Resumo em Inglês:

The paper deals with the analysis of microstructure formation in the tool steel of ledeburite type Ch12MF4 with the chemical composition of 2.37% C, 12.06% Cr, 1.2% Mo and 4.0 % V [wt. (%)] in the process of nitrogen gas atomization. Three main types of solidification microstructures were observed in rapidly solidified powder particles: dendritic, compound and cellular. Based on the morphological features of microstructures observed in rapidly solidified particles and mathematical modeling of the thermal history of solidifying spherical droplets, the semi-quantitative model of the microstructure development in the Ch12MF4 steel during atomization was suggested. According to this model, it is supposed that the transition from dendritic to partially dendritic (compound) and nondendritic microstructures results from the thermally induced fragmentation of dendrites by the mechanism of their remelting, morphological changes of dendrite fragments and following spheroidization. The intensity of dendrite fragmentation in solidifying particles of different diameters is controlled mainly by the recalescence temperature and duration of quasi-isothermal period of solidification.

Resumo em Inglês:

In this work, the effect of C4+ and Cl4+ ion irradiation with 25 MeV energy on the hardness and shear banding feature of Ti40Zr25Be30Cr5 bulk metallic glass was studied. Depth-sensing nanoindetation and microindentation were applied for characterizing the multiple-scaled hardness and shear band patterns during plastic deformation. It is shown that the Cl4+ ion irradiation leads to an obvious softening of the sample surface, and distinctly affects the serrated flow feature during plastic deformation. In contrast, C4+ ions have little effect on the hardness and shear band patterns. Besides, the mechanism for the change of the mechanical properties and plastic deformation behavior after ion irradiation was also discussed.

Resumo em Inglês:

A combination of an extension of the topological instability "λ criterion" and the "average electronegativity" has been recently reported in the literature to predict compositions with high glass-forming ability (GFA). In the present work, both criteria have been applied to select the Ni61.0Nb36.0B3 alloy with a high glass-forming ability. Ingots were prepared by arc-melting and were used to produce ribbons processed by the melt-spinning technique further characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Ni61.0Nb36.0B3 alloy revealed a complete amorphization and supercooled liquid region ΔTx = 68 K. In addition, wedge-shaped samples were prepared using copper mold casting in order to determine the critical thickness for amorphous formation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that fully amorphous samples could be obtained, reaching up to ~800 µm in thickness.

Resumo em Inglês:

The effect of minor additions of Gd and Sm on the glass-forming ability (GFA) of Cu-Zr-Al alloys is investigated here. The rationale for these additions is the fact that the atomic size distribution can increase GFA by changing the topology of the alloy as a function of cluster stability, which is tied to the electronegativity and ionic and covalent nature of alloys. Ingots with nominal compositions of Cu40Zr49Al10.5Gd0.5, Cu40Zr49Al10.5Sm0.5 and Cu39Zr50Al9Gd2 were prepared by arc-melting and rapidly quenched ribbons were produced by the melt-spinning technique. Bulk samples with a thickness of up to 10 mm were also produced by casting, using a wedge-shaped copper mold. The samples were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy. The three compositions showed a fully amorphous structure in the ribbons and a predominantly homogeneous amorphous structure with a thickness of up to 10 mm, although some gadolinium oxide crystals as well as samarium compounds were found to be scattered in the amorphous matrix in 5-mm-thick samples. The amorphous phases in the alloys showed high thermal stability with a supercooled liquid region (ΔTx) of about 70 K.

Resumo em Inglês:

The amorphous Cu46Zr42Al7Y5 alloy presents large supercooled liquid region (ΔT X = 100 K), with a viscosity of about 10(6) N.s/m² where the material can flow as a liquid, making it possible an easy deformation in this temperature region. The aim of this work was to analyze processing routes to produce bulks of metallic glasses. Two kinds of materials were used: amorphous powders and ribbons, both were consolidated by hot extrusion in temperatures inside the range between Tg and Tx, with a ram speed of 1 mm/min and extrusion ratio of 3 : 1. Analysis of X-Ray Diffratometry (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), revealed that the proposed consolidation routes were effective to produce large bulks of amorphous materials, even with the strong decreasing of ΔT X observed after deformation by milling and during extrusion.

