The cryogenic mechanical properties and the intergranular brittleness in Fe-12%Mn-/0.2%Ti/ ferritic alloy system
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The potential of the 100-meter drop-tube for producing materials with new and important properties by their rapid solidification containerless undercooling was investigated. Materials produced exhibit evidence of very rapid quenching. The importance of rapid quenching in producing materials of considerable scientific and technological interest is emphasized. It is indicated that containerless undercooling, using at first a drop tube and eventually a space-shuttle-serviced orbiting laboratory, will provide another powerful approach for rapid quenching. A special advantage of the drop tube is that the microgravity condition is imposed ballistically; it is therefore possible to obtain either spherical samples by allowing solidification to take place in flight, or splats by allowing the sample material while still in undercooled liquid form to impact a stationary quench plate.
A uniform composite of hypermonotectic composition and a method for producing the same wherein the composition has a plurality of aligned and constrained fibers therein. These fibers serve to uniformly distribute L.sub.11 from the reaction L.sub.I .fwdarw.S.sub.I +L.sub.II.
A plug weld is a non-homogenous anisotropic material system. Local deformation and failure behavior not initially understood Pre-crack placement is non-straightforward
Abstract not provided
For presentation at CALPHAD 50, Cambridge, MA, June 25-30, 2023
This comprehensive investigation examines the structure–property relationships in two nuclear alloy systems—Alloy 709 (A709) austenitic stainless steel and Grade 92 (G-92) ferritic/martensitic (F/M) steel—manufactured via directed energy deposition (DED) for sodium-cooled fast reactor applications. This study establishes the fundamental mechanisms for controlling microstructures for optimizing the mechanical performance of additively manufactured nuclear materials through systematic heat treatment optimization and multiscale characterization. As-deposited A709 steel develops a complex multiscale strengthening architecture consisting of a fine cellular solidification structure with diameter of 2-3 µm within10–50 µm grains, elevated dislocation densities from rapid thermal cycling, and grain boundary precipitates that activate concurrent Hall–Petch, dislocation, and precipitation hardening mechanisms to achieve exceptional properties [yield strength (YS): 603 MPa, ultimate tensile strength (UTS): 844 MPa, Vickers hardness: 220 HV] that achieve a 44% superior strength compared to that of the wrought material. Heat treatments produce different results. Solution annealing (SA) dissolves the cellular structure and reduces the hardness to 190 HV. Precipitation treatment (PT) keeps the cellular structure but adds carbides, allowing the hardness to reach 205 HV. The best approach combines both treatments (SA+PT) and creates uniform precipitate distributions with M 23 C 6 carbides at the grain boundaries and MX carbonitrides in the matrix, achieving a hardness of 195 HV. However, directional differences persist, with a 12%–15% strength variation between orientations due to the inherited layered microstructural architecture that survives aggressive heat treatment. While tensile testing at 550°C demonstrates 40%–50% thermal softening with dynamic strain aging, DED A709 steel still maintains a 71% higher YS than that of the wrought material. Ion irradiation studies (100–400 dpa) of DED A709 steel reveal progressive radiation damage with increasing void density and radiation-induced segregation causing nickel enrichment and chromium depletion, which will ultimately compromise mechanical properties. As-deposited G-92 exhibits exceptional strength (UTS: 1650–1700 MPa, 430 HV) through a complex microstructure containing both ferrite and martensite phases, a high geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density (17.04×10 14 /m 2 ), and fine carbides. Heat treatments create distinct changes. Normalizing produces fresh martensite with the highest hardness (460 HV) and an increased GND density (20.23×10 14 /m 2 ). Tempering develops dual precipitation systems and reduces the hardness to 290 HV. The optimal approach uses sequential normalizing plus tempering, achieving balanced properties with the lowest hardness (250 HV) and a reduced GND density (11.01×10 14 /m 2 ). A processing-dependent anisotropy is observed: horizontal specimens achieve superior ductile behavior, while vertical specimens exhibit brittle failure. A tempering heat treatment successfully mitigates this anisotropic behavior by transforming the hard martensitic as-deposited structure into tempered martensite enabling both horizontal and vertical specimens to exhibit similar stress–strain characteristics with visible necking behavior. Remarkably, testing at 550°C reveals a reversal in the anisotropy, where as-deposited specimens achieve near isotropy with superior thermal stability (a 15%–20% strength reduction), while tempered specimens develop an orientation dependence with a 25%–30% strength reduction. Both alloy systems demonstrate that DED processing creates specimens with a superior strength through refined microstructural features, though with distinct strengthening mechanisms—austenitic through cellular structures and precipitates versus F/M through phase transformations and precipitates. Heat treatment optimization requires alloy-specific approaches, with A709 benefiting from controlled precipitation while G-92 requires careful phase transformation control. The results show that DED manufacturing can produce nuclear materials with exceptional performance, but directional effects and temperature-dependent behavior must be carefully considered for reactor component design and qualification.
