use the mechanisms of solid solution strengthening, work hardening effect as well as precipitate pinning effect of dislocations to improve tensile strength of the alloy without adversely affecting its electrical conductivity.

EFFECT OF COLD WORKING ON THE AGING PROPERTIES OF Cu-Cr-Zr-Mg ALLOY BY ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK

A developmental research has been carried out to deal with the high performance of Cu-Cr-Zr-Mg lead frame alloy by artificial neural network (ANN). Using the cold working to assist in the aging hardening can improve the the hardness and electrical conductivity properties of Cu-Cr-Zr-Mg lead frame alloy. This paper studies the effect of different extent of cold working on the aging properties by a supervised ANN to model the non-linear relationship between processing parameters and the properties. The back-propagation (BP) training algorithm is improved by Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. A basic repository on the domain knowledge of cold worked aging processes is established via sufficient data mining by the network. The predicted values of the ANN coincide well with the tested data. So an important foundation has been laid for prediction and optimum controlling the rolling and aging properties of Cu-Cr-Zr-Mg alloy.

Accelerated design of high-performance Mg-Mn-based magnesium alloys based on novel bayesian optimization

Magnesium(Mg),being the lightest structural metal,holds immense potential for widespread applications in various fields.The development of high-performance and cost-effective Mg alloys is crucial to further advancing their commercial utilization.With the rapid advancement of machine learning(ML)technology in recent years,the“data-driven''approach for alloy design has provided new perspectives and opportunities for enhancing the performance of Mg alloys.This paper introduces a novel regression-based Bayesian optimization active learning model(RBOALM)for the development of high-performance Mg-Mn-based wrought alloys.RBOALM employs active learning to automatically explore optimal alloy compositions and process parameters within predefined ranges,facilitating the discovery of superior alloy combinations.This model further integrates pre-established regression models as surrogate functions in Bayesian optimization,significantly enhancing the precision of the design process.Leveraging RBOALM,several new high-performance alloys have been successfully designed and prepared.Notably,after mechanical property testing of the designed alloys,the Mg-2.1Zn-2.0Mn-0.5Sn-0.1Ca alloy demonstrates exceptional mechanical properties,including an ultimate tensile strength of 406 MPa,a yield strength of 287 MPa,and a 23%fracture elongation.Furthermore,the Mg-2.7Mn-0.5Al-0.1Ca alloy exhibits an ultimate tensile strength of 211 MPa,coupled with a remarkable 41%fracture elongation.

Relationship between the unique microstructures and behaviors of high-entropy alloys

High-entropy alloys(HEAs),which were introduced as a pioneering concept in 2004,have captured the keen interest of nu-merous researchers.Entropy,in this context,can be perceived as representing disorder and randomness.By contrast,elemental composi-tions within alloy systems occupy specific structural sites in space,a concept referred to as structure.In accordance with Shannon entropy,structure is analogous to information.Generally,the arrangement of atoms within a material,termed its structure,plays a pivotal role in dictating its properties.In addition to expanding the array of options for alloy composites,HEAs afford ample opportunities for diverse structural designs.The profound influence of distinct structural features on the exceptional behaviors of alloys is underscored by numer-ous examples.These features include remarkably high fracture strength with excellent ductility,antiballistic capability,exceptional radi-ation resistance,and corrosion resistance.In this paper,we delve into various unique material structures and properties while elucidating the intricate relationship between structure and performance.