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At least 1,297 records · Page 72

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Copper Billets Fabricated by the Repetitive Extrusion and Free Forging Process

In the present study, with the aim of obtaining a weakened texture, grain refinement and improved mechanical properties, copper billets were successfully fabricated using the severe plastic deformation method of repetitive extrusion and free forging (REFF) without using any additional tools or devices. The evolution of the microstructure, texture and mechanical behavior of the ultrafine grain copper billets over an increasing number of REEF cycles was also systematically studied. Our results show that the effective strain per REFF process was ε = 2.35. After two cycles of REFF process, the sum effective strain became ε = 4.7, leading to high efficiency of grain refinement. The grain size was refined from 50 to 0.8 μm; the yield strength was increased to 462 MPa, and we obtained a weakened texture in the pure copper billets. By increasing the number of cycles, the grain refinement ability was decreased, and the texture was thus strengthened further. Therefore, two cycles of REFF were a reasonable process for producing ultrafine-grained copper billets.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Influence of Torsion on Precipitation and Hardening Effects during Aging of an Extruded AZ91 Alloy

The effect of torsional deformation by various routes prior to artificial aging treatment on the microstructure of extruded AZ91 rods was investigated. The tension and compression properties along the extruded direction were tested to evaluate the hardening effect. The results showed that torsional deformation can largely enhance the subsequent age-hardening effect. A detailed microstructural characterization revealed that torsional deformation produced a high density of dislocations and {10-12} twins, which can promote continuous precipitation and increase the number density of the Mg{sub 17}Al{sub 12} phase. In addition, part of dislocations and the {10-12} twins were retained after aging treatment. The combination of the increased precipitation hardening by Mg{sub 17}Al{sub 12}, dislocation strengthening and refinement strengthening contributed to the high hardening effect. Moreover, the hardening effect can be further increased by tailoring the torsion route. The torsion route exhibited little influence on the age-hardening effect, while it remarkably affected the texture of the twisted AZ91 rods. Reciprocating torsion had little influence on the texture. In contrast, unidirectional torsion caused the c-axis of the texture to rotate toward the extrusion direction, resulting in a texture softening effect. Therefore, combining reciprocating torsion and aging caused a higher hardening effect than combining unidirectional torsion and aging. The detailed strengthening mechanism was analyzed and is discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Tailoring material microstructure and property in wire-laser directed energy deposition through a wiggle deposition strategy

Developing effective strategies to directly control material microstructure, property, and anisotropy is an active research area in metal additive manufacturing. This work develops a wiggle deposition pattern for wire-laser directed energy deposition (DED) of 316L stainless steel (SS) to modify the solidification texture, particularly in the building direction, in as-deposited samples. Through multi-physics simulation, operando near-infrared imaging, and synchrotron x-ray characterization, it is found that the wiggle deposition strategy induces highly dynamic melt flow and oscillating thermal gradient in the melt pool, which is responsible for the variation of preferable grain growth direction and crystallographic texture in the sample. The specific texture reduces the anisotropy in the tensile strength of as-printed 316L SS samples cut along different directions. Also, it largely increases the ductility along the build direction. Crystal plasticity simulation is performed to correlate the sample texture with mechanical property. In conclusion, this work offers a unique approach for tailoring local properties through the control of melt pool instability by applying different tool paths.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Direct observation of annealing-driven recrystallization behavior in magnesium alloy at low strain condition

Grain-twin interactions are significant in texture modification under thermodynamic driving force. In this study, annealing-driven twinning/detwinning behavior, grain growth, and corresponding texture evolution in a pre-deformed AZ31 magnesium alloy were systematically tracked and investigated via in-situ heating synchrotron X-ray diffraction and quasi in-situ electron backscattered diffraction techniques. A twinning texture is generated in the pre-deformed sample due to the activation of {$10\bar{1}2$} tensile twinning. During annealing, dislocation annihilation occurs between 100 and 280 °C, and recrystallization occurs above 280 °C, manifesting as the initial residual matrix and twins being competitively swallowed by each other, forming a bimodal texture. The recrystallization process is completed by boundary movement, which depends on the energy difference across the boundary. In addition, it is found that the grain boundaries favor movement towards the side with higher stored energy, regardless of the boundary type or the boundary energy.

In-situ observation↗

Impacts of annealing treatment on the microstructure of U-Mo monolithic fuel plates

The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect of different heat treatments on the fuel microstructure and texture in laboratory scale monolithic U-Mo fuel plates. Such analyses are relevant as they could possibly inform future fabrication methods for the optimization of microstructure and of material properties to ultimately improve fuel performance during irradiation. For this reason, detail characterization including Energy x-ray dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) techniques were applied on U-Mo plates fabricated with different heat treatments to understand the influence of fabrication on fuel microstructure. Here, U-Mo fresh fuel specimens with or without annealing treatments (homogenization and stress release annealing) after rolling were analyzed in this work. In this study for the first time EBSD was systematically used to analyze the heat treatments influence on texture present in fresh fuel monolithic U-Mo fuel plates. Such changes were connected to other known microstructural and chemical changes. In this work minimization of molybdenum concentration variation and gamma phase decomposition of the U-Mo fuel core after homogenization was observed. Also, an increase in the interaction layer of the U-Mo fuel core with the Zr interlayer diffusion barrier was observed with the UZr 2 growing up to 1 µm in thickness. Such microstructural changes were aligned to the changes in texture and grain structure. Indeed, common texture observed in body-centered cubic (BCC) metal after cold rolling (e.g., α, ξ, γ fibers) were minimized by the annealing/homogenization process. Moreover, grain structure was influenced by the fabrication route with elongated grains formed in the rolled sample and equiaxed grains found after annealing. Such features are relevant since the formation of microstructural features formed during fuel fabrication can impact fuel performance in reactor.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Analysis of formability of Ca-added magnesium alloy sheets at low temperatures

The formability of sheets of the Ca-added magnesium alloy AZX311 was analyzed. The parameters affecting the sheet formability, such as the strain-hardening rate and the strain-rate sensitivity, did not seem to be higher in the alloy AZX311 at temperatures of room temperature (RT) and 200 °C. In addition, the critical stress for fracture at RT was lower in AZX311 than in AZ31. However, AZX311 exhibited higher stretchability and formability at low temperatures than AZ31. Electron back-scattered diffraction microscopy revealed that AZX311 had a weaker basal texture as well as broadened basal poles along the transverse direction. Polycrystal plasticity simulations confirmed that this weaker basal texture increases the activity of basal slip over thickness strain, resulting in the higher formability of AZX311. - Highlights: • A weak basal texture with broadening basal poles along the TD in AZX311 • Lower critical stress for fracture at RT in AZX311 than in AZ31 • Lower strain-hardening rates at low temperatures in the AZX311 than in the AZ31 • Higher formability at low temperatures in AZX311 because of the weak basal texture.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Microstructural changes in an extruded Mg−Zn−Y alloy reinforced by quasicrystalline I-phase by small additions of calcium, manganese and cerium-rich mischmetal

The effects of calcium, manganese and cerium-rich mischmetal additions on the microstructure and texture of the extruded Mg−6Zn−1Y (wt.%) alloy have been investigated. The microstructure of the alloys consisted of a magnesium matrix embedding second phase particles aligned along the extrusion direction. The nature and volume fraction of the second phases depended on the alloying element. Thus, Ce-rich mischmetal promoted the formation of T-phase while calcium additions resulted in the formation of a ternary Mg−Zn−Ca compound. Only, manganese additions did not affect the existence of the I-phase present in the ternary alloy. The texture was measured and it was found that calcium addition has a significant effect weakening the extrusion texture. - Highlights: •In-situ HEXRD and DSC techniques are employed to identify phase transformations. •The existence of I-phase is not altered by manganese addition to Mg93Zn6Y1 (wt.%). •Calcium addition promotes Mg{sub 6}Zn{sub 3}Ca{sub 2} formation instead of I-phase. •Mischmetal addition induces the formation of coarse T-phase particles. •Texture depends on the nature of second phases and therefore of the extrusion pressure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Thermal stability of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy processed by equal-channel angular pressing

