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An advanced and newly developed severe plastic deformation (SPD) method called accumulative fold-forging (AFF) was applied to produce layered nanostructured MgNi alloys exhibiting superior hydrogen storage capacity. Microstructural developments and storage properties were characterized in depth to correlate the structure and performance of this advanced material. The enhanced hydrogen storage performance of the magnesium-based layered composite material was investigated in comparison to the pristine state by conducting hydrogenation and dehydrogenation testing. It was also shown that the hydrogen uptake and release characteristics can be controlled by adjusting the layered structure or the Mg: Ni stoichiometry ratio. Refining the grain structure of the magnesium alloy down to the nano-scale range (∼400–900 nm) by applying high cycles AFF consolidation to promote creation of multi-million nanometric interfaces led to superior storage performance with a remarkable hydrogen absorption capacity of up to ∼1.425 wt%. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the hydrogenated products revealed the formation of MgH2 that indicates the dominance of the magnesium matrix for controlling the hydrogen storage behavior of the layered Mg/Ni composite material. Finally, the relationship between the directional hydrogen storage behavior and the induced structural features upon AFF treatment were also established using quantitative characterization and analytical tools.

The current investigation of refill friction stir spot welding (refill FSSW) Al alloy to copper primarily involved plunging the tool into bottom copper sheet to achieve both metallurgical and mechanical interfacial bonding. Compared to conventional FSSW and pinless FSSW, weld strength can be significantly improved by using this method. Nevertheless, tool wear is a critical issue during refill FSSW. In this study, defect-free Al/copper dissimilar welds were successfully fabricated using refill FSSW by only plunging the tool into top Al alloy sheet. Overall, two types of continuous and ultra-thin intermetallic compounds (IMCs) layers were identified at the whole Al/copper interface. Also, strong evidence of melting and resolidification was observed in the localized region. The peak temperature obtained at the center of Al/copper interface was 591 °C, and the heating rate reached up to 916 °C/s during the sleeve penetration phase. A softened weld region was produced via refill FSSW process, the hardness profile exhibited a W-shaped appearance along middle thickness of top Al alloy. The weld lap shear load was insensitive to the welding condition, whose scatter was rather small. The fracture path exclusively propagated along the IMCs layer of Cu9Al4 under the external lap shear loadings, both CuAl2 and Cu9Al4 were detected on the fractured surface on the copper side. This research indicated that acceptable weld strength can be achieved via pure metallurgical joining mechanism, which has significant potential for the industrial applications.

The use of pulsed gas metal arc welding (P-GMAW) is fundamental to applications were versatility and control of heat input are required during deposition. However, when welding using pure argon shielding gas, a drawback is the instability derived from wandering of the cathode spots on the weld pool. This work investigates an alternative to weld steels using pure argon shielding gas with cold wire pulsed gas metal arc welding (CW-P-GMAW). A mechanism for enhanced stability is revealed in CW-P-GMAW, related to the migration of cathode spots to the cold wire which prevents the cathode spots from wandering around the weld pool. The migration of cathode spots is likely related to charging of oxides on the cold wire surface by ions formed in the arc plasma. The enhanced arc stability smooths the shape of bead profile, since wandering of the arc due to cathode motion is suppressed.

In this critical note, the thermal stability behavior of ultra-fine grained (UFG) and nano-structured (NS) metals and alloys produced through severe plastic deformation (SPD) techniques is reviewed. For this case, the common engineering metals with body-centered cubic (BCC), face-centered cubic (FCC), and hexagonal close-packed (HCP) crystal structures such as aluminum, copper, nickel, magnesium, steel, titanium, and their relating alloys were assessed. Microstructural evolution in these severely deformed materials following post-processing annealing treatment was investigated for various times and temperatures below the recrystallization point. The microstructure development reported in the literature was studied in terms of the stable grain structures correlated with different levels of plastic straining. The stacking fault energy (SFE) is noted to be a key issue which has a critical influence in predicting the coalescence or coarsening behavior of ultra-fine and nanoscale grains after SPD treatment by controlling the cross-slip phenomenon for screw dislocations.

