Research into lightweighting to improve vehicle fuel efficiency and reduce exhaust emissions continues as environmental regulations become increasingly stringent. Magnesium alloys, chosen for their lightweight properties, are more than 35% lighter than aluminum alloys and also exhibit excellent mechanical characteristics. While magnesium alloys are commonly utilized in arc welding processes like GTAW and GMAW, they pose challenges such as high residual stresses and welding defects. Laser welding, on the other hand, offers the advantage of precise heat input, enabling deep and high-quality welds while minimizing welding distortion. In this study, fiber laser welding was employed to weld a 4.0mm thick AZ31B-H24 using the Bead on Plate technique. A total of 10 different welding conditions were tested with fiber laser welding, and the cross-sections of the weld beads were examined. Weld bead shapes were measured based on five parameters. The results allowed for an evaluation of the weldability of AZ31B-H24 using fiber laser welding.
In this study, changes in the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast and extruded Al-2Li-1Ce alloy materials were investigated as the Mg content was varied. The density decreased to 2.485, 2.46 and 2.435 g/cm3 when the Mg content in the Al-2Li-1Ce alloy was increased to 2, 4 and 6 wt%, respectively. Intermetallic compounds of Al11Ce3 were observed in all alloys, while the β-phase of Al3Mg2 was observed in alloys containing 6 wt% of Mg. In the extruded material, with increasing Mg content the average grain size decreased to 84.8, 71.6 and 36.2 μm, and the fraction of high-angle grain boundaries (greater than 15°) increased to 82.8 %, 88.6 %, and 91.8 %, respectively. This occurred because the increased Mg content promotes dynamic recrystallization during hot extrusion. Tensile test results showed that as the Mg content increased, both the yield strength and tensile strength increased. The yield strength reached 86.1, 107.3, and 186.4 MPa, and the tensile strength reached 215.2, 285, and 360.5 MPa, respectively. However, it is worth noting that the ductility decreased to 27.78 %, 25.65 %, and 20.72 % as the Mg content increased. This reduction in ductility is attributed to the strengthening effect resulting from the increased amount of dissolved Mg, and grain refinement due to dynamic recrystallization.
This research investigated how adding Sb (0.75, 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 wt%) to as-extruded aluminum alloys affected their microstructure, mechanical properties, electric and thermal conductivity. The addition of Sb resulted in the formation of AlSb intermetallic compounds. It was observed that intermetallic compounds in the alloys were distributed homogenously in the Al matrix. As the content of Sb increased, the area fraction of intermetallic compounds increased. It can be clearly seen that the intermetallic compounds were crushed into fine particles and homogenously arrayed during the extrusion process. As the Sb content increased, the average grain size decreased remarkably from 282.6 μm (0.75 wt%) to 109.2 μm (5.0 wt%) due to dynamic recrystallization by the dispersed intermetallic compounds in the aluminum matrix during the hot extrusion. As the Sb content increased from 0.75 to 2.0 wt%, the electrical conductivity decreased from 61.0 to 59.8 % of the International Annealed Copper Standard. Also, as the Sb content increased from 0.75 to 2.0 wt%, the ultimate tensile strength did not significantly change, from 67.3 to 67.8 MPa.
Aluminum-based powders have attracted attention as key materials for 3D printing owing to their low density, high specific strength, high corrosion resistance, and formability. This study describes the effects of TiC addition on the microstructure of the A6013 alloy. The alloy powder was successfully prepared by gas atomization and further densified using an extrusion process. We have carried out energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to investigate the effect of TiC addition on the microstructure and texture evolution of the A6013 alloy. The atomized A6013-xTiC alloy powder is fine and spherical, with an initial powder size distribution of approximately 73 μm which decreases to 12.5, 13.9, 10.8, and 10.0 μm with increments in the amount of TiC.