Resumo em Inglês:

High strength AA7050 aluminum alloy was processed by ECAP through route A in the T7451 condition. Samples were processed at 423 K, with 1 and 3 passes. The resulting microstructure was evaluated by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The phases were identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) using monochromatic Cu Kα radiation. Rockwell B hardness and tensile tests were performed for assessment of mechanical properties. The microstructure was refined by the formation of deformation bands, with dislocation cells and elongated subgrains, with an average width of 240 nm, inside these bands. The number of deformation bands increased with the number of passes. A reduction of precipitates size was observed with increase in the number of passes, when compared to initial condition, probably resulting from particle fragmentation during ECAP. After three passes the precipitates tend to a more equiaxed morphology and have sizes smaller than 10 nm. Phases Η' and Η coexist in the microstructure, but Η is the dominant phase, mainly after three passes. The hardness of alloy after the first pass of ECAP is almost equal to the initial condition. After three passes the hardness showed a slight reduction which must be result from recovery process. There was a slight improvement in the yield strength and elongation after one pass, when compared to the initial T7451 condition. The improvement in the ultimate tensile strength was less significant.

Resumo em Inglês:

The aim of this work is to evaluate the conjugation of advanced processing techniques, such as spray forming, extrusion and ECAP as a processing route for reuse of machining chips generated during aircrafts manufacturing parts from AA7050-T7451 raw material plates supplied according to AMS 4050H¹. In this way, the sprayforming process was used for remelting, and billet production, followed by extrusion and ECAP. At the end of the process, an artificial aging according to AMS 2772E ² was conducted. An assessment of chemical composition, microstructure, and mechanical properties evolution throughout the process were performed. The results have showed that this proposed route may be used as a potential technological route for secondary aluminum source. For extrusion route for overaged condition, 144 MPa yield strength and 14% of elongation was attained. Beside this, at this stage of work, was verified that the hot extrusion process is more effective for reduction of porosity and microstructure development than ECAP, but on the other hand this one has reduced porosity dispersion significantly for the extrusion parameters adopted. The adopted homogenization schedule, followed by artificial aging after has resulted in excessive grain growth.

Resumo em Inglês:

In order to obtain quasicrystalline (QC) phase by mechanical alloying (MA) in the Al-Cu-Fe system, mixtures of elementary Al, Cu and Fe in the proportion of 65-20-15 (at. %) were produced by high energy ball milling (HEBM). A very high energy type mill (spex) and short milling times (up to 5 hours) were employed. The resulting powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). QC phase was not directly formed by milling under the conditions employed in this work. However, phase transformations identified by DSC analysis reveals that annealing after HEBM possibly results in the formation of the ψ QC phase.

Resumo em Inglês:

Ti-based body centered cubic (BCC) solid solutions are promising materials for hydrogen storage. These alloys are usually synthesized by melting processes and have large amounts of vanadium as alloying element to stabilize the BCC phase at room temperature. In this work high energy ball-milling was evaluated as processing route for a Ti - based BCC solid solution. Moreover, the feasibility of Nb as stabilizer for the BCC phase is also investigated. The results show that the BCC phase is rapidly formed by ball-milling. After 2 hours of milling the alloy is mainly composed by BCC phase. Moreover, the time of milling must be limited in order to minimize the contamination with iron promoted by the wearing of milling balls and vials.