A continuous cooling transformation (CCT) diagram was developed using thermal simulation techniques to replicate the coarse-grain heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) of an X80 line pipe steel. Specimens were heated to a peak temperature of 1350 °C with a 1 s hold time, followed by cooling at several rates between 7.6 and 356 °C/s. The thermo-mechanical specimen design was compatible with sub-size instrumented Charpy impact testing, which allowed the toughness to be evaluated. Following dilatometry measurements during continuous cooling, specimens were prepared and examined using optical and scanning-electron microscopy. In addition, the initial CGHAZ microstructure (upper bainite) was reheated to a peak temperature of 850 °C for 1 s (double cycled) and cooled at three different cooling rates (10, 5 and 2 °C/s). This allowed the influence of intercritical reheating, which occurs in multi-pass welds to be investigated in terms of microstructure, tensile strength and notch toughness. It was observed that the microstructure consisted of effective grain (matrix) and untempered MA when cooling at 10 or 5 °C/s. However, when reheating was followed by a cooling rate of 2 °C/s, the microstructure consisted of a combination of effective grain and a more benign distribution of tempered MA, which provided better low temperature impact toughness.

The electrical current required for a transition from globular to spray droplet transfer during gas metal arc welding (GMAW) is determined by the specified wire feed speed in the case of constant-voltage power supplies. Generally, in narrow groove welding, spray transfer is avoided, be-cause this transfer mode can severely erode the groove sidewalls. This work compared the globular-to-spray transition mechanism in cold wire gas metal arc welding (CW-GMAW) vs. standard GMAW. Synchronized high-speed imaging with current and voltage samplings were used to characterize the arc dynamics for different cold wire mass feed rates. Subsequently, the droplet frequency and diameter were estimated, and the parameters for a globular-to-spray transition were assessed. The results suggest that the transition to spray occurs in CW-GMAW at a lower current than in the standard GMAW process. The reason for this difference appears to be linked to an enhanced magnetic pinch force, which is mainly responsible for metal transfer in higher welding current conditions.

Cold wire gas metal arc welding (CW-GMAW) has been increasingly used in heavy-gauge manufacturing where high deposition rates are required. In such applications, the thermal efficiency of the CW-GMAW is crucial, yet it is not reported in the literature. Water calorimetry experiments were conducted to assess the thermal efficiency of CW-GMAW for two cold wire feed fractions and three common transfer modes: short circuit, globular, and spray, and these are compared to standard GMAW using the same transfer modes. The welds were produced using ER70S-6 as the electrode and cold wires. AISI 1020 plain carbon steel plates were used as the base metal with thicknesses of 9.53 mm and 6.35 mm. After producing the welds, three cross-sections were cut and analyzed using Vickers hardness maps, where differences were attributed to cooling variation rate across the weld cross-sections in high arc power samples. Results have shown that feeding a cold wire into the arc can re-introduce part of the lost heat back into the weld pool both in the short circuit and spray transfer regimes, suggesting an increase in the heat content in the weld pool.

In this study, commercially pure Cu plate was cold sprayed with a 90 μm thick Ni coating and friction stir welded to an Al 6061 alloy plate in a butt joint configuration. The joint interface was characterized by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy and was compared to the joint without a Ni coating. The results show that the joint mechanical strength was significantly improved with a Ni interlayer. The average peak stress and the elongation of the joint with Ni coating reached 190 MPa and 14 %, respectively. The formation of intermetallic compounds at the interface was clearly suppressed with a Ni coating compared to the directly welded sheets.

In this work, an instrumented indentation technique with a nearly flat tip indenter was used to measure the yield strength of API-X80 line pipe weld. Using this technique, the yield strength can be estimated directly from the indentation load–displacement response. The yield strength of the weld metal was measured in the transverse (hoop) and longitudinal (long) directions of the weld, and the results indicated that the weld metal exhibits anisotropy in terms of the yield strength by as much as 100 MPa, which could lead to a non-conservative estimate when strength mismatch is considered. Conventional tensile testing obtained strength values to within 4.6% of the indentation measurements and confirmed the results. Hardness maps also show a 20 HV0.5 difference in the two directions of the weld, which supports anisotropy of yield strength. The microstructure analysis using SEM reveals a slight difference in the grain size, which partially explains the differences in properties.

