Ji Qiang Gao

Effect of Nitrogen Content on the Hot Ductility during Hot Deformation of Stainless Steels

Effects of nitrogen content on hot ductility of duplex stainless steels have been investigated. With the increase of nitrogen content in the duplex stainless steels, mechanical strength increased, while hot ductility and elongation decreased. With the same strain rates and deformation degree, the high nitrogen content led to the high optimum hot ductility temperature for the high nitrogen DSS alloy. These results indicated the importance of control over the shape and volume fraction of phases in duplex stainless steels to achieve the optimum hot ductility.

Fabrication and Properties of Machinable AlN-BN Ceramic Nanocomposites

The AlN/h-BN nanocomposite powders were synthesized through the reaction of AlN powder, boric acid (H3BO3) and urea (CO(NH2)2) in a nitrogen atmosphere, and the machinable AlN/BN ceramic nanocomposite s were fabricated by hot-pressing in N2 atmosphere. The existing and distribution of h-BN phase are revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), TEM and SEM. For the existing of weak interface between h-BN and AlN grains, the machinability of AlN/BN composites is improved obviously. For the finer microstructures, the mechanical properties and the machinability of the composites with micrometer sized AlN coated with nano-sized BN are better than the AlN/h-BN composite of mechanical mixing type.

Reaction Synthesis of TiAl-Al2O3 Composite

Titanium aluminide composite reinforced with submicron Al2O3 has been prepared by a reactive hot press method using TiO2, Al and Ti powder as source materials. The reaction synthesis processing is particularly investigated. Results show that the matrix of the as-prepared material is a mixture of TiAl and a small amount of Ti3Al. Fine Al2O3 particles that act as reinforcing phase are dispersed along the interface of the matrix. The reduction of TiO2 involves many transitional stages, including Ti-Al reaction, TiO2-Ti reducing reaction, reaction between TiO2 and Al, etc.

Brazing Al2O3 to Kovar Alloy with Ni/Ti/Ni Interlayer and Dramatic Increasing of Joint Strength after Thermal Cycles

High purity alumina ceramic and Kovar alloy were brazed by Nickel and Titanium foils stacked as Ni/Ti/Ni layer structure. Airtight joints were achieved with shear strength more than 30MPa, after brazing at 995oC for 30min. A sandwich structure was observed in solder, which means an a-Ti solid solution belt at mid part and Ti2Ni intermetallics belts at both sides. The main reaction product at alumina/solder interface was Ni2Ti4O, a complex oxide with structure similar to Ti2Ni, which is the bonding agent and transition from the solder’s metallic crystal lattice to alumina crystal lattice. To simulate the actual serving conditions, a thermal cyclic experiment was undertaken at the 200oC-600oC temperature range. The results showed that shear strength of joint increased dramatically after thermal cycles. This interesting phenomenon is attributed to the annealing effects of thermal cycles, which released residual stress in brazed joints remarkably.

The Resistivity-Temperature Property of Transition Metal Oxide Co3O4 with In2O3 Addition

The electrical and structural properties of the mixture of Co3O4 and In2O3 were studied. All the samples were added with 2% nanocrystalline SiO2 and sintered at 1000°C for 2 hours. The sintered bodies of the samples were of high density and the average particle size was ~2μm. The materials showed the NTC behavior in a wide temperature range (100-350°C). The resistivity of the materials at room temperature decreased with increase the content of the In2O3 from 0% to 10%. The thermistor constant (B) values and activation energy(E) were 7835, 6637, 5903K, and 0.675, 0.572, and 0.509 eV as the content of In2O3 were 0%, 5% and 10%, respectively.

