Manping Liu

Tensile properties of extruded ZK60-RE alloys

Abstract ZK60–RE alloys were made by melting ZK60 alloy and cerium-rich rare earth (RE) metal in an electric furnace. The content of RE is 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3 wt.% RE, respectively. The influence of RE on microstructure and tensile mechanical properties of ZK60 magnesium alloys was studied. The results showed that cerium-rich misch metal (MM) had an obvious effect of reducing the grain size of the as-extruded ZK60 alloys. The ultimate and yield strengths of extruded ZK60–RE alloys were improved by the addition of RE. The ultimate and yield strength increased with increasing RE content in the range investigated. It is also found that the ultimate strength and yield strength decrease with increasing extrusion temperature. The improvement of tensile properties of ZK60–RE alloys was due to the extrusion texture and the fine microstructure induced by RE additions.

Microstructure and texture characteristics of ZK60 Mg alloy processed by cyclic extrusion and compression

Abstract The microstructure and crystallographic texture characteristics of an extruded ZK60 Mg alloy subjected to cyclic extrusion and compression (CEC) up to 8 passes at 503 K were investigated. The local crystallographic texture, grain size and distribution, and grain boundary character distributions were analyzed using high-resolution electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The results indicate that the microstructure is refined significantly by the CEC processing and the distributions of grain size tend to be more uniform with increasing CEC pass number. The fraction of low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) decreases after CEC deformation, and a high fraction of high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) is revealed after 8 passes of CEC. Moreover, the initial fiber texture becomes random during CEC processing and develops a new texture.

Grain refinement of magnesium alloys processed by severe plastic deformation

Abstract Grain refinement of AZ31 Mg alloy during cyclic extrusion compression (CEC) at 225–400 °C was investigated quantitatively by electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD). Results show that an ultrafine grained microstructure of AZ31 alloy is obtained only after 3 passes of CEC at 225 °C. The mean misorientation and the fraction of high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) increase gradually by lowering extrusion temperature. Only a small fraction of twinning is observed by EBSD in AZ31 Mg alloys after 3 passes of CEC. Schmid factors calculation shows that the most active slip system is pyramidal slip and basal slip {0001} at 225–350 °C and 400 °C, respectively. Direct evidences at subgrain boundaries support the occurrence of continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) mechanism in grain refinement of AZ31 Mg alloy processed by CEC.

Deformation twins in ultrafine grained commercial aluminum

Abstract Deformation twins in an ultrafine grained commercial Al – Mg – Si alloy with nonequilibrium grain boundaries processed by equal channel angular pressing at room temperature have been observed by means of a transmission electron microscope and a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. It was found that deformation twins formed frequently at the intersections of several grain bands where the critical stress level is reached locally and a change in the dominant slip system may occur due to the significant plastic deformation. Deformation twinning was also observed to occur via partial dislocations emission from grain boundaries and grain boundary junctions in the ultrafine grained alloy. Twins and stacking faults formed by Shockley partial dislocations dissociated from 0° screw dislocations were characterized and analyzed. Three twinning mechanisms suggested by molecular dynamic simulations were identified and their relevance was discussed.

Effects of moulding sands and wall thickness on microstructure and mechanical properties of Sr-modified A356 aluminum casting alloy

Abstract The effects of different cooling conditions on the mechanical properties and microstructures of a Sr-modified A356 (Al-7Si-0.3Mg) aluminum casting alloy were comparatively investigated using three moulding sands including quartz, alumina and chromite into multi-step blocks. The results show that the mechanical properties and microstructures using chromite sand are the best. As the cooling speed increases, the dendrite arm spacing (DAS) decreases significantly and the mechanical properties are improved, and the elongation is more sensitive to the cooling speed as compared with the tensile strength. The increase of the properties is primarily attributed to the decrease of the DAS and the increase of the free strontium atoms in the matrix. In particular, the regression models for predicting both the tensile strength and the elongation for Sr-modified A356 aluminum casting alloy were established based on the experimental data.

