Radiant tubes heat exchangers are critical components that facilitate the heat transfer process to steel in an annealing furnace, and it addresses several engineering problems, such as thermal stress and mechanical failure due to long-term thermal cycling, which can significantly affect the longevity of the tubes and maintenance requirements. In this study, we used commercial software (ANSYS) to simulate the thermal stress and deformation of radiant tubes subjected to extreme thermal conditions and pressure loads. We evaluated both thermally induced deformation and creep deformation, which is a time-dependent deformation under constant stress over the long term. The results showed that uneven temperature conditions and pressure loads lead to significant deformation and potential failures. To mitigate these engineering challenges, we also tested several designs that include supporting brackets. This study provides valuable insights for designing radiant tube heat exchangers in annealing furnaces to extend their lifespan and ensure system safety.

Titanium aluminides have attracted special interest as light-weight/high-temperature materials for structural applications. The major problem limiting practical use of these compounds is their poor ductility and formability. The powder metallurgy processing route has been an attractive alternative for such materials. A mixture of Ti and Al elemental powders was fabricated to a mechanical alloying process. The processed powder was hot pressed in a vacuum, and a fully densified compact with ultra-fine grain structure consisting of Ti3Al intermetallic compound was obtained. During the compressive deformation of the compact at 1173 K, typical dynamic recrystallization (DR), which introduces a certain extent of grain refinement, was observed. The compact had high density and consisted of an ultra-fine equiaxial grain structure. Average grain diameter was 1.5 μm. Typical TEM micrographs depicting the internal structure of the specimen deformed to 0.09 true strain are provided, in which it can be seen that many small recrystallized grains having no apparent dislocation structure are generated at grain boundaries where well-developed dislocations with high density are observed in the neighboring grains. The compact showed a large m-value such as 0.44 at 1173 K. Moreover, the grain structure remained equiaxed during deformation at this temperature. Therefore, the compressive deformation of the compact was presumed to progress by superplastic flow, primarily controlled by DR.

Structural and mechanical effects of the dynamical precipitation in two copper-base alloys have been investigated over a wide range of deformation temperatures. Basing upon the information gained during the experiment, also some general conclusion may be formulated. A one concerns the nature of dynamic precipitation(DP). Under this term it is commonly understood decomposition of a supersaturated solid solution during plastic straining. The process may, however, proceed in two different ways. It may be a homogeneous one from the point of view of distribution and morphological aspect of particles or it may lead to substantial difference in shape, size and particles distribution. The effect is controlled by the mode of deformation. Hence it seems to be reasonable to distinguish DP during homogeneous deformation from that which takes place in heterogeneously deformed alloy. In the first case the process can be analyzed solely in terms of particle-dislocation-particle interrelation. Much more complex problem we are facing in heterogeneously deforming alloy. Deformation bands and specific arrangement of dislocations in form of pile-ups at grain boundaries generate additional driving force and additional nucleation sites for precipitation. Along with heterogeneous precipitation, there is a homogeneous precipitation in areas between bands of coarse slip which also deform but at much smaller rate. This form of decomposition is responsible for a specially high hardening rate during high temperature straining and for thermally stable product of the decomposition of alloy.

Crystal structure of the L12 type (Al,X)3Ti alloy (X = Cr,Cu) is analyzed by X-ray diffractometry and the nonuniform strain behavior at high temperature is investigated. The lattice constants for the L12 type (Al,X)3Ti alloys decrease in the order of the atomic number of the substituted atom X, and the hardness tends to increase. In a compressive test at around 473K for Al67.5Ti25Cr7.5, Al65Ti25Cr10 and Al62.5Ti25Cu12.5 alloys, it is found that the stress-strain curves showed serration, and deformation rate dependence appeared. It is assumed that the generation of serration is due to dynamic strain aging caused by the diffusion of solute atoms. As a result, activation energy of 60-95 kJ/mol is obtained. This process does not require direct involvement. In order to investigate the generation of serrations in detail, compression tests are carried out under various conditions. As a result, in the strain rate range of this experiment, serration is found to occur after 470K at a certain critical strain. The critical strain increases as the strain rate increases at constant temperature, and the critical strain tends to decrease as temperature rises under constant strain rate. This tendency is common to all alloys produced. In the case of this alloy system, the serration at around 473K corresponds to the case in which the dislocation velocity is faster than the diffusion rate of interstitial solute atoms at low temperature.

The high temperature deformation behavior of Ni3Al and Ni3(Al,Mo) single crystals that were oriented near <112> was investigated at low strain rates in the temperature range above the flow stress peak temperature. Three types of behavior were found under the present experimental conditions. In the relatively high strain rate region, the strain rate dependence of the flow stress is small, and the deformation may be controlled by the dislocation glide mainly on the {001} slip plane in both crystals. At low strain rates, the octahedral glide is still active in Ni3Al above the peak temperature, but the active slip system in Ni3(Al,Mo) changes from octahedral glide to cube glide at the peak temperature. These results suggest that the deformation rate controlling mechanism of Ni3Al is viscous glide of dislocations by the <110>{111} slip, whereas that of Ni3(Al,Mo) is a recovery process of dislocation climb in the substructures formed by the <110>{001} slip. The results of TEM observation show that the characteristics of dislocation structures are uniform distribution in Ni3Al and subboundary formation in Ni3(Al,Mo). Activation energies for deformation in Ni3Al and Ni3(Al,Mo) were obtained in the low strain rate region. The values of the activation energy are 360 kJ/mol for Ni3Al and 300 kJ/mol for Ni3(Al,Mo).

