Influence of high-strain rate and temperature on the mechanical behavior of Nl-, Fe-, and Ti- based aluminides

The majority of the strength characterization studies on ordered intermetallics have concentrated on the assessment of strength and work-hardening at conventional strain rates. Although the influence of strain rate on the structure/property relationships of pure nickel, iron, and titanium and a variety of their alloys have been extensively studied, the effect of strain rate on the stress-strain response of Ni-, Fe-, and Ti-based aluminides remains poorly understood. Dynamic constitutive behavior is however relevant to high speed impact performance of these materials such as during foreign object damage in aerospace applications, high-rate forging, and localized deformation behavior during machining. The influence of strain rate, varied between 0.001 and 10{sup 4} s{sup -1}, and temperatures, between 77 & 800K, on the compressive mechanical behavior of Ni{sub 3}A1, NiAl, Fe{sub 3}Al, Fe-40Al-0.1B, Ti-24Al-11Nb, and Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb will be presented. In this paper the influence of strain rate on the anomalous temperature dependency of the flow stresses in these aluminides will be reviewed and compared between aluminides. The rate sensitivity and work hardening of each aluminide will be discussed as a function of strain rate and temperature and contrasted to each other and to the values typical for their respective disordered base metals. 66 refs., 16 figs., 2 tabs

Shock recovery experiments: An assessment

Systematic shock recovery experiments, in which microstructural and mechanical property effects are characterized quantitatively, constitute an important means of increasing our understanding of shock processes. Through studies of the effects of variations in metallurgical and shock loading parameters on structure/property relationships, the micromechanisms of shock deformation, and how they differ from conventional strain rate processes, are beginning to emerge. This paper will highlight the state-of-the-art in shock recovery of metallic and ceramic materials. Techniques will be described which are utilized to ''soft'' recover shock-loaded metallic samples possessing low residual strain; crucial to accurate ''post-mortem'' metallurgical investigations of the influence of shock loading on material behavior. Illustrations of the influence of shock assembly design on the structure/property relationships in shock-recovered copper samples including such issues as residual strain and contact stresses, and their consequences are discussed. Shock recovery techniques used on brittle materials will be reviewed and discussed in light of recent experimental results. Finally, shock recovery structure/property results and VISAR data on the /alpha/--/omega/ shock-induced phase transition in titanium will be used to illustrate the beneficial link between shock recovery and ''real-time'' shock data. 26 refs., 3 figs

Mechanical properties and constitutive relations for tantalum and tantalum alloys under high-rate deformation

Tantalum and its alloys have received increased interest as a model bcc metal and for defense-related applications. The stress-strain behavior of several tantalums, possessing varied compositions and manufacturing histories, and tantalum alloyed with tungsten, was investigated as a function of temperature from {minus}196 C to 1,000 C, and strain rate from 10{sup {minus}3} s{sup {minus}1} to 8,000 s{sup {minus}1}. The yield stress for all the Ta-materials was found to be sensitive to the test temperature, the impurity and solute contents; however, the strain hardening remained very similar for various ``pure`` tantalums but increased with alloying. Powder-metallurgy (P/M) tantalum with various levels of oxygen content produced via different processing paths was also investigated. Similar mechanical properties compared to conventionally processed tantalums were achieved in the P/M Ta. This data suggests that the frequently observed inhomogeneities in the mechanical behavior of tantalum inherited from conventional processes can be overcome. Constitutive relations based upon the Johnson-Cook, the Zerilli-Armstrong, and the Mechanical Threshold Stress models were evaluated for all the Ta-based materials. Parameters were also fit for these models to a tantalum-bar material. Flow stresses of a Ta bar stock subjected to a large-strain deformation of {var_epsilon} = 1.85 via multiple upset forging were obtained. The capabilities and limitations of each model for large-strain applications are examined. The deformation mechanisms controlling high-rate plasticity in tantalum are revisited

The effects of changing chemistry on the shock response of basic polymers

The shock response of four common semicrystalline thermoplastic polymers—polyethylene (PE), polyvinylchloride (PVC), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE)—have been studied in terms of their Hugoniots, release velocities and shear strengths. Through the variations in behaviour caused by changes to the attached atoms to the carbon backbone, it has been possible to suggest that there are two main factors in play. The first is an electrostatic repulsion between adjacent polymer chains. Where this force is large, for example in PTFE with highly electronegative fluorine atoms, this results in this force dominating the shock response, with low shock velocities, high release velocities and little if no hardening behind the shock front. In contrast, in materials such as PE, this force is now weaker, due to the lower electronegativity of hydrogen, and hence this force is easier to overcome by the applied shock stress. Now the main factor affecting shock behaviour is controlled by the shape of the polymer chain allowing inter chain tangling (tacticity). This results in higher shock velocities, lower release speeds and significant hardening behind the shock front as the chains are forced together. This is prevalent in materials with a relatively open structure such as PE and is enhanced with the presence of large side groups or atoms off the main polymer chain