This is the final report of "Low-Cost Titanium Casting Technology" project. Titanium alloys have attracted increasing attentions as structural materials for high performance and weight-sensitive applications in aerospace and biomedical fields. However, in mass-production of civil applications like automotive components, titanium alloys are scarcely used due to the unaffordable costs in manufacturing compared with other metallic materials, such as aluminum, magnesium and steel. Therefore, there is a need to reduce the manufacturing cost of titanium alloys so that titanium alloys can be more competitive in terms of property and cost considerations. In this 4-year project, we started from exploring new low-cost titanium alloy systems with the guidance of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering – Calculation of Phase Diagram (ICME-CALPHAD) framework, and determined several promising alloy systems, alloying elements including Ti-Al-Fe-Mn-B-C, that can allow further development (lab-scale and industry-scale) in the future. During the new alloy system exploration, considerable amount of scientific work was completed regarding CALPHAD modeling, microstructure morphology, mechanical properties, and processing of the new alloy systems. The relevant ternary titanium alloy systems, Ti-Al-Mn and Ti-Al-Fe, were examined and reassessed both computationally and experimentally, leading to more comprehensive understanding of these alloy systems. Based on this above study, a new low-cost casting titanium alloy was developed, Ti-6Al-5Fe-0.05B-0.05C (designated as T65-0.05BC), which has competitive as-cast strength level with current commercial titanium alloys but relatively low ductility. However, in this project, since the target application, automotive engine connecting rod, is a fatigue-limited component and does not require high ductility, this alloy shall suffice as the deliverable alloy in this project. After designing and confirming the potent of the new alloy, we designed and built a lab-scale manufacturing equipment aided by computational tools at OSU labs to conceptually prove that this alloy can be manufactured with permanent mold casting, which is low-cost and potentially a mass production process. We produced a lab-scale prototype connecting rod demonstrating the capability of permanent mold casting of this new alloy.
Advanced manufacturing processes improve the cost and quality of goods. Rotary friction welding is a fast, energy-efficient, and reliable joining process for metals, but new applications are hindered by large development costs for each new alloy. Each alloy set has different welding characteristics; therefore, lessons learned from a single alloy are not always broadly applicable. To establish knowledge that is applicable across multiple alloys, a family of different superalloys were welded to discover process trends that were applicable beyond a single alloy set. In this study, weld symmetry did not correlate to weld strength across alloy systems. Some alloys’ strongest welds occurred at maximum symmetry, whereas high asymmetry was associated with different alloys’ maximum strength. High feed rates, high welding forces, low energy, and low temperatures all resulted in high-strength welds across all alloy and geometry combinations. Tensile strengths greater than 95% of base-metal strength were recorded for most alloy systems.
Alloy 800 H is currently under consideration for applications in the next generation nuclear plant (NGNP) at operational temperatures above 750°C. This paper first describes service requirements of the nuclear system for structural materials; and then an extensive review of Alloy 800 H is given on its codification with respect to development and research history, mechanical behavior and design allowables, metallurgical aging resistance, environmental effect considerations, data requirements and availability, weldments, as well as many other aspects relevant to the intended nuclear application. Finally, further research and development activities to support the materials qualification are suggested.
