Effect of Heat Treatments under High Isostatic Pressure on the Transport Critical Current Density at 4.2 K and 20 K in Doped and Undoped MgB2 Wires

Annealing undoped MgB2 wires under high isostatic pressure (HIP) increases transport critical current density (Jtc) by 10% at 4.2 K in range magnetic fields from 4 T to 12 T and significantly increases Jtc by 25% in range magnetic fields from 2 T to 4 T and does not increase Jtc above 4 T at 20 K. Further research shows that a large amount of 10% SiC admixture and thermal treatment under a high isostatic pressure of 1 GPa significantly increases the Jtc by 40% at 4.2 K in magnetic fields above 6 T and reduces Jtc by one order at 20 K in MgB2 wires. Additionally, our research showed that heat treatment under high isostatic pressure is more evident in wires with smaller diameters, as it greatly increases the density of MgB2 material and the number of connections between grains compared to MgB2 wires with larger diameters, but only during the Mg solid-state reaction. In addition, our study indicates that smaller wire diameters and high isostatic pressure do not lead to a higher density of MgB2 material and more connections between grains during the liquid-state Mg reaction

Structure and Mechanical Properties of Transition Group Metals, Alloys, and Intermetallic Compounds

The aim of this Special Issue is to present the latest theoretical and experimental achievements concerning the mechanisms of microstructural change in metallic materials subject to different processing methods, and their effect on mechanical properties. It is my pleasure to present a series of compelling scientific papers written by scientists from the community of transition group metals, alloys, and intermetallic compounds

The Microstructure Evolution of a Fe3Al Alloy during the LENS Process

A Fe3Al intermetallic alloy has been successfully prepared by the laser-engineered net shaping (LENS) process. The applied process parameters were selected to provide various cooling rates during the solidification of the laser-melted material. The macro- and microstructure and the micro- and macrotexture of Fe3Al samples were investigated. The influence of the cooling rate on grain morphology and texture is discussed. For the applied cooling rate range of 0.64 × 104 K/s–2.6 × 104 K/s, the structure is characterized by the presence of columnar grains for which the growth is directed upwards from the substrate. The intensity of the microtexture varies with the height of the sample and the cooling rate. The intensity of the texture increases with the decrease in the cooling rate. The samples that were obtained with low and medium cooling rates are characterized by the well-developed <100> and <111> macrotextures. The Fe3Al alloy that was produced with a high cooling rate did not show a specific texture, which is reflected in the fairly uniform distribution of the normalized density intensity. Only a very weak texture with a <100> type component was observed

The Characterization of Stress Corrosion Cracking in the AE44 Magnesium Casting Alloy Using Quantitative Fractography Methods

In this work an assessment of the susceptibility of the AE44 magnesium alloy to stress corrosion cracking in a 0.1M Na2SO4 environment is presented. The basic assumed criterion for assessing the alloy behavior under complex mechanical and corrosive loads is deterioration in mechanical properties (elongation, reduction in area, tensile strength and time to failure). The AE44 magnesium alloy was subjected to the slow strain rate test (SSR) in air and in a corrosive environment under open circuit potential (OCP) conditions. In each variant, the content of hydrogen in the alloy was determined. The obtained fractures were subjected to a quantitative evaluation by original fractography methods. It was found that under stress corrosion cracking (SCC) conditions and in the presence of hydrogen the mechanical properties of AE44 deteriorated. The change in the mechanical properties under SCC conditions in a corrosive environment was accompanied by the presence of numerous cracks, both on fracture surfaces and in the alloy microstructure. The developed method for the quantitative evaluation of cracks on the fracture surface turned out to be a more sensitive method, enabling the assessment of the susceptibility of AE44 under complex mechanical and corrosive loads in comparison with deterioration in mechanical properties. Mechanical tests showed a decrease in properties after SSRT tests in corrosive environments (UTS ≈ 153 MPa, ε = 11.2%, Z = 4.0%) compared to the properties after air tests (UTS ≈ 166 MPa, ε = 11.9%, Z = 7.8%) but it was not as visible as the results of quantitative assessment of cracks at fractures (number of cracks, length of cracks): after tests in corrosive environment (900; 21.3 μm), after tests in air (141; 34.5 μm). These results indicate that the proposed new proprietary test methodology can be used to quantify the SSC phenomenon in cases of slight changes in mechanical properties after SSRT tests in a corrosive environment in relation to the test results in air

New Aspects of MgH2 Morphological and Structural Changes during High-Energy Ball Milling