Resumo em Inglês:

An investigation was made of the stability of melt-spun ribbons of Mm55Al25Ni10Cu10 (Mm = Mischmetal) amorphous alloy. The structural transformations that occurred during heating were studied using a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Crystallization took place through a multi-stage process. The first stage of transformation corresponded to the formation of a metastable phase followed by cfc-Al precipitation, while in the second stage, exothermic transformations led to the formation of complex and unidentified Mm(Cu, Ni) and MmAl(Cu, Ni) phases. The transformation curves recorded from isothermal treatments at 226 °C and 232 °C indicated that crystallization occurred through nucleation and growth, with diffusion-controlled growth occurring in the first crystallization stage. The supercooled liquid region, ∆Tx, at 40 K/min was ~80 K. This value was obtained by the substitution of Mm (=Ce + La + Nd + Pr) for La or Ce, saving chemical element-related costs.

Resumo em Inglês:

The solidification behavior of the Al-12.6% Si (A1), the hypereutectic Al-20%Si (A2) and the Al-20%Si-1.5% Fe-0.5%Mn (A3) (in wt. (%)) alloys, at different cooling rates is reported and discussed. The cooling rates ranged between 0.93 °C/s and 190 °C/s when cast in sand and copper wedge-shaped molds, respectively. A spheroidization heat treatment was carried out to the alloys in the as-cast condition at 540 °C for 11 hours and quench in water with a subsequent heat treatment at 170 °C for 5 hours with the purpose of improving the mechanical properties. The samples were characterized by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and mechanically by tensile test, in order to evaluate the response of the heat treatment on the different starting microstructures and mechanical properties. It was found that alloys cooled at rates greater than 10.8 °C/s had a smaller particle size and better distribution, also showed a greater response to spheroidization heat treatment of all silicon (Si) phases. The spheroidization heat treatment caused an increase in the ultimate tensile stress (UTS) and elongation when compared with the alloys in the as-cast condition. The highest UTS value of 174 MPa was obtained for the (A1) alloy.

Resumo em Inglês:

Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA) is the only thermal spray process that results in a metallurgical bond, being frequently described as a hardfacing process. The superior properties of coatings have been related to the fine microstructures obtained, which are finer than those processed under similar heat input with welding techniques using wire feedstock. This observation suggests that the atomized feedstock plays a role on the solidification of coatings. In this study a model for the role of the powders grains in the solidification of PTA coatings is put forward and discussed. An experiment was setup to discuss the model which involved the deposition of an atomized Co-based alloy with different grain size distributions and deposition currents. X ray diffraction showed that there were no phase changes due to the processing parameters. Microstructure analysis by Laser Confocal Microscopy, dilution with the substrate steel and Vickers microhardness were used the characterized coatings and enriched the discussion confirming the role of the powdered feedstock on the solidification of coatings.

Resumo em Inglês:

Surface tailoring with plasma transferred arc (PTA) hardfacing involves the deposition of powder mixtures to produce coatings with an almost unlimited chemical composition. PTA hardfacing is particularly important for processing low weldability alloys, such as those for high-temperature applications, of which NiCrAlC is an example. This study analyzed NiCrAlC coatings processed by PTA using a mixture of elemental powders. Deposition on AISI316L plates was carried out with currents of 100 A and 130 A to induce variations in the chemical composition of the coatings, which were also subjected to isothermal exposure at temperatures of up to 1000 ºC for up to 72 hours in an air furnace. The results show that the aluminide compounds were stable, the coatings that solidified more slowly having the highest hardness after temperature exposure and potentially being suitable for use in high-temperature abrasion environments.