Systems and methods for electrodepositing a nickel-cobalt alloy using a rotating cylinder electrode assembly with a plating surface and an electrical contact. The assembly is placed within a plating bath and rotated while running a plating cycle. Nickel-cobalt alloy deposition is selectively controlled by controlling current density distribution and/or cobalt content in the plating bath while running the plating cycle to deposit an alloy of a desired yield strength onto the plating surface in a single plating cycle. In various embodiments, the rotating cylinder may be used as an insitu monitoring method to assist in obtaining the properties desired.
This paper compares the castability of the near eutectic aluminum-cerium alloy system to the aluminum-silicon and aluminum-copper systems. The alloys are compared based on die filling capability, feeding characteristics and tendency to hot tear in both sand cast and permanent mold applications. The castability ranking of the binary Al–Ce systems is as good as the aluminum-silicon system with some deterioration as additional alloying elements are added. In alloy systems that use cerium in combination with common aluminum alloying elements such as silicon, magnesium and/or copper, the casting characteristics are generally better than the aluminum-copper system. In general, production systems for melting, de-gassing and other processing of aluminum-silicon or aluminum-copper alloys can be used without modification for conventional casting of aluminum-cerium alloys.
An investigation was conducted to determine softening and hardening behavior in 19 binary iron-alloy systems. Microhardness tests were conducted at four temperatures in the range 77 to 411 K. Alloy softening was exhibited by 17 of the 19 alloy systems. Alloy softening observed in 15 of the alloy systems was attributed to an intrinsic mechanism, believed to be lowering of the Peierls (lattice friction) stress. Softening and hardening rates could be correlated with the atomic radius ratio of solute to iron. Softening observed in two other systems was attributed to an extrinsic mechanism, believed to be associated with scavenging of interstitial impurities.
The introductory sections of the work are devoted to the theory of thermal expansion of solids and to methods for the measurement of the linear thermal expansion of solids (X-ray methods, high speed methods, interferometry, push-rod dilatometry, etc.). The bulk of the work is devoted to numerical data on the thermal linear expansion of all the metallic elements, a large number of intermetallics, and a large number of binary alloy systems and multiple alloy systems. A comprehensive bibliography is provided along with an index to the materials examined.
An experimental study was conducted to determine whether alloy softening in Fe alloys is dependent on electron concentration and to provide a direct comparison of alloy softening and hardening in several binary Fe alloy systems having the same processing history. Alloy additions to Fe included the elements in the Periods 4-6 and the Groups IV-VIII with the exception of technetium. A total of 19 alloy systems was investigated, and hardness testing was the primary means of evaluation. Testing was carried out at four temperatures over a homologous temperature range of 0.043-0.227 times the absolute melting temperature of unalloyed Fe. Major conclusions are that the atomic radius ratio of solute-to-Fe is the key factor in controlling low-temperature hardness of the binary Fe alloys and that alloy softening rates at 77 K and alloy hardening rates at 411 K are correlated with this atomic radius ratio for 15 of the binary alloy systems. Mechanisms of alloy softening and hardening are proposed.
Despite the advent of numerical modeling approaches and high-performance computing infrastructure, the design and development of corrosion-resistant high temperature alloys (> 500 °C) continue to be largely empirical and typically involve extensive experimentation. This is mainly due to the lack of a single unified physics-based model that can address the impact of multiple competing factors such as time, environment, alloy composition, microstructure, and geometry. The classical Wagner’s criteria have been foundational to estimate the minimum concentrations required of an oxide-forming element to establish and sustain a protective oxide scale. However, the formulation is primarily limited to lower-order alloy systems (binary alloys) and ignores the time dependence of subsurface compositional changes in the alloy. The lack of key data on the temperature and composition dependence of the solubility and transport of oxidants in multicomponent-multiphase alloys further exacerbates the problem. In the present work, a few of these limitations were addressed using a flux-based approach (FLAP) which tracks the spatiotemporal evolution of the fundamental flux balance between oxygen and the oxide-forming elements to enable the prediction of the formation of an external alumina scale in ternary NiCrAl alloys. In conclusion, the modeling results were validated with the literature findings and additional experimental work conducted in the present work.