Arya Chatterjee

Effects of Electron Beam Welding on Microstructure, Microhardness, and Electrical Conductivity of Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy Plates

In this study, the effects of electron beam welding on the microstructure, microhardness, and electrical conductivity of precipitation-hardened Cu-0.804%Cr-0.063%Zr (wt.%) alloy plates were investigated. Experiments were carried out following a central composite design of experiments. Five welding schedules yielding the higher hardness were chosen and then were subjected to standard metallographic and various microscopy techniques to reveal the type, morphology, and distribution of the precipitates and to obtain the sub-structural information from the weld zone. X-ray diffraction studies revealed predominant formation of intermetallic phases in the welded zones of some of the samples, which could have resulted in higher hardness and better electrical conductivity compared to those of other ones. Microhardness values in the fusion zone and heat-affected zone were found to be less than that of the parent material. The mechanism of damage in Cu-Cr-Zr plates due to welding was also explained.

Effect of Microalloy Precipitates on the Microstructure and Texture of Hot-Deformed Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel

Microalloying elements like Nb and V are added to modified 9Cr-1Mo steel to ensure excellent creep resistance by the formation of fine MX precipitates during tempering treatment. The effect of those elements on the evolution of microstructure (and texture) in hot-deformed steel has hardly been studied. Industrial processing of modified 9Cr-1Mo steel often develops deformed and elongated prior-austenite grain structure, which can be detrimental from property point of view. The present study shows that the formation of such structure can primarily be attributed to the pinning effect from strain-induced Nb(C,N) precipitation, which can effectively retard the static recrystallization of deformed-γ at high-deformation temperature and short inter-pass times (~10 seconds). Based on the results, the application of either heavy deformation pass at high-temperature or multiple-lighter passes maintaining sufficient inter-pass interval (30 to 50 seconds) is recommended to achieve fine and equiaxed γ-grain structure by dynamic recrystallization and static recrystallization, respectively.

Intermetallic Precipitation in Low-Density Steel

Low-density steels (LDS) represent a relatively new class of material that contains a large concentration of aluminum. In the present work, we studied the effect of copper addition to these steels. Microanalysis and electron diffraction study were used to demonstrate that on the contrary to the theoretical expectation, copper formed a variety of intermetallic, instead of metallic, precipitates on reaction with aluminum. The precipitation led to a significant age-hardening response that imparted a special characteristic to this material, which had never been reported previously.