Iranian Journal of Materials Science and Engineering

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Abstract: The objective of this research was to develop a tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) having a microstructure and properties good enough to penetrate hard rolled steels as deep as possible. In addition this alloy should not have environmental problems as depleted uranium (DU) materials. For this purpose a wide spread literature survey was performed and on the base of information obtained in this survey, three compositions of WHA were chosen for investigation in this research. The alloys namely 90W-7Ni-3Fe, 90W-9Ni-Mn and 90W-8Ni-2Mn were selected and after producing these alloys through powder metallurgy technique, their thermal conductivity, compression flow properties and microstructures were studied. The results of these investigations indicated that W-Ni-Mn alloys had better flow properties and lower thermal conductivities relative to W-Ni-Fe alloy. In addition Mn helped to obtain a finer microstructure in WHA. Worth mentioning that a finer microstructure as well as lower thermal conductivity in this type of alloys increased the penetration depth due to formation of adiabatic shear bands (ASB) during impact.

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Abstract: Thermal fatigue is a stochastic process often showing considerable scatter even in controlled environments. Due to complexity of thermal fatigue, there is no a complete analytical solution for predicting the effect of this property on the life of various components, subjected to severe thermal fluctuations. Among these components, one can mention car cylinder, cylinder head and piston which bear damages due to thermal fatigue. All these components are usually produced by casting techniques. In order to comprehend and compare the thermal fatigue resistance of cast Al alloys 356 and 413, this research was designed and performed. For this purpose, several samples in the form of disc were cast from the two alloys in sand mould. The microstructures of the cast samples were studied by light microscopy in order to choose the samples with the least amounts of defects for thermal fatigue tests. The results of thermal fatigue tests showed that the nucleation of microcracks in Al-356 alloy occurred at shorter time relative to those occurred in Al- 413 alloy under the same test conditions. In addition, the density of micro-cracks in Al-356 alloy was more than that of Al-413 alloy. The results of fractography on 356 alloy indicated that the cracks were generally nucleated from inter-dendritic shrinkage porosities and occasionally from the interface of silicon particles with the matrix. The growth of these micro cracks was along the dendrite arms. Fractography of 413 alloy fracture surfaces showed that nucleation of microcracks was often associated with silicon particles.

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Abstract: Two different coating microstructures of Ni-50Cr alloy were obtained on a stainless steel substrate by changing combustion characteristics of a high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) process and the size distribution of feed powder during coating process. Use of the finer feed powder and leaner fuel in oxygen/fuel ratio (i.e. using a ratio much less than stoichiometric ratio) led to formation of an extremely dense coating with high oxide content. Heat treating of this coating at 650ºC for 4 hours caused the formation of an intermetallic sigma phase having Cr7Ni3 stoichiometry. Formation of this phase has been reported occasionally in thin films not in thermal spray coatings, as reported for the first time in this research. In addition no sigma phase was detected in the HVOF as-deposited coating with low oxide content after heat treatment of the samples. Therefore, due to the limited number of papers available in the subject of formation of phase in either Ni-Cr bulk alloys or coatings, it is considered appropriate to show up a case in this field. In this work, the formation of sigma phase in Ni-50Cr coating deposited by HVOF technique and heat treated at 650ºC was discussed and then the coating was characterized.

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Abstract:

materials can be fabricated by sintering of W-Cu composite powders. In this research W-20%wt Cu composite powders

was synthesized via a co-precipitation method. Precipitate obtained from a mixture of copper nitrate and ammonium

paratungstate (APT) in distilled water contained W-Cu compounds. This precipitate was washed, dried and calcined

at 550

of dried precipitate powder was determined by thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and X-ray

diffraction (XRD). The sintering of the reduced powders was investigated as a function of temperature. Relative density

of more than 98% obtained for the powders sintered at 1200

close to theoretical calculations. The hardness of the sintered powders was 320 Vickers.

W-Cu composites are widely used as contacts, heat sinks and electro discharge electrodes. These kinds of°C in air and then reduced in H2 atmosphere in order to convert to W-Cu powders. The calcination temperature°C . The corresponding electrical conductivity was too

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Abstract: Guinier-Preston (GP) zone formation and precipitation behavior of T1 (Al2CuLi) phase during the ageingof an Al-Cu-Li-Zr alloy was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique and electrical resistancemeasurement of the samples. Results show that endothermic effects in the thermograms of the alloy between 180°Cand 240°C can be related to the enthalpy of GPzones dissolution. Formation of GPzones in the structure increasedhardness, tensile strength and electrical resistance of the Al-Cu-Li-Zr alloy. Furthermore, precipitation of T1 phaseoccurred in temperature range of 250ºC to 300ºC whereas its dissolution occurred within the temperature of 450-530ºC. Activation energies for precipitation and dissolution of T1 phase which were determined for the first time inthis research, were 122.1(kJ/mol) and 130.3(kJ/mol) respectively. Results of electrical resistance measurementsshowed that an increase in the aging time resulted in the reduction of electrical resistance of the aged samples.