Dynamic deformation of advanced materials

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The objective of this project was to provide high-quality experimental measurements on composite materials and to develop computational models describing the deformation response of these materials. Specifically, the authors studied the influence of strain rate and shock loading on the deformation and fracture response of a 6061-T6 Al-50 vol.% Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} continuous fiber-reinforced composite as a function of composite orientation. The stress-strain response was found to vary substantially as a function of loading orientation with the quasi-static yield changing from nominally 300 MPa transverse to the fibers to {approximately}1,000 MPa parallel to the fibers. Transverse VISAR wave profile and spall measurements revealed a small, well-defined elastic precursor followed by a reasonably sharp shock rise. The failure response of the composite transverse to the fibers, under both uniaxial stress (quasi-static and dynamic) and uniaxial strain loading, displays a protracted but substantial load drop after yield followed by continued degradation in load carrying capacity. Lack of ideal parallel fiber construction leads to systematic bending failure of the alumina fibers through the sample under uniaxial stress and slow spallation kinetics as various fibers fail and pull out of the matrix across the spall plane

Influence of large-strain deformation on the microstructure, texture, and mechanical response of tantalum bar

Numerous studies have established the influence of impurities, crystallographic texture, temperature, and strain rate separately or collectively on the constitutive response of annealed tantalum, in particular plate Ta-stock. However, fewer detailed studies have examined the evolution of crystallographic texture and the mechanical response of tantalum bar or rod material following prestraining to large strains {epsilon} > I. In this paper the influence of large plastic prestraining on the microstructure evolution, texture evolution, and mechanical response of high-purity tantalum bar material is presented. Tantalum cylinders annealed at 1200 {degrees}C were quasi-statically upset forged, with intermediate lubrication, to true strains of 0.4, 0.95, and 1.85. Microstructural and textural banding within the starting Ta-bar was characterized in detail. It was found that different oriented bands evolved differently during large-strain forging leading to significant scatter in the mechanical response. Aspects of defect storage, work-hardening response, and texture evolution in Ta-bar as a function of forging strain are discussed

Systematic pathway generation and sorting in martensitic transformations: Titanium alpha to omega

Structural phase transitions are governed by the underlying atomic transformation mechanism; martensitic transformations can be separated into strain and shuffle components. A systematic pathway generation and sorting algorithm is presented and applied to the problem of the titanium alpha to omega transformation under pressure. In this algorithm, all pathways are constructed within a few geometric limits, and efficiently sorted by their energy barriers. The geometry and symmetry details of the seven lowest energy barrier pathways are given. The lack of a single simple geometric criterion for determining the lowest energy pathway shows the necessity of atomistic studies for pathway determination.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Characterization of the NASA Langley Arc Heated Scramjet Test Facility Using NO PLIF

The nitric oxide planar laser-induced fluorescence (NO PLIF) imaging was used to characterize the air flow of the NASA Langley Arc Heated Scramjet Test Facility (AHSTF) configured with a Mach 6 nozzle. The arc raises the enthalpy of the test gas in AHSTF, producing nitric oxide. Nitric oxide persists as the temperature drops through the nozzle into the test section. NO PLIF was used to qualitatively visualize the flowfield at different experimental conditions, measure the temperature of the gas flow exiting the facility nozzle, and visualize the wave structure downstream of the nozzle at different operating conditions. Uniformity and repeatability of the nozzle flow were assessed. Expansion and compression waves on the free-jet shear layer as the nozzle flow expands into the test section were visualized. The main purpose of these experiments was to assess the uniformity of the NO in the freestream gas for planned experiments, in which NO PLIF will be used for qualitative fuel-mole-fraction sensitive imaging. The shot-to-shot fluctuations in the PLIF signal, caused by variations in the overall laser intensity as well as NO concentration and temperature variations in the flow was 20-25% of the mean signal, as determined by taking the standard deviation of a set of images obtained at constant conditions and dividing by the mean. The fluctuations within individual images, caused by laser sheet spatial variations as well as NO concentration and temperature variations in the flow, were about 28% of the mean in images, determined by taking standard deviation within individual images, dividing by the mean in the same image and averaged over the set of images. Applying an averaged laser sheet intensity correction reduced the within-image intensity fluctuations to about 10% suggesting that the NO concentration is uniform to within 10%. There was no significant difference in flow uniformity between the low and high enthalpy settings. While not strictly quantitative, the temperature maps show qualitative agreement with the computations of the flow

Atomic-scale modeling of the deformation of nanocrystalline metals

Nanocrystalline metals, i.e. metals with grain sizes from 5 to 50 nm, display technologically interesting properties, such as dramatically increased hardness, increasing with decreasing grain size. Due to the small grain size, direct atomic-scale simulations of plastic deformation of these materials are possible, as such a polycrystalline system can be modeled with the computational resources available today. We present molecular dynamics simulations of nanocrystalline copper with grain sizes up to 13 nm. Two different deformation mechanisms are active, one is deformation through the motion of dislocations, the other is sliding in the grain boundaries. At the grain sizes studied here the latter dominates, leading to a softening as the grain size is reduced. This implies that there is an ``optimal'' grain size, where the hardness is maximal. Since the grain boundaries participate actively in the deformation, it is interesting to study the effects of introducing impurity atoms in the grain boundaries. We study how silver atoms in the grain boundaries influence the mechanical properties of nanocrystalline copper.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX2e, PS figures and sty files included. To appear in Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. vol 538 (invited paper). For related papers, see http://www.fysik.dtu.dk/~schiotz/publist.htm

A New Mechanism for the Alpha to Omega Martensitic Transformation in Pure Titanium

We propose a new direct mechanism for the pressure driven alpha to omega martensitic transformation in pure titanium. A systematic algorithm enumerates all possible mechanisms whose energy barriers are evaluated. A new, homogeneous mechanism emerges with a barrier at least four times lower than other mechanisms. This mechanism remains favorable in a simple nucleation model.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure