Microstructure characterization and mechanical properties of TC4-DT titanium alloy after thermomechanical treatment

Influence of thermomechanical treatments （mill annealing, duplex annealing, solution treatment plus aging and triple annealing） on microstructures and mechanical properties of TC4-DT titanium alloy was investigated. Results showed that thermomechanical treatments had a significant influence on the microstructure parameters and higher annealing and aging temperature and lower cooling rate led to the decrease of the volume fraction of primaryαand the size of prior-βand the increase of the width of grain boundary αand secondary α. The highest strength was obtained by solution treatment and aging due to a large amount of transformedβand finer grain boundaryαand secondaryαat the expense of slight decrease of elongation and the ultimate strength, yield strength, elongation, reduction of area were 1100 MPa, 1030 MPa, 13%and 53%separately. A good combination of strength and ductility has been obtained by duplex annealing with the above values 940 MPa, 887.5 MPa, 15%and 51%respectively. Analysis between microstructure parameters and tensile properties showed that with the volume fraction of transformedβphase and the prior-βgrain size increasing, the ultimate strength, yield strength and reduction of area increased, but the elongation decreased. While the width of grain boundary α and secondary α showed a contrary effect on the tensile properties. Elimination of grain boundaryαas well as small prior-βgrain size can also improve ductility.

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.

Effects of Thermomechanical Treatment on the Mechanical Properties and Microstructures of 6013 Alloy

The mechanical properties and microstructures of 6013 alloy after different thermomechanical treatments were investigated. The detailed dislocation configurations after deformation and morphologies of age hardening precipitates were examined through transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. The experimental results show that the thermomechanical treatment can significantly enhance the strength of 6013 alloy, and has a similar influence trend on single and two-step aging behaviors. With the increasing deformation ratio, the peak-hardness （HVmax） increases, the time to HV shortens, and the density of tangled dislocation network increases. The aging precipitates become larger and inhomogeneous by applying thernomechanical treatment.

Effect of thermomechanical treatment on microstructure and hardness behavior of AZ63 magnesium alloy

Due to their high specific strength and low density, magnesium alloys are widely used in many weight-saving applications. This research is aimed at investigating the microstructure and hardness of commercial AZ63 alloy specimens subjected to two different thermomechanical treatments （TMTs）. For the first TMT, after solution treated at the temperature of 380 ℃ for 20 h, AZ63 alloy specimens were 5% cold worked by rolling process followed by ageing at the temperatures of 150 ℃and 250 ℃ for 3, 9 and 25 h. In the second TMT, the specimens were solution treated at the temperature of 380 ℃ for 20 h, underwent 2% cold worked and quenched in water of 0 ℃. Half of the specimens were then 2% cold worked whilst the rest were rolled to 8% cold worked. All the specimens were then aged at the temperatures of 150 ℃ and 250 ℃ for 3, 9 and 25 h. Optical microscope was used to analyze the microstructures of the specimens. Hardness test was too conducted to measure the effect of the treatments on the specimens. Results show that two-step aging enhances the hardness of the specimens due to the distribution of fine β-phase （MglTA112） in the alloy matrix. The results also reveal that, the best hardness from the first TMT was produced by specimen that was pre-aged at 150 ℃ whereas, in the second TMT, aging at 250 ℃ exhibited the best hardness values.

Effect of thermomechanical cyclic quenching and tempering treatments on microstructure,mechanical and electrochemical properties of AISI 1345 steel

Thermomechanical cyclic quenching and tempering(TMCT)can strengthen steels through a grain size reduction mechanism.The effect of TMCT on microstructure,mechanical,and electrochemical properties of AISI 1345 steel was investigated.Steel samples heated to 1050℃,rolled,quenched to room temperature,and subjected to various cyclic quenching and tempering heat treatments were named TMCT-1,TMCT-2,and TMCT-3 samples,respectively.Microstructure analysis revealed that microstructures of all the treated samples contained packets and blocks of well-refined lath-shaped martensite and retained austenite phases with varying grain sizes(2.8–7.9μm).Among all the tested samples,TMCT-3 sample offered an optimum combination of properties by showing an improvement of 40%in tensile strength and reduced 34%elongation compared with the non-treated sample.Nanoindentation results were in good agreement with mechanical tests as the TMCT-3 sample exhibited a 51%improvement in indentation hardness with almost identical reduced elastic modulus compared with the non-treated sample.The electrochemical properties were analyzed in 0.1 M NaHCO_(3) solution by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.As a result of TMCT,the minimum corrosion rate was 0.272 mm/a,which was twenty times less than that of the nontreated sample.The impedance results showed the barrier film mechanism,which was confirmed by the polarization results as the current density decreased.

Properties improvement and microstructure changes during thermomechanical treatment in sintered Cu-Au alloy

The changes in hardness, microhardness, electrical conductivity and microstructure of the sintered Cu-4%Au （mole fraction） alloy during thermomechanical treatment were studied. Following the primary strain hardening, an annealing of rolled alloy in the temperature range of 60-350 ℃ provided additional strengthening due to the anneal hardening effect. An increase in properties took place in two stages, and the best combination of properties was achieved in the alloy pre-rolled with 40% reduction after annealing at 260 ℃. Significant microstructural changes followed the changes of properties in the course of the thermomechanical treatment.

Thermomechanical treatment of austempered ductile iron

The production of lightweight ferrous castings with increased strength properties became unavoidable facing the serious challenge of lighter aluminum and magnesium castings. The relatively new ferrous casting alloy ADI offers promising strength prospects, and the thermo-mechanical treatment of ductile iron may suggest a new route for production of thin-wall products. This work aims at studying the influence of thermomechanical treatment, either by ausforming just after quenching and before the onset of austempering reaction or by cold rolling after austempering. In the first part of this work, ausforming of ADI up to 25% reduction in height during a rolling operation was found to add a mechanical processing component compared to the conventional ADI heat treatment, thus increasing the rate of ausferrite formation and leading to a much finer and more homogeneous ausferrite product. The kinetics of ausferrite formation was studied using both metallographic as well as XRD-techniques. The effect of ausforming on the strength was quite dramatic （up to 70% and 50% increase in the yield and ultimate strength respectively）. A mechanism involving both a refined microstructural scale and an elevated dislocation density was suggested. Nickel is added to ADI to increase hardenability of thick section castings, while ausforming to higher degrees of deformation is necessary to alleviate the deleterious effect of alloy segregation on ductility. In the second part of this work, the influence of cold rolling （CR） on the mechanical properties and structural characteristics of ADI was investigated. The variation in properties was related to the amount of retained austenite （7~） and its mechanically induced transformation. In the course of tensile deformation of ADI, transformation induced plasticity （TRIP） takes place, indicated by the increase of the instantaneous value of strain-hardening exponent with tensile strain. The amount of retained austenite was found to decrease due to partial transformation of 7~ to martensite under the CR strain. Such strain-induced transformation resulted in higher amounts of mechanically generated martensite. The strength and hardness properties were therefore increased, while ductility and impact toughness decreased with increasing CR reduction.

Corrosion behavior of 2A97 Al-Cu-Li alloys in different thermomechanical conditions by quasi-in-situ analysis

As a promising material in the aircraft industry,2A97 Al-Cu-Li alloy exhibits high corrosion susceptibility that may limit its application.In the present work,to illustrate the influences of precipitate and grain-stored energy on localized corrosion evolution in 2A97 Al-Cu-Li alloy,cold working and artificial aging were carried out to produce 2A97 Al-Cu-Li alloys under different thermomechanical conditions.Quasi-in-situ analysis,traditional immersion test and electrochemical measurement were then conducted to examine the corrosion behavior of 2A97 alloys.It is revealed that precipitate significantly affects Cu enrichment at corrosion fronts,which determines corrosion susceptibility of alloys,whereas grain-stored energy distribution is closely associated with localized corrosion propagation.It is also indicated that quasi-in-situ analysis exhibits a consistent corrosion evolution with traditional immersion tests,which is regarded as a proper method to explore localized corrosion mechanisms by providing local microstructural information with enhanced time and spatial resolutions.

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.

Stress corrosion cracking behaviour of 7xxx aluminum alloys: A literature review

Stress corrosion cracking （SCC） is degradation of mechanical properties under the combined action of stress and corrosive environment of the susceptible material. Out of eight series of aluminium alloys, 2xxx, 5xxx and 7xxx aluminium alloys are susceptible to SCC. Among them, 7xxx series aluminium alloys have specific application in aerospace, military and structural industries due to superior mechanical properties. In these high strength 7xxx aluminium alloys, SCC plays a vital factor of consideration, as these failures are catastrophic during the service. The understanding of SCC behaviour possesses critical challenge for this alloy. The main aim of this review paper is to understand the effect of constituent alloying elements on the response of microstructural variation in various heat-treated conditions on SCC behavior. Further, review was made for improving the SCC resistance using thermomechanical treatments and by surface modifications of 7xxx alloys. Apart from a brief review on SCC of 7xxx alloys, this paper presents the effect of stress and pre-strain, effect of constituent alloying elements in the alloy, and the effect of environments on SCC behaviour. In addition, the SCC behaviours of weldments, 7xxx metal matrix composites and also laser surface modifications were also reviewed.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of an Mg-4.0Sm-1.0Ca alloy during thermomechanical treatment

The microstructure and mechanical properties of an as-cast Mg-4.0Sm-1.0Ca alloy were investigated during thermome-chanical treatments consisting of hot extrusion, rolling, and aging at 473 K. Mg41Sm5 phases containing Ca and needle-like Mg2Ca phases formed in the Mg matrix, and the average grain size and elongation were 4.2μm and 27%, respectively, after hot extrusion, which implied an increase in ductility. In addition, after the rolling, the grain size was further refined, and the tensile strength in-creased to 293 MPa. A new precipitate Mg3Sm was found in the peak-aged Mg-4.0Sm-1.0Ca alloy and this alloy displayed the best mechanical properties, with a peak hardness of 83 HV and ultimate tensile strength of 313 MPa; these properties were attributed to grain refinement strengthening, solid solution strengthening, work hardening, and precipitation strengthening.

Phase transformations and mechanical properties of a Ti36Nb5Zr alloy subjected to thermomechanical treatments

Various solid state phase transformations exist in metastable β-type Ti alloys,which can be employed to optimize the mechanical properties.In this paper,synchrotron X-ray diffraction(SXRD)experiments were carried out to study the phase transformations of a Ti36Nb5Zr alloy subjected to different thermomechanical treatments.Furthermore,the correlation between the phase constitutions and the mechanical properties was discussed.The a" texture formed,and high-density defects were introduced after cold rolling of the solution treated specimen,leading to the decrease in Young’s modulus and the increase in strength.The cold-rolled specimens were then annealed at temperatures from 423 to 773 K for 30 min.Both the Young’s modulus and strength increased with annealing temperatures increasing up to 673 K,which resulted from the precipitation of the ω and/or α phases.With further increase in annealing temperatures to 773 K,the β→α precipitation replaced the β→ω_(iso) phase transformation,and the density of defects decreased,leading to the decrease in both the Young’s modulus and strength.These results provide theoretical basis for the design biomedical Ti alloys with both low Young’s modulus and high strength.

Effect of Thermomechanical Treatment Temperature on Structure and Properties of CFB/M Ultra-High Strength Steel

Modified CCT diagram of carbide-flee bainite-martensite （CFB/M） ultra-high strength steel was established by applying controlled cooling of small samples. In addition, the influence of thermomechanical treatment tem- perature on the structure and properties was discussed. The experimental results showed that when deformed at 860℃ and below, ferrite transformation occurred due to strain. With the decrease of ausforming temperature, the quantity of ferrite increased and strength and toughness were deteriorated. Therefore, certain information was provided for optimizing technical parameter of ausforming process., firstly, the thermomechanical treatment temperature should not be lower than 860 ℃ in order to avoid ferrite formation induced by deformation; secondly, rapid cooling rate is also significant after deformation in order to avoid ferrite precipitation during subsequent cooling stage.

Ultra-high strength GNP/2024Al composite via thermomechanical treatment

The 5.0 vol.%GNP/2024Al composites were prepared by accumulated shear deformation combined with heat treatment,i.e.the thermomechanical treatment(TMT).The results showed that homogeneous distributed GNPs that aligned along the plastic deformation direction were obtained by six-pass drawing in the solution heat treatment state.The introducing of high-density dislocations in Al matrix by multiple drawing resulted in enhanced nucleation of precipitates and subsequent uniform growth during ageing.Consequently,ultra-strength GNP/2024Al composites,with yield and ultimate tensile strength 482 and571 MPa,respectively,were achieved.The high strength was attributed to homogeneous dispersion of undamaged GNPs,fine and dispersed precipitations and work-hardening effect.This work demonstrated that TMT could act as a feasible strategy for preparing high-performance GNP/Al composites.

