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At least 37 records · Page 2

Investigation of the Environmental Durability of a Powder Metallurgy Material

PM304 is a NASA-developed composite powder metallurgy material that is being developed for high temperature applications such as bushings in high temperature industrial furnace conveyor systems. My goal this summer was to analyze and evaluate the effects that heat exposure had on the PM304 material at 500 C and 650 C. The material is composed of Ni-Cr, Ag, Cr2O3, and eutectic BaF2-CaF2. PM304 is designed to eliminate the need for oil based lubricants in high temperature applications, while reducing friction and wear. However, further investigation was needed to thoroughly examine the properties of PM304. The effects of heat exposure on PM304 bushings were investigated. This investigation was necessary due to the high temperatures that the material would be exposed to in a typical application. Each bushing was cut into eight sections. The specimens were heated to 500 C or 650 C for time intervals from 1 hr to 5,000 hrs. Control specimens were kept at room temperature. Weight and thickness measurements were taken before and after the bushing sections were exposed to heat. Then the heat treated specimens were mounted and polished side by side with the control specimens. This enabled optical examination of the material's microstructure using a metallograph. The specimens were also examined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The microstructures were compared to observe the effects of the heat exposure. Chemical analysis was done to investigate the interactions between Ni-Cr and BaF2-CaF2 and between Cr2O3 and BaF2-CaF2 at high temperature. To observe this, the two compounds that were being analyzed were mixed in a crucible in varied weight percentages and heated to 1100 C in a furnace for approximately two hours. Then the product was allowed to cool and was then analyzed by X-ray diffraction. Interpretation of the results is in progress.

Ward, LaNita D.↗

Development of an extra-high strength powder metallurgy nickel-base superalloy

A program was conducted to optimize the composition of NASA IIb-11, an alloy originally developed as a wrought material, for thermal stability and to determine the feasibility for producing the alloy using powder metallurgy techniques. Seven compositions were melted and atomized, hot isostatically pressed, cross rolled to disks and heat treated. Tensile and stress rupture properties from room temperature to 870 C (1600 F) were determined in addition to thermal stability characteristics. Processing variables included hot isostatic pressing parameters and handling, cross rolling procedures and heat treatment cycles. NASA IIb-11E displayed the best combination of overall properties for service as a 760 C (1400 F) disk material. Its composition is 0.06 C, 8.5 Cr, 9.0 Co, 2.0 Mo, 7.1 W, 6.6 Ta, 4.5 Al, 0.75 Ti, 0.5 V, 0.7 Hf, 0.01 B, 0.05 Zr and balance Ni. While the alloy exhibits the highest 760 C (1400 F) rupture strength reported for any powder metallurgy disk alloy to date, additional studies to further evaluate the effects of heat treatment may be required. The alloy is not susceptible to topologically close-packed phase formation during thermal exposure at 870 C (1600 F) for 1,500 hours, but its mechanical property levels are lowered due to grain boundary carbide formation.

Kent, W. B.↗

Reduced Cost NiTi-Alloy Bearings Made Via Near Net Shape Powder Metallurgy Processes

NiTi alloys are emerging as an attractive bearing race material for bearings exposed to high static loads and highly corrosive environments. One obstacle yet to be overcome is the intrinsically high relative cost of these materials compared to traditional bearing steels. Traditional net-shape powder metallurgy methods, such as cold-press and sinter, are not applicable to NiTi alloys because they require hot isostatic pressing (HIP) to achieve full density, flaw free microstructures. Recently, innovative powder metallurgy processing has been successful in forming bearing ring blank shapes through the use of geometrically tailored HIP containers. Microstructural evaluations show that ring blanks made from this process are comparable to material made using conventional HIP containers while substantially reducing material usage.

bearings↗

Initial Assessment of the Effects of Nonmetallic Inclusions on Fatigue Life of Powder-Metallurgy-Processed Udimet(TM) 720