Fundamental studies of microstructural changes and high temperature deformation of titanium aluminide (TiAl) were conducted from the view point of the effect of Al content in order to develop the manufacturing process of TiAl. Microstructures in an as cast state consisted mainly of lamellar structure irrespective of Al content. By homogenization at 1473 K, the microstructures of Ti-49Al and Ti-51Al were transformed into an equiaxial structure which was composed of γ-TiAl, while the lamellar structure that was observed in Ti-46Al and Ti-47Al was much more stable. We found that the reduction of Al content suppressed the formation of equiaxial grains and resulted in a microstructure of only a lamellar structure. On Ti-49Al and Ti-51Al, dynamic recrystallization occurred during high temperature deformation, and the microstructure was transformed into a fine equiaxial one, while the microstructures of Ti-46Al and Ti-47Al contained few recrystallized grains and consisted mainly of a deformed lamellar structure. We observed that on the low-Al alloys the lamellar structure under hard mode deformation conditions deformed as kink observed B2-NiAl. High temperature deformation characteristics of TiAl were strongly affected by Al content. An increase of Al content resulted in a decrease of peak stress and activation energy for plastic deformation and an increase of the recrystallization ratio in TiAl.

The deformation properties of a TiC-Mo eutectic composite were investigated in a compression test at temperaturesranging from room temperature to 2053K and at strain rates ranging from 3.9×10−5s−1 to 4.9×10−3s−1. It was found that thismaterial shows excellent high-temperature strength as well as appreciable room-temperature toughness, suggesting that thematerial is a good candidate for high-temperature application as a structure material. At a low-temperature, high strength isobserved. The deformation behavior is different among the three temperature ranges tested here, i.e., low, intermediate and high.At an intermediate temperature, no yield drop occurs, and from the beginning the work hardening level is high. At a hightemperature, a yield drop occurs again, after which deformation proceeds with nearly constant stress. The temperature- andyield-stress-dependence of the strain is the strongest in this case among the three temperature ranges. The observed high-temperature deformation behavior suggests that the excellent high-temperature strength is due to the constraining of thedeformation in the Mo phase by the thin TiC components, which is considerably stronger than bulk TiC. It is also concludedthat the appreciable room-temperature toughness is ascribed to the frequent branching of crack paths as well as to the plasticdeformation of the Mo phase.

In order to clarify the effect of C/Ti atom ratios(χ) on the deformation behavior of TiCχ at high temperature, singlecrystals having a wide range of χ, from 0.56 to 0.96, were deformed by compression test in a temperature range of 1183~2273Kand in a strain rate range of 1.9×10−4~5.9×10−3s−1. Before testing, TiCχ single crystals were grown by the FZ method ina He atmosphere of 0.3MPa. The concentrations of combined carbon were determined by chemical analysis and the latticeparameters by the X-ray powder diffraction technique. It was found that the high temperature deformation behavior observedis the χ-less dependent type, including the work softening phenomenon, the critical resolved shear stress, the transitiontemperature where the deformation mechanism changes, the stress exponent of strain rate and activation energy for deformation.The shape of stress-strain curves of TiC0.96, TiC0.85 and TiC0.56 is seen to be less dependent on χ, the work hardening rate afterthe softening is slightly higher in TiC0.96 than in TiC0.85 and TiC0.56. As χ decreases the work softening becomes less evidentand the transition temperature where the work softening disappears, shifts to a lower temperature. The τc decreasesmonotonously with decreasing χ in a range of χ from 0.86 to 0.96. The transition temperature where the deformationmechanism changes shifts to a lower temperature as χ decreases. The activation energy for deformation in the low temperatureregion also decreased monotonously as χ decreased. The deformation in this temperature region is thought to be governed bythe Peierls mechanism.

In this study, nano grain W is fabricated by Severe Plastic Deformation-Powder Metallurgy (SPD-PM) process. W powder and W-Re powder mixtures are processed by SPD-PM process, a Mechanical Milling (MM) process. As results, a nano grain structure, whose grain size is approximately 20nm, is obtained in W powder after MM for 360ks. A nano grain W compact, whose grain size 630nm, has excellent deformability above 1273K. A nano grain W-10Re compact is composed of equiaxed grain, a grain growth is restrained and has low dislocation density after the large deformation; therefore it is considered that W-Re compact shows superplasticity.

니켈기 주조용 합금 738LC를 816˚C와 982˚C에서 크리프 파단 시험과 열간 노출시험을 통해 온도와 응력 변화에 따른 파단양상, 탄화물과 σ상의 석출 거동에 대해 조사하였다. 816˚C/440MPa에서는 크리프 파단양상이 전단변형에 의한 입내파괴를 나타내었으나, 982˚C/152MPa에서는 표면과 접하는 결정입계에서 입계산화에 의해 표면에너지의 감소로 균열이 나타나 진행되는 입계파괴가 나타났다. M(sub)23C(sub)6 탄화물이 816˚C에서는 주로 결정입계에서와 전단변형에 의한 입내균열을 따라 석출하였으나, 982˚C에서는 결정입계 뿐만 아니라 입내에서는 석출하였으며 석출양은 증가하였다. σ상은 Cr(sub)23C(sub)6 탄화물에서 핵생성 후 기지로 성장하며, 온도가 높고 응력이 주어지면 Cr(sub)23C(sub)6 탄화물의 양이 증가하여 σ상의 석출도 많아졌다.