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At least 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

A Summary of the Microstructural Characterization Results for the A709 Commercial Heats

To improve high temperature strength for advanced nuclear reactors, it is necessary to qualify additional structural materials for introduction into the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (AMSE) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC). Specifically, Alloy 709 was identified as a material for Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors to enhance time-dependent mechanical properties compared to 316H stainless steel, a code qualified high temperature alloy. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) performed initial microstructure and mechanical property testing on a third, commercial heat of Alloy 709 stainless steel. The Alloy 709 plate was produced by Allegheny Technology Inc. (ATI) and in the solution annealed condition. The chemical composition was within the limits for an American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) A213 specification for seamless tube for material UNS S31025. Grain size was measured as an average ASTM size of 6.5, which was larger than the ASTM 7 required according to ASTM A213 for seamless tube. The chemical composition was within the limits for an ASTM A213, and the room temperature tensile tests and hardness data met ASTM A213 specifications. Creep-fatigue results showed similar behavior to previous heats of Alloy 709.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Deuterium transport and retention properties of representative fusion blanket structural materials

Reduced activation ferritic-martensitic (RAFM) steels have been developed for decades for use as fusion blanket structural materials, and have advantages in both mechanical properties and irradiation resistance following careful engineering of the microstructure. However, the hydrogen isotope behavior in these proposed fusion structural materials is not well understood, but is important to assess since it impacts the fusion reactor safety and self-sufficient tritium fuel cycle. Here, we investigated deuterium transport and retention in representative advanced RAFM steels, including castable nanostructured alloys (CNAs), and oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) steels. A gas-driven permeation (GDP) system was used to measure the permeability, diffusivity and solubility of the studied materials, covering the temperature range from 623 K to 873 K, and the loading pressures from 1.8 x 10 4 to 1.0 x 10 5 Pa. The results indicated that the deuterium permeability has little material dependence. In contrast, the deuterium diffusivity of the studied materials showed significant variation. The deuterium diffusivity in ODS steels is one order of magnitude lower than that in RAFM steels and CNAs, and correspondingly, have an effective solubility that is 2–10 times larger than RAFM steels and CNAs. In addition, thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) measurements were performed to assess the deuterium retention and desorption of these materials following a static thermal deuterium charging at 723 Kfor 1 hour under the deuterium pressure of 1.0 x 10 5 Pa. It was found that ODS steels exhibit the highest deuterium retention and have broader desorption peaks. Microstructural features contributing to deuterium retention and impacting deuterium transport are discussed to rationalize the observed deuterium behavior in the studied RAFM steels.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Infrared triggered dwell and active cooling thermal control effects on microstructural uniformity in DED

Directed Energy Deposition (DED) offers rapid large scale fabrication, but difficulty in delivering consistent microstructures and properties hinders the use of DED fabricated components in safety or performance critical applications. Variability stems from the complex thermal cycles generated by the toolpath used to print the required geometry. Several practical methods have become established in DED to regulate overheating, such as active cooling of the baseplate structure or the use of an infrared camera to inject interlayer pauses to ensure the top layer of the component cools to a set temperature, which have been shown to affect microstructure. However, no critical assessment has been performed as to how effective these controls are in promoting microstructural uniformity in the context of complex layer timing commonly generated by non-prismatic geometries. Here we show how controls influence the thermal field, phase transformations, and dynamic annealing of a low-temperature transformation steel using infrared imaging and operando neutron diffraction. Counterintuitively, common thermal homogenization process controls can reduce microstructural uniformity because these approaches stabilize peak temperature while overlooking temperatures near the solid-state phase transformation fronts. Instead, the cyclic reheating induces spatially-variant dynamically annealed regions which can be modulated via control parameters. We show that these controls have spatially linked effects centimeters away from the active weld, which implies that microstructure control must co-optimize thermal input across many subsequent layers. In conclusion, our results demonstrate the pressing need for higher order controls that integrate predictive elements of simulation data to stabilize printed properties for future qualification of DED components.