Effects of Sc addition on microstructure, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of the as-cast and as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-xSc (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5 wt%) alloys are investigated. The average grain size of the as-cast Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg alloy is 2,334 μm; however, this value drops to 914 and 529 μm with addition of Sc element at 0.25 wt% and 0.5 wt%, respectively. This grain refinement is due to primary Al3Sc phase forming during solidification. The as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg alloy has a recrystallization structure consisting of almost equiaxed grains. However, the asextruded Sc-containing alloys consist of grains that are extremely elongated in the extrusion direction. In addition, it is found that the proportion of low-angle grain boundaries below 15 degree is dominant. This is because the addition of Sc results in the formation of coherent and nano-scale Al3Sc phases during hot extrusion, inhibiting the process of recrystallization and improving the strength by pinning of dislocations and the formation of subgrain boundaries. The maximum values of the yield and tensile strength are 126 MPa and 215 MPa for the as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-0.25Sc alloy, respectively. The increase in strength is probably due to the existence of nano-scale Al3Sc precipitates and dense Al2Cu phases. Thermal conductivity of the as-cast Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-xSc alloy is reduced to 204, 187 and 183 W/MK by additions of elemental Sc of 0, 0.25 and 0.5 wt%, respectively. On the other hand, the thermal conductivity of the as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-xSc alloy is about 200 W/Mk regardless of the content of Sc. This is because of the formation of coherent Al3Sc phase, which decreases Sc content and causes extremely high electrical resistivity.
The powder manufacturing process using the gas atomizer process is easy for mass production, has a fine powder particle size, and has excellent mechanical properties compared to the existing casting process, so it can be applied to various industries such as automobiles, electronic devices, aviation, and 3D printers. In this study, a modified A4032-xSn (x = 0, 1, 3, 5, and 10 wt.%) alloy with low melting point properties is investigated. After maintaining an argon (Ar) gas atmosphere, the main crucible is tilted; containing molten metal at 1,000℃ by melting the master alloy at a high frequency, and Ar gas is sprayed at 10 bar gas pressure after the molten metal inflow to the tundish crucible, which is maintained at 800℃. The manufactured powder is measured using a particle size analyzer, and FESEM is used to observe the shape and surface of the alloy powder. DSC is performed to investigate the change in shape, according to the melting point and temperature change. The microstructure of added tin (Sn) was observed by heat treatment at 575℃ for 10 min. As the content of Sn increased, the volume fraction increased to 1.1, 3.1, 6.4, and 10.9%.
In this study, an Al-0.7wt%Fe-0.2wt%Mg-0.2wt%Cu-0.02wt%B alloy was designed to fabricate an aluminum alloy for electrical wire having both high strength and high conductivity. The designed Al alloy was processed by casting, extrusion and drawing processes. Especially, the drawing process was done by severe deformation of a rod with an initial diameter of 12 mm into a wire of 2 mm diameter; process was equivalent to an effective strain of 3.58, and the total reduction in area was 97 %. The drawn Al alloy wire was then annealed at various temperatures of 200 to 400 °C for 30 minutes. The mechanical properties, microstructural changes and electrical properties of the annealed specimens were investigated. As the annealing temperature increased, the tensile strength decreased and the elongation increased. Recovery or/and recrystallization occurred as annealing temperature increased, and complete recrystallization occurred at annealing temperatures over 300 °C. Electric conductivity increased with increasing temperature up to 250 °C, but no significant change was observed above 300 °C. It is concluded that, from the viewpoint of the mechanical and electrical properties, the specimen annealed at 350 oC is the most suitable for the wire drawn Al alloy electrical wire.
