Unesco - Eolss Sample Chapters: Optimization of Materials Properties
Unesco - Eolss Sample Chapters: Optimization of Materials Properties
Unesco - Eolss Sample Chapters: Optimization of Materials Properties
Flower
U
SA N
M ES
PL C
E O
C E
H O
AP L
TE SS
R
S
1. Introduction
2. Optimization through Solidification Processing
3. Optimization through Mechanical Processing
3.1. Exploitation of Transformation Plasticity
4. Optimization through Heat Treatment
4.1. Precipitation Hardening
5. Optimization by local Microstructural Modification
6. Final Comments
Glossary
Bibliography
Biographical Sketch
Summary
U
SA N
M ES
PL C
E O
C E
H O
AP L
TE SS
R
S
Historically, the requirement to produce a particular shape was the dominant factor and
microstructure was compromised in order to achieve this. Casting is a process
developed as one of the earliest processes for making metallic implements. It has the
strong advantage of producing a net, or near net, shape. In terms of the process the mold
or die design must be such that complete filling with metal can be achieved without
trapping air within it, requiring good design of feeders and risers. However,
metallurgically casting has some inherent drawbacks. First, the solubility of gases
generally decreases sharply with the transition from liquid to solid (notably hydrogen in
aluminum) and the evolved gas, if trapped, will produce gas porosity in the final
casting. Degassing prior to casting is required to mitigate this phenomenon. Second,
engineering casting alloys all shrink on solidification, a phenomenon which can result in
the formation of shrinkage voids and internal stresses in the casting. Again the design of
the mold to facilitate the access of fresh liquid to regions of solidification shrinkage can
help to reduce the number and size of voids and choice of casting alloy (changing melt
fluidity and solidification temperature range) can be exploited to further improve the
situation. Third, turbulent flow taking place in mold filling can result in the entrapment
and folding over of surface oxide skin into the final casting, with serious consequences
for casting strength and toughness. Beyond this, the mechanism of solidification in
metals and alloys is itself, of very considerable importance in determining final casting
properties. Solidification will commence with relatively little undercooling and typically
begins on the mold walls. Nucleation sites are plentiful and a very fine equiaxed grain
microstructure (the chill zone) is formed unless the melt superheat was so great that the
mold itself becomes heated to a temperature above the bulk melt liquidus temperature
(an unlikely scenario). Growth of these crystals will be controlled, both in rate and
direction, by the heat flow. It will be fastest anti-parallel to the directions of fastest heat
loss from the system (in a simple shape growth will be at 90o to the mold walls). Since
the growth of crystals is crystallographically anisotropic, those grains whose fastest
crystallographic growth axes are closest to parallel to the thermally preferred direction
of solid growth will undergo faster development than others and they will form long
columnar crystals which will exhibit strong crystallographic texture. This texture will,
in itself, modify the mechanical behavior of the casting and render it locally anisotropic.
More seriously, where two such growth fronts meet the interface will be high angle and
is likely to contain insoluble inclusions originally present in the melt or picked up from
the mold and any products of invariant reactions which the melt may undergo on
solidification (a function of alloy chemistry). Such interfaces represent planes of
mechanical weakness within the casting and, in extreme cases, cracking can occur under
the action of shrinkage stresses post-solidification. Careful casting design and control of
heat transfer (e.g., by use of chill plates to stimulate local solidification) can be
employed to reduce these factors. Finally, in alloys and under appropriate thermal
conditions, a central zone of equiaxed crystals can be produced as a consequence of
U
SA N
M ES
PL C
E O
C E
H O
AP L
TE SS
R
S
U
SA N
M ES
PL C
E O
C E
H O
AP L
TE SS
R
S
matrix composites (MMCs). The preform consists of the material to be infiltrated, either
woven in a mat or held together by use of a binder to provide a network of material with
interspaces between the individual fiber segments into which liquid can be infiltrated. In
the case of MMCs, the ceramic is generally not wetted by the ceramic, and pressure is
required to overcome the capillary resistance presented in the interspaces between the
fibers, as well as the frictional resistance to liquid flow between the fibers (itself a
function of melt viscosity). For polymer composites, the situation is a little easier as the
fibers are generally wetted by the resin. The complexity of the local fluid flow into the
preform makes gas entrapment and the occurrence of non-infiltration defects more
likely than in conventional casting but the scale of the defects is generally smaller. The
volume fraction and orientation of the fibers is employed to locally modify the material
properties, both mechanical (e.g., stiffness, strength and wear resistance) and physical
(e.g., density and conductivity). Components can be produced that are either fully
reinforced or contain the fibers in selected locations, such that the properties are tailored
to the local engineering requirements. For example, diesel engine pistons can be