Directed energy deposition↗
DOE OSTI2021

Pulsed electric current joining of oxide-dispersion-strengthened austenitic steels

The solid-state joining of oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) austenitic steels was achieved using a pulsed electric current joining (PECJ) process. Microstructures of the austenitic grain structures and oxide dispersions in the joint areas were characterized using electron microscopy. Negligible grain growth was observed in austenitic grain structures, while slight coarsening of oxide dispersions occurred at a short holding time. The mechanisms of the PECJ process may involve three steps that occur simultaneously, including the sintering of mechanical alloying powders in the bonding layer, formation of oxide dispersions, and bonding of the mechanical alloying powders with the base alloy. The high hardness and irradiation resistance of ODS alloys were retained in the joint areas. This research revealed the fundamental mechanisms during the PECJ process, which is beneficial for its potential applications during the advanced manufacturing of ODS alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Accelerated Irradiation Effects Qualification in the AMMT Program

This presentation discusses the ongoing and upcoming efforts to use combined neutron and ion irradiation experiments for materials qualification within the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies (AMMT) program for the 2024 AMMT program review meeting. The microstructure evolution of additively manufactured 316 L and 316 H stainless steels are discussed, as well as the development of the AMMT challenge problem for this topic.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Benchmarking a 9Cr-2WVTa Reduced Activation Ferritic Martensitic Steel Fabricated via Additive Manufacturing

Reduced activation ferritic (RAF) martensitic steels are promising candidates for the first wall of fusion reactors. However, current manufacturing capabilities call for these components to be made by welding wrought plates. This limits design freedom and necessitates the use of post-weld heat treatments (PWHT) in accordance with the boiler and pressure vessel code. Additive manufacturing (AM) can offer a unique solution to solve this challenge by leveraging the layer-wise deposition strategy to come up with temper bead deposition techniques to eliminate post-processing heat treatments (PPHT). However, it is necessary to benchmark the properties of RAF steels fabricated by AM with their wrought counterparts to identify the process-structure-property correlation, which is the goal of this study. The study demonstrates that while tensile properties at room temperature and high temperatures are satisfactory, the as fabricated and samples after PPHT have significant heterogeneity in tensile elongation. This has been attributed to the presence of discontinuities in the build. The as-fabricated samples have an average tensile strength of 1190 + 12 MPa and an average elongation of 15 + 5% at room temperature and 658 ± 20 MPa ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and 14 ± 7% at 600 °C. After the post-weld heat treatment, mechanical properties decrease to around 600–650 MPa and an elongation between 20–25% at room temperature to 300 MPa UTS and 25–28% elongation at 600 °C. The characterization of microstructures at various length scales demonstrates that the as-fabricated structure has a significant fraction of delta ferrite in a lath martensitic matrix. No precipitates could be identified in the as-fabricated structure. PPHT led to a decrease in the area fraction of delta ferrite and precipitation of M 23 C 6 and MX. Detailed characterization clearly demonstrates that the lack of precipitates in the as-fabricated structure could be due to the slow tempering response of the alloy. Finally, the needs to develop new alloys to achieve the objectives stated above are articulated.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Mechanisms of paint bake response in resistance spot-welded first and third generation AHSS

Implementation of 3rd generation advanced high strength steels (3GAHSS) in automotive structures requires careful consideration of joining process implications. Due to the presence of increased carbon equivalent in 3GAHSS such as 980 HF relative to commonly-applied 1st generation AHSS such as 980 DP, the resultant properties of the weld nugget and heat affected zones in resistance spot welded must be engineered to provide consistent and acceptable performance, specifically in cross-tension loading mode. Although the as-welded cross-tension strength (CTS) of 980 HF is less than 980 DP, there is a significant improvement of the CTS after paint baking in 980 HF welds. 980 DP steel welds do not exhibit such marked improvement upon baking. The mechanism of the strong and beneficial effect of paint baking on 980 HF in comparison to 980 DP is discussed in light of its effect on residual stress distributions and microstructures. Although residual stress (strain) reduction is observed via synchrotron x-ray diffraction for all tested steels, this effect is demonstrated as secondary to the performance restoration of the weld joint in cross tension. High-resolution electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) micrographs reveal that paint baking affects a more beneficial degree of martensite tempering in 980 HF as compared to 980 DP. The martensite tempering is also evidenced by both a reduction in nano-hardness of critical microstructural features and re-emergence of ductile fracture behavior following the paint baking process. The tempering of martensite is concluded to be the dominant mechanism in improving cross tension strength of 3GAHSS welds following paint baking.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electrochemical corrosion of multiphase stainless steel-based alloy nuclear waste forms

Abstract The electrochemical corrosion behaviors of two multiphase alloys representing waste forms made with 316 L stainless steel and different amounts of surrogate metallic fuel wastes were measured and related to the microstructures. Potentiodynamic (PD) scans were performed in an acid brine solution and the corroded surfaces were characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to compare the electrochemical responses to the corrosion of specific phases. PD scans for the two multiphase alloys, 316 L stainless steel, and pure palladium were compared to understand the complex corrosion behavior of these multiphase alloys also recently classified as multi principle element alloys (MPEAs) and to determine the effects of alloying elements and noble metals present in constituent phases on the corrosion behavior.

Gattu, Vineeth Kumar (ORCID:0000000307265813)↗
DOE OSTI2022

TEM Specimen Manufacturing to Support Analysis of IASCC Mechanisms in Irradiated Austenitic Steels – Light-Water– Relevant Materials

The present report describes the manufacturing of samples for advanced microstructure studies of mechanisms of irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) in the materials of light-water reactor (LWR) internal components. The samples were manufactured via FIB (focused ion beam milling) from 4-point-bend specimens subjected to oxidation and mechanical loading in a simulated LWR environment (primary water, PW). The corrosion tests were conducted at the University of Michigan (UM), and the tested specimens were transported to ORNL to perform FIB work. Finally, the manufactured FIB specimens were shipped back to the UM for microstructure characterization. Section 1 in the report provides a brief introduction; Section 2 describes materials, their in-service and irradiation history, and the geometry of specimens for IASCC testing. Section 3 documents typical work steps (specimen mapping) and reports the number of manufactured FIB objects. Section 4 briefly describes the preliminary results of microstructure analysis performed at the University of Michigan and highlights the key findings. The summary and conclusions section discusses future possible future steps and generalizes the obtained results, their unique character, and their importance for the nuclear industry.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effects of Solidification Cooling Rates on Microstructures and Physical Properties of Fe-6.5%Si Alloys

Compared to the widely used Fe-3.2wt%Si steel, Fe-6.5wt%Si has superior electric and magnetic properties, including higher electrical resistivity, lower iron loss, higher permeability, and near zero magnetostriction. However, Fe-6.5wt%Si sheet is difficult to produce using traditional manufacturing processes as the high silicon content favors the formation of ordered phases that embrittle the material. Fortunately, these ordered phases can be suppressed if the alloy is cooled fast enough from a high temperature kinetically trapping the disordered solid solution or amorphous state. Planar flow casting is known for its rapid solidification rate. In order to consider it as a viable method to manufacture ductile Fe-6.5wt%Si sheets, the effect of cooling rate on physical properties of Fe-6.5wt%Si alloy are systematically investigated. In this work, various cooling rates are achieved by changing melt-spin wheel speeds, which significantly affect the solidification temperature profile and have profound effects on ordering, microstructures, textures, hardness, and magnetic properties. High cooling rates result in refined grains, reduced ordering, enhanced <100> out of the plane texture, decreased hardness, and increased coercivity. This study demonstrates a critical cooling rate at ~1.7 × 10 5 K/s, corresponding to a tangential wheel speed of 5-7 m/s, below which the hardness significantly increases in agreement with the sudden increase of the ordered phases that causes the material embrittlement.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Mechanical rolling and annealing of wire-arc additively manufactured stainless steel plates

Thin walls of 304L stainless steel were fabricated by wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) followed by post build thermomechanical processing to modify the as built microstructure and properties. The walls were made using a high-deposition-rate robotically controlled gas-metal arc welding system and were characterized using optical microscopy and tensile tested for mechanical properties. Post processing consisted of mechanical rolling the walls to 25% and 40% strains, followed by annealing at 1050°C to demonstrate a wide range of properties. Results show that WAAM can be used to build custom sized semi-finished parts or blanks that can later be thermomechanically processed to increase strength and ductility through recrystallization of the as built microstructure, and/or processed into desired shapes with improved mechanical properties.

304L stainless steel↗
DOE OSTI2021

Tailoring plasticity mechanisms in compositionally graded hierarchical steels fabricated using additive manufacturing

Abstract While there exists in nature abundant examples of materials with site-specific gradients in microstructures and properties, engineers and designers have traditionally used monolithic materials with discrete properties. Now, however, additive manufacturing (AM) offers the possibility of creating structures that mimic some aspects of nature. One example that has attracted attention in the recent years is the hierarchical structure in bamboo. The hierarchical architecture in bamboo is characterized by spatial gradients in properties and microstructures and is well suited to accommodate and survive complex stress states, severe mechanical forces, and large deformations. While AM has been used routinely to fabricate functionally graded materials, this study distinguishes itself by leveraging AM and physical metallurgy concepts to trigger cascading deformation in a single sample. Specifically, we have been successful in using AM to fabricate steel with unique spatial hierarchies in structure and property to emulate the structure and deformation mechanisms in natural materials. This study shows an improvement in the strength and ductility of the nature-inspired “hierarchical steel” compared with conventional cast stainless steels. In situ characterization proves that this improvement is due to the sequential activation of multiple deformation mechanisms namely twinning, transformation-induced plasticity, and dislocation-based plasticity. While significantly higher strengths can be achieved by refining the chemical and processing technique, this study sets the stage to achieve the paradigm of using AM to fabricate structures which emulate the flexibility in mechanical properties of natural materials and are able to adapt to in-service conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Process Robustness of Friction Stir Dovetailing of AA7099 to Steel with In Situ AA6061 Interlayer Linking

Rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) steel was joined to aluminum alloy AA7099-T7451 with an interlayer of AA6061-T651 by single-pass friction stir dovetailing (FSD). The evolution of the AA7099/AA6061 and AA6061/steel interfacial microstructures and mechanical properties of the joints were examined. The AA6061 interlayer prevented Zn migration from the AA7099 to the steel during FSD and inhibited formation of brittle, Zn-rich, Fe-Al intermetallic compounds within the joint. The flow of the dissimilar aluminum alloys at the interface was controlled with a partially threaded friction stir welding pin and a dovetail geometric configuration optimized in previous work. The process robustness was explored to establish parameter windows by elucidating parametric effects on the relationship between process conditions and the joint’s microstructure and mechanical properties. Ranges of process forge force (50–70 kN) and interface temperature (475°C–515°C) consistently yielded joints with adequate performance. The load-carrying capacity in lap shear tensile tests was 2025 ? 100 N/mm.

Friction Stir Dovetailing, FSW, AA7099, AA6061, Ro↗
DOE OSTI2021

A machine learning aided interpretable model for rupture strength prediction in Fe-based martensitic and austenitic alloys

Abstract The class of 9–12% Cr ferritic-martensitic alloys (FMA) and austenitic stainless steels have received considerable attention due to their numerous applications in high temperature power generation industries. To design high strength steels with prolonged service life requires a thorough understanding of the long-term properties, e.g., creep rupture strength, rupture life, etc., as a function of the chemical composition and processing parameters that govern the microstructural characteristics. In this article, the creep rupture strength of both 9–12% Cr FMA and austenitic stainless steel has been parameterized using curated experimental datasets with a gradient boosting machine. The trained model has been cross validated against unseen test data and achieved high predictive performance in terms of correlation coefficient ( $$R^{2} > 0.98 $$ R 2 > 0.98 for 9–12% Cr FMA and $$R^{2} > 0.95 $$ R 2 > 0.95 for austenitic stainless steel) thus bypassing the need for additional comprehensive tensile test campaigns or physical theoretical calculations. Furthermore, the feature importance has been computed using the Shapley value analysis to understand the complex interplay of different features.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Controlling microstructure and B2 ordering kinetics in Fe–Al system through additive manufacturing

