Structure and stability of Al-Cu-Ru face-centered icosahedral alloys

The phases and microstructures in rapidly solidified Al-Cu-Ru alloys were investigated in this study. A chemically and topologically disordered icosahedral (i) phase grows dendritically from the liquid as the primary solidification product over the entire compositional region studied. The as-solidified i-phase is metastable and transforms to crystalline products at ≈500°C. The i-phase was not found as a product of the exothermic transformation for any composition, indicating that it is not the low temperature stable phase in the Al-Cu-Ru system;A chemically and topologically ordered i-phase was found to be an equilibrium phase at temperatures above ≈670°C and exists over a compositional region of several atomic percent. Once formed, this phase was easily retained at lower temperatures because of kinetic limitations of the transformation to the low temperature crystalline phase;Crystalline phases which from diffraction results appear structurally similar to the i-phase were also found in the Al-Cu-Ru system. These approximant phases aid in the determination of the atomic structure of i-phases by having common structural units. A simple cubic structure (a = 12.38 A, Pm3) containing a bcc network of icosahedral clusters was discovered. Comparisons of this phase with the i-phase indicated that strong similarities exist between the two structures;A rhombohedral approximant phase was also found. It exists as a transition state between the low-temperature crystalline phase and the high-temperature i-phase. This approximant phase also contains local icosahedral symmetry. The strong presence of icosahedral clusters in approximant phases in the Al-Cu-Ru system points to the distinct possibility that the i-phase is a quasiperiodic packing of icosahedral clusters of atoms

Effect of combined metal-carbon additions on the microstructure and structure of Sm2Fe17

The effect of combined alloying additions on the structure and scale of rapidly solidified Sm–Fe alloys was investigated. Transition metal additions tend to promote the formation of the disordered TbCu7-type structure in Sm2Fe17 alloys, as determined by monitoring the long-range order parameter. Essentially no order was observed for M = Ti, Zr, V, or Nb. Thus, the structure was close to the prototypical TbCu7-type structure. With M = Si, a large amount of order was observed (S = 0.62), resulting in a structure closer to the well-ordered Th2Zn17-type. The microstructural scale was also affected by alloying. In this case, refinement depended on the substituent and also on carbon for microstructural refinement. The scale of the as-solidified grain structures ranged from 100 nm for SiC-modified alloys to 13 nm for NbC-modified alloys. The degree of refinement was directly related to the atomic size of the M addition. The refinement was the result of solute partitioning to grain boundaries, resulting in a solute drag effect that lowered the growth rates

Effect of Nb and C Additives on the Microstructures and Magnetic Properties of Rapidly Solidified Sm-Co Alloys

Highly coercive Sm-Co-based permanent magnets have been achieved through simple modification of binary Sm12Co88 alloys with Nb, C or combined Nb and C at concentrations ranging from 1 to 10 atomic percent processed via rapid solidification. Melt spinning at 40 m/s resulted in the formation of the metastable TbCu7-type structure in all alloys. While the unalloyed, as-solidified Sm12Co88 alloy displayed a coercivity of 0.5 kOe, alloying additions resulted in a systematic and profound increase in coercivity. Nb additions resulted in as-solidified coercivities up to 9 kOe, C additions up to 37 kOe, and combined NbC additons 8 kOe. The Nb and NbC additions led to a reduction in grain size, while C additions altered the morphology, producing a grain-boundary phase that effectively isolated the magnetic grains from one another. The magnetization processes for Nb- and NbC-modified Sm–Co were determined to be nucleation-controlled, while a transition to pinning-controlled magnetization was observed for the C-modified alloy

Sources of unburned carbon in the fly ash produced from low-NOx pulverized coal combustion

Journal ArticleThe unburned carbon in the fly ash produced from low-NOx pulverized coal combustion is shown to consist of a mixture of soot and coal char. The soot was identified by the presence of chains or aggregates of 10-50-nm-diameter primary particles in electron microscope images of both laboratory samples and a sample of fly ash from a power plant operating low-NOx burners. Laboratory samples showed increasing carbon content with decreasing nitrogen oxide (NOx) concentration. The experiments included a high-NOx base case and four low-NOx cases consisting of (1) staged combustion with short (0.5 s) residence time, (2) staged combustion with long (1.5 s) residence time, (3) a low-NOx burner with slow mixing, and (4) reburning using coal as the reburning fuel. Comparison of the base case that used premixed coal and air with the long-residence-time staged combustion case shows a decrease in the NOx from over 900 ppm to below 200 ppm and an increase in the carbon in the ash from 4% to over 30%. The fly ash from staged combustion was a mixture of large soot aggregates, porous char, and spherical particles of mineral ash, whereas the ash from reburning lacked the large aggregates. For all laboratory conditions, the carbon content in the particle fraction with an aerodynamic diameter over 10 lm was higher than in the 1-2.5- lm-diameter fraction. Both soot aggregates and char contributed to the high carbon in the large particle fraction. The difference in carbon burnout between the two staging conditions was consistent with published soot oxidation rates. Both char burnout and soot formation need to be considered in studies of the carbon content of pulverized coal fly ash