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Abstract:Optimization of specimen geometry before subjecting it to hot torsion test (HTT) is essential for minimizingnon-uniform temperature distribution and obtaining uniform microstructure thought the specimen.In the present study, a nonlinear transient analysis was performed for a number of different geometries andtemperatures using the commercial finite element (FE) package ANSYSTM. FE thermal results then were applied tooptimize HTTspecimen produced from API-X 70 microalloyed steel taking into account the microstructurehomogeneity.  The thermodynamic software Thermo-calcTM was also used to analysis solubility of microalloyingelements and their precipitates that may exist at different equilibrium conditions. In addition the behavior of austenitegrain size during reheating was investigated. The results show high temperature gradient occurred in long specimens.This could lead to non homogeneous initial austenite grain size and alloying element or precipitates within the gaugesection of the specimen. The proposed optimization procedure can in general be used for other materials and reheatingscenarios to reduce temperature. This then creates more homogeneous initial microstructure prior to deformation andreduces errors in post processing of the HTTresults

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Abstract: Equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) is a promising technique for production of ultra fine-grain (UFG) materials of few hundred nanometers size. In this research, the grain refinement of aluminium strip is accelerated by sandwiching it between two copper strips and then subjecting the three strips to ECAE process simultaneously. The loosely packed copper-aluminium-copper laminated billet was passed through ECAE die up to 8 passes using the B_c route. Then, tensile properties and some microstructural characteristics of the aluminium layer were evaluated. The scanning and transmission electron microscopes, and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the microstructure. The results show that the yield stress of middle layer (Al) is increased significantly by about four times after application of ECAE throughout the four consecutive passes and then it is slightly decreased when more ECAE passes are applied. An ultra fine grain within the range of 500 to 600 nm was obtained in the Al layer by increasing the thickness of the copper layers. It was observed that the reduction of grain size in the aluminium layer is nearly 55% more than that of a ECA-extruded single layer aluminium billet, i.e. extruding a single aluminium strip or a billet without any clad for the same amount of deformation. This behaviour was attributed to the higher rates of dislocations interaction and cell formation and texture development during the ECAE of the laminated composite compared to those of a single billet

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  Abstract:

  The aims of this research were to investigate the effects of semisolid metal (SSM) processing parameters (i.e., shear rates –times – temperatures combinations) on the primary solidification products and isothermal holding duration, subsequent to cessation of stirring on the secondary solidification of Al-Si (A356) alloy.

  The dendrite fragmentation was found to be the governing mechanism of the primary dendritic to non-dendritic transformation, via rosette to final pseudo-spherical shapes during the primary solidification

The secondary solidification of the liquid in the slurry was not only a growth phenomenon but also promoted by 1) fresh heterogeneous nucleation and growth of dendrites and 2) the dendritic growth of the primary solidification products in the remaining liquid. Upon cessation of stirring and gradual disappearance of the prior shear force, the slurry relaxed, and the secondary solidification products pertained to conventional solidification condition

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  Abstract

  Recovery and recrystallization phenomena and effects of microalloying elements on these phenomena are of great importance in designing thermomechanical processes of microalloyed steels. Thus, understanding and modeling of microstructure evolution during hot deformation leads to optimize the processing conditions and to improve the product properties.

  In this study, finite element method was utilized to simulate thermomechanical parameters during hot deformation processes. FEM results then were integrated with physically based state variable models of static recovery and recrystallization combined with a realistic microstructural geometry. The thermodynamic software Thermo-calc was also used to predict present microalloying elements at equilibrium conditions.

The model performance was validated using stress relaxation tests. Parametric studies were carried out to evaluate the effects of deformation process parameters on the microstructure development following hot deformation of the API-X70 steel

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The effects of anodizing condition and post treatment on the growth of nickel nanowires, were investigated. A two-step anodizing process was applied in phosphoric and oxalic acid solution. Nickel electrochemical plating was applied to fill Anodic Aluminum Oxide (AAO) pores. For pore filling enhancement, AAO surfaces were treated by silver predeposition. After electroplating, aluminum and oxide layer of some specimens were removed. The results showed that silver preplating increases the pore filling and as the applied voltage becomes higher, the pores diameter decreases.