The fatigue lives of modern powder metallurgy (PM) disk alloys are influenced by variabilities in alloy microstructure and mechanical properties. These properties can vary due to the different steps of materials/component processing and machining. One of these variables, the presence of nonmetallic inclusions, has been shown to significantly degrade low-cycle fatigue (LCF) life. Nonmetallic inclusions are inherent defects in powder alloys that are a by-product of powder-processing techniques. Contamination of the powder can occur in the melt, during powder atomization, or during any of the various handling processes through consolidation. In modern nickel disk powder processing facilities, the levels of inclusion contamination have been reduced to less than 1 part per million by weight. Despite the efforts of manufacturers to ensure the cleanliness of their powder production processes, the presence of inclusions remains a source of great concern for the designer. the objective of this study was to investigate the effects on fatigue life of these inclusions. Since natural inclusions occur so infrequently, elevated levels of inclusions were carefully introduced in a nickel-based disk superalloy, Udimet 720 (registered trademark of Special Metals Corporation), produced using PM processing. Multiple strain-controlled fatigue tests were then performed on this material at 650 C. Analyses were performed to compare the LCF lives and failure initiation sites as functions of inclusion content and fatigue conditions. A large majority of the failures in specimens with introduced inclusions occurred at cracks initiating from inclusions at the specimen surface. The inclusions could reduce fatigue life by up to 100 times. These effects were found to be dependent on strain range and strain ratio. Tests at lower strain ranges and higher strain ratios produced larger effects of inclusions on life.

Gabb, T. P.↗

Hydrogen halide cleaning of powder metallurgy nickel-20 chromium-3 thoria.

The Cr2O3 content of powder metallurgy nickel-20 chromium-3 thoria was reduced with atmospheres consisting of hydrogen plus hydrogen chloride (HCl) or hydrogen bromide (HBr). The nonthoria oxygen content or 'oxygen excess' was reduced from an initial amount of greater than 50,000 ppm to less than 100 ppm. Low temperatures were effective, but lowest oxygen levels were achieved with the highest cleaning temperature of 1200 C.

Herbell, T. P.↗

Elevated temperature crack growth in advanced powder metallurgy aluminum alloys

Rapidly solidified Al-Fe-V-Si powder metallurgy alloy FVS0812 is among the most promising of the elevated temperature aluminum alloys developed in recent years. The ultra fine grain size and high volume fraction of thermally stable dispersoids enable the alloy to maintain tensile properties at elevated temperatures. In contrast, this alloy displays complex and potentially deleterious damage tolerant and time dependent fracture behavior that varies with temperature. J-Integral fracture mechanics were used to determine fracture toughness (K sub IC) and crack growth resistance (tearing modulus, T) of extruded FVS0812 as a function of temperature. The alloy exhibits high fracture properties at room temperature when tested in the LT orientation, due to extensive delamination of prior ribbon particle boundaries perpendicular to the crack front. Delamination results in a loss of through thickness constraint along the crack front, raising the critical stress intensity necessary for precrack initiation. The fracture toughness and tensile ductility of this alloy decrease with increasing temperature, with minima observed at 200 C. This behavior results from minima in the intrinsic toughness of the material, due to dynamic strain aging, and in the extent of prior particle boundary delaminations. At 200 C FVS0812 fails at K levels that are insufficient to cause through thickness delamination. As temperature increases beyond the minimum, strain aging is reduced and delamination returns. For the TL orientation, K (sub IC) decreased and T increased slightly with increasing temperature from 25 to 316 C. Fracture in the TL orientation is governed by prior particle boundary toughness; increased strain localization at these boundaries may result in lower toughness with increasing temperature. Preliminary results demonstrate a complex effect of loading rate on K (sub IC) and T at 175 C, and indicate that the combined effects of time dependent deformation, environment, and strain aging may play a role. Fractography showed that microvoid coalescence was the microscopic mode of fracture in FVS0812 under all testing conditions. However, the nature of the microvoids varied with test temperature and loading rate, and is complex for the fine grain and dipersoid sizes of FVS0812.