Resumo em Inglês:

Recently, intermetallic compounds have attracted much attention due to their potential technological applications as high-temperature materials. In particular the intermetallic compounds, associated with the Al-Ni binary system stand out as promising candidates for high-temperature materials for the use in harsh environments. It is expected that a bulk Al-Ni alloy may exceed the strength of many commercial materials. The great challenge in developing these alloys is to manipulate the solidification thermal parameters in order to obtain the desired microstructural features. One of the indicated routes to obtain very refined intermetallic phases dispersed in the microstructure is the spray forming process. The dendritic and eutectic growth dependences on cooling rate are already known for directionally solidified (DS) hypoeutectic Al-Ni alloys. In the case of rapidly solidified (RS) samples, extrapolations of such experimental laws are needed, which can be very helpful to estimate realistic values of high cooling rates imposed during the spray forming process. The present study aims to compare directionally solidified and spray-formed Al-5wt. (%)Ni alloy samples with a view to providing a basis for understanding how to control solidification parameters and the as-cast microstructure. The Al-5.0wt. (%)Ni alloy was shown to have a cellular morphology for the overspray powder size range examined (up to 500 µm). The mean cell spacing decreased from 5.0 to 1.1 µm with the decrease in the powder average diameter. It was found that the experimental cooling rates imposed during the atomization step of the overspray powder solidification varied from 10³ to 2.10(4) K/s. The DSC trace depicted a crystallization peak of an amorphous structure fraction in the smallest Al-5.0wt. (%)Ni alloy powder size range (<32 µm) estimating a 15 µm critical diameter of amorphous powder in the binary Al97.5Ni2.5 (at%) alloy.

Resumo em Inglês:

The ASTM F1295/Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy present mechanical properties and biocompatibility very attractive for application in medical and dental implants. In this context, processing of these Ti-based alloys by severe plastic deformation (SPD) has been extensively reported recently. However, the mechanical properties of equal channel angular pressed (ECAP) ASTM F1295 alloy are still a matter of research. In the present study, Ti-6Al-7Nb samples were processed by ECAP following thermomechanical processing which effects on the microstructure of Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The analyses have shown that the microstructure was composed by ultrafine grains (UFG) with sizes ranging from 200 to 400 nm. Ring-type selected area electron diffraction patterns (SAEDP) suggested the co-existence of low- and high-angle grain boundaries. Some regions of the samples have presented evidences of the presence of grains with unfavorable orientation to the plastic deformation. These grains can act as rigid bodies and concentrate the deformation in its surrounding areas, as an "open-die grain" mechanism. Such deformation mechanism could be attributed to the differences in the plastic behavior between the alpha and beta titanium phases.

Resumo em Inglês:

Ti-6Al-7Nb alloys are being evaluated for biomedical applications, in substitution of the more conventional Ti-6Al-7V. Both types of alloys present a microstructure containing the α and the β phases, which result in good compromise for mechanical applications. In the present work Ti-6Al-7Nb alloys were processed by High Pressure Torsion (HPT), varying the number of revolutions and thus the total imposed strain. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) results revealed the formation of different crystallographic textures in samples subjected to HPT. Microhardness distribution, across the diameters of the disks, is rather homogeneous for all samples, with higher values for those subjected to 03 and 05 turns. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs have showed that an ultra-fine grained microstructure was obtained in all the samples.

Resumo em Inglês:

Cobalt-based alloys are widely used as hardfacing materials when wear resistance is required at room temperature or high temperature applications. However, their performance is a consequence of their microstructures that depends on the processing conditions. This work focused on the influence of solidification rate on the structure development by processing the alloys with and without the interference of the substrate. The coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, optical microscopy and instrument indentation tests. Results showed that despite the same phases developed in tested conditions, differences in the solidification microstructure and the influence of Fe diffusing from the substrate accounted for the measured variation in hardness. Higher hardness values were obtained for the samples processed free-standing (mini billets) with respect to the coatings and they were independent of the processing parameters, indicating that the substrate compromise the properties of hardness, as expected.

Resumo em Inglês:

In this paper are presented some considerations about the performance of single wire earth return amorphous alloy core transformers in comparison with conventional silicon steel sheets cores transformers used in rural electric energy distribution network. It has been recognized that amorphous metal core transformers improve electrical power distribution efficiency by reducing transformer core losses. This reduction is due to some electromagnetic properties of the amorphous alloys such as: high magnetic permeability, high resistivity, and low coercivity. Experimental results obtained with some single-phase, 60 Hz, 5 kVA amorphous core transformers installed in a rural area electric distribution system in Northern Brazil have been confirming their superior performance in comparison to identical nominal rated transformers built with conventional silicon steel cores, particularly with regard to the excitation power and to the no-load losses.

Resumo em Inglês:

In this paper are presented theoretical analysis and experimental results concerning the performance of toroidal cores used in current transformers. For most problems concerning transformers design, analytical methods are useful, but numerical methods provide a better understanding of the transformers electromagnetic behaviour. Numerical field solutions may be used to determine the electrical equivalent circuit parameters of toroidal core current transformers. Since the exciting current of current transformers alters the ratio and phase angle of primary and secondary currents, it is made as small as possible though the use of high permeability and low loss magnetic material in the construction of the core. According to experimental results presented in this work, in comparison with others soft magnetic materials, nanocrystalline alloys appear as the best material to be used in toroidal core for current transformers.

Resumo em Inglês:

Three different Ti-based alloys with bcc structure and Laves phase were studied. The TiCr1.1V0.9, TiCr1.1V0.45Nb0.45 and TiCr1.1V0.9 + 4%Zr7Ni10 alloys were melted in arc furnace under argon atmosphere. The hydrogen absorption capacity was measured by using aparatus type Sievert's. Crystal structures, and the lattice parameters were determined by using X-ray diffraction, XRD. Microestructural analysis was performed by scanning electron microscope, SEM and electron dispersive X-ray, EDS. The hydrogen storage capacity attained a value of 3.6 wt. (%) for TiCr1.1V0.9 alloy in a time of 9 minutes, 3.3 wt. (%) for TiCr1.1V0.45Nb0.45 alloy in a time of 7 minutes and 3.6 wt. (%) TiCr1.1V0.9 + 4%Zr7Ni10 with an increase of the hydrogen absorption kinetics attained in 2 minutes. This indicates that the addition of Nb and 4%Zr7Ni10 to the TiCrV alloy acts as catalysts to accelerate the hydrogen absorption kinetics.

Resumo em Inglês:

Severe plastic deformation routes (SPD) have been shown to be attractive for short time preparation of magnesium alloys for hydrogen storage, generating refined microstructures and interesting hydrogen storage properties when compared to the same materials processed by high-energy ball milling (HEBM), but with the benefit of higher air resistance. In this study, we present results of a new processing route for Mg alloys for hydrogen storage: rapid solidification followed by cold work. A Mg97Ni3 alloy was processed by melt spinning (MS) and by extensive cold rolling (CR). Submitting Mg97Ni3 ribbons between steel plates to cold rolling has shown to be a viable procedure, producing a thin cold welded foil, with little material waste. The as-processed material presents a high level of [002] fiber texture, a sub microcrystalline grain structure with a high density of defects, and also a fine dispersion of Mg2Ni nanoparticles. This refined microstructure allied to the developed texture resulted in enhanced activation and H-sorption kinetics properties.

Resumo em Inglês:

Samples of amorphous and partially crystallized Fe40Ni38Mo4B18 alloy were submitted to hydrogen gas permeation from 523 to 643 K. The hydrogen permeation curves exhibited a single sigmoidal shape, typical of tests where no hydride formation occurs. It was observed that the hydrogen diffusivity increases for the amorphous samples and partially crystallized alloy with the temperature increase. The hydrogen diffusion coefficient as a function of temperature was found to be D = 5.1 ± 0.5 × 10-12 exp (-11.0 ± 3.5/RT) (m².s-1) for amorphous condition and D = 3.6 ± 0.5 × 10-11 exp (-19.8 ± 3.3/RT) (m².s-1) for the partially crystallized condition. This suggests that the annihilation of defects in the amorphous structure and the crystalline phase precipitate contributes to the increase of the hydrogen diffusion.