A first approach on modelling the thermal and microstructure fields during aluminium butt welding using the HYb pinpoint extruder

Hybrid metal extrusion & bonding (HYB) is a new solid-state joining method for metals and alloys that utilizes continuous extrusion as a technique to enable aluminium filler metal additions. In the HYB case, heat is generated by friction between the rotating tool and the workpiece and by plastic deformation of the base and filler materials. To get further insight into how the PinPoint extruder behaves during aluminium butt welding, a finite element (FE) model for the HYB process has been developed by exploiting the framework provided by the numerical code WELDSIM. The model allows the thermal and microstructure fields along with the resulting HAZ hardness profile to be calculated from knowledge of the net power input. In the present investigation the FE model is used to determine the energy efficiency of the HYB process following calibration against thermal data being obtained from dedicated in-situ thermocouple measurements. In the future the FE element model will be extended to enable predictions of both residual stresses and global distortions by taking full advantage of the opportunities that the numerical code WELDSIM offers

Conformal loop ensembles and the stress-energy tensor

We give a construction of the stress-energy tensor of conformal field theory (CFT) as a local "object" in conformal loop ensembles CLE_\kappa, for all values of \kappa in the dilute regime 8/3 < \kappa <= 4 (corresponding to the central charges 0 < c <= 1, and including all CFT minimal models). We provide a quick introduction to CLE, a mathematical theory for random loops in simply connected domains with properties of conformal invariance, developed by Sheffield and Werner (2006). We consider its extension to more general regions of definition, and make various hypotheses that are needed for our construction and expected to hold for CLE in the dilute regime. Using this, we identify the stress-energy tensor in the context of CLE. This is done by deriving its associated conformal Ward identities for single insertions in CLE probability functions, along with the appropriate boundary conditions on simply connected domains; its properties under conformal maps, involving the Schwarzian derivative; and its one-point average in terms of the "relative partition function." Part of the construction is in the same spirit as, but widely generalizes, that found in the context of SLE_{8/3} by the author, Riva and Cardy (2006), which only dealt with the case of zero central charge in simply connected hyperbolic regions. We do not use the explicit construction of the CLE probability measure, but only its defining and expected general properties.Comment: 49 pages, 3 figures. This is a concatenated, reduced and simplified version of arXiv:0903.0372 and (especially) arXiv:0908.151

Direct Observations of Sigma Phase Formation in Duplex Stainless Steels using In Situ Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction

The formation and growth of sigma phase in 2205 duplex stainless steel was observed and measured in real time using synchrotron radiation during 10 hr isothermal heat treatments at temperatures between 700 C and 850 C. Sigma formed in near-equilibrium quantities during the isothermal holds, starting from a microstructure which contained a balanced mixture of metastable ferrite and austenite. In situ synchrotron diffraction continuously monitored the transformation, and these results were compared to those predicted by thermodynamic calculations. Differences between the calculated and measured amounts of sigma, ferrite and austenite suggest that the thermodynamic calculations underpredict the sigma dissolution temperature by approximately 50 C. The data were further analyzed using a modified Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (JMA) approach to determine kinetic parameters for sigma formation over this temperature range. The initial JMA exponent, n, at low fractions of sigma was found to be approximately 7.0, however, towards the end of the transformation, n decreased to values of approximately 0.75. The change in the JMA exponent was attributed to a change in the transformation mechanism from discontinuous precipitation with increasing nucleation rate, to growth of the existing sigma phase after nucleation site saturation occurred. Because of this change in mechanism, it was not possible to determine reliable values for the activation energy and pre-exponential terms for the JMA equation. While cooling back to room temperature, the partial transformation of austenite resulted in a substantial increase in the ferrite content, but sigma retained its high temperature value to room temperature

A semi-analytical model for the heat generation during hybrid metal extrusion and bonding (Hyb)

Hybrid Metal Extrusion and Bonding (HYB) is a novel solid-state welding method for metals and alloys that utilises continuous extrusion as a technique to enable aluminium filler metal additions. In the present study, a new semi-analytical model for the heat generation during aluminium butt welding is presented. As a starting point, the classical Rosenthal thin plate solution for the pseudo-steady-state temperature distribution around a fully penetrating line source is invoked. Then, the associated heat generation is calculated by considering the individual contributions from the tip of the rotating pin, the pin shoulder, and the filler metal additions on the net power input. In a calibrated form, the model yields thermal efficiency factors that are in close agreement with those obtained from more sophisticated finite element analyses but with considerably less computational effort