Anomalous Eutectic Microstructures in Mg-Al Structural Alloy Prepared by Rapid Solidification

Magnesium is the lightest engineering metal 1 However, conventional Mg alloys typically suffer from low strength and poor deformability due to very few slip systems and easy twinning 3 Alloying Mg with other materials and microstructural engineering are promising approaches to increase ductility and strength of Mg In the current work, non equilibrium solidification conditions were applied to induce a transition from regular to anomalous eutectic in Mg Al eutectic alloy such that four distinguished microstructures were acquired and the corresponding formation mechanisms were investigate

Magnetic behavior of Sm-Co-based permanent magnets during order/disorder phase transformations

The structural transformation from the metastable disordered TbCu7-type SmCo7 structure to the equilibrium ordered Th2Zn17-type Sm2Co17 structure was revealed by x-ray diffraction analysis using Reitveld refinement. The magnetic properties depended strongly on the stage of the transformation, as the coercivity strongly depended on the annealing temperature. The as-solidified alloy in the TbCu7-type structure had a coercivity of 4 kOe, which increased to greater than 9 kOe. The coercivity decreased to around 5 kOe as the transformation neared completion upon annealing at higher temperatures. The magnetization processes were also strongly influenced by the structural state. Initially it was totally controlled by nucleation followed by the domain wall pinning-controlled magnetization process

Texture formation in FePt thin films via thermal stress management

The transformation variant of the fcc to fct transformation in FePt thin films was tailored by controlling the stresses in the thin films, thereby allowing selection of in- or out-of-plane c-axis orientation. FePt thin films were deposited at ambient temperature on several substrates with differing coefficients of thermal expansion relative to the FePt, which generated thermal stresses during the ordering heat treatment. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed preferential out-of-plane c-axis orientation for FePt films deposited on substrates with a similar coefficients of thermal expansion, and random orientation for FePt films deposited on substrates with a very low coefficient of thermal expansion, which is consistent with theoretical analysis when considering residual stresses

Magnetic behavior of Sm-Co-based permanent magnets during order/disorder phase transformations

The structural transformation from the metastable disordered TbCu7-type SmCo7 structure to the equilibrium ordered Th2Zn17-type Sm2Co17 structure was revealed by x-ray diffraction analysis using Reitveld refinement. The magnetic properties depended strongly on the stage of the transformation, as the coercivity strongly depended on the annealing temperature. The as-solidified alloy in the TbCu7-type structure had a coercivity of 4 kOe, which increased to greater than 9 kOe. The coercivity decreased to around 5 kOe as the transformation neared completion upon annealing at higher temperatures. The magnetization processes were also strongly influenced by the structural state. Initially it was totally controlled by nucleation followed by the domain wall pinning-controlled magnetization process

Rapidly Solidified Rare-Earth Permanent Magnets: Processing, Properties, and Applications

Rapidly solidified rare-earth-based permanent magnets are considered to have better potential as permanent magnets compared to the conventional bulk materials, which can be attributed to their improved microstructure and better magnetic properties compared to rare-earth magnets synthesized by the conventional (powder metallurgy) routes. The performance (quality) of these magnets depends on the thermodynamics and kinetics of the different processing routes, such as atomization, melt spinning, and melt extraction. Here, we review the various processing routes of rapidly solidified rare-earth permanent magnets and the related properties and applications. In the review, some specific alloy systems, such as Sm–Co-based alloys, Nd–Fe–B, and interstitially modified Fe-rich rare-earth magnets are discussed in detail mentioning their processing routes and subsequently achieved crystal structure, microstructure and magnetic properties, and the related scopes for various applications. Some newly developed nanocomposites and thin-film magnets are also included in the discussion

Directional annealing-induced texture in melt-spun (Sm\u3csub\u3e12\u3c/sub\u3eCo\u3csub\u3e88\u3c/sub\u3e)\u3csub\u3e99\u3c/sub\u3eNb\u3csub\u3e1\u3c/sub\u3e alloy

Developing texture in nanocrystalline permanent magnet alloys is of significant importance. Directional annealing is shown to produce texture in the permanent magnet alloy (Sm12Co88)99Nb1. Melt spinning produced isotropic grain structures of the hard magnetic metastable SmCo7 phase, with grain sizes of ∼300 nm. Conventional annealing of melt-spun (Sm12Co88)99Nb1 alloy produced Sm2Co17 phase with random crystallographic orientation. Directional annealing of melt-spun (Sm12Co88)99Nb1 alloy, with appropriate combinations of annealing temperature and translational velocity, produced Sm2Co17 phase with (0 0 0 6) in-plane texture, as determined by x-ray diffraction analysis and magnetic measurements. The magnetization results show out-of-plane remanence higher than the in-plane remanence resulting in the degree of ‘magnetic’ texture in the order of 25–40%. Coercivity values above 2 kOe were maintained. The texture development via directional annealing while minimizing exposure to elevated temperatures provides a new route to anisotropic high-energy permanent magnets