The effect of adding Ca on the microstructural and mechanical properties of as-cast Mg-11Li-3Zn-1Sn(wt%) alloys were investigated. Mg-11Li-3Zn-1Sn-0.4Mn with different Ca additions (0.4, 0.8, 1.2 wt%) were cast under an SF6 and Co2 atmosphere at 720 oC. The cast billets were homogenized at 400 oC for 12h and extruded at 200 oC. The microstructural and mechanical properties were analyzed by OM, XRD, SEM, and tensile tests. The addition of Ca to the Mg-11Li-3Zn-1Sn-0.4Mn alloy resulted in the formation of Ca2Mg6Zn3, MgSnCa intermetallic compound. By increasing Ca addition, the volume fraction and size of Ca2Mg6Zn3 with needle shape were increased. This Ca2Mg6Zn3 intermetallic compound was elongated to the extrusion direction and refined to fine particles due to severe deformation during hot extrusion. The elongation of the 0.8 wt% Ca containing alloy improved remarkably without reduction strength due to the formation of fine grain and Ca2Mg6Zn3 intermetallic compounds by Ca addition. It is probable that fine and homogeneous Ca2Mg6Zn3 intermetallic compounds played a significant role in the increase of mechanical properties.
In this research, magnesium powder was prepared by gas atomizing. Refinement behaviors of magnesium powder produced under different conditions were investigated using a mechanical milling (attrition milling) process. Analyses were performed to assess the characterization and comparison of milled powder with different steel ball sizes and milling times. The powders were analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscope, apparent density and powder fluidity. The particle morphology of the Mg powders changed from spherical particles of feed metals to irregular oval particles, then plate type particles, with an increasing milling time. Because of the HCP structure, deformation occurs due to the existence of the easily breakable C-axis perpendicular to the base, which results in producing plate-type powders. An increase in ball size and the impact energy of the magnesium powder maximizes the effect of refinement. Furthermore, it is possible to improve the apparent density and fluidity according to the smoothness of the surface of the initial powder.
In this study, we mainly focus on the study of densification of gas-atomized Cu-50 wt.%In-13 wt.%Ga alloy powder without occurrence of crack during the forming process. Cu-50 wt.%In-13 wt.%Ga alloy powder was consolidated by sintering and rolling processes in order to obtain high density. The phase and microstructure of formed materials were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy (OM), respectively. Warm rolling using copper can result in the improvement of density. The specimen obtained with 80% of rolling reduction ratio at using cooper can have the highest density of .
This study evaluated the enhancement of microstructural and mechanical properties of a cross rolled Ni-10Cr alloy, comparing with conventionally rolled material. Cold rolling was carried out to 90% thickness reduction and the specimens were subsequently annealed at 700˚C for 30 min to obtain a fully recrystallized microstructure. Cross roll rolling was carried out at a tilted roll mill condition of 5˚ from the transverse direction in the RD-TD plane. In order to observe the deformed microstructures of the cold rolled materials, transmission electron microscopy was employed. For annealed materials after rolling, in order to investigate the grain boundary characteristic distributions, an electron back-scattering diffraction technique was applied. Application of cold rolling to the Ni-10Cr alloy contributed to notable grain refinement, and consequently the average grain size was refined from 135 μm in the initial material to 9.4 and 4.2 μm in conventionally rolled and cross rolled materials, respectively, thus showing more significantly refined grains in the cross rolled material. This refined grain size led to enhanced mechanical properties such as yield and tensile strengths, with slightly higher values in the cross rolled material. Furthermore, the<111>//ND texture in the CRR material was better developed compared to that of the CR material, which contributed to enhanced mechanical properties and formability.
We carried out this study to evaluate the grain refining in and the mechanical properties of alloys that undergo severe plastic deformation (SPD). Conventional rolling (CR) and cross-roll rolling (CRR) as SPD methods were used with Ni-20Cr alloy as the experimental material. The materials were cold rolled to a thickness reduction of 90% and subsequently annealed at 700˚C for 30 min to obtain a fully recrystallized microstructure. For the annealed materials after the cold rolling, electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis was carried out to investigate the grain boundary characteristic distributions (GBCDs). The CRR process was more effective when used to develop the grain refinement relative to the CR process; as a result, the grain size was refined from 70μm in the initial material to 4.2μm (CR) and 2.4μm (CRR). These grain refinements have a direct effect on improving the mechanical properties; in this case, the microhardness, yield and tensile strength showed significant increases compared to the initial material. In particular, the CRR-processed material showed more effective values relative to the CR-processed materials. The different texture distributions in the CR (001//ND) and CRR (111//ND) were likely the cause of the increase in the mechanical properties. These findings suggest that CRR can result in materials with a smaller grain size, improved texture development and improved mechanical properties after recrystallization by a subsequent annealing process.
