Maria Victoria Biezma

Degradation in Seawater of Structural Adhesives for Hybrid Fibre-Metal Laminated Materials

The adhesives used for applications in marine environments are subject to particular chemical conditions, which are mainly characterised by an elevated chlorine ion content and intermittent wetting/drying cycles, among others. These conditions can limit the use of adhesives due to the degradation processes that they experience. In this work, the chemical degradation of two different polymers, polyurethane and vinylester, was studied in natural seawater under immersion for different periods of time. The diffusion coefficients and concentration profiles of water throughout the thickness of the adhesives were obtained. Microstructural changes in the polymer due to the action of water were observed by SEM, and the chemical degradation of the polymer was monitored with the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The degradation of the mechanical properties of the adhesive was determined by creep tests with Mixed Cantilever Beam (MCB) specimens at different temperatures. After 180 days of immersion of the specimens, it was concluded that the J-integral value (depending on the strain) implies a loss of stiffness of 51% and a decrease in the failure load of 59% for the adhesive tested.

Relationship between microstructure and fracture types in a UNS S32205 duplex stainless steel

Duplex stainless steels are susceptible to the formation of sigma phase at high temperature which could potentially be responsible for catastrophic service failure of components. Thermal treatments were applied to duplex stainless steels in order to promote the precipitation of different fractions of sigma phase into a ferrite-austenite microstructure. Quantitative image analysis was employed to characterize the microstructure and Charpy impact tests were used in order to evaluate the mechanical degradation caused by sigma phase presence. The fracture morphology of the Charpy test specimens were thoroughly observed in SEM, looking for a correlation between the microstructure and the fracture types in UNS S32205 duplex stainless steel. The main conclusion is the strong embrittlement effect of sigma phase since it is possible to observe a transition from transgranular fracture to intergranular fracture as increases the percentage of sigma phase. Thus, the mixed modes of fracture are predominant in the present study with high dependence on sigma phase percentages obtained by different thermal treatments.

Study of the Precipitation of Secondary Phases in Duplex and Superduplex Stainless Steel

The aim of this work is to study the precipitation mechanism of the intermetallic phases present in duplex stainless steels (UNS S32205 and UNS S32750), as well as to find out the most suitable method for detecting and analyzing accurately these secondary phases, particularly Sigma-phase, Chi-phase, nitrides and carbides. The samples were characterized after a solution annealing at 1080oC followed by an isothermal treatment at 830oC from 1 min to 9 h, with the purpose of figuring out the mechanism of chi-phase nucleation and nitrides formation in relation with the sigma-phase. The study has two main objectives: 1) to find out the most suitable technique for the detection, identification and quantification of the secondary phases, obtaining the best results with the combination of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and backscattered electron detector (BSE) in comparison with the optical microscopy (MO); 2) to study the influence of the chemical composition on the nucleation mechanism of the intermetallic phases. It has been concluded that molybdenum balance content in chi-phase related to sigma phase is close to two, consequently the kinetics of nucleation and growth of these phases is remarkably faster when this alloying element content in the steel is higher. Chromium nitrides and carbides were also observed to precipitate as a result of the heat treatments carried out to the specimen wherein chromium nitrides role is a favorable site for the nucleation of sigma and chi phases.

Corrosion of Nonferrous Metals and Their Alloys

Corrosion is the result of the interaction of a material (metal) with its environment. %e corrosion process depends on the properties of both metal (and alloy) and surrounding environment. Usually, the more important factors causing corrosion are concentration of aggressive species (e.g., chloride), acidity (pH), fluid velocity, temperature, and potential (oxidizing power). Steel and other ferrous alloys are consumed in exceedingly large quantities because they have such a wide range of mechanical properties, may be fabricated with relative ease, and are economical to produce. However, steels have some distinct limitations, chiefly a relatively high density, a comparatively low electrical conductivity, and an inherent susceptibility to corrosion in some common environments. %us, for many applications, it is advantageous or even necessary to use other alloys that have more suitable property combinations. Alloy systems are classified either according to the base metal or according to some specific characteristic that a group of alloys shares. Authors were invited to submit original research articles and reviews for this special issue that included all aspects of the corrosion process of the following metal and alloy systems: aluminum, copper, magnesium, and titanium alloys; the refractory metals; the superalloys; the noble metals; and miscellaneous alloys, including those that have nickel, lead, tin, zirconium, and zinc as base metals. %e papers published in this special issue are as follows: