Investigation of the solidification, structure and properties of eutectic alloys including consideration of properties control
Solidification, structure, and properties of eutectic alloys including consideration of properties control
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Solidification, structure, and properties of eutectic alloys including consideration of properties control
Ni-Ni Nb eutectic composite, investigating monotonic mechanical response, deformation and fracture mechanisms
Banding observed in unidirectional solidification of eutectic alloys is shown to be due to melting back of the freezing interface because of oscillations in the temperature of the furnace. General theoretical criteria as to the amplitude and frequency of the permissible temperature oscillations are given to ensure that banding will not occur.
Eutectic mixture of aluminum oxide and zirconium oxide provides new bonding technique for sapphires and rubies. Technique effectively reduces possibility of contamination. Bonding material is aluminum oxide and zirconium oxide mixture that matches coefficient of thermal expansion of sapphire.
The suitability of the eutectics for high temperature fasteners was investigated. Material properties were determined as a function of temperature, and included shear parallel and perpendicular to the growth direction and torsion parallel to it. Techniques for fabricating typical fastener shapes included grinding, creep forming, and direct casting. Both lamellar Ni3Al-Ni3Nb and fibrous (Co,Cr,Al)-(Cr,Co)7C3 alloys showed promise as candidate materials for high temperature fastener applications. A brief evaluation of the performance of the best fabricated fastener design was made.
Thermotransport (or thermal diffusion, Soret effect) is shown to cause significant amount of segregation during the directional solidification of aluminum-copper eutectic. The concentration changes are predicted quantitatively and they are a function of temperature gradient, rate of melting and solidification and the time of soaking. There is a fair agreement between the experiments and calculations. A process is suggested where these concentration changes may be minimized.
Continuous and discontinuous NaF fibers, embedded in a NaCl matrix, have been produced in space and on earth, respectively. The production of continuous fibers in a eutectic mixture was attributed to the absence of convection current in the liquid during solidification in space. Image transmission and optical transmittance measurements of transverse sections of the space-grown and earth-grown ingots were made with a light microscope and a spectrometer. It was found that better optical properties were obtained from samples grown in space. This was attributed to a better alignment of NaF fibers along the ingot axis.
A program was performed to scale up the edge-defined, film-fed growth (EFG) method for the gamma/gamma prime-beta eutectic alloy of the nominal composition Ni-19.7 Cb - 6 Cr-2.5 Al. Procedures and problem areas are described. Flat bars approximately 12 x 1.7 x 200 mm were grown, mostly at speeds of 38 mm/hr, and tensile tests on these bars at 25 and 1000 C showed lower strength than expected. The feasibility of growing hollow airfoils was also demonstrated by growing bars over 200 mm long with a teardrop shaped cross-section, having a major dimension of 12 mm and a maximum width of 5 mm.
The lamellar directionally solidified nickel-base eutectic alloy gamma/gamma prime-delta has potential as an advanced turbine blade material. The microstructural stability of this alloy was investigated. Specimens were plastically deformed by uniform compression or Brinell indentation, then annealed between 705 and 1120 C. Microstructural changes observed after annealing included gamma prime coarsening, pinch-off and spheroidization of delta lamellae, and the appearance of an unidentified blocky phase in surface layers. All but the first of these was localized in severely deformed regions, suggesting that microstructural instability is not a serious problem in the use of this alloy.
Eutectic superalloys are being developed at several laboratories for application as aircraft gas turbine airfoils. One such alloy was subjected to several heat treatments to determine if its mechanical properties could be improved. It was found that by partially dissolving the alloy at 1210 C and then aging at 900 C the tensile strength can be increased about 12 percent at temperatures up to 900 C. At 1040 C no change in tensile strength was observed. Times to rupture were measured between 760 and 1040 C and were essentially the same or greater than for as-grown material. Tensile and rupture ductility of the alloy are reduced by heat treatment. Photographs of the microstructure are shown.
Mechanical property characterization tests of a directionally solidified Ni-20 percent Cb-2.5 percent Al-6 percent Cr cellular eutectic turbine blade alloy demonstrated excellent long time creep stability and indicated intermediate temperature transverse tensile ductility and shear strength to be somewhat low for turbine blade applications. Alloy and structural optimization significantly improves these off-axis properties with no loss of longitudinal creep strength or stability. The optimized alloy-structure combination is a carbon modified Ni-20.1 percent Cb-2.5 percent Al-6.0 percent Cr-0.06 percent C composition processed under conditions producing plane front solidification and a fully-lamellar microstructure. With current processing technology, this alloy exhibits a creep-rupture advantage of 39 C over the best available nickel base superalloy, directionally solidified MAR M200+ Hf. While improved by about 20 percent, shear strength of the optimized alloy remains well below typical superalloy values.