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Abstract:

activity gas diffusion process has been investigated in this research. Effects of coating temperature and aluminum

concentration in powder mixture on formation mechanism were studied using optical and scanning electron

microscopes, EDS and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. For this purpose two different packs containing 1 and 2

wt% aluminum powder, were used for coating the samples at two temperatures, 850ºC and 1050ºC. The ratio of Al to

activator was kept constant in both packs. By increasing the Al content in high activity powder mixture, the

concentration of diffused Al increased in the coating layers, and the thickness of coating increased. At 1050ºC as the

rate of diffused Al to the interdiffusion zone increased, this zone gradually transformed to outer coating phases. At

850ºC coating formed by inward diffusion of Al, but at 1050ºC it was initially formed by inward diffusion of Al followed

by outward diffusion of Ni.

Formation mechanism of an aluminide coating on a nickel base superalloy IN738LC via a single step high

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The objectives of this research were to find an economical way of reducing porosities in the microstructure of coatings deposited by flame spraying technique on CK45 steel and also trying to increase their cohesive strength to the substrate, so that the overall wear properties of this type of coating can be improved. So several specimens from this steel coated with NiCrBSi powder under specific conditions were subjected to various furnace heat treatment at 1000, 1025, 1050, 1075 and 1100 °C, each for periods of 5, 10 and 15 minute before cooling them in air. Tribological properties of treated coatings were evaluated by pin on disc method. The results show the highest wear resistance and microhardness values observed in one of the sample was due to lower amount of porosity and higher amount of very fine Cr2Ni3B6 particles precipitated homogeneously throughout its microstructure during specific heat treatment.

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Variation in microstructural features of 2024 aluminum alloy plastically deformed by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at room temperature, was investigated by X-Ray diffraction in this work. These include dislocation density dislocation characteristic and the cell size of crystalline domains. Dislocations contrast factor was calculated using elastic constants of the alloy such as C 11, C 22 and C 44 . The effect of dislocations contrast factor on the anisotropic strain broadening of diffraction profiles was considered for measuring the microstructural features on the base of the modified Williamson-Hall and Warren-Averbach methods. Results showed that the dislocations density of the solution annealed sample increased from 4.28×10 12m-2 to 2.41×10 14m-2 after one pass of cold ECAP and the fraction of edge dislocations in the solution annealed sample increased from 43% to 74% after deformation. This means that deformation changed the overall dislocations characteristic more to edge dislocations. Also the crystalline cell size of the solution annealed sample decreased from 0.83μm to about 210nm after one pass of ECAP process at room temperature

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This study is focused on the effects of electroslag remelting by prefused slag (CaO, Al2O3, and CaF2) on macrostructure and reduction of inclusions in the medical grad of 316LC (316LVM) stainless steel. Results showed that in order to obtain uniform ingot structures during electroslag remelting, the shape and depth of the molten pool should be carefully controlled. High melting rates lead to deeper pool depths and interior radial solidification characteristics. Furthermore, decrease in the melting rate caused more reduction of non-metallic inclusions. In practice, large shrinkage cavities formed during the conventional casting process in the primary ingots were the cause of the fluctuation in the melting rate, pool depth and extension of equiaxal crystals zone

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In order to improve the corrosion resistance of aluminosilicate refractories by molten aluminum, alkaline fluoride NaF and cryolite Na3AlF6 powders were studied. Both physical and chemical properties are known to influence wetting and corrosion behavior. This paper devoted to determine the influence of alkaline fluoride and cryolite added to andalusite based castable on the reaction with aluminum alloys. These additives led to the in-situ formation of celsian phases within the refractory matrix that led to improved corrosion resistance at 1300°C. Phase analysis revealed that celsian formation suppressed the formation of mullite within refractories, thereby reducing Penetration