The present study was carried out to evaluate the microstructural and mechanical properties of cross-roll rolled pure copper sheets, and the results were compared with those obtained for conventionally rolled sheets. For this work, pure copper (99.99 mass%) sheets with thickness of 5 mm were prepared as the starting material. The sheets were cold rolled to 90% thickness reduction and subsequently annealed at 400˚C for 30 min. Also, to analyze the grain boundary character distributions (GBCDs) on the materials, the electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) technique was introduced. The resulting cold-rolled and annealed sheets had considerably finer grains than the initial sheets with an average size of 100 μM. In particular, the average grain size became smaller by cross-roll rolling (6.5 μM) than by conventional rolling (9.8 μM). These grain refinements directly led to enhanced mechanical properties such as Vickers micro-hardness and tensile strength, and thus the values showed greater increases upon cross-roll rolling process than after conventional rolling. Furthermore, the texture development of<112>//ND in the cross-roll rolling processed material provided greater enhancement of mechanical properties relative to the case of the conventional rolling processed material. In the present study, we systematically discuss the enhancement of mechanical properties in terms of grain refinement and texture distribution developed by the different rolling processes.
A composite of rapidly solidified Al-6061 alloy powder with graphite particle reinforcements was prepared by ball milling and subsequent hot extrusion. The microstructure and mechanical properties of these composites were investigated as a function of milling time. With increasing milling time, the gas atomized initially and spherical powders became elongated with a maximum aspect ratio after milling for 30 h. Then, refinement and spheroidization were achieved by further milling to 70 h with a homogeneous and fine dispersion of graphite particles forming between the matrix alloy layers. The best compression and wear properties were obtained in the powder milled for 70 h, associated with the increased fine and homogeneous distribution of graphite particles in the aluminum alloy matrix.
계 열전재료는 200~400K 정도의 저온에서 네어지 변환효율이 가장 높은 재료로써 열전냉각, 바런재로 등에 응요하기 위하여ㅠ 제조법 및 특서에 관한 많은 연구가 진행되어 왔다. 계 화합물은 rhombohedral의 결정 구조를 가지는 층상 화 ;물로 결정대칭성으로 인해 연전기적으로 큰 이방성을 나타낸다. 현재는 일반향용고법에 의해서 입자를 a축 방향으로 성장시켜 큰 결정립을 가진 다결정재료를 사용하고 있으나, c면이 매우 취약하기 때문에 가공서이 나쁘
열전재료는 열전현상을 가지고 있어 열전발전과 열선냉각이 가능하기 때분에 해저용, 우주용, 군사용의 특수 전원으로 이미 실용화되어있고, 반도체, 레이저 다이오드, 적외선 검출소자 등의 냉각기로 쓰여지고 있어 많은 연구자들이 이들 재료에 대한 연구에 관을 갖고 열전특성을 향상시키기 위하여 많은 연구를 진행하고 있다 이들 열전재료는 사용 온도구역에 따라 3종류로 구분하고 있으며, 실온부근의 저온 영역(20)이하에서는 계 재료, 중온영역(20~50)에서sms
계 열전반도체 재료는 200 ~ 400K 정도의 저온에서 에너지 변환 효율이 가장 높은 재료로서 열전냉각 및 발전재료로 제조볍 및 특성에 관한 많은 연구가 진행되어 왔다. 전자냉각 모듈의 제조에는 P형 및 N형 계 단결정이 주로 사용되고 있으나. 단결정은 C축에 수직한 벽개면을 따라 균열이 쉽게 전파하기 때문에 소자 가공사 수윤 저하가 가장 큰 문제점으로 지적되고 있다. 이에 따라 최근 열전재료의 가공방법에 따른 회수율 증가 및 열전특성 향상에 관한