Fabrication of beryllium. Volume IV - Surface treatments for beryllium alloys
Surface treatment techniques of beryllium for spacecraft structure application
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Surface treatment techniques of beryllium for spacecraft structure application
A suite of atomistic modeling software, called the Alloy Design Workbench, has been developed by the Computational Materials Group at the NASA Glenn Research Center and the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI). The main goal of this software is to guide and augment experimental materials research and development efforts by creating powerful, yet intuitive, software that combines a graphical user interface with an operating code suitable for real-time atomistic simulations of multicomponent alloy systems. Targeted for experimentalists, the interface is straightforward and requires minimum knowledge of the underlying theory, allowing researchers to focus on the scientific aspects of the work. The centerpiece of the Alloy Design Workbench suite is the adwTools module, which concentrates on the atomistic analysis of surfaces and bulk alloys containing an arbitrary number of elements. An additional module, adwParams, handles ab initio input for the parameterization used in adwTools. Future modules planned for the suite include adwSeg, which will provide numerical predictions for segregation profiles to alloy surfaces and interfaces, and adwReport, which will serve as a window into the database, providing public access to the parameterization data and a repository where users can submit their own findings from the rest of the suite. The entire suite is designed to run on desktop-scale computers. The adwTools module incorporates a custom OAI/Glenn-developed Fortran code based on the BFS (Bozzolo- Ferrante-Smith) method for alloys, ref. 1). The heart of the suite, this code is used to calculate the energetics of different compositions and configurations of atoms.
Surface protection and functional modification of aircraft-certified aluminum alloys are essential for corrosion resistance, durability, and long-term airworthiness. At the same time, increasingly restrictive environmental regulations motivate the development of alternatives to legacy wet-chemical surface treatments. This study presents an integrated assessment of ultrafast femtosecond laser surface texturing as a surface functionalization approach for Aluminum 6061 alloys within an aerospace manufacturing and sustainability context. Ultrashort-pulse laser processing enables controlled micro- and nano-scale surface topographical modification with limited thermal impact, allowing adjustment of wettability and surface functionality while preserving bulk material integrity. As a dry and contactless process, femtosecond laser treatment eliminates the use of hazardous chemicals, reduces consumable inputs, and generates minimal secondary waste. A streamlined cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment conducted in accordance with ISO 14040/14044 indicates a lower global-warming potential per functional unit compared with conventional surface treatments, including anodization, plasma-assisted coatings, and organic coating systems. Complementary qualitative analyses addressing environmental health and safety, supply-chain risk, and ESG alignment indicate potential advantages related to occupational safety, regulatory compliance, waste management, and end-of-life recyclability. The investigation is performed on planar Aluminum 6061 reference surfaces with a treated area of 25 mm 2 , providing a controlled laboratory-scale basis for analyzing process behavior, functional surface modification, and associated environmental metrics. Within this defined scope, the results support further evaluation of femtosecond laser surface texturing as a surface engineering option for future aerospace manufacturing.
Alloying in small metal particles and in very thin films has recently received considerable attention. In the past it has been generally assumed that alloying is insignificant up to temperatures. Thus many epitaxy experiments of metals on metals with complete miscibility were performed at temperatures between 200 and 400 C and analyzed assuming no alloying. In particular, alloying was not suspected if the film material was not soluble in the substrate. In the present study, which was stimulated by annealing-induced CO adsorption anomalies on thin film surfaces, it has become evident that low temperature alloying can occur in thin films on a metal substrate which is refractory and has very strong interatomic bonds (as evidenced by a high sublimation energy) provided that the substrate is soluble in the film material. A good example of such a film-substrate combination is Pd on Mo. The solubility of Pd in Mo is very at temperatures below 1000 K but Pd can dissolve slightly more than 40 at. % Mo even at low temperatures.
Surface treatments of nickel and nickel alloys by diffusion coating, electroplating, explosive hardening, peening, and other methods
Surface ionization studies on refractory metals and metal alloys used in long term contact ion engine operation
Quantitatively predicting the corrosion resistance of alloys is vital to the design and application of the next generation of superior corrosion resistant alloys (CRAs). Here, the Chloride Susceptibility Index (CSI), a scientifically based quantitative descriptor for repassivation tendency of CRAs, is proposed as a metric constructed through combining atomistically resolved information regarding adsorption and alloy surface composition with environmental conditions such as applied potential, temperature, pH, and Cl – concentration. Using this method, the response of CRAs to relevant environments can be predicted. CSI is determined by: (1) estimation of thermoequilibrium surface coverages of O and Cl by a Langmuir isotherm model using adsorption energies of different species (O, Cl, OH, H 2 O) obtained from DFT. (2) determination of CSI by integrating Cl surface coverage over a realistic window of applied potentials, thereby incorporating the effect of Cl surface coverage and electrochemical environment simultaneously. A series of Ni-Cr-X alloys was used as an example to develop and validate the method through studying the effect of different alloy solutes X on chloride resistance. Here, the trends and relations predicted by CSI are in qualitative agreements with experimental observations. Moreover, a quantitative correlation is found between CSI and the repassivation potential.
Surface films deposited on body-centered cubic metals can greatly reduce the yield and flow stresses and increase the ductility at low homologous temperatures. This softening process is associated with the ability of the film-substrate interface to generate large populations of mobile edge dislocations. This phenomenon is extended to B2 ordered intermetallic alloys, which display many deformation characteristics of bcc metals. Single crystal NiAl coated with thermally formed oxide films and polycrystalline FeAl with electrochemically formed Fe-Al-O films display film softening at and below room temperature. The extent of film softening is shown to depend on many factors, including crystal orientation, deformation temperature, operative slip systems, film thickness, film adherence, and film and substrate properties.
Surface abrasion has been shown to introduce heavy shear stress and produce a few hundred nanometers thick altered surface layer (ASL) on Al alloys. Such ASLs exhibit microstructural changes at room temperature and different corrosion resistance than the underlying substrate. Here, we report how sample dimensions and temperature affect the deformed subsurface microstructure evolution on an abraded Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atom probe tomography. The ASL microstructure evolves differently in the bulk sample than in the thin TEM specimen. In the freshly abraded ASL, the original η'/η precipitates and grain boundaries were deformed toward the abrasion direction. After 7-day natural aging of the freshly abraded bulk sample, well-defined subgrains formed locally in the ASL, and unusual Al 2 Cu (θ) and Mg x Zn y phases precipitated at the subgrain boundaries. However, during natural aging of this TEM specimen taken from the abraded and aged bulk samples, much faster changes occurred, including the continued formation of subgrains and θ particles in the entire ASL, and the diffusion of Zn atoms out of Mg x Zn y particles to form a Zn particle. On the other hand, no obvious microstructural changes occurred in the ASL during 3-month natural aging of the TEM specimen immediately taken from the freshly abraded sample. Finally, this work advances the understanding of how Al alloy microstructures respond during and following any shear deformation, and complex and unexpected effects of sample dimensions on the behavior.
Abstract The impact of compositional disorder on physical properties is a subject of prime focus in many materials systems. In this paper, we report photoemission measurements of Mo 1− x Re x (110)-(1 × 1)H alloy surfaces to probe the relationship between the surface Fermi contours and giant Kohn anomalies observed in the surface phonon dispersion relations. Our measured nesting vectors precisely predict the composition dependence of the anomalous wave vectors.
Oxide dispersed Cu alloys preparation by surface oxidation of powders, considering structural stability and stress rupture properties
Surface segregation, adhesion and friction of monocrystalline Cu-Al, Cu-Sn and Fe-Al alloys from Auger emission spectroscopy and low energy electron diffraction experiments
Organic semiconductors interfaced with spin–orbit coupled materials offer a rich playground for fundamental studies of controlling spin dynamics in spintronic devices. The adsorbate–surface interactions at such interfaces play a key role in determining the valence electronic and spin structure and consequently, the device physics as well. Here we show that strong adsorbate–surface alloy interaction leads to weakening of the electronic coupling between the surface alloy atoms and quenches the spin–orbit coupled surface state, demonstrated for the case of the strong organic electron acceptor 2,7-dinitropyrene-4,5,9,10-tetrone (NO 2 –PyT, C 16 H 4 N 2 O 8 ) on the Rashba spin–orbit coupled surface alloy BiAg 2 /Ag(111). Furthermore, our findings demonstrate an important challenge associated with using molecular adsorbates to tailor the spin texture in BiAg 2 /Ag(111), and our work provides guidelines to consider while designing interfacial systems to engineer the spin texture in Rashba surface alloys.