Fiberlike sodium chloride/lithium fluoride eutectic mixtures have been produced on earth and in space by the directional solidification technique. Macroscopic and microscopic examinations were made on longitudinal and transverse sections of Apollo Soyuz Test Project space grown and earth grown ingots. It was found that samples grown in space have a higher percentage of fibers alined with the growth axis. The enhanced alinement of fibers is attributed to the absence of convection currents in the liquid during solidification. Optical transmittance measurements of transverse sections of the space grown and earth grown ingots were performed with an infrared spectrometer. For a given sample thickness, the highest transmittance was obtained from ingots grown in space. For samples of different thicknesses, grown either in space or on earth, it was found that the thinner the sample, the higher the transmittance. This is in agreement with the general optical property of transparent materials.
Significant advances have been made in the development of an environmentally stable coating for a very high strength, directionally solidified eutectic alloy designated NiTaC-13. Three duplex (two-layer) coatings survived 3,000 hours on a cyclic oxidation test (1,100 C to 90 C). These coatings were fabricated by first depositing a layer of NiCrAl(Y) by vacuum evaporation from an electron beam heated source, followed by depositing an aluminizing overlayer. The alloy after exposure with these coatings was denuded of carbide fibers at the substrate/coating interface. It was demonstrated that TaC fiber denudation can be greatly retarded by applying a carbon-bearing coating. The coating was applied by thermal spraying followed by aluminization. Specimens coated with NiCrAlCY+Al survived over 2,000 hours in the cyclic oxidation test with essentially no TaC denudation. Coating ductility was studied for coated and heat-treated bars, and stress rupture life at 871 C and 1,100 C was determined for coated and cycled bars.
Volume fraction of a constituent or phase was estimated in six specimens of conventional and DS-eutectic superalloys, using ASTM E562-76, a new standard recommended practice for determining volume fraction by systematic manual point count. Volume fractions determined ranged from 0.086 to 0.36, and with one exception, the 95 percent relative confidence limits were approximately 10 percent of the determined volume fractions. Since the confidence-limit goal of 10 percent, which had been arbitrarily chosen previously, was achieved in all but one case, this application of the new practice was considered successful.
Microstructural changes due to thermal treatments of a directionally solidified gamma/gamma'-delta eutectic alloy were investigated. Aging treatments of 8 to 48 hours and ranging from 750 to 1120 C were given to the alloy in both its as directionally solidified condition and after gamma' solutioning. Aging resulted in gamma' coarsening gamma precipitates in delta, and delta and gamma'' precipitates in delta. The tensile strength was increased about 12 percent at temperatures up to 900 C by a heat treatment. Times to rupture were essentially the same or greater than for as directionally solidified material. Tensile and rupture ductility in the growth direction of the alloy were reduced by the heat treatment.
Tensile and stress rupture properties were determined primarily at 760 C for specimens oriented at various angles (0 deg, 10 deg, 45 deg, and 90 deg) from the solidification direction of bars and/or slabs of the Ni-20Cb-6Cr-2.5A (gamma/gamma prime-delta) eutectic. Threaded-head specimens yielded longer rupture lives with significantly less scatter than did tapered-head specimens. Miniature specimens are suitable for determining traverse tensile and rupture properties of 1.2 centimeter diameter bar stock. The 300 hour rupture stress at 760 C for specimens oriented at 10 deg from the solidification direction was reduced from 740 to 460 MPa, and to 230 MPa for material oriented at either 45 deg or 90 deg.
The eutectic alloy Ni-20.0%Cb-2.5%Al-6.0%Cr was tested in short-term creep and long-term exposure to service conditions to assess its suitability for high temperature turbine blade applications. Long-time exposure showed the lamellar microstructure of the alloy to be exceptionally stable. Other properties tested were notch sensitivity, isothermal and thermomechanical fatigue strength, shear strength, and transverse ductility. It was shown that this alloy is superior to the best currently available directionally solidified superalloys over the temperature/stress conditions encountered in turbine airfoils.
Eutectic superalloys are being developed at several laboratories for application as aircraft gas turbine airfoils. One such alloy gamma/gamma prime + delta was subjected to several heat treatments to determine if its mechanical properties could be improved. It was found that by partially dissolving the gamma prime at 1210 C and then aging at 900 C, the tensile strength can be increased about 12 per cent at temperatures up to 900 C. At 1040 C, no change in tensile strength was observed. Times to rupture were measured between 760 and 1040 C and were essentially the same or greater than for as-grown material. Tensile and rupture ductility of the alloy were reduced by heat treatment.