Magnesium hydride, despite the decomposition temperature being incompatible with the operating temperature of a typical PEM cell, is still considered a prospective material for hydrogen storage. Hence, this paper presents new aspects of the influence of milling time on the structural changes and temperature of MgH2 decomposition, with particular emphasis on the changes taking place in the first few seconds of the milling process. This paper presents qualitative and quantitative changes in the powder particle morphology determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and infrared particle size analysis (IPS) systems. The crystallographic structure of the powders in the initial state and after mechanical milling was characterized by X-ray diffraction. The decomposition temperature and activation energy were determined by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Changes in the activation energy and decomposition temperature were observed after only 1–2 min of the milling process. Two basic stages of the milling process were distinguished that impacted the MgH2 decomposition temperature, i.e., mechanical activation and a nanostructuring process. The activation was associated with the initial stage of particle size reduction and an increase in the fraction of fresh chemically active powder particle surfaces. On the other hand, the nanostructuring process was related to an additional decrease in the MgH2 decomposition temperature

Severe Plastic Deformation of Fe-22Al-5Cr Alloy by Cross-Channel Extrusion with Back Pressure

A new concept of the cross-channel extrusion (CCE) process under back pressure (BP) was proposed and tested experimentally. The obtained by finite element method (FEM) results showed that a triaxial compression occurred in the central zone, whereas the material was deformed by shearing in the outer zone. This led to the presence of a relatively uniformly deformed outer zone at 1 per pass and a strong deformation of the paraxial zone (3⁻5/pass). An increase in the BP did not substantially affect the accumulated strain but made it more uniform. The FEM results were verified using the physical modeling technique (PMT) by the extrusion of clay billet. The formation of the plane of the strongly flattened, and elongated grains were observed in the extrusion directions. With the increase in the number of passes, the shape of the resulting patterns expanded, indicating an increase in the deformation homogeneity. Finally, these investigations were verified experimentally for Fe-22Al-5Cr (at. %) alloy using of the purposely designed tooling. The effect of the CCE process is the fragmentation of the original material structure by dividing the primary grains. The complexity of the stress state leads to the rapid growth of microshear bands (MSB), grain defragmentation and the nucleation of new dynamically recrystallized grains about 200⁻400 nm size

Characterization of Low-Symmetry Structures from Phase Equilibrium of Fe-Al System—Microstructures and Mechanical Properties

Fe-Al intermetallic alloys with aluminum content over 60 at% are in the area of the phase equilibrium diagram that is considerably less investigated in comparison to the high-symmetry Fe3Al and FeAl phases. Ambiguous crystallographic information and incoherent data referring to the phase equilibrium diagrams placed in a high-aluminum range have caused confusions and misinformation. Nowadays unequivocal material properties description of FeAl2, Fe2Al5 and FeAl3 intermetallic alloys is still incomplete. In this paper, the influence of aluminum content and processing parameters on phase composition is presented. The occurrence of low-symmetry FeAl2, Fe2Al5 and FeAl3 structures determined by chemical composition and phase transformations was defined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) examinations. These results served to verify diffraction investigations (XRD) and to explain the mechanical properties of cast materials such as: hardness, Young’s modulus and fracture toughness evaluated using the nano-indentation technique

Mechanical and Thermal Dehydrogenation of the Mechano-Chemically Synthesized Calcium Alanate (Ca(AlH4)2) and Lithium Chloride (LiCl) Composite

LiAlH4 and CaCl2 were employed for mechano-chemical activation synthesis (MCAS) of Ca(AlH4)2 and LiCl hydride composite. After short ball milling time, their X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks are clearly observed. After ball milling for a longer duration than 0.5 h, the CaAlH5 diffraction peaks are observed which indicates that Ca(AlH4)2 starts decomposing during ball milling into CaAlH5+Al+1.5H2. It is estimated that less than 1 wt % H2 was mechanically dehydrogenated in association with decomposition reaction. After 2.5 h of ball milling, no Ca(AlH4)2 diffraction peaks were observed on XRD patterns which suggests that Ca(AlH4)2 was decomposed. Thermal behavior of ball milled powders, which was investigated by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), indicates that a certain fraction of Ca(AlH4)2 could have been disordered/amorphized during ball milling being undetectable by XRD. The apparent activation energy for the decomposition of Ca(AlH4)2 and CaAlH5 equals 135 kJ/mol and 183 kJ/mol, respectively

Comparison of the Microstructural, Mechanical and Corrosion Resistance Properties of Ti6Al4V Samples Manufactured by LENS and Subjected to Various Heat Treatments

In this paper, the influences of two post-heat treatments on the structural, mechanical and corrosion resistance properties of additively manufactured Ti6Al4V alloys were discussed in detail. The materials were produced using the laser engineering net shaping (LENS) technique, and they were subjected to annealing without pressure and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) under a pressure of 300 MPa for 30 min at temperatures of 950 °C and 1050 °C. Annealing without pressure led to the formation of a thin plate structure, which was accompanied by decreasing mechanical properties and increasing elongation and corrosion resistance values. For the HIP process, the formation of a thick plate structure could be observed, resulting in the material exhibiting optimal mechanical properties and unusually high elongation. The best mechanical and corrosion resistance properties were obtained for the material subjected to HIP at 950 °C