Aging behavior and mechanical properties of 6013 aluminum alloy processed by severe plastic deformation

Structural features, aging behavior, precipitation kinetics and mechanical properties of a 6013 Al-Mg-Si aluminum alloy subjected to equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at different temperatures were comparatively investigated with that in conventional static aging by quantitative X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and tensile tests. Average grain sizes measured by XRD are in the range of 66−112 nm while the average dislocation density is in the range of 1.20×10 14 −1.70×10 14 m −2 in the deformed alloy. The DSC analysis reveals that the precipitation kinetics in the deformed alloy is much faster as compared with the peak-aged sample due to the smaller grains and higher dislocation density developed after ECAP. Both the yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) are dramatically increased in all the ECAP samples as compared with the undeformed counterparts. The maximum strength appears in the samples ECAP treated at room temperature and the maximum YS is about 1.6 times that of the statically peak-aged sample. The very high strength in the ECAP alloy is suggested to be related to the grain size strengthening and dislocation strengthening, as well as the precipitation strengthening contributing from the

Nanostructures and Microhardness in Al and Al–Mg Alloys Subjected to SPD

Nanostructures and microhardness of a commercial purity Al, three binary Al–Mg alloys and a commercial AA5182 alloy subjected to high pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature were comparatively investigated using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution XRD line profile analysis. The hardness values of HPT samples are twice to three times larger than that of the undeformed counterparts. Grain sizes measured by XRD are in the range 10–200 nm with typical average values ranging from 46 to 120 nm. The hardness values and the dislocation densities increased, whereas, the average grain size decreased significantly with increasing Mg contents. Typical dislocation densities are in the range 1.7 × 1014 m-2 – 2.3 × 1015 m-2. However, local densities in grain boundary and triple junction areas might be as high as 1017 m-2. The strengthening mechanisms contributing to high hardness may primarily be attributed to the cooperative interactions of high dislocation densities, grain boundaries and planar interfaces.

Microstructure evolution and dislocation configurations in nanostructured Al−Mg alloys processed by high pressure torsion

Abstract Microstructure evolution and dislocation configurations in nanostructured Al–Mg alloys processed by high pressure torsion (HPT) were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM). The results show that the grains less than 100 nm have sharp grain boundaries (GBs) and are completely free of dislocations. In contrast, a high density of dislocation as high as 1017 m−2 exists within the grains larger than 200 nm and these larger grains are usually separated into subgrains and dislocation cells. The dislocations are 60° full dislocations with Burgers vectors of ½ and most of them appear as dipoles and loops. The microtwins and stacking faults (SFs) formed by the Shockley partials from the dissociation of both the 60° mixed dislocation and 0° screw dislocation in ultrafine grains were simultaneously observed by HRTEM in the HPT Al–Mg alloys. These results suggest that partial dislocation emissions, as well as the activation of partial dislocations could also become a deformation mechanism in ultrafine-grained aluminum during severe plastic deformation. The grain refinement mechanism associated with the very high local dislocation density, the dislocation cells and the non-equilibrium GBs, as well as the SFs and microtwins in the HPT Al–Mg alloys were proposed.

Deformation defects and electron irradiation effect in nanostructured Al–Mg alloy processed by severe plastic deformation

Abstract In order to explore the exact nature of deformation defects previously observed in nanostructured Al–Mg alloys subjected to severe plastic deformation, a more thorough examination of the radiation effect on the formation of the planar defects in the high pressure torsion (HPT) alloys was conducted using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The results show that high density defects in the HRTEM images disappear completely when these images are exposed under the electron beam for some duration of time. At the same time, lattice defects are never observed within no-defect areas even when the beam-exposure increases to the degree that holes appear in the areas. Therefore, it is confirmed that the planar defects observed in the HPT alloys mainly result from the significant plastic deformation and are not due to the radiation effect during HRTEM observation.

Deformation Twins and Stacking Faults in an AA5182 Al-Mg Alloy Processed by High Pressure Torsion

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy investigations revealed different types of deformation structures in a nanostructured commercial Al–Mg alloy processed by high pressure torsion at room temperature. Microtwins and stacking faults were detected within both nanocrystalline grains and ultrafine grains. Full dislocations in the form of dipoles were observed within grains and near the grain boundaries. Two twinning mechanisms previously predicted by molecular-dynamics simulations were directly verified including the heterogeneous twins nucleated by the successive emission of Shockley partials from grain boundaries and homogeneous twins formed in the grain interiors by the dynamic overlapping of stacking faults. Hence, the formation of full dislocations, stacking faults and twins in the present aluminum alloy subjected to severe plastic deformation may be interpreted in terms of molecular-dynamics simulations based on generalized planar fault energy curves for pure metal systems.