The hot-wire gas metal arc welding (HW-GMAW) process is widely used to increase the melting rate of a secondary wire through Joule heating without significantly increasing the total heat input to the substrate. Because there is limit-ed knowledge regarding the associated arc dynamics and its influence on bead geometry, the present study considers how these are affected by the hot-wire polarity (negative or positive), hot-wire feed rate, and hot-wire orientation using a two-factor full factorial experiment with three replicates. During welding, high-speed imaging synchronized with current and voltage acquisition to study the arc dynamics. After this, each replicated weld was cut into three cross sections, which were examined by standard metallography. The preliminary results suggest that the arc was stable within the range of process parameters studied. The arc polarity played a role on arc position relative to the hot wire, with a decrease in penetration depth observed when the arc was attracted to the hot wire.

A new solid-state 3D-printing technology based on the friction-stir processing (FSP) treatment and forging consolidation is examined here for additive manufacturing (AM) to produce the tubular components in a layer-by-layer method, yielding extremely refined microstructure and attractive mechanical properties. Therefore, this novel technology can be termed “friction-forging tubular additive manufacturing (FFTAM)” as an alternative approach of sheet lamination (SL) process according to the ASTM designation for AM routes. In this research, the FFTAM process was accomplished to manufacture an Al–Al2O3 composite structure with a tubular shape design and a fully dense construction in the solid-state with continuous metallurgical bonding between the layers under the influence of hydrostatic pressure in combination with high temperatures generated by frictional-heating. A key finding is forming a superb high strength structure with an exceptional ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of around 900 MPa. This can be attributed to the significant grain structural refinement (down to less than 1 μm) and the homogenous incorporation of reinforcing alumina nanoparticles along with severe straining.

A newly developed solid-state 3D-printing route of friction-forging tubular additive manufacturing (FFTAM) is applied to produce a low-carbon steel tube with superior mechanical properties. FFTAM technology is based on high-temperature severe plastic deformation and consolidation of metal chips via the friction stir welding/processing (FSW/FSP) mechanism to achieve a fully-dense tubular shape in a layer-upon-layer manner. This achieve metallurgical bonding between the layers using a rotating mandrel to maintain radial friction followed by press-die forging under hydrostatic pressure. After FFTAM deposition, the initial ferrite-pearlite microstructure of the steel chips is transformed to a triple-phase alloy consisting of ferrite, martensite, and austenite grains. The formation of martensitic phases by rapid cooling during layer-upon-layer deposition led to significant material hardening, and this further modified by the thermo-mechanical history upon deposition of subsequent layers. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations revealed the microstructural refinement of the manufactured steel tube at the nano-scale range (

The evolution of processing parameters by varying tool eccentricity in AA6061 alloy friction stir welding was examined using a combination of detailed force/torque measurements and thermal history as well as high-speed camera (HSC) observations. Tri-axial forces show larger oscillations during the steady-state phase of welding if the tool eccentricity is increased. However, the tool torque remains similar for up to 0.4 mm eccentricity versus the aligned tool even with varying weld speed. In situ HSC observation indicates that tool eccentricity is reduced during the welding process for larger eccentric setups. Stir zone thermal measurements reveal that the temperature peaks and stabilizes near the solidus temperature of the AA6061 base material.

A procedure combining computational fluid dynamics modeling/Monte Carlo simulation was implemented to predict grain refinement during friction stir processing (FSP) of an Al–Mg alloy. Based on the critical parameters during FSP treatment such as rotational tool speed (w), and traverse velocity (v), the thermal and strain rate contours were simulated, and used as inputs for a statistical model of dynamic recrystallization. Afterward, the simulated grain structures were verified experimentally by electron backscattering diffraction analysis. FSP generated equiaxed grains with average sizes in the range of 3–10 µm depending on the heat input index in terms of w/v ratios in the range of 4–28 rev.min/mm. A correlation between simulated and experimentally validated grain structures is observed, with crystallographic textures consistent with shear strain induced preferred orientations with a dominant {112} component.

In this study, the progression of martensite tempering as a function of tempering parameter has been investigated using instrumented nanoindentation. Three distinct stages of tempering related to the carbon segregation, carbide nucleation, and Ostwald ripening were identified. During the second tempering stage, the nanohardness achieves a plateau which is attributed to the change of carbide morphology, dissolution of intra-lath carbides, and growth of inter-lath and block boundary carbides.

The thermal efficiency of arc welding influences the cooling rate, peak temperature, and microstructures of a weld, which affects the material properties of the welded joint. This work quantifies the uncertainty of thermal efficiency measurements on gas metal arc welds using low (2.5 kW) and high (9.5 kW) arc powers. In order to understand the effect of calorimeter parameters on the measured efficiency, a two-factor, two-level full factorial design was carried out for each arc power condition. In this study, the factors are flow rate (2 l/min and 5 l/min) and plate thickness (0.25 in. [6.35 mm] and 0.375 in. [9.53 mm]). The results show that the uncertainty in the thermal efficiency measurements increases when both higher flow rates and plate thickness are used. Moreover, the use of a thick plate causes the heat transfer regime to change, increasing the cooling rate and decreasing the observed thermal efficiency. Uncertainty is also influenced by the metal transfer mode during welding.

This study examines dissimilar friction stir welding of AA5052-AA6061 aluminum alloys with varying tool offsets. The base metals were positioned and fixed at a slight diagonal positioning such that varying tool offset position from the centreline can also be varied along the length of the weld. After the fabrication process, microstructural and mechanical property characterization was subsequently conducted. The results show that, above a certain threshold for tool offset, incomplete consolidation (i.e. kissing bond defects) will occur. Regardless of the base material positioning, a zero tool offset shows optimum intermixing in the stir zone. EDX mapping confirms the presence of a distinct interface between both materials in the stir zone region. However, enhanced material intermixing and better elongation are observed when AA6061 alloy is positioned at the tool advancing side.

The increasing demands in productivity and reliability in welding have led to the development of newer welding processes. These processes frequently have superior deposition rates; however, they might lead to a wider heat-affected zone (HAZ) which might impair their mechanical properties. Here, a promising process termed the double cold wire gas metal arc welding (DCW-GMAW) is evaluated, offering higher deposition rates via feeding two cold wires into the weld pool to improve productivity. In contrast to similar processes, the HAZ of DCW-GMAW welds are smaller than gas metal arc welding (GMAW) welds. This work reports a preliminary assessment of the feasibility of the process in terms of electrical arc characteristics and stability. High-speed video acquisition was used to analyze the metal transfer across the arc. Finally, standard metallographic techniques and Vickers hardness were used to assess the weld cross sections and microstructures. The results demonstrate the feasibility of DCW-GMAW based on the process stability at different cold wire feed rates while also offering high deposition (high productivity) of weld deposits with desirable hardness due to increased acicular ferrite content.

Material flow, intermixing and liquation cracking during refill friction stir spot welded (refill FSSW) dissimilar Al alloys were first investigated using a grooved tool. The results revealed that the weld was fabricated by a back-extrusion and forging process, and the material flow in the vertical direction created a mechanical inter-locking joining mechanism. During the sleeve plunging period, a constant thickness of dynamic recrystallization layer of Al 6022 sheet material was trapped underneath the sleeve bottom, and a drop region was formed at the sleeve outer periphery. Dissimilar intermixing was formed during the retraction period, in which the grooved sleeve facilitated the formation of intermixed microstructure comprising intermingled dissimilar lamellae adjacent to the rotating sleeve. Cracking caused by local melting of ŋ (MgZn2) phase particles was formed in the stir zone, which disappeared after welding process. The Al 6022 sheet material was significantly softened, since the density of needle shaped Mg2Si precipitate particles was relatively lower compared to that of the substrate material.

Low-angle synchrotron transmission diffraction has been used to create high-resolution 2D residual strain maps of friction stir welds made with three processing conditions. These spatial maps of residual strain reveal local concentrations not detectable by line scans, and confirm that the asymmetric material flow known to produce asymmetric temperature and texture distributions also results in asymmetric residual strain distributions. The experimental set-up permitted simultaneous measurement of both texture and strain, which provides strong evidence against the correlation of these features in magnesium friction stir welds. Mapping diffraction peak width across the weld provides insight into the spatial distribution of dislocations and microstrains, and indicates locations of interest for higher resolution research such as TEM. A diffraction method is presented to determine the solute content of a ternary system using the lower symmetry of a non-cubic system, which can be extended to detecting the onset of precipitation among other applications. Comparison of three friction stir-welding conditions shows how the residual strains at the interface can reverse from compressive to tensile with decrease in the heat input, explaining a significant disparity in the literature results. Lower residual stress values were found to be well-correlated with improved transverse tensile behavior.

The demand to join newer and higher strength materials has motivated the development of controlled arc current waveforms in order to control deposition and heat input. Controlled waveforms in pulsed gas metal arc welding (P-GMAW) where the current is pulsed result in reduced nominal heat input, distortion, and residual stresses. A method to further improve these is by cold wire pulsed gas metal arc welding (CW-P-GMAW) to enhance P-GMAW with a cold wire (non-energized) fed into the weld pool. In this work, the feasibility of the process is reported and the influence of cold wire feeding on pulse parameters for low and high background to peak current ratios (Ib/Ip) were investigated through high-speed cinematography with synchronized current and voltage sampling; as well as evaluation of cross-sections via metallography. Moreover, it appears that the cold wire diminishes the heat transferred across the heat-affected zone (HAZ) for low current ratios.

Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is a variation of linear Friction Stir Welding (FSW), which was invented to compete with resistance spot welding (RSW) and riveting of lightweight alloys in the au...

Statistical models were developed to study the effect of gas metal arc welding process parameters (i.e., wire feed speed, voltage, travel speed, and shielding gas chemistry) on the resultant weld bead width, penetration, and reinforcement height, using a factorial design of experiment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the weld width depended on voltage, travel speed, gas type, and the interactions between these factors. The weld penetration depended only on wire feed speed and gas type, as well as the two-way interactions of wire feed speed with travel speed and gas type. Reinforcement height depended on travel speed, wire feed speed, and their two-way interactions with gas type. Residual analysis revealed that all assumptions inherent in the regression analysis were satisfied over the range of welding parameters considered in this study. The predictive power of the statistical models was validated using intermediate process parameter values in the experimental design, and it was found that predicted values were mainly in agreement with the measured values for a 95% prediction interval.

In this study, hydroxyapatite (HA) nanoparticles (~120 nm, 3 vol%) are incorporated within a subsurface layer based on commercial pure titanium using multi-step friction-stir processing (FSP) to fabricate an CP-Ti/HA surface nanocomposite. A combination of electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses are used to developed a correlation between microstructural features and crystallographic texture formed by material flow and dynamic restoration phenomena in the processed titanium versus CP-Ti/HA surface nanocomposite. An equiaxed ultra-fine grained structure with a mean size

Dissimilar friction stir welding of AA5052-AA6061 was conducted to assess the effect of material positioning on the welds produced using tools with predetermined eccentricity. Microstructural observation, thermal cycle measurement, and mechanical property evaluation was subsequently conducted. Evidence shows that AA6061 is better suited to welding while placed on the advancing side (AS), since better transverse tensile strength (up to 215 MPa) and elongation (up to 7.6%) can be achieved. On the other hand, higher peak temperatures were generally observed in the AS regardless of base material positioning, where peak temperatures of more than 350 °C were recorded by the thermocouple located closest to the stir zone. Metallurgical analysis reveals that tool eccentricity enhances the AS material flow in the stir zone but limits dissimilar material mixing.

