Microstructure,mechanical properties,and wear resistance of VCp-reinforced Fe-matrix composites treated by Q&P process

A quenching and partitioning(Q&P) process was applied to vanadium carbide particle(VCp)-reinforced Fe-matrix composites(VC-Fe-MCs) to obtain a multiphase microstructure comprising VC, V8 C7, M3 C, α-Fe, and γ-Fe. The effects of the austenitizing temperature and the quenching temperature on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and wear resistance of the VC-Fe-MCs were studied. The results show that the size of the carbide became coarse and that the shape of some particles began to transform from diffused graininess into a chrysanthemum-shaped structure with increasing austenitizing temperature. The microhardness decreased with increasing austenitizing temperature but substantially increased after wear testing compared with the microhardness before wear testing; the microhardness values improved by 20.0% ± 2.5%. Retained austenite enhanced the impact toughness and promoted the transformation-induced plasticity(TRIP) effect to improve wear resistance under certain load conditions.

Stress-corrosion behavior and characteristics of the friction stir welding of an AA2198-T34 alloy

To better understand the stress-corrosion behavior of friction stir welding(FSW),the effects of the microstructure on the stress-corrosion behavior of the FSW in a 2198-T34 aluminum alloy were investigated.The experimental results show that the low-angle grain boundary(LABs)of the stir zone(SZ)of FSW is significantly less than that of heated affected zone(HAZ),thermo-mechanically affected zone(TMAZ),and parent materials(PM),but the grain boundary precipitates(GBPs)T1(Al2CuLi)were less,which has a slight effect on the stress corrosion.The dislocation density in SZ was greater than that in other regions.The residual stress in SZ was+67 MPa,which is greater than that in the TMAZ.The residual stress in the HAZ and PM is-8 MPa and-32 MPa,respectively,and both compressive stresses.The corrosion potential in SZ is obviously less than that in other regions.However,micro-cracks were formed in the SZ at low strain rate,which indicates that the grain boundary characters and GBPs have no significant effect on the crack initiation in the stress-corrosion process of the AA2198-T34.Nevertheless,the residual tensile stress has significant effect on the crack initiation during the stress-corrosion process.

Influence of carbon-partitioning treatment on the microstructure, mechanical properties and wear resistance of in situ VCp-reinforced Fe-matrix composite

The wear resistance of iron(Fe)-matrix materials could be improved through the in situ formation of vanadium carbide particles(VCp)with high hardness.However,brittleness and low impact toughness limit their application in several industries due to addition of higher carbon content.Carbon-partitioning treatment plays an important role in tuning the microstructure and mechanical properties of in situ VCp-reinforced Fe-matrix composite.In this study,the influences of carbon-partitioning temperatures and times on the microstructure,mechanical properties,and wear resistance of in situ VCp-reinforced Fe-matrix composite were investigated.The experimental results indicated that a certain amount of retained austenite could be stabilized at room temperature through the carbon-partitioning treatment.Microhardness of in situ VCp-reinforced Fematrix composite under carbon-partitioning treatment could be decreased,but impact toughness was improved accordingly when wear resistance was enhanced.In addition,the enhancement of wear resistance could be attributed to transformation-induced plasticity(TRIP)effect,and phase transformation was caused fromγ-Fe(face-centered cubic structure,fcc)toα-Fe(body-centered cubic structure,bcc)under a certain load.