Thermal stability of a Cu-Cr-Zr alloy processed by equal-channel angular pressing up to16 passes was investigated using isochronal annealing ranging from 250 to 850 °C for 1 h. The microstructure, crystallographic texture and micro hardness of samples were characterized through electron back scatter diffraction and Vickers micro hardness measurements. The recrystallized grain size was stable between 250 °C and 500 °C then increased quickly. The achieved mean grain size, after 1, 4 and 16 ECAP passes, was around 5.5 μm. A discontinuous mode of recrystallization was found to occur and a Particle Simulated Nucleation mechanism was evidenced. The evolution of the high angle grain boundary fraction increased notably after annealing above 550 °C. The crystallographic texture after isochronal annealing was similar to that of ECAP simple shear, no change of the texture during annealing was observed but only slight intensity variations. Micro hardness of all Cu–Cr–Zr samples showed a hardening with two peaks at 400 and 500 °C associated with precipitation of Cu cluster and Cu{sub 5}Zr phase respectively, followed by a subsequent softening upon increasing the annealing temperature due to recrystallization. - Highlight: •The Cu-1Cr-0.1Zr alloy shows a very good thermal stability up to 550 °C after ECAP. •A discontinuous recrystallization was found to occur and PSN mechanism was evidenced. •The annealing texture was found weak and some new components appear. •Hardening is attributed to the Cr clustering followed by the Cu{sub 51}Zr{sub 14} precipitation. •Softening is a result of recrystallization and grain growth progressing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Quantitative characterization of material surface — Application to Ni + Mo electrolytic composite coatings

A new approach to numerical analysis of maps of material surface has been proposed and discussed in detail. It was concluded that the roughness factor RF and the root mean square roughness S{sub q} show a saturation effect with increasing size of the analysed maps what allows determining the optimal map dimension representative of the examined material. A quantitative method of determining predominant direction of the surface texture based on the power spectral density function is also proposed and discussed. The elaborated method was applied in surface analysis of Ni + Mo composite coatings. It was shown that co-deposition of molybdenum particles in nickel matrix leads to an increase in surface roughness. In addition, a decrease in size of the embedded Mo particles in Ni matrix causes an increase of both the surface roughness and the surface texture. It was also stated that the relation between the roughness factor and the double layer capacitance C{sub dl} of the studied coatings is linear and allows determining the double layer capacitance of the smooth nickel electrode. - Highlights: •Optimization of the procedure for the scanning of the material surface •Quantitative determination of the surface roughness and texture intensity •Proposition of the parameter describing privileged direction of the surface texture •Determination of the double layer capacitance of the smooth electrode.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The plastic flow machining: A new SPD process for producing metal sheets with gradient structures

Highlights: • A new process named Plastic Flow Machining is presented to produce thin sheets by an extrusion operation from bulk material. • The produced sheets present ultra-fine grain structures, good mechanical properties and high formability. • A deformation gradient was found across the thickness of the sheet regarding plastic strain, microstructure and texture. - Abstract: A new severe plastic deformation process is presented – the plastic flow machining – an extrusion process during which a sheet is formed through a lateral opening of the die in a single operation. The sheet is heavily deformed presenting an ultra-fine grain structure. Experimental results are presented for commercially pure aluminum concerning microstructures, textures and mechanical properties. A gradient structure was found across the thickness of the sheet concerning plastic strain, grain size and texture. Only simple shear textures were seen. The material strength increased by a factor of three with significant ductility and with relatively high Lankford parameter.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Electron backscatter diffraction helps direct calculation of magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy in API 5L steels

Highlights: • Experimental evidence of the capability of EBSD to accurately estimate MAE of API 5L steels. • MAE can be calculated directly from raw EBSD data for reduced sample sizes. • Number of grains sufficient to estimate MAE from EBSD is in the order of several hundreds. • The use of equivalent orientations increases drastically the accuracy of MAE estimations. • EBSD helps explain origin of the observed correlation between MAE and Barkhausen noise. - Abstract: This paper shows evidence of the capability of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) to accurately estimate the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE) of API 5L steels. The crystallographic texture of five circular steel samples was characterized by X-ray global texture and EBSD microtexture measurements. The average MAE of each one of these samples was estimated from the set of individual grain orientations obtained from orientation maps measured by EBSD. The angular dependence of EBSD-derived MAE was compared with predictions made from X-ray texture and Barkhausen noise (BHN) measurements. The average MAE determined from the EBSD data is in good agreement with the predictions made from X-ray and BHN measurements for all the studied samples. This agreement can be explained by the fact that the number of grains used to predict the average MAE from the EBSD results was statistically sufficient to reproduce the MAE predicted by the other two methods. The EBSD measurement strategy for the accurate MAE estimation was established in terms of parameters such as the number of individual grain orientations to be measured, the sample's texture acuity and grain size, the use of equivalent orientations given by the statistical orthorhombic symmetry of the studied samples, and different measurement planes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Process metallurgy simulation for metal drawing process optimization by using two-scale finite element method

