High temperature dispersion strengthening of NiAl

A potential high temperature strengthening mechanism for alloys based on the intermetallic compound NiAl was investigated. This study forms part of an overall program at NASA Lewis Research Center for exploring the potential of alloys based on NiAl for high temperature applications. An alloy containing 2.26 at% Nb and produced by hot extrusion of blended powders was examined in detail using optical and electron microscopy. Interdiffusion between the blended Nb and NiAl powders results in the formation of intermediate phases. A fine dispersion of precipitates of a hexagonal, ordered NiAlNb phases in a matrix of NiAl can be produced and this results in strengthening of the alloy by interfering with dislocation motion at high temperature. These precipitates are, however, found to coarsen during the high temperature (1300 K) deformation at slow strain rates and this may impose some limitatioins on the use of this strengthening mechanism

Compressive creep behavior of alloys based on B2 FeAl

Alloys based on FeAl are attractive alternate materials for environmental resistance at intermediate temperatures. Addition of small amounts of Nb, Hf, Ta, Mo, Zr, and B were shown to improve the compressive creep of this alloy at 1100 K. Boron, in particular, was found to have a synergistic effect along with Zr in providing properties substantially better than the binary alloy. This improvement seems to be related to the higher activation energy found for this alloy, suggesting a modification in the diffusion behavior due to the alloying additions

High temperature properties of equiatomic FeAl with ternary additions

The aluminide intermetallic compounds are considered potential structural materials for aerospace applications. The B2 binary aluminide FeAl has a melting point in excess of 1500 K, is of simple cubic structure, exits over a wide range of composition with solubility for third elements and is potentially self-protecting in extreme environments. The B2 FeAl compound has been alloyed with 1 to 5 at % ternary additions of Si, Ti, Zr, Hf, Cr, Ni, Co, Nb, Ta, Mo, W, and Re. The alloys were prepared by blending a third elemental powder with prealloyed binary FeAl powder. Consolidation was by hot extrusion at 1250 K. Annealing studies on the extruded rods showed that the third element addition can be classified into three categories based upon the amount of homogenization and the extent of solid solutioning. Constant strain rate compression tests were performed to determine the flow stress as a function of temperature and composition. The mechanical strength behavior was dependent upon the third element homogenization classification

Development of Course Modules for Materials Experiments

Recent U.S. government-sponsored studies of the decline of international competitiveness have reported that one of the most severe problems is the lack of education of future engineers in synthesis and processing of advanced engineered materials. In response, the National Science Foundation has made awards 6 universities to develop materials processing course materials for improving processing education. Iowa State University is among those selected

Alloys based on NiAl for high temperature applications

The NiAl alloys for potential high temperature applications were studied. Alloys were prepared by powder metallurgy techniques. Flow stress values at slow strain rates and high temperatures were measured. Some ternary alloying additions (Hf, Ta and Nb) were identified. The mechanism of strengthening in alloys containing these additions appears to be a form of particle dislocation interaction. The effects of grain size and stoichiometry in binary alloys are also presented

Dynamics of scalar dissipation in isotropic turbulence: a numerical and modelling study

The physical mechanisms underlying the dynamics of the dissipation of passive scalar fluctuations with a uniform mean gradient in stationary isotropic turbulence are studied using data from direct numerical simulations (DNS), at grid resolutions up to 5123. The ensemble-averaged Taylor-scale Reynolds number is up to about 240 and the Schmidt number is from ⅛ to 1. Special attention is given to statistics conditioned upon the energy dissipation rate because of their important role in the Lagrangian spectral relaxation (LSR) model of turbulent mixing. In general, the dominant physical processes are those of nonlinear amplification by strain rate fluctuations, and destruction by molecular diffusivity. Scalar dissipation tends to form elongated structures in space, with only a limited overlap with zones of intense energy dissipation. Scalar gradient fluctuations are preferentially aligned with the direction of most compressive strain rate, especially in regions of high energy dissipation. Both the nature of this alignment and the timescale of the resulting scalar gradient amplification appear to be nearly universal in regard to Reynolds and Schmidt numbers. Most of the terms appearing in the budget equation for conditional scalar dissipation show neutral behaviour at low energy dissipation but increased magnitudes at high energy dissipation. Although homogeneity requires that transport terms have a zero unconditional average, conditional molecular transport is found to be significant, especially at lower Reynolds or Schmidt numbers within the simulation data range. The physical insights obtained from DNS are used for a priori testing and development of the LSR model. In particular, based on the DNS data, improved functional forms are introduced for several model coefficients which were previously taken as constants. Similar improvements including new closure schemes for specific terms are also achieved for the modelling of conditional scalar variance

Statistics of pressure and of pressure-velocity correlations in isotropic turbulence

Some pressure and pressure-velocity correlation in a direct numerical simulations of a three-dimensional turbulent flow at moderate Reynolds numbers have been analyzed. We have identified a set of pressure-velocity correlations which posseses a good scaling behaviour. Such a class of pressure-velocity correlations are determined by looking at the energy-balance across any sub-volume of the flow. According to our analysis, pressure scaling is determined by the dimensional assumption that pressure behaves as a ``velocity squared'', unless finite-Reynolds effects are overwhelming. The SO(3) decompositions of pressure structure functions has also been applied in order to investigate anisotropic effects on the pressure scaling.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figur