Manipulating Precipitation Through Thermomechanical Treatment to Control Corrosion Behavior of an Al–Cu–Mg Alloy

Controlling the precipitation through thermomechanical treatment is an important method to improve the corrosion resistance of Al–Cu–Mg alloys. In this study, the corrosion behaviors of Al–Cu–Mg alloys in the solution-treated state and retrogressiontreated state under cold rolling deformation and then natural aging were investigated. In the solution-treated series alloys, the cold-rolled deformation improved the resistance to intergranular corrosion by suppressing the precipitation of the S-phase on the grain boundaries. The increased pitting potential and corrosion potential were related to the increased concentration of solute atoms within the grain interiors and the eliminated S-phase on grain boundaries. In the retrogression-treated series alloys, the 30% cold rolling deformation stimulated the growth of the S-phase and transformed the S-phase distribution from discontinuous to continuous on the grain boundaries, thereby changing the pitting corrosion to the network corrosion morphology. The precipitation of the S-phase with large dimension within the grain interiors contributed to the decreased pitting potential and corrosion potential.

GRAIN SHAPE EFFECT IN SUPERPLASTIC DEFORMATION

The method controlling grain shape in TMT processing and the effect of grain shape on char- acteristic parameters in superplastic deformation were discussed.The accommodation velocity of grahl boundary sliding,which is the dominant mechanism in superplastic deformation,and the contribution of each mechanism to the total strain,as influenced by grain shape,were ana- lyzed.Grain shape has been shown to be an essential structural factor for superplasticity.Then an analysis was made about the effect of grain shape on the region transition strain rate so that a new concept,critical aspect for superplasticity,was worked out.These predictions were compared with the measured results in an Al-Zn-Mg alloy.

SUPERPLASTIC DEFORMATION BEHAVIOR OF SUPERHARD Al ALLOY LC4

The superplasticity of high strength superhard A1 alloy LC4 was improved to a great extent by modified thermomechanical treatment.Its maximum elongation may be up to 2100% un- der deformation at initial strain rate of 8.33×10^(-4) S^(-1) at 510℃.Observations of the microstructure changes revealed that with the increase of the deformation,the grain grows and the alloy exhibits strain hardening.The excellent elongation of the alloy seems due to the in- crease of grain stability under deformation.

INVESTIGATION ON 1/3[111] FRANK LEDGE DISLOCATIONS ATα_2/γINTERFACE IN HOT-DEFORMED Ti-45Al-10Nb ALLOY

The dislocation ledges at the α2/7 intedece in a hot-dejormed Ti-45Al-10N alloywere analyzed by high-resolution tmnsmission electron microscopy. A new type ofdislocation ledge containing 1/3[111] Frank partial was found. The height of the ledgestDas always three [111]γplanes. The Burpers vectore of these diBlocation ledges weredetermined to be 1/2[110] and 1/2<101] corresponding to the 90 dey. and 30 deg.Shockley partials at noral ledges, i.e. 90 dep. ShockIey Partial dislocation +1/3[111]Frank partial dislocation; and 30 deg. Shockley partial dislocation + 1/3[111] Frankparfial dislocations. The jormation mechanism of this new tare of dislocation ledgewas discussed.

Analysis of the State of the Fine-Dispersive Precipitations in the Structure of High Strength Steel Weldox 1300 by Means of Electron Diffraction

The paper deals with investigations concerning the structure and state of dispersive precipitations of the phases consolidating in the high-strength steel Weldox 1300 after its high temperature thermomechanical treatment.Making use of transmission technique of electron microscopy (TEM) mainly the microstructure and morphology of martensite was analysed,as well as the state of dispersive precipitations of carbides and nitrides resulting from microadditives of such alloys as Nb,V,Ti or B,introduced into the steel.Observations revealed both a fine lathed and twin structure of the matrix of martensite in the investigated steel.By means of the method of electron diffraction particles of secondary strengthening phases of the M(C,N) type of a nanocrystalline size could be identified,and also non-metallic oxide inclusions,affecting the mechanism of strengthening of the investigated steel.

High-Strength Nanostructured Cold-Resistant Steels for Continental Shelf Development

The article describes principles of developing steels for maritime structures and main pipelines.The scientific approach lies in forming an ultra fine-grained and submicrocrystal structure through thermomechanical treatment of low-carbon low-alloyed steels,providing higher strength and resistance to brittle fracture.The article presents results of assessing the operability characteristics and introducing new steels.