In this research, the parameters of the cold spray process were initially assessed for deposition of a pure titanium coating layer with the thickness in the range of 800-850 µm on an AA5083 alloy substrate. Thereafter, to enhance the structural integrity of Ti-coating layer and decrease the coating porosity, friction-stir processing was employed as a post-modification technique by using a flat cylindrical tungsten carbide tool. The plunge depth of the friction-stir tool (in the range of 0.3-0.5 mm) was found to significantly affect the densification of the porous titanium coating layer. Optical microscopy, field emission-scanning electron microscopy, electron backscattering diffraction, transmission electron microscopy analysis and indentation Vickers micro-hardness testing were conducted on the thickness cross-sections of cold-sprayed coatings to characterize the microstructural features and mechanical properties before and after friction-stir modification performed using two different plunge depths. Furthermore, residual stress profiles on the surface were determined by using x-ray diffraction analysis technique. Significant grain refinement, from an initial cold-sprayed coating grain size of less than 25 µm to grain sizes

Gas metal arc welding (GMAW) with direct current electrode negative (DCEN) can offer some advantages over direct current electrode positive (DCEP) welding, such as a higher electrode melting rate and lower heat input imposed onto the workpiece. Despite these advantages, DCEN is not commonly used in field applications due to instabilities caused by arc climb and the volatile repelled metal transfer mode across the arc. This work reports a comparison between DCEP and DCEN in natural spray transfer mode using a welding power source operating in constant voltage (CV). It aims to assess the feasibility of DCEN in cold wire gas metal arc welding (CW-GMAW) comparing the results obtained in DCEN with previous results obtained in DCEP for the same welding parameters. During experiments, the current and voltage were acquired with synchronized high-speed video to study the arc dynamics. Bead-on-plate welds were deposited onto AISI 1020 steel flat bars. Three cross sections for each bead were cut and metallographically examined to compare bead geometry. Results suggest that the cold wire feeding can suppress arc climb in DCEN welding, consequently improving the arc stability and bead finish. Moreover, the DCEN welds suggest that the heat transferred to the weld pool is fundamental to accommodate high feed rates of cold wire. Lastly, the cross section results show that penetration, dilution, and HAZ area are lower in DCEN than in DCEP mode.

Nanoporous materials exhibit promising applications in energy storage, catalysis, and sensing. They are typically synthesized by dealloying, a costly and environmentally detrimental technology, valid only within a narrow compositional range of alloys. Surmounting these disadvantages, we assembled nanoporous silver materials via bottom-up nanoscale joining of nanowires, a technique also suitable for other metals. Furthermore, the resulting nanoporous materials exhibit an unprecedented, near-ideal compressive yield strength (∼2.6 GPa). Such an ultra-high strength, however, does not belong to the nanoporous materials composed of nanowires with the minimum length in our samples, challenging the smaller-is-stronger tenet. According to molecular dynamics simulations, such a strength degradation as nanowires shorten is attributed to the internal compressive stress arising from the five-fold twins within nanowires. Such internal stress maximizes at the center and diminishes near free surfaces, making the center part harder to compress than that adjacent to the free surfaces. The volume fraction of the latter increases as the nanowire shortens, diminishing the overall Young's modulus. For nanowires having aspect ratios smaller than six, a reduced Young's modulus lowers the yield strength since the yield strain is independent of aspect ratios. However, if the aspect ratio exceeds six, compression induces bending, reducing both yield strength and yield strain. Overall, this work not only provides new physical insights on the structure-mechanical property relationship for nanoporous silver, but also paves a new way for bottom-up synthesizing nanoporous metals with ultra-high compressive strength efficiently, economically, and environmental-friendly.

In this research, powder-fed laser additive manufacturing based on directed energy deposition (DED) technology is utilized for 3D printing/fabrication of dissimilar alloy walls. Three-dimensional fabrication of metallic layers (A410-L stainless steel, A316-L stainless steel, and zirconium) with different crystallographic structures such as body-centered cubic (BCC), face-centered cubic (FCC), and hexagonal close-packed (HCP) are studied. Solidification cracking of the HCP metal structure inhibits the manufacturing of a sound dissimilar wall during direct deposition of zirconium on stainless steel. Different techniques are employed to eliminate cracking during the deposition of such dissimilar walls. First, a functionally graded transition layer is employed to gradually transition from a BCC or FCC layer to a zirconium layer. However, several longitudinal and horizontal cracks are observed in the functionally graded structure, deteriorating the overall integrity of the wall. Subsequently, inter-layers are applied to reduce the metallurgical differences between the BCC, FCC, and HCP metal structures. These inter-layers are designed to suppress the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds and decrease the level of thermal stress leading to cracking. Several metallic powders including nickel, titanium, vanadium, and copper are tested and analyzed as inter-layer materials during layer by layer fabrication of the dissimilar wall. Cross-sectional examinations are performed for each case, in order to study the feasibility of fabricating a sound dissimilar wall without deleterious phases. Embrittlement and presence of nickel-rich intermetallics within the Zr matrix restricts the successful fabrication of a dissimilar alloy wall through the formation of vertical cold cracks. Samples with titanium and vanadium inter-layers demonstrate horizontal hot solidification cracking at the stainless steel interface, which is attributed to the large solidification temperature range. Nonetheless, best results are attained with the copper inter-layer due to its high compatibility with both of the stainless steel and Zr metals.

An Al-4.6%Mg-1.5%Mn-0.27%Fe alloy was specially processed with friction stir processing followed by cold rolling. Half of the sheet thickness contains a large number of blocky or irregular-...

Aluminum matrix nanocomposites consolidated by powder metallurgy (P/M) have significant potential for practical applications in the aerospace and automotive industries considering their admirable strength to weight ratio and good corrosion resistance. Due to dimensional restrictions in traditional P/M manufacturing routes, similar and dissimilar joining would be essential to design complex structures, however, the stability of Al-matrix nanocomposites during joining process is a crucial issue. In this research, the stability of an Al-6 vol% (50 nm, ex-situ) SiC-2 vol% (15 nm, in situ) Al2O3 hybrid P/M nanocomposite was evaluated during laser joining in comparison to similar and dissimilar joints with commercially pure aluminum (AA1050 alloy). The processing parameters were optimized with a constant focus spot size of 200 μm, laser power of 4 kW, and travel speed of 8 m/min to achieve full-penetration joints. According to the experimental results, the similar P/M nanocomposite exhibited unstable behavior during laser welding due to the formation of porosity associated with clustering and void expansion near SiC nanoparticles. Hence, the fusion zone in both joint designs consisting of similar and dissimilar containing nanocomposite material became heterogeneous due to the presence of clusters and shrinkage micro-voids. The mechanical properties of weldments deteriorated considerably, with large fluctuations in the hardness profiles as well as low joining efficiency (

The well-known drawbacks of furnace-based technologies used for hot-stamping ultrahigh strength steel (UHSS) parts motivate development of alternative approaches for austenitizing blanks, among them direct contact heating. While the objective of most hot-stamping operations is to produce fully martensitic parts, there is growing interest in developing tailoring techniques for making parts having inhomogeneous mechanical properties for improved crash performance. This work shows how direct contact heating can produce parts having highly controlled microstructures by virtue of the different thermal effusivities of steel and ceramic regions on the heating die, even though the contact surface remains nearly isothermal. The process is designed with the aid of a finite element model that incorporates an austenitization submodel for 22MnB5, a common ultrahigh strength steel. Microhardness measurements and metallographic analysis on heated and quenched blanks are consistent with modeled austenite phase fractions, and highlight the potential of this technique for producing strong and lightweight automotive parts.

In this research, the printability of Ti-5553 alloy is assessed using a modulated laser powder bed fusion method. Cylindrical samples were printed with a wide range of volumetric energy density (VED). Density evaluation was practiced by the Archimedes method and X-ray computed tomography (XCT). Surface roughness analysis and hardness mapping were further used to characterize the as-built samples. In addition, the microstructure was studied using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. It was observed that low and high VED values resulted in an increase in the level of porosity. The highest relative density of 99.92% and surface roughness of

The tensile flow properties of austenitic (S316-L) and martensitic (S410-L) stainless steel wall structures deposited by powder-fed laser additive manufacturing (LAM) process are evaluated. The properties obtained by the LAM process are compared to commercial rolled sheets of these metals. Strain-rate sensitivity, work hardening, and fracture behavior are assessed by conducting uniaxial tensile testing at different strain rates (0.001, 0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 sec−1). Moreover, a correlation between the final microstructure and mechanical properties is established for the LAM products through detailed analyses of grain structures and hardness indentation measurements. The results indicate a strong dependency for the strain rate in martensitic alloys compared to austenitic alloys produced by the LAM process. Interestingly, the tensile strength of commercial rolled martensitic stainless steel sheet doubles (∼100% increase) by increasing the strain rate, while preserving its elongation to failure. Comparing the two manufacturing methods, a lower strain-rate sensitivity factor is recorded for the additive manufacturing material (m of ∼0.0336) compared to the commercial sheet (m of ∼0.0775). This lower sensitivity is attributed to coarser grain structure and greater microstructural heterogeneity of the LAM product, which stems from directional solidification and cooling phenomenon during the layer-upon-layer deposition process. In contrast, the work hardening exponent (n value) varies little (0.1834–0.2854) for the different materials and manufacturing methods. Fractographic studies reveal that the fracture mode varies from ductile rupture towards ductile-brittle with the formation of greater martensitic phases, which is in combination with the failure component changing from shear to tensile at high strain rates.

Solid-state butt-joining of powder metallurgy (PM) fabricated Al-Al2O3 nanocomposites was assessed using friction-stir welding (FSW), in which the PM materials were prepared from aluminum powder with different particle size distributions of

Defect-free joints were produced in 2.0 mm thick 7075-T6 Al alloy by refill friction stir spot welding using a modified tool. Weld performance was evaluated in terms of microstructure, inte...

Al/Mg dissimilar welds were successfully fabricated by refill friction stir spot welding using a grooved sleeve tool. Influences of sleeve penetration depth and rotational speed on the weld formation and mechanical performance were systematically evaluated in terms of welding parameter optimization, interfacial bonding mechanism, hardness distribution and welded joint strength. The results indicated that the success of joining Al alloy to Mg alloy significantly depends on tool sleeve penetration depth. The interfacial bonding mechanism compromised both metallurgical bonding and mechanical inter-locking. Intermetallic compound layers of Al3Mg2 and Al12Mg17 were formed at the Al/Mg interface. The thickness of the intermetallic compound (IMC) layer at the weld center increased from 20–30 μm to 40 μm when the rotational speed increased from 1000 to 2000 rpm. The minimum hardness was 80 HV in Al 7075 and 52 HV in ZEK 100, both were measured in the heat affected zone. The welded joint lap shear strength decreased, and the scatter increased with the increasing of rotation speed, whose maximum was 3.6 kN when the rotational speed was 1000 rpm. In addition, the failure mechanism was determined by tool rotational speed, and found to be interfacial failure under a rotational speed of 1000 rpm and nugget pullout under a rotational speed of 2000 rpm.

The unique combination of very large strains, high temperatures and high strain rates inherent to friction stir welding (FSW) and friction stir processing (FSP) and their dependency on the processing parameters provides an opportunity to tailor the microstructure, and hence the performance of welds and surfaces to an extent not possible with fusion processes. While a great deal of attention has previously been focused on the FSW parameters and their effect on weld quality and joint performance, here the focus is on developing a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of the microstructural evolution during FSW/P. Through a consideration of the mechanisms underlying the development of grain structures and textures, phases, phase transformations and precipitation, microstructural control across a very wide range of similar and dissimilar material joints is examined. In particular, when considering the joining of dissimilar metals and alloys, special attention is focused on the control and dispersion of deleterious intermetallic compounds. Similarly, we consider how FSP can be used to locally refine the microstructure as well as provide an opportunity to form metal matrix composites (MMCs) for near surface reinforcement. Finally, the current gaps in our knowledge are considered in the context of the future outlook for FSW/P.