Multi-material fabrication between steel and aluminum is challenging because of the formation of several intermetallic phases. Embrittling B2 ordered intermetallics form in the steel rich side and are stable till about 60% of Al dilution in steel. In this work by using multi-length scale characterization coupled with integrated computational process and thermokinetic modeling, we show that the ordered B2 intermetallics in the steel rich side of the Fe–Al system forms via a nucleation and growth mechanism. The extent of B2 ordered intermetallics can be controlled by modifying the directed energy deposition-additive manufacturing (DED-AM) process parameters. Our findings lay the foundation for enabling fabrication of crack-free functionally graded compositions between the two alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

304L Can Crush Validation Studies

Accurate prediction of ductile behavior of structural alloys up to and including failure is essential in component or system failure assessment, which is necessary for nuclear weapons alteration and life extensions programs of Sandia National Laboratories. Modeling such behavior requires computational capabilities to robustly capture strong nonlinearities (geometric and material), rate- dependent and temperature-dependent properties, and ductile failure mechanisms. This study's objective is to validate numerical simulations of a high-deformation crush of a stainless steel can. The process consists of identifying a suitable can geometry and loading conditions, conducting the laboratory testing, developing a high-quality Sierra/SM simulation, and then drawing comparisons between model and measurement to assess the fitness of the simulation in regards to material model (plasticity), finite element model construction, and failure model. Following previous material model calibration, a J 2 plasticity model with a microstructural BCJ failure model is employed to model the test specimen made of 304L stainless steel. Simulated results are verified and validated through mesh and mass-scaling convergence studies, parameter sensitivity studies, and a comparison to experimental data. The converged mesh and degree of mass-scaling are the mesh discretization with 140,372 elements, and a mass scaling with a target time increment of 1.0e-6 seconds and time step scale factor of 0.5, respectively. Results from the coupled thermal-mechanical explicit dynamic analysis are comparable to the experimental data. Simulated global force vs displacement (F/D) response predicts key points such as yield, ultimate, and kinks of the experimental F/D response. Furthermore, the final deformed shape of the can and field data predicted from the analysis are similar to that of the deformed can, as measured by 3D optical CMM scans and DIC data from the experiment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

How Austenitic Is a Martensitic Steel Produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion? A Cautionary Tale

Accurate phase fraction analysis is an essential element of the microstructural characterization of alloys and often serves as a basis to quantify effects such as heat treatment or mechanical deformation. Additive manufacturing (AM) of metals, due to the intrinsic nonequilibrium solidification and spatial variability, creates additional challenges for the proper quantification of phase fraction. Such challenges are exacerbated when the alloy itself is prone to deformation-induced phase transformation. Using commonly available in-house X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and less commonly used synchrotron-based high-energy X-ray diffraction, we characterized nitrogen-atomized 17-4 precipitation-hardening martensitic stainless steel, a class of AM alloy that has received broad attention within the AM research community. On the same build, our measurements recovered the entire range of reported values on the austenite phase fractions of as-built AM 17-4 in literature, from ≈100% martensite to ≈100% austenite. Aided by Calphad simulation, our experimental findings established that our as-built AM 17-4 is almost fully austenitic and that in-house XRD and EBSD measurements are subject to significant uncertainties created by the specimen’s surface finish. Hence, measurements made using these techniques must be understood in their correct context. Our results carry significant implications, not only to AM 17-4 but also to AM alloys that are susceptible to deformation-induced structure transformation and suggest that characterizations with less accessible but bulk sensitive techniques such as synchrotron-based high energy X-ray diffraction or neutron diffraction may be required for proper understanding of these materials.

17-4 steel↗