We developed two-scale FE analysis procedure based on the crystallographic homogenization method by considering the hierarchical structure of poly-crystal aluminium alloy metal. It can be characterized as the combination of two-scale structure, such as the microscopic polycrystal structure and the macroscopic elastic plastic continuum. Micro polycrystal structure can be modeled as a three dimensional representative volume element (RVE). RVE is featured as by 3×3×3 eight-nodes solid finite elements, which has 216 crystal orientations. This FE analysis code can predict the deformation, strain and stress evolutions in the wire drawing processes in the macro- scales, and further the crystal texture and hardening evolutions in the micro-scale. In this study, we analyzed the texture evolution in the wire drawing processes by our two-scale FE analysis code under conditions of various drawing angles of dice. We evaluates the texture evolution in the surface and center regions of the wire cross section, and to clarify the effects of processing conditions on the texture evolution.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Proximity induced vortices and long-range triplet supercurrents in ferromagnetic Josephson junctions and spin valves

Using a spin-parameterized quasiclassical Keldysh-Usadel technique, we theoretically study supercurrent transport in several types of diffusive ferromagnetic (F)/superconducting (S) configurations with differing magnetization textures. We separate out the even- and odd-frequency components of the supercurrent within the low proximity limit and identify the relative contributions from the singlet and triplet channels. We first consider inhomogeneous one-dimensional Josephson structures consisting of a uniform bilayer magnetic S/F/F/S structure and a trilayer S/F/F/F/S configuration, in which case the outer F layers can have either a uniform or conical texture relative to the central uniform F layer. Our results demonstrate that for supercurrents flowing perpendicular to the F/F interfaces, incorporating a conical texture yields the most effective way to observe the signatures of long-ranged spin-triplet supercurrents. We also consider three different types of finite-sized two-dimensional magnetic structures subjected to an applied magnetic field normal to the junction plane: a S/F/S junction with uniform magnetization texture and two S/F/F/S configurations with differing F/F bilayer arrangements. In one case, the F/F interface is parallel with the S/F junction interfaces while in the other case, the F/F junction is oriented perpendicular to the S/F interfaces. We then discuss the proximity vortices and corresponding spatial maps of currents inside the junctions. For the uniform S/F/S junction, we analytically calculate the magnetic field induced supercurrent and pair potential in both the narrow and wide junction regimes, thus providing insight into the variations in the Fraunhofer diffraction patterns and proximity vortices when transitioning from a wide junction to a narrow one. Our extensive computations demonstrate that the induced long-range spin-triplet supercurrents can deeply penetrate uniform F/F bilayers when spin-singlet supercurrents flow parallel to the F/F interfaces. This is in stark contrast to configurations where a spin-singlet supercurrent flows perpendicular to the F/F interfaces. We pinpoint the origin of the induced triplet and singlet correlations through spatial profiles of the decomposed total supercurrents. We find that the penetration of the long-range spin-triplet supercurrents associated with supercurrents flowing parallel to the F/F interfaces is more pronounced when the thicknesses of the F strips are unequal. Finally, if one of the S terminals is replaced with a finite-sized normal metal, we demonstrate that the corresponding experimentally accessible S/F/F/N spin valve presents an effective platform in which the predicted long-range effects can be effectively generated and probed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Calculation of Debye-Scherrer diffraction patterns from highly stressed polycrystalline materials