Surface abrasion has been shown to create altered surface layers (ASLs) that are hundreds of nm thick on all types of Al alloys. Such ASLs have lower corrosion resistance than the underlying substrate of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys. Here, we demonstrate how heat treatments affect the ASL microstructure on abraded Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys using transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography, and also how the corrosion properties change using electrochemical polarization. Additionally, high temperature treatments on the abraded bulk samples enhance η phase precipitation in the ASL, leading to a decreased Zn content in the ASL solid solution, which ennobles the ASL breakdown potential.
The objectives of this ground based research is to measure the liquid/vapor interfacial surface energies of succinonitrile (SCN) and alloys of succinonitrile and acetone using Surface Light Scattering Spectrometer. Liquid/vapor interfacial energy measurements will be made near and above the melting point and are the primary goal of this proposal. A measurement of viscosity also results from the Surface Light Scattering technique employed. Interfacial free energies between the phases enters into many analysis of phase transformation and flow, including nucleation, dendritic growth, interface stability, Ostwald ripening, and Marangoni flow. Succirionitrile (SCN) is useful as a model for the study of metal solidification, although it is an organic material, it has a BCC crystal structure and solidifies dendriticly like a metal. It is also transparent and has a low melting point (58.08 C). Succinonitrile has been and is being used extensively in NASAs Microgravity Materials Science and Fluid Physics programs and as well as in several ground-based and microgravity studies including the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) due to Glicksman and coworkers and subsequently in several theoretical and numerical studies of dendritic growth. Previous measurements of succinonitrile (SCN) and alloys of succinonitrile and acetone surface tensions are extremely limited. We believe the data sought through this proposal have significant basic physical property data value and thus the work proposed will provide needed data in support of NASAs Microgravity program research.
Abstract A large and ideal Rashba-type spin-orbit splitting is desired for the applications of materials in spintronic devices and the detection of Majorana fermions in solids. Here, we propose an approach to achieve giant and ideal spin-orbit splittings through a combination of ordered surface alloying and interface engineering, that is, growing alloy monolayers on an insulating polar surface. We illustrate this unique strategy by means of first-principle calculations of buckled hexagonal monolayers of SbBi and PbBi supported on Al2O3(0001). Both systems display ideal Rashba-type states with giant spin-orbit splittings, characterized with energy offsets over 600 meV and momentum offsets over 0.3 Å−1, respectively. Our study thus points to an effective way of tuning spin-orbit splitting in low-dimensional materials to draw immediate experimental interest.
Surface nano-crystallization techniques have been recently developed as one of the most efficient ways to optimize materials’ structure, and therefore develop the local and global mechanical behavior as to increase strength without compromising ductility. Here, in this work, we present a constitutive model incorporating grain refinement hardening to simulate the nano-crystallization technique, specifically, surface mechanical attrition treatment. The computation is implemented using user-defined VUMAT subroutines. As an example of its application, a geometry model with full coverage of random impacts are employed. The results show that the model has rather precise predictability of grain size evolution during plastic deformation. The readily embedded with a computational code of material dynamics enables this novel model to be a promising tool to study the dynamic evolution of microstructures under plastic deformation.
The tensile ductility of 49Fe-49Co-2V (Hiperco® 50A) bar was investigated in both as-received and heat-treated conditions. The as-received/machined specimens exhibit very low ductility compared to samples where heat treatment was the final step prior to testing. Microstructural characterization showed that internal residual strain from bar processing and, most importantly, surface machining damage, cause lower elongation in the as-received material. Because fracture of this intermetallic alloy initiates at the surface, it is particularly susceptible to surface machining damage, i.e., the near-surface region has already exhausted most of its ability to accumulate tensile strain. During heat treatment, the internal residual strain and near-surface machining damage are eliminated and ductility is improved, despite a higher degree of crystallographic ordering in the heat-treated condition (which typically lowers ductility). Furthermore, if machining is again performed after heat treatment, the material again exhibits brittle behavior, even with only light touch-up machining passes. Here, in this work, methods of tensile strain measurement were investigated, namely conventional knife-edge extensometry and noncontact digital image correlation (DIC) on heat-treated material. For clip-on knife-edge extensometry, the range of failure strain was 2.5-5.5% for heat-treated Hiperco. For noncontact methods, ductility up to 7% was observed. The results highlight the tendency for the alloy to fail at surface imperfections, even those produced by application of the extensometer itself. Noncontact laser extensometry is recommended for determining the intrinsic ductility of the alloy. A method of laser surface modification was developed which increased ductility by ~ 100% compared to unmodified samples. The high cooling rates achieved during laser surface processing can bypass the ordering reaction and produce a ductile disordered structure at the surface that exhibits ductile fracture characteristics.