Yongbing Li

Characterization of microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the spray-deposited AZ31 magnesium alloy

Abstract The cylindrical billets of a Mg-3Al-1Zn (AZ31) alloy were synthesized by spray deposition processing. The microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the alloy were investigated. The results reveal that the microstructure of the AZ31 alloy is refined significantly by spray deposition processing. A homogeneous and equiaxial-grain structure with an average grain size of 17 μm is obtained. Further grain refinement with an average grain size of 5 μm is attributed to dynamic recrystallization during extrusion processing. The great increase in the density of grain boundary nucleation sites by the finer initial grain sizes makes the dislocation pile-ups near subgrain boundaries being absorbed easily by the boundaries, resulting in an accelerated recrystallization process. The average tensile ultimate and yield strengths of the extruded rods are 321 MPa and 237 MPa, respectively, with an elongation of 15.2% at room temperature, which are remarkably higher than those of the conventional as-cast AZ31 alloy.

The Influences of Grain Size and Morphology on the Hot Tearing Susceptibility, Contraction, and Load Behaviors of AA7050 Alloy Inoculated with Al-5Ti-1B Master Alloy

The influences of grain size and morphology on the hot tearing susceptibility of AA7050 alloy inoculated with Al-5Ti-1B master alloy were investigated by the authors. It was found that with the optimal addition of Al-5Ti-1B, coarse columnar grains were transformed into fine globular equiaxed grains. Moreover, due to the changes of grain size and morphology, the hot tearing susceptibility was decreased remarkably, which was attributed to the lower mechanical coherency temperature, better feeding ability, lower strain, and strain rate imposed to the mushy zone and more meandering propagation paths of hot tears. But the excess Al-5Ti-1B additions did not affect the grain structure, and greatly promoted hot tearing susceptibility due to the agglomerations of secondary phase particles from Al-5Ti-1B master alloy. The formation of massive secondary phases at grain boundaries hindered the interdendritic liquid flow and substantially deteriorated the feeding ability in the last stage of solidification. Meanwhile, TiB2 agglomerates would also act as stress raisers and cause the formation of voids. The contraction and load behaviors of AA7050 alloy influenced by grain size and morphology would be explored and connected with the hot tearing occurrence in this study.

Roles of Alloy Composition and Grain Refinement on Hot Tearing Susceptibility of 7××× Aluminum Alloys

During the production of high-strength 7××× aluminum alloys, hot tearing has set up serious obstacles for attaining a sound billet/slab. In this research, some typical 7××× alloys were studied using constrained rod casting together with the measurement of thermal contraction and load development in the freezing range, aiming at investigating their hot tearing susceptibility. The results showed that the hot tearing susceptibility of an alloy depends not only on the thermal contraction in freezing range, which can decide the accumulated thermal strain during solidification, but also on the amount of nonequilibrium eutectics, which can effectively accommodate the thermally induced deformation. Our investigations reveal that Zn content has very profound effect on hot tearing susceptibility. The Zn/Mg ratio of the alloys also plays a remarkable role though it is not as pronounced as Zn content. The effect of Zn/Mg ratio is mainly associated with the amount of nonequilibrium eutectics. Grain refinement will considerably reduce the hot tearing susceptibility. However, excessive addition of grain refiner may promote hot tearing susceptibility of semi-solid alloy due to deteriorated permeability which is very likely to be caused by the heavy grain refinement and the formation of more intermetallic phases.

Synthesis of nanocrystalline NiCrC alloy feedstock powders for thermal spraying by cryogenic ball milling

Abstract Nanocrystalline NiCrC alloy powders with a qualified particle size distribution for thermal spraying were synthesized using the cryogenic ball milling (cryomilling) method. The morphology, microstructure, size distribution, and phase transformation of the powders were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser scattering for particle size analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). After cryomilling for 20 h, the average grain size of the as-milled powders approached a constant value of 30 nm by XRD measurement. The average particle size slightly increased from 17.5 to 20.3 μm during the 20-h milling. About 90vol% of the powders satisfied the requirement for thermal spraying with the particle dimension of 10-50 μm, and most of the powders exhibited spherical morphology, which were expected to have good fluidity during thermal spraying. The Cr2O3 phase formed during the cryomilling process as revealed in the XRD spectra, which was expected to enhance the thermal stability of the as-milled powders during the followed thermal spraying or other heat treatment.