Porr, William C., Jr.↗

Advanced powder metallurgy aluminum alloys and composites

The differences between powder and ingot metallurgy processing of aluminum alloys are outlined. The potential payoff in the use of advanced powder metallurgy (PM) aluminum alloys in future transport aircraft is indicated. The national program to bring this technology to commercial fruition and the NASA Langley Research Center role in this program are briefly outlined. Some initial results of research in 2000-series PM alloys and composites that highlight the property improvements possible are given.

W. B. Lisagor↗

A major advance in powder metallurgy

Ultramet has developed a process which promises to significantly increase the mechanical properties of powder metallurgy (PM) parts. Current PM technology uses mixed powders of various constituents prior to compaction. The homogeneity and flaw distribution in PM parts depends on the uniformity of mixing and the maintenance of uniformity during compaction. Conventional PM fabrication processes typically result in non-uniform distribution of the matrix, flaw generation due to particle-particle contact when one of the constituents is a brittle material, and grain growth caused by high temperature, long duration compaction processes. Additionally, a significant amount of matrix material is usually necessary to fill voids and create 100 percent dense parts. In Ultramet's process, each individual particle is coated with the matrix material, and compaction is performed by solid state processing. In this program, Ultramet coated 12-micron tungsten particles with approximately 5 wt percent nickel/iron. After compaction, flexure strengths were measured 50 percent higher than those achieved in conventional liquid phase sintered parts (10 wt percent Ni/Fe). Further results and other material combinations are discussed.

Williams, Brian E.↗

Powder-metallurgy superalloy strengthened by a secondary gamma phase.

Description of experiments in which prealloyed powders of superalloy compositions were consolidated by extrusion after the strengthening by precipitation of a body-centered tetragonal gamma secondary Ni3 Ta phase. Thin foil electron microscopy showed that the mechanical properties of the resultant powder-metallurgy product were correlated with its microstructure. The product exhibited high strength at 1200 F without loss of ductility, after thermomechanical treatment and aging.

Kotval, P. S.↗

Study of alumina-trichite reinforcement of a nickel-based matric by means of powder metallurgy

Research was conducted on reinforcing nickel based matrices with alumina trichites by using powder metallurgy. Alumina trichites previously coated with nickel are magnetically aligned. The felt obtained is then sintered under a light pressure at a temperature just below the melting point of nickel. The halogenated atmosphere technique makes it possible to incorporate a large number of additive elements such as chromium, titanium, zirconium, tantalum, niobium, aluminum, etc. It does not appear that going from laboratory scale to a semi-industrial scale in production would create any major problems.

Walder, A.↗

Mechanical properties of modified low cobalt powder metallurgy Udimet 700 type alloys

Eight superalloys derived from Udimet 700 were prepared by powder metallurgy, hot isostatically pressed, heat treated and their tensile and creep rupture properties determined. Several of these alloys displayed properties superior to those of Udimet 700 similarly prepared, in one case exceeding the creep rupture life tenfold. Filter clogging by extracted gamma prime, its measurement and significance are discussed in an appendix.

Harf, Fredric H.↗

Application of powder metallurgy techniques to produce improved bearing elements for liquid rocket engines

The objective was to apply powder metallurgy techniques for the production of improved bearing elements, specifically balls and races, for advanced cryogenic turbopump bearings. The materials and fabrication techniques evaluated were judged on the basis of their ability to improve fatigue life, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance of Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) propellant bearings over the currently used 440C. An extensive list of candidate bearing alloys in five different categories was considered: tool/die steels, through hardened stainless steels, cobalt-base alloys, and gear steels. Testing of alloys for final consideration included hardness, rolling contact fatigue, cross cylinder wear, elevated temperature wear, room and cryogenic fracture toughness, stress corrosion cracking, and five-ball (rolling-sliding element) testing. Results of the program indicated two alloys that showed promise for improved bearing elements. These alloys were MRC-2001 and X-405. 57mm bearings were fabricated from the MRC-2001 alloy for further actual hardware rig testing by NASA-MSFC.

Moracz, D. J.↗

Factors Influencing Dwell Fatigue Cracking in Notches of Powder Metallurgy Superalloys

The influences of heat treatment and cyclic dwells on the notch fatigue resistance of powder metallurgy disk superalloys were investigated for low solvus high refractory (LSHR) and ME3 disk alloys. Disks were processed to produce material conditions with varied microstructures and associated mechanical properties. Notched specimens were first subjected to baseline dwell fatigue cycles having a dwell at maximum load, as well as tensile, stress relaxation, creep rupture, and dwell fatigue crack growth tests at 704 C. Several material heat treatments displayed a bimodal distribution of fatigue life with the lives varying by two orders-of-magnitude, while others had more consistent fatigue lives. This response was compared to other mechanical properties, in search of correlations. The wide scatter in baseline dwell fatigue life was observed only for material conditions resistant to stress relaxation. For selected materials and conditions, additional tests were then performed with the dwells shifted in part or in total to minimum tensile load. The tests performed with dwells at minimum load exhibited lower fatigue lives than max dwell tests, and also exhibited early crack initiation and a substantial increase in the number of initiation sites. These results could be explained in part by modeling evolution of peak stresses in the notch with continued dwell fatigue cycling. Fatigue-environment interactions were determined to limit life for the fatigue cycles with dwells.

Gabb, T. P.↗

One step HIP canning of powder metallurgy composites

A single step is relied on in the canning process for hot isostatic pressing (HIP) powder metallurgy composites. The binders are totally removed while the HIP can of compatible refractory metal is sealed at high vacuum and temperature. This eliminates outgassing during hot isostatic pressing.

John J Juhas↗

Tribological properties of PM212: A high-temperature, self-lubricating, powder metallurgy composite

This paper describes a research program to develop and evaluate a new high temperature, self-lubricating powder metallurgy composite, PM212. PM212 has the same composition as the plasma-sprayed coating, PS212, which contains 70 wt percent metal-bonded chromium carbide, 15 wt percent silver and 15 wt percent barium fluoride/calcium fluoride eutectic. The carbide acts as a wear resistant matrix and the silver and fluorides act as low and high temperature lubricants, respectively. The material is prepared by sequential cold press, cold isostatic pressing and sintering techniques. In this study, hemispherically tipped wear pins of PM212 were prepared and slid against superalloy disks at temperatures from 25 to 850 C in air in a pin-on-disk tribometer. Friction coefficients range from 0.29 to 0.38 and the wear of both the composite pins and superalloy disks was moderate to low in the 10(exp -5) to 10(exp -6) cubic mm/N-m range. Preliminary tests indicate that the material has a compressive strength of at least 130 MPa over the entire temperature range of 25 to 900 C. This material has promise for use as seal inserts, bushings, small inside diameter parts and other applications where plasma-sprayed coatings are impractical or too costly.

Dellacorte, Christopher↗

Tribological properties of PM212 - A high temperature, self-lubricating, powder metallurgy composite

This paper describes a research program to develop and evaluate a new high temperature, self-lubricating powder metallurgy composite, PM212. PM212 has the same composition as the plasma-sprayed coating, PS212, which contains 70 wt percent metal-bonded chromium carbide, 15 wt percent silver and 15 wt percent barium fluoride/calcium fluoride eutectic. The carbide acts as a wear resistant matrix and the silver and fluorides act as low and high temperature lubricants, respectively. The material is prepared by sequential cold press, cold isostatic pressing and sintering techniques. In this study, hemispherically tipped wear pins of PM212 were prepared and slid against superalloy disks at temperatures from 25 to 850 C in air in a pin-on-disk tribometer. Friction coefficients range from 0.29 to 0.38 and the wear of both the composite pins and superalloy disks was moderate to low in the 10(exp -5) to 10(exp -6) cubic mm/N-m range. Preliminary tests indicate that the material has a compressive strength of at least 130 MPa over the entire temperature range of 25 to 900 C. This material has promise for use as seal inserts, bushings, small inside diameter parts and other applications where plasma-sprayed coatings are impractical or too costly.

Dellacorte, Christopher↗