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Present paper investigates the dissolution behavior of copper from chalcopyrite concentrate sample using cupric chloride solution in detail. Response surface modeling (RSM) in combination with d-optimal design (DOD) was utilized for modeling and optimizing the cupric chloride leaching process. At first, a quadratic polynomial model was developed for the relationship between the recovery of copper and influential factors. The predictions indicated an excellent agreement with the experimental data (with R² of 0.9399). Then, the effects of main factors including pH (1-4), liquid/solid ratio (2-7 mL/g), temperature (70-90 °C), CuCl₂ concentration (6-35 g/L), and leaching time (0.5-16) were determined. The findings demonstrated that the temperature and CuCl₂ concentration were the most effective factors on the dissolution rate of copper from chalcopyrite sample, while liquid/solid ratio had the lowest impact. The recovery of copper increased linearly with an increment in the liquid/solid ratio and the decrease in the pulp pH. Additionally, the recovery enhanced by increasing the temperature and CuCl₂ concentration owing the generation of Cu–Cl complexes species and reached a plateau point and then almost remained unchanged. Meanwhile, it was found out that the recovery of copper was independent of the interaction between factors. Moreover, the optimization of leaching process was carried out by Design Expert (version 7) software and desirability function method and the highest recovery of copper was found to be about 86.1% at a pH of ~1.4, temperature of 89 °C, liquid/solid ratio of 6.8 mL/g, CuCl₂ concentration of 21.79 g/L and leaching time of ~8 h.
 

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Ionic liquids as green solvents with high thermal stability, recyclability, low flash point, and low vapor
pressure, have been considered as a viable alternative in hydrometallurgical processes. In this study the leaching
kinetics of chalcopyrite concentrate was investigated using 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate
(BmimHSO4) as an acidic ionic liquid. The Effect of operational parameters, including temperature, BmimHSO4
concentration, H2O2 concentration, stirring speed, solid-to-liquid ratio, and particle size on the rate of copper
dissolution of CuFeS2 were examined systematically. The highest Cu efficiency (ca. 97%) was achieved using 40%
(w/v) BmimHSO4, 30 %v/v H2O2, and 10 g.L-1 solid to liquid ratio for particle sizes less than 37 μm at 300 rpm and
45°C after 180 min leaching time. Kinetics study using Shrinking Core Model (SCM) revealed that CuFeS2 leaching
process using BmimHSO4 follows chemical reaction-controlled process. Under these circumstances, the calculated
activation energy was 46.66 KJ/mol. Moreover, the orders of reaction with respect to BmimHSO4 and H2O2
concentration, solid to liquid ratio and particle size were estimated to be 0.539, 0.933, −0.676 and −1.101
respectively. The obtained Arrhenius constant was found to be 0.26  106. The calculation of apparent activation
energy using “time given to a fraction method” revealed that the leaching mechanism remains the same over the
course of time.

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The aims of this research were to evaluate the effects of different thermomechanical treatments on the microstructure and investigate some of the mechanical properties of a TWIP steel rich in Mn & Al. So, a block of a TWIP steel with nominal composition Fe-17.5Mn-1.36Al-0.8C was cast and then subjected to hot rolling followed by cold rolling and heat treatment. Cold rolling was performed before heat treatment in order to reduce the grain size and improve the tensile and fatigue properties. X-ray diffraction technique was used before and after the heat treatment to evaluate the possibility of any phase formation. No sign of martensitic transformation after cold deformation was observed. However, by increasing the amount of cold deformation, the number of mechanical twins and slip band increased resulted to an increase in hardness and strength. The best tensile and fatigue result were obtained after 47% thickness reduction and annealing at 715˚C for 10 min. Under these conditions, the mean grain size reduced from 138 to 9 μm resulted to an increase in yield strength from 395 to 510 MPa, and the fatigue life improvement from the mean life of 10200 for the cast sample to 21500 cycles for the treated sample, when these samples underwent fatigue tests at a stress range of 650 MPa and R=0. In addition, the diameter and depth of dimples in fracture surfaces decreased by reducing the grain size but the fracture mode was remained ductile and adequate plastic deformation occurred before failure.
 

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The sensitivity of lead dioxide coating properties to the deposition conditions and electrolyte composition has allowed the preparation of coatings with different properties for different applications. In this study, the effects of electrolyte additives on the electrodeposition process were investigated using electrochemical measurements such as cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results showed that the presence of fluoride ions significantly reduce the possibility of TiO₂ formation. The addition of copper ions not only prevents lead loss at the cathode, but also leads to the formation of copper oxide on the surface at initial stages, which hinders nucleation of PbO₂. The presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) also interferes with the nucleation process as it occupies active nucleation sites. The α-PbO₂ interlayer prevents copper oxidation and solves the problem of lead dioxide nucleation. Finally, it was found that the simultaneous use of all additives together with the α-PbO₂ interlayer has a positive effect on the coating process.