Calculations of Debye-Scherrer diffraction patterns from polycrystalline materials have typically been done in the limit of small deviatoric stresses. Although these methods are well suited for experiments conducted near hydrostatic conditions, more robust models are required to diagnose the large strain anisotropies present in dynamic compression experiments. A method to predict Debye-Scherrer diffraction patterns for arbitrary strains has been presented in the Voigt (iso-strain) limit [Higginbotham, J. Appl. Phys. 115, 174906 (2014)]. Here, we present a method to calculate Debye-Scherrer diffraction patterns from highly stressed polycrystalline samples in the Reuss (iso-stress) limit. This analysis uses elastic constants to calculate lattice strains for all initial crystallite orientations, enabling elastic anisotropy and sample texture effects to be modeled directly. The effects of probing geometry, deviatoric stresses, and sample texture are demonstrated and compared to Voigt limit predictions. An example of shock-compressed polycrystalline diamond is presented to illustrate how this model can be applied and demonstrates the importance of including material strength when interpreting diffraction in dynamic compression experiments.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Unsaturated and Saturated Hydraulic Parameters of Soils at the East River Watershed, Colorado Calculated using the Pedotransfer Function Method.

The purpose of the data package is to present the results of calculations of the following unsaturated-saturated hydraulic parameters of soils of the East River Watershed, Colorado: fully saturated water content (Qs), residual saturation (Qr), van genuchten parameters alpha and n, field capacity (FC), and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks). Calculations were conducted for the following soil texture types: sandy_loam, loam, silty_clay_loam, clay_loam, silt loam; the particle size distribution included the percentage of sand, silt, clay, and the bulk density (BD) of soils. Calculations were conducted for the following areas- Lower_Subalpine (6 samples),- Lower_Montane_lower_hillslope (7 samples),- Floodplain_at_base_of_lower_montane_hillslope, (11 samples),- PLM-0 (10 samples),- PLM-1 (10 samples), and - PLM-3 (13 samples)Calculations were conducted using the Pedotransfer Function Method developed by Tóth et al. (2014) with the application of the code ”euptf” in Rstudio. The data are being summarized in the Excel file ”Unsaturated_Saturated_Hydraulic_Parameters_PTF_calculated_EASt_EIver.xls" including two worksheets:“full_data_EAST_RIVER” which includes (a) the input data used for calculations, the soil texture triangle, and the plots of the water retention curves and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity for several types of soil texture, and (b) the summary table with the averaged parameters for each area. The the texture triangle was plotted using the Rstudio "soiltexture." Microsoft Excel software is required to open the Excel file. The metadata and a list of references to the Rstudio libraries used for calculations and data visualization are giving in the Word Readme file.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Quantifying the impact of material-model error on macroscale quantities-of-interest using multiscale a posteriori error-estimation techniques

An a posteriori error-estimation framework is introduced to quantify and reduce modeling errors resulting from approximating complex mesoscale material behavior with a simpler macroscale model. Such errors may be prevalent when modeling welds and additively manufactured structures, where spatial variations and material textures may be present in the microstructure. We consider a case where a <100> fiber texture develops in the longitudinal scanning direction of a weld. Transversely isotropic elastic properties are obtained through homogenization of a microstructural model with this texture and are considered the reference weld properties within the error-estimation framework. Conversely, isotropic elastic properties are considered approximate weld properties since they contain no representation of texture. Errors introduced by using isotropic material properties to represent a weld are assessed through a quantified error bound in the elastic regime. Lastly, an adaptive error reduction scheme is used to determine the optimal spatial variation of the isotropic weld properties to reduce the error bound.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Integrated friction reduction technology to improve fuel economy without sacrificing durability

This project aims to develop fuel economy technologies to minimize parasitic losses within vehicle engines and drivetrains by improving fuel economy at least 2% for 2014 legacy vehicles and 2018 vehicles without adverse impacts on engine durability. The tools used are advanced low viscosity lubricants and surface material technologies, including surface textures, and coatings. Working with industrial partners, an experimental fuel efficient low viscosity lubricant was developed, verified by ASTM fuel economy engine test for 2014 vehicle population. An ultralow viscosity lubricant was also developed for 2018 engines, demonstrated by engine chassis dynamometer tests. Surface texturing of engine components was also conducted, and in engine testing, confirmed the textured engine developed more torque and power while the textures largely stayed intact after the test.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