Improvement of Surface Mechanical and Tribological Characteristics of L-PBF Processed Commercially Pure Titanium through Ultrasonic Impact Treatment

Multi-pass ultrasonic impact treatment(UIT)was applied to modify the microstructure and improve the mechanical and tribological characteristics at the near-surface region of commercially pure Ti(CP-Ti)specimens produced by the laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF)method.UIT considerably refined the L-PBF process-related acicular martensites(α′-M)and produced a well-homogenized and dense surface microstructure,where the porosity content of 1-,3-,and 5-pass UITed samples was reduced by 43,60,and 67%,respectively.The UITed samples showed an enhancement in their near-surface mechanical properties up to a depth of about 300μm.The nanoindentation results for the 3-pass UITed sample revealed an increase of about 53,45,and 220%in its nanohardness,H/E_(r),and H_(3)/E_(r)^(2)indices,respectively.The stylus profilometry results showed that performing the UIT removed the L-PBF-related features/defects and offered a smooth surface.The roughness average(R_(a))and the skewness(R_(sk))of the 3-pass UITed sample were found to be lower than those of the L-PBFed sample by 95 and 223%,respectively.Applying the UIT also enhanced the material ratio,where the maximum load-bearing capacity(~100%)in as-L-PBFed(as-built)and 3-pass UITed samples was obtained at 60-and 10-µm depths,respectively.The tribological investigations showed that applying the UIT resulted in a significant reduction of wear rate and average coefficient of friction(COF)of CP-Ti.For instance,under the normal pressures of 0.05 and 0.2 MPa,the wear rate and COF of the 3-pass UITed sample were lower than those of the L-PBFed sample by 65 and 58%,and 20 and 17%,respectively.

Laser Shock Processing of an Austenitic Stainless Steel and a Nickel-base Superalloy

An austenitic stainless steel 1Cr18Ni9Ti and a solid solution-strengthened Ni-base superalloy GH30 were shock processed using a Q-switched pulsed Nd-glass laser. Microstructure, hardness and residual stress of the laser shock processed surface were investigated as functions of laser processing parameters. Results show that high density of dislocations and fine deformation twins are produced in the laser shock processed surface layers in both the austenitic stainless steel and the nickel-base superalloy. Extensive strain-induced martensite was also observed in the laser shock processed zone of the austenitic steel. The hardness of the laser shock processed surface was significantly enhanced and compressive stress as high as 400 MPa was produced in the laser shock processed surface.

Mechanical Properties and Interfacial Interaction of Modified Calcium Sulfate Whisker]Poly(Vinyl Chloride)Composites

Calcium sulfate whiskers（CSWs） modified with glutaraldehyde-crosslinked poly（vinyl alcohol）（PVA） or traditional surface modifiers,including silane coupling agent,titanate coupling agent and stearic acid,were used to strengthen poly（vinyl chloride）（PVC）,and the morphologies,mechanical and heat resistant properties of the resulting composites were compared.The results clearly show that glutaraldehyde cross-linked PVA modified CSW/PVC composite（c PVA@CSW/PVC） has the strongest interfacial interaction,good and stable mechanical and heat resistant properties.Nielsen＇s modified Kerner＇s equation for Young＇s modulus is better than other models examined for the CSW/PVC composites.The half debonding angle θ of c PVA@CSW/PVC composite is lower than that of other composites except silane coupling agent modified CSW/PVC composites,indicating a very strong interfacial adhesion between c PVA@CSW and PVC.In general,cross-linked PVA is effective and environmentally friendly in modifying inorganic fillers.

Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of a SMATed Mg Alloy under In Situ SEM Tensile Testing

Surface mechanical attrition treatment（SMAT） has been recently applied to bulk polycrystalline magnesium（Mg） alloys with gradient grain size distribution from the impact surface to inside matrix, hence effectively improving the alloys＇ mechanical performances. However, in-depth understanding of their mechanical property enhancement and grain size-dependent fracture mechanism remains unclear. Here,we demonstrated the use of in situ micro-tensile testing inside a high resolution scanning electron microscope（SEM） to characterize the microstructure evolution, in real time, of SMATed Mg alloy AZ31 samples with different grain sizes of ~10 μm（＇coarse-grain sample＇） and ~5 μm（＇fine-grain sample＇）, respectively, and compared the results with those of a raw Mg alloy AZ31. The quantitative tensile tests with in situ SEM imaging clearly showed that fracture of ‘fine-grain sample＇ was dominated by intergranular cracks,while both trans-granular and intergranular cracks led to the final failure of the ‘coarse-grain samples＇.It is expected that this in situ SEM characterization technique, coupled with quantitative tensile testing method, could be applicable for studying other grain-refined metals/alloys, allowing to optimize their mechanical performances by controlling the grain sizes and their gradient distribution.

Preparation of a Crosslinked Chitosan Coated Calcium Sulfate Whisker and Its Reinforcement in Polyvinyl Chloride

A calcium sulfate whisker （CSW） coated with glutaraldehyde crosslinked chitosan （GACS） was prepared to reinforce polyvinyl chloride （PVC） in this study. The results show that the optimum concentration of both chitosan （CS） and glutaraldehyde （GA） is 0.05 wt%. The tensile strength, impact strength, flexural modulus and vicat softening temperature of the PVC composite with 12 wt% of modified CSW are in- creased by 1 Z5%, 40.4%, 0.8% and 3.8% compared with those of the PVC composite with 12 wt~ of unmodified CSW, and by 2.9%, 42.4%, 2Z1% and 6.8% compared with those of pure PVC, respectively. The dynamic mechanical analysis results indicate that the modified CSW/PVC composite exhibits much higher storage modulus and glass transition temperature than those of unmodified CSW/PVC composite and pure PVC. In addition, the modified CSW/PVC composite also demonstrates good thermal properties with a high rapidest decomposition temperature （Trvd） and char residue. The scanning electron microscopy images of tensile-fractured surfaces show that the modified CSW has a strong interfacial adhesion with PVC matrix.