manufactured in aluminum alloy by die casting. The crown of the piston can be locally
reinforced with ceramic by use of a shaped short fiber preform (typically alumina
based). The MMC so produced has improved wear resistance and thermal fatigue
resistance, which is needed in the material exposed to the high temperatures resulting
from fuel combustion. The cooler regions in the body of the piston exploit the greater
toughness associated with the unreinforced matrix alloy. Composites containing
particulates can also be made by liquid infiltration of preforms or, more simply, by
stirring particles into the liquid prior to casting. In the case of metal matrix composites,
the solidification structure produced within the composite is modified by the presence of
the ceramic, which can inhibit crystal growth. If the ceramic is not held in place in a
preform, it can undergo pushing by the melt, as a consequence of the non-wetting
behavior, and become concentrated between the solidified alloy grains. Chemical
reaction between the melt and ceramic may also occur, the nature and severity of this
being dependent upon the chemical nature of the matrix alloy and the ceramic and the
thermal conditions employed in casting. In general, such reactions are highly deleterious
to the development of required properties in the composite and preclude the use of
highly reactive liquid metals, such as titanium. However, there are materials that
actually exploit chemical reactions in the melt to produce a composite. The melt acts as
a solvent into which reactants are dissolved. A chemical reaction takes place producing
a product, which is precipitated from the melt to form a particulate reinforcement in the
subsequently solidified metal. The size and distribution of the reinforcement can be
modified by close control of the process conditions. The reinforcement is necessarily in
equilibrium with the matrix material, and has atomically clean interfaces with the
matrix, resulting in good interfacial bond strength, which may be lacking in other
MMCs where some degree of interfacial reaction can occur. Titanium and titanium
aluminide alloys containing dispersions of titanium boride particles can be produced
with refined grain size and improved mechanical properties by this route.
3. Optimization through Mechanical Processing
The ability to modify microstructure through mechanical processing is extremely
limited for non-metallic materials, which are generally brittle at low homologous
temperatures and undergo viscous flow in the glassy state at high homologous
U
SA N
M ES
PL C
E O
C E
H O
AP L
TE SS
R
S
U
SA N
M ES
PL C
E O
C E
H O
AP L
TE SS
R
S
to control grain size, shape and phase distribution to optimize the material for further
shape processing. Notably, alloys such as titanium 6% aluminum 4% vanadium, can be
thermomechanically processed to produce sheet with a very fine duplex grain structure
of and grains a few microns in diameter which, at ~930 C, co-exist in
approximately equal volume fractions. Such a microstructure can be further hot worked
into complex panel structures by superplastic forming (SPF). Superplastic formability
can also be achieved in a range of alloys, including steel and aluminum, and even
ceramics by developing specific microstructures through controlled processing.
U
SA N
M ES
PL C
E O
C E
H O
AP L
TE SS
R
S
Bibliography
Campbell J. (1991). Castings, pp. : Butterworth Heinemann. [This work provides a comprehensive
introduction to the science and technology of solidification processing of shaped components].
Honeycombe R. W. K. and Badeshia H. K. D. H. (1995). Steels, 2nd edition, pp. : Edward Arnold. [This
work provides an account of the basic materials science and properties of steels]
Hull D. and Bacon D. J. (1984). Introduction to Dislocations, 3rd edition, pp. : Pergamon Press. [This
work provides the basic theory of dislocations, their generation, mobility and interactions in crystalline
solids]
Martin J. W. (1998). Precipitation Hardening, 2nd edition, pp. : Butterworth Heinemann. [This work
provides a comprehensive account of the scientific principles of precipitation reactions in the solid state
and the consequences of precipitation for the mechanical properties of engineering materials]
Polmear I. J. (1995). Light Alloys, 3rd edition, pp. : Edward Arnold. [This work provides an account of
the basic materials science, technology of production and application of aluminum, titanium and
magnesium alloys in cast and wrought forms]
Porter D. A., and Easterling K. E. (1992). Phase Transformations in Metals and Alloys, 2nd Edition, pp. :
Chapman and Hall [A concise account of phase transformations including liquid to solid, solid state,
diffusive and shear and incorporating the basic thermodynamics and kinetics of the transformations]
Biographical Sketch
Harvey Flower is a graduate of Cambridge University and presently Professor of Materials Science at
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in the University of London. His research
interests center on electron microscopy and light alloy development with emphasis on aerospace
applications. He was awarded the Imperial College Armstrong medal in 1974 and the Rosenhain medal of
the Institute of Materials in 1988 for his research on titanium and aluminum based alloys. In recent years
his research has extended into metal matrix composites with particular emphasis on low cost net shape
cast aluminum based materials. He is author, or co-author, of about 170 scientific papers and has edited
U
SA N
M ES
PL C
E O
C E
H O
AP L
TE SS
R
S