A study of segregation in cast aluminum-uranium alloys

This investigation involves a photomicrographic study of the segregation resulting from the eutectic solidification characteristics of aluminum-uranium alloys, ranging from 5 to 30 weight percent uranium. The segregation can occur in either of two manners; the first, due to the gravitational forces acting upon the growing particles which nucleate in the melt and the second, due to the mode and rate of heat transfer through the material. It was found that segregation occurred only as the result of the latter factor due to the small volume of the ingot and the rapid rate of heat transfer. The segregation was measured quantitatively as the amount of primary constituent that was contained in a particular region as compared with another region on the same ingot. It was found that the primary constituent was more concentrated in the top central regions, of the higher percentage uranium alloy, which classifies the segregation as inverse segregation --Abstract, page ii

A study of the supercooling behavior of high purity liquid bismuth

This investigation involves a study of the supercooling behavior of pure bismuth as affected by the melting atmosphere, the amount of superheat, and the intentional addition of metallic and non-metallic foreign materials to the melt. It was found that the amount of oxide on the melt surface is a controlling factor in the degree of supercooling obtainable in bismuth. In the presence of a thick bismuth oxide surface layer the amount of superheat below a 15°C drastically decreases the amount of supercooling due to the retention of nuclei in the surface film that promote nucleation upon cooling of the melt. Of the 40 foreign materials intentionally added to the bismuth melt only 9 altered its supercooling behavior. These materials, in order of decreasing effectiveness in reducing the supercooling, were antimony, tellurium, selenium, indium, cadmium, lead, copper, silver and gold. A drastic reduction in supercooling resulted by the addition of small concentrations (less than about 10 ppm) of antimony and tellurium whereas the other elements had a moderate to slight effect. Since all of these elements completely dissolved in the melt, a mechanism was proposed whereby the elements are concentrated on the melt surface, either in elemental or oxide form, as a monolayer of atoms. This monolayer can act as a site for heterogeneous nucleation depending upon its crystallographic relationship to the (111) of bismuth. The experimental evidence presented in the investigation lends support to the disregistry theory proposed by Turnbull and Vonnegut --Abstract, pages i-ii

Crystallographic reconstruction study of the effects of finish rolling temperature on the variant selection during bainite transformation in C-Mn high-strength steels

The effect of finish rolling temperature (FRT) on the austenite- () to-bainite () phase transformation is quantitatively investigated in high-strength C-Mn steels. In particular, the present study aims to clarify the respective contributions of the conditioning during the hot rolling and the variant selection (VS) during the phase transformation to the inherited texture. To this end, an alternative crystallographic reconstruction procedure, which can be directly applied to experimental electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) mappings, is developed by combining the best features of the existing models: the orientation relationship (OR) refinement, the local pixel-by-pixel analysis and the nuclei identification and spreading strategy. The applicability of this method is demonstrated on both quenching and partitioning (Q&P) and as-quenched lath-martensite steels. The results obtained on the C-Mn steels confirm that the sample finish rolled at the lowest temperature (829{\deg}C) exhibits the sharpest transformation texture. It is shown that this sharp texture is exclusively due to a strong VS from parent brass {110}, S {213} and Goss {110} grains, whereas the VS from the copper {112} grains is insensitive to the FRT. In addition, a statistical VS analysis proves that the habit planes of the selected variants do not systematically correspond to the predicted active slip planes using the Taylor model. In contrast, a correlation between the Bain group to which the selected variants belong and the FRT is clearly revealed, regardless of the parent orientation. These results are discussed in terms of polygranular accommodation mechanisms, especially in view of the observed development in the hot-rolled samples of high-angle grain boundaries with misorientation axes between and

Grain refinement of magnesium alloys: a review of recent research, theoretical developments and their application

This paper builds on the ‘‘Grain Refinement of Mg Alloys’’ published in 2005 and reviews the grain refinement research onMg alloys that has been undertaken since then with an emphasis on the theoretical and analytical methods that have been developed. Consideration of recent research results and current theoretical knowledge has highlighted two important factors that affect an alloy’s as-cast grain size. The first factor applies to commercial Mg-Al alloys where it is concluded that impurity and minor elements such as Fe and Mn have a substantially negative impact on grain size because, in combination with Al, intermetallic phases can be formed that tend to poison the more potent native or deliberately added nucleant particles present in the melt. This factor appears to explain the contradictory experimental outcomes reported in the literature and suggests that the search for a more potent and reliable grain refining technology may need to take a different approach. The second factor applies to all alloys and is related to the role of constitutional supercooling which, on the one hand, promotes grain nucleation and, on the other hand, forms a nucleation-free zone preventing further nucleation within this zone, consequently limiting the grain refinement achievable, particularly in low solute-containing alloys. Strategies to reduce the negative impact of these two factors are discussed. Further, the Interdependence model has been shown to apply to a broad range of casting methods from slow cooling gravity die casting to fast cooling high pressure die casting and dynamic methods such as ultrasonic treatment