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Thermostability of copper-oxide alloys, oxide strengthened alloys, oxidation of alloys
Experiments were conducted to determine the friction and wear characteristics of aluminum bronzes and copper-tin, titanium-tin, and copper-silver alloys sliding against a titanium-6% aluminum-4% vanadium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V). Hemispherically tipped riders of aluminum bronze and the titanium and copper alloys were run against Ti-6Al-4V disks in air at 430 C. The sliding velocity was 13 cm/sec, and the load was 250 g. Results revealed that high tin content titanium and copper alloys underwent significantly less wear and galling than commonly used aluminum bronzes. Also friction force was less erratic than with the aluminum bronzes.
Alloy strengthening by fine oxide particle dispersion and splat cooling process for alloy development
Iron alloy strengthening by fine beryllium oxide particle dispersion, and fracture and tensile deformation of dispersioned strengthened alloys
Stress corrosion cracking of titanium alloys and aluminum alloys
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Alloying effect on tensile properties and micro- structure of tungsten-fiber-reinforced composites
The need for compact, solid-state actuation systems for use in the aerospace, automotive, and other transportation industries is currently driving research in high-temperature shape memory alloys (HTSMA) having transformation temperatures above 100 C. One of the basic high temperature systems under investigation to fill this need is NiTiPd. Prior work on this alloy system has focused on phase transformations and respective temperatures, no-load shape memory behavior (strain recovery), and tensile behavior for selected alloys. In addition, a few tests have been done to determine the effect of boron additions and thermomechanical treatment on the aforementioned properties. The main properties that affect the performance of a solid state actuator, namely work output, transformation strain, and permanent deformation during thermal cycling under load have mainly been neglected. There is also no consistent data representing the mechanical behavior of this alloy system over a broad range of compositions. For this thesis, ternary NiTiPd alloys containing 15 to 46 at.% palladium were processed and the transformation temperatures, basic tensile properties, and work characteristics determined. However, testing reveals that at higher levels of alloying addition, the benefit of increased transformation temperature begins to be offset by lowered work output and permanent deformation or "walking" of the alloy during thermal cycling under load. In response to this dilemma, NiTiPd alloys have been further alloyed with gold, platinum, and hafnium additions to solid solution strengthen the martensite and parent austenite phases in order to improve the thermomechanical behavior of these materials. The tensile properties, work behavior, and dimensional stability during repeated thermal cycling under load for the ternary and quaternary alloys were compared and discussed. In addition, the benefits of more advanced thermomechanical processing or training on the dimensional stability of these alloys during repeated actuation were investigated. Finally, the effect of quaternary alloying on the thermal stability of NiTiPdX alloys is determined via thermal cycling of the materials to increasing temperatures under load. It was found that solid solution additions of platinum and gold resulted in about a 30 C increase in upper use temperature compared to the baseline NiTiPd alloy, providing an added measure of over-temperature protection.
A method for producing new superplastic alloys by inducing in an alloy the formation of precipitates having a sufficient size and homogeneous distribution that a sufficiently refined grain structure to produce superplasticity is obtained after subsequent PSN processing. An age-hardenable alloy having at least one dispersoid phase is selected for processing. The alloy is solution heat-treated and cooled to form a supersaturated solid solution. The alloy is plastically deformed sufficiently to form a high-energy defect structure useful for the subsequent heterogeneous nucleation of precipitates. The alloy is then aged, preferably by a multi-stage low and high temperature process, and precipitates are formed at the defect sites. The alloy then is subjected to a PSN process comprising plastically deforming the alloy to provide sufficient strain energy in the alloy to ensure recrystallization, and statically recrystallizing the alloy. A grain structure exhibiting new, fine, equiaxed and uniform grains is produced in the alloy. An exemplary 6xxx alloy of the type capable of being produced by the present invention, and which is useful for aerospace, automotive and other applications, is disclosed and claimed. The process is also suitable for processing any age-hardenable aluminum or other alloy.
Dual alloy combinations have potential for use in aircraft engine components such as turbine disks where a wide range of stress and temperature regimes exists during operation. Such alloy combinations may directly result in the conservation of elements which are costly or not available domestically. Preferably, a uniform heat treatment yielding good properties for both alloys should be used. Dual alloy combinations of iron rich Alloy 901 with nickel base superalloys Rene 95, Astroloy, or MERL 76 were not isostatically pressed from prealloyed powders. Individual alloys, alloy mixtures, and layered alloy combinations were given the heat treatments specified for their use in turbine disks or appropriate for Alloy 901. Selected specimens were overaged for 1500 hr at 650 C. Metallographic examinations revealed the absence of phases not originally present in either alloy of a combination. Mechanical tests showed adequate properties in combinations of Rene 95 or Astroloy with Alloy 901 when given the Alloy 901 heat treatment. Combinations with MERL 76 had better properties when given the MERL 76 heat treatment. The results indicate that these combinations are promising candidates for use in turbine disks.
Determination of the effects of alloy additions of Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, and Pt on the hardness of Mo. Special emphasis was placed on alloy softening in these binary Mo alloys. A modified microhardness test unit permitted hardness determinations at homologous temperatures ranging from 0.02 to 0.15, where alloy softening normally occurs in bcc alloys. Results showed that alloy softening was produced by those elements having an excess of s + d electrons compared to Mo while those elements having an equal number or fewer s + d electrons than Mo failed to produce alloy softening. The magnitude of the softening and the amount of solute element at the hardness minimum diminished rapidly with increasing test temperature. At solute concentrations where alloy softening was observed, the temperature sensitivity of hardness was lowered. For solute elements having an excess of s + d electrons or fewer s + d electrons than Mo, alloy softening and alloy hardening can be correlated with the difference in number of s + d electrons of the solute element and Mo.
New alloys and materials are potentially possible through additive manufacturing’s unique thermal history. Current literature explores the fabrication of eutectic and solid solution strengthened alloys through in-situ alloying, to take advantage of AM’s unique thermal history. The resulting lessons learned by in-situ alloying currently available materials will likely lead to the development of novel materials solely possible through in-situ alloying. This work will expand the application of in-situ alloying via additive manufacturing to NASA’s GRCop-42 (Cu-4at% Cr-2at% Nb), a high temperature copper alloy which has shown success in additively manufactured combustion chambers from pre-alloyed powders. GRCop-42 is unique to literature because a reaction to form the Cr2Nb dispersoids is required during the in-situ alloying. Both reaction completion rate and how input energy from the AM process influences the reaction progress will be evaluated. Ultimately, expansion of in-situ alloying capabilities provides further insight to develop novel materials using AM.
Pt-M/C (M = Co, Ni, Mn, etc.) alloy catalysts exhibit superior oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity compared to pure Pt/C, leading to a high energy efficiency in hydrogen fuel cells. However, many Pt-M/C alloy catalysts were synthesized and evaluated at the lab scale in model test-bed systems like rotating disc electrodes, which don't always correlate to performance within a fuel cell system; there is a clear need to evaluate catalysts in electrodes that can be prepared at industrially relevant scales to evaluate how factors like ink formulation can greatly affect device-level of fuel cell performance. Herein, three commercial Pt-M/C alloy catalysts (two Pt-Co/C and one Pt-Ni/C) were comprehensively characterized by various techniques. The results show that the average particle sizes of the three catalysts are close to 5 nm; the atomic ratio of Pt/M is around 4; and the M was successfully embedded into Pt lattice, resulting in the positive shift of Pt 4f in XPS spectra and XRD patterns. These catalytic materials were incorporated into 9 different cathode catalyst layers (CCLs) with three kinds of ionomers (Nafion D2020, high oxygen permeability ionomer (HOPI), and Aquivion D79-25BS), and their performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) were investigated. The results demonstrate that the Pt-Co/C catalysts possess a higher mass activity (MA) than Pt-Ni/C; the cathodes with Nafion ionomer provide the highest MA while electrodes with Aquivion ionomer showed the lowest activity, attributed to poor H+ conductivity resulting from suboptimal ionomer incorporation. Finally, these alloys were shown to exceed DOE targets for MA and H2/Air performance reported in the recent publications at beginning of life and after 90k cycle catalyst AST protocol. This study provides valuable performance benchmarks for these materials guiding future Pt-M/C catalyst design and material integration for heavy duty PEMFC applications.
Powder processing of Al-Li-Mg and Al-Li-Cu alloys by mechanical alloying (MA) is described, with a discussion of physical and mechanical properties of early experimental alloys of these compositions. The experimental samples were mechanically alloyed in a Szegvari attritor, extruded at 343 and 427 C, and some were solution-treated at 520 and 566 C and naturally, as well as artificially, aged at 170, 190, and 210 C for times of up to 1000 hours. All alloys exhibited maximum hardness after being aged at 170 C; lower hardness corresponds to the solution treatment at 566 C than to that at 520 C. A comparison with ingot metallurgy alloys of the same composition shows the MA material to be stronger and more ductile. It is also noted that properly aged MA alloys can develop a better combination of yield strength and notched toughness at lower alloying levels.
This final report supplement in presentation format describes a comprehensive multi-tasked contract study to continue the development of the silver bearing alloy now registered as aluminum alloy 2139 by the Aluminum Association. Two commercial scale ingots were processed into nominal plate gauges of two, four and six inches, and were extensively characterized in terms of metallurgical and crystallographic structure, and resulting mechanical properties. This report includes comparisons of the property combinations for this alloy and 2XXX and 7XXX alloys more widely used in high performance applications. Alloy 2139 shows dramatic improvement in all combinations of properties, moreover, the properties of this alloy are retained in all gauge thicknesses, contrary to typical reductions observed in thicker gauges of the other alloys in the comparison. The advancements achieved in this study are expected to result in rapid, widespread use of this alloy in a broad range of ground based, aircraft, and spacecraft applications.
An investigation was conducted to determine the effects of alloy additions of hafnium, tantalum, tungsten, rhenium, osmium, iridium, and platinum on hardness of molybdenum. Special emphasis was placed on alloy softening in these binary molybdenum alloys. Results showed that alloy softening was produced by those elements having an excess of s+d electrons compared to molybdenum, while those elements having an equal number or fewer s+d electrons that molybdenum failed to produce alloy softening. Alloy softening and alloy hardening can be correlated with the difference in number of s+d electrons of the solute element and molybdenum.
An investigation was conducted to determine the effects of alloy additions of Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, and Pt on the hardness of Mo. Special emphasis was placed on alloy softening in these binary Mo alloys. Results showed that alloys softening was produced by those elements having an excess of s+d electrons compared to Mo, while those elements having an equal number or fewer s+d electrons than Mo failed to produce alloy softening. Alloy softening and alloy hardening can be correlated with the difference in number of s+d electrons of the solute element and Mo.