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Ren, Qing-Qiang

Publications and source records attributed to Ren, Qing-Qiang.

9 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Experimental and Numerical Characterization of High Temperature Deformation Behavior of 347H Stainless Steel

This study investigates how temperature affects the plasticity and thermal creep behavior of 347H stainless steel under uniaxial tension. The research combined experimental testing with advanced computational modeling. Two types of experiments were conducted: uniaxial tensile tests at temperatures from 100°C to 750°C using strain rates of ~10⁻⁴ s⁻¹, and creep tests at temperatures between 600°C and 750°C under various stress levels. These experimental results were used to develop and validate a new integrated mechanistic model that can predict material behavior under any loading condition while accounting for both stress and temperature effects. The model was implemented using a polycrystalline microstructure simulation framework based on elasto-viscoplastic Fast Fourier Transform (EVPFFT). It incorporates three key deformation mechanisms: thermally activated dislocation glide, dislocation climb, and vacancy diffusional creep. The model accounts for internal stress distribution within single crystals and considers how precipitates and solute atoms (both interstitial and substitutional) affect dislocation movement. After validation against experimental data, the model was used to generate Ashby-Weertman deformation mechanism maps for 347H steel, providing new insights into how microstructure influences the activation of different creep mechanisms.

Joy, Jobin K.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Characterization of Precipitation-Strengthening Heat-Resistant Austenitic Stainless Steels for Life-Prediction Modeling

In this study, the role of minor alloying additions in 347H stainless steels (UNS34709, ASTM A240/240M) on creep-rupture properties at 650-750°C and microstructure evolution during isothermal exposure at 750°C has been investigated, aiming to provide the experimental dataset as boundary conditions of physics-based modeling for material/component life prediction. Four different 347H heats containing various amounts of boron and nitrogen additions were prepared and evaluated. The combined additions of B and N are found to stabilize the strengthening secondary M23C6 carbides and retarding the transition from M23C6 to sigma phase precipitates during thermal exposure. The observed kinetics of microstructure evolution reasonably explains the improvement of creep-rupture properties of 347H stainless steels with the B and N additions.

Yamamoto, Yukinori↗
DOE OSTI2024

Understanding the influence of boron in additively manufactured GammaPrint®-700 CoNi-based superalloy

Boron is commonly added to superalloys in small amounts to enhance creep resistance, but can lead to cracking at high concentrations, especially during the additive manufacturing process. Two variants of CoNi-based GammaPrint®-700 superalloy with different B contents (0.08 at% vs 0.16 at%) were printed via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) with the same printing parameters, with only the high B alloy exhibiting solidification cracking. Atom probe tomography (APT) revealed stronger segregation behaviors in the high B alloy compared to the low B alloy at both the inter-dendritic regions and grain boundaries (GBs). The segregation behavior at inter-dendritic regions was well captured with Scheil simulation and can correlate with the existing cracking susceptibility index (CSI) on cracking tendencies, although high angle GBs are where cracking occurs according to electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements. Additionally, the extent of GB segregation was compared between the high B and low B alloy. Higher B additions led to significantly more GB B segregation in the high B alloy compared to the low B alloy. Further, for the high B alloy, the cracked region of one GB exhibited higher levels of B compared to the uncracked region of the same GB. However, much higher B contents were also found in two other uncracked GBs in the high B alloy, which demonstrates that higher GB B concentrations are not fully responsible for the cracking. A much larger variance in GB B segregation content was found in the high B alloy compared to the low B alloy. These phenomena were explained with a solidification model with the GB segregation content expressed explicitly by a modified Langmuir-McLean equation. This model linked the GB segregation content with solidification undercooling, which can be used as quantitative cracking criteria for future builds.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Multiscale characterization of an additively manufactured property graded Ni-base alloy for molten-salts\supercritical-CO 2 heat exchangers

The sequential optimization of strength and corrosion resistance in conventional alloy design procedures often results in a tradeoff between environmental degradation and optimal mechanical properties. A concurrent optimization of these two material properties is essential to efficiently develop high temperature alloys that can withstand harsh environments increasingly required for carbon–neutral energy technologies. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of directed energy deposition (DED) to manufacture a dual-corrosion resistant Ni-based alloy (Hastelloy N and Haynes 282), that meets the high temperature operation requirements of a molten-salts\supercritical-CO 2 (sCO 2 ) heat exchanger. A combination of multiscale characterization techniques and computational thermodynamics was employed to evaluate the cracking susceptibilities during fabrication and predict the microstructural stability of the material. Very good agreement was achieved between the observed and predicted phases and phase fractions of the as-printed material. A careful characterization of the transition zone between the two terminal alloy chemistries revealed potential precipitation strengthening (γ') on the Hastelloy N side while columnar-shaped M 23 C 6 and γ' precipitates that formed at grain boundaries (GBs) of the transition zone likely minimized the local interfacial energies. Both these mechanisms are believed to increase the interfacial stability but their performance at high temperatures requires further investigation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Minor Elements and Solidification Cracking During Laser Powder-Bed Fusion of a High $\gamma ^{\prime }$ CoNi-Base Superalloy

Here, the cracking behavior of a high γ' volume fraction CoNi-base superalloy fabricated via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is studied in relation to the content of carbon and boron. Severe cracking occurred with the increase in boron content from 0.08 to 0.16 at. pct (0.015 to 0.029 wt pct), while compositions with 0.1 to 0.36 at. pct C (0.02 to 0.076 wt pct) and 0.08 at. pct B exhibited minimal cracking. Assessment of cracks in the high-boron composition shows a variation in crack density with printing parameters, and alignment of the cracks with the build direction. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the crack surfaces shows evidence of a solidification cracking mode. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) reveals a decreased incipient melting temperature for the high-boron composition, and atom probe tomography (APT) is used to measure the enrichment at grain boundaries, revealing distinct boron segregation. Scheil-Gulliver solidification simulations for the different C and B levels are consistent with the incipient melting behavior observed with DTA. Evaluation of the solidification cracking susceptibility from the simulations allow for comparison of the CoNi alloy behavior to Ni-base superalloys studied for LPBF fabrication and displays how such metrics may aid in the design of new precipitation-strengthened superalloys for additive manufacturing (AM).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Sigma phase evolution and nucleation mechanisms revealed by atom probe tomography in a 347H stainless steel

The size evolution and phase composition of sigma phases were investigated for a 347H stainless steel subject to isothermal aging at 750 °C for up to 10,000 h. Scanning electron microscopy reveals that sigma phases are present before 336 h aging and they continue to grow for all aging times studied. Atom probe tomography shows little variation in the sigma phase composition with aging time up to 10,000 h, and only the C content decreases with aging time. The comparison of C concentration suggests that the sigma phase does not nucleate within the C-depleted matrix or precipitate free grain boundaries, leaving dissolving metastable M 23 C 6 as the only possible nucleation site. Based on the experimental results and thermodynamic simulations, the desirable Nb concentration is discussed to reduce the kinetics of sigma phase growth, and possible design directions are suggested to improve 347H.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Creep Behavior and Phase Equilibria in Model Precipitate Strengthened Alumina-Forming Austenitic Alloys

Abstract Creep-rupture behavior and microstructural response in alumina-forming austenitic (AFA) alloys with two different precipitation strengthening mechanisms, “Laves-phase + M 23 C 6 carbide” and “coherent L1 2 γ′-Ni 3 (Al,Ti),” were explored as “model” cases of multi-phase, multi-scale heat-resistant AFA alloys for 650–750°C use. These alloys will be used to guide and verify computational alloy design and life-prediction modeling under an on-going eXtremeMAT project through the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, US Department of Energy. Computational thermodynamics were used to design and predict the amounts of strengthening and deteriorating secondary phases at 750°C. Creep-rupture lives of the alloys tested at 750°C and 100 MPa were in a range of 4000–9000 h, and the microstructure at the gage/grip after creep-rupture testing was compared with isothermally aged alloys for 1500 h, as well as the calculated phases. Detailed microstructure characterization includes phase identification, volume fraction measurement, and compositional analysis, which were correlated with the creep-rupture properties. High-temperature oxidation resistance was also screened and compared with commercial, chromia-forming heat-resistant steels. These model alloys also provide the basis for further design and optimization of next generation AFA alloys with improved creep resistance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Concurrent Precipitation of Nb(C,N) and Metastable M 23 C 6 in Alloy 347H at 700°C and 750°C: Computer Simulations and Comparison to Experiment

Here, we present our results for the concurrent precipitation of metastable M 23 C 6 , Nb(C,N) secondary precipitates, and the Nb(C,N) primary crystals in 347H austenitic stainless steel. For precipitation modeling, we have accounted for the elastic contribution to interfacial energy, and for the Fe-spin-polarization for NbC/Fe and M 23 C 6 /Fe interfacial energy values: for NbC/Fe ~ 0.63 J/m 2 . For M 23 C 6 precipitates, an error function was used to describe the interfacial energy growth with particle size. In precipitation simulations, the average size of the primary Nb(C,N) particles remained ~ 1 μm at 700°C and ~ 0.3 μm at 750°C. The M 23 C 6 precipitates at 750°C dissolved after 120 h (our simulations) compared to 300 h (experiments). The Nb(C,N)/Fe interfacial energy was not affected by the nitrogen additions. With these modifications, reasonable agreement with the available experimental data was obtained, which allows using them in the development of the 2nd-phase particle-informed creep theory.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