Search Results
High strength nanocrystalline Cu–Co alloys with high tensile ductility
2018, Bachmaier, Andrea, Rathmayr, Georg Benedikt, Schmauch, Jörg, Schell, Norbert, Stark, Andreas, de Jonge, Niels, Pippan, Reinhard
A supersaturated single-phase Cu–26 at.% Co alloy was produced by high-pressure torsion deformation, leading to a nanocrystalline microstructure with a grain size smaller than 100 nm. The nonequilibrium solid solution decomposed during subsequent isothermal annealing. In situ high-energy X-ray diffraction was used to map changes linked to the separating phases, and the development of a nanoscale Cu–Co composite structure was observed. To gain further information about the relationship of the microstructure and the mechanical properties after phase separation, uniaxial tensile tests were conducted on as-deformed and isothermally annealed samples. Based on the in situ diffraction data, different isothermal annealing temperatures were chosen. Miniaturized tensile specimens with a round cross section were tested, and an image-based data evaluation method enabled the evaluation of true stress–strain curves and strain hardening behavior. The main results are as follows: all microstructural states showed high strength and ductility, which was achieved by a combination of strain-hardening and strain-rate hardening.
Promoting abnormal grain growth in Fe-based shape memory alloys through compositional adjustments
2019, Vollmer, M., Arold, T., Kriegel, M.J., Klemm, V., Degener, S., Freudenberger, J., Niendorf, T.
Iron-based shape memory alloys are promising candidates for large-scale structural applications due to their cost efficiency and the possibility of using conventional processing routes from the steel industry. However, recently developed alloy systems like Fe–Mn–Al–Ni suffer from low recoverability if the grains do not completely cover the sample cross-section. To overcome this issue, here we show that small amounts of titanium added to Fe–Mn–Al–Ni significantly enhance abnormal grain growth due to a considerable refinement of the subgrain sizes, whereas small amounts of chromium lead to a strong inhibition of abnormal grain growth. By tailoring and promoting abnormal grain growth it is possible to obtain very large single crystalline bars. We expect that the findings of the present study regarding the elementary mechanisms of abnormal grain growth and the role of chemical composition can be applied to tailor other alloy systems with similar microstructural features.