Influence of Pr6O11 on the Characteristics and Microstructure of Zinc Varistors

The influence of the amount of Pr6O11 additions on the microstructure and electrical properties of varistors ceramics in the ZnO-Bi2O3 system was investigated. Samples with a low level of Pr6O11 (0.1wt %) have high microstructural homogeneity, which enhances the nonlinear coefficient greatly, and decreases the leakage current without change of voltage ratio. When the Pr6O11 content reached 7wt%, the ZnO grain growth was restricted and the threshold voltage was improved from 275v/mm to 440v/mm. The additive of Pr6O11 changed the process of creating spinel phase, which came from the decomposition of pyrochlore phase. This type of small size phase has more dragging force on the ZnO crystal, which make the whole materials more uniform and compact.

On the Interface between Porcelain and Titanium

Low-fusing dental porcelain was fused on titanium surface. The adhesion between the titanium and porcelain was evaluated by three-point flexure test. It was shown that the failure of the titaniumporcelain predominantly occurred at the alloy-oxide interface. Rutile phase was present on the interface debonding from porcelain. The influence of corrosion on bonding strength was also investigated. The results suggested that, after being immersed in artificial saliva with pH of 2.7, 5.4 and 7.0, no decreasing of the bonding strength of Ti-porcelain occurred.

Fabrication of Porous Silicon Nitride with High Porosity

In this study, porous Si3N4 ceramics were fabricated by carbothermal reduction reaction between silicon dioxide and carbon. The influences of different starting powders and sintering additives on microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. XRD analysis demonstrated the formation of single-phase β-Si3N4 except for glass phase and minor of α-Si3N4 phase. SEM analysis showed that the resultant porous Si3N4 ceramics occupied fine microstructure and uniform pore structure. The samples with fine starting powder showed fine, high aspect ratio of β-Si3N4 grains and good mechanical properties. The addition of Al2O3 accelerated the densification of porous Si3N4 ceramics. With an increasing in the sintering additive content, the porosity decreased, the flexural strength increased.

Fabrication of Nano-MgO Reinforced Fe-Cr-Ni Composites by Reactive Hot Pressing

The self-propagating combustion reaction 0.741Mg + 0.247Fe2O3 + 0.188Ni + 0.318Cr → 0.741MgO + Fe0.494Ni0.188Cr0.318 was applied to prepare a nano-MgO reinforced Fe-Cr-Ni composite, by reactive hot pressing (RHP) under a condition of 700°C/30MPa/2h. The densification was enabled by the low temperatures produced by the exothermic reaction. According to TG-DTA and X-ray diffractometry (XRD), the highly-exothermic thermite reaction began at about 600°C and the in-situ formation of composites comprised predominantly of (FCC) Cr0.19Fe0.7Ni0.11, (FCC) Fe-Cr, (BCC) MgO and a small quantity of (BCC) MgFe2O4. The Vickers hardness was 3.67GPa, the three-point bending strength was 112.5±10MPa, and the fracture toughness was 3.28 MPa•m1/2. The microstructure of the composite was observed via scanning electron microscopy. This indicated that the distributions of in-situ-formed (BCC) MgO phases (~800 nanometers) were homogeneous into in a matrix of a fine-grained metallic alloy phases that gather together to form agglomerates in the composite.

Fabrication and Characterization of Barium Aluminum Silicate-Silicon Nitride Composites

The barium aluminum silicate-silicon nitride (BAS-Si3N4) matrix-ceramic composite was fabricated using pressureless sintering, at temperatures ranging from 1720°C, which is below the melting point of BAS, to 1850°C. The effect of processing conditions on sinterability, crystalline structure, microstructure and mechanical properties was evaluated. It was demonstrated the BAS glass-ceramic served as an effective liquid-phase-sintering aid, to attain high densities and completed the α-Si3N4–β-Si3N4 phase transformation, and remained as a structural matrix that was reinforced by the rod-like β-Si3N4 grains. Si3N4 grains nucleated and grow in random directions in an almost completely crystallized matrix of hexacelsian BAS. High flexural strength (665±40 MPa) and fracture toughness (7.74 MPa•m1/2) could be obtained from 30wt%BAS-70wt%Si3N4 samples that have been sintered at 1800°C for 120 min with a fine-grained microstructure.