Weldability and machinability of the dissimilar joints of Ti alloy and stainless steel – A review

As two important industrial manufacturing materials, titanium alloys and stainless steel have their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. The field of materials manufacturing has witnessed efforts to develop technical processes that can properly combine these two alloy types, aiming to effectively use their respective advantages. The welding technology for Ti alloy and stainless steel, as a research topic with broad prospects, is comprehensively and deeply analyzed in this review. The current research progress in this field was analyzed from different process perspectives such as fusion welding, brazing, diffusion welding, friction welding, explosive welding and vacuum hot-rolling welding. The results of the review showed that the greatest challenges of fusion welding are low ductility of the material, high residual stress, high cooling rate, and the formation of numerous brittle Ti-Fe intermetallics. By using appropriate intermediate materials between these two materials, the residual stress and brittle intermetallics near the interface of the transition joint can be minimised by solving the thermal expansion mismatch, reducing the bonding temperature and pressure, and suppressing the diffusion of elements such as Ti and Fe.

Extraction of Al from Coarse Al–Si Alloy by The Selective Liquation Method

A selective liquation process to extract Al from a coarse Al–Si alloy, produced by carbothermal reduction, was investigated on the laboratory scale. The products obtained by selective liquation–vacuum distillation were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy. During the selective liquation process with the use of zinc as the solvent, the pure aluminum in the coarse Al–Si alloy dissolved in the zinc melt to form an α-solid solution with zinc, and most of the silicon and iron-rich phases and Al–Si–Fe intermetallics precipitated and grew into massive grains that entered into the slag and separated with the Zn–Al alloy melt. However, some fine silicon particles remained in the Zn–Al alloy. Thus, Al–Si alloys conforming to industrial application standards were obtained when the Zn–Al alloys were separated by a distillation process.

The Effects of Iron-Bearing Intermetallics on the Fitness-for-Service Performance of a Rare-Earth-Modified A356 Alloy for Next Generation Automotive Powertrains

Aimed at improving the tensile strength and creep resistance of a rare earth-modified A356 alloy, this study adjusted the Mg and Mn concentration in the alloy, specifically aiming to transform the harmful Al5FeSi and Al9FeSi3Mg5 phase into Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2. It was found that lowering the Mg concentration from 0.49 to 0.25 wt.% and raising the Mn concentration from 0.10 to 0.41 wt.% resulted in a near complete transformation of the Fe-bearing phases. This transformation led to a greater total volume fraction of Fe-intermetallics (2.9 to 4.1%), without affecting the volume fraction of the desirable, temperature-resistant, AlSiRE phase. Moreover, the chemistry modification led to a shift in the morphology of the AlSiRE phase while reducing its size. Combined with the decreased volume fraction of the harmful Fe precipitates, the chemistry modification improved the yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and modulus of elasticity by ~14%, 9%, and 10%, respectively. In addition, the steady-state creep rates of the high Mn alloy were lower at all stresses as compared to the low Mn alloy and the fracture stress was ~15 MPa higher, reaching 100% of the alloy’s original 250 °C YS.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of laser welded titanium alloy and stainless steel joint with composite interlayer

In this work, TA2/T2 was used as a composite interlayer to prevent the formation of brittle Ti-Fe intermetallics when joining TC4 Ti alloy to 304 stainless steel. The TA2/T2 (commercially pure Ti and Cu) composite interlayer was prepared by explosive welding. The laser was focused on the TC4-TA2 interface, which joined the TC4 and TA2 by fusion welding. At the TC4-TA2 interface, a weld zone was formed due to the mixing of molten TC4 and TA2. The laser was also focused on the T2-304 stainless steel interface, a weld zone was formed due to the mixing of molten T2 and 304 stainless steel. Composite interlayer TA/T2 was used not only to prevent the formation of Ti-Fe intermetallics during welding but also to improve microstructure and properties of the stainless steel–Ti alloy joint. The joint fractured at the TA2/T2 explosive welding interface with a maximum tensile strength of 428 MPa.

Influence of Mn and TiB2 on the Microstructural Evolution of the Primary α-Al Grains and Fe Containing Intermetallic in the Wrought Al-Mg-Si Alloy

The most popular aluminium alloy used for the automotive applications is the wrought-Al alloy, where its popularity arises from its intrinsic characteristics such as, excellent formability, crash resistance, corrosion resistance and excellent specific strength. In the coming decades the use of aluminium alloys is expected to increase within automotive and aerospace industries, where this will source for an upsurge in Al recycling. Problems arise during Al recycling, where there is a steady build-up of Fe content, as this is recognised as being an impurity element. Fe has very little solubility in Al in its solid state and precipitation of these Fe intermetallics (IMC), in the Al matrix decrease mechanical properties, due to the Fe IMC brittle nature. These Fe-rich IMC also have very little cohesion to the Al matrix and can separate from the Al matrix resulting in the development of voids, where the initiation of microcracks becomes ostensible when subjected to thermomechanical processing. In order to curtail the damaging effect of the Fe IMC it so of importance to alter the nucleation and growth characteristic of the Fe rich IMC during solidification. Addition of trace elements and the manipulation of cooling rates have shown to be an effective technique to alter the Fe IMC morphology. In order observe the morphological evolution of the Fe IMC, various experiments were conducted using Al-1Si-1Mg-1Fe alloy with the addition of Mn and TiB2-based commercial grain refiner. Microstructural analysis of the primary α-Al and Fe IMC are observed and the morphological evolution of the Fe IMC is analysed with respects to the addition of Mn and TiB2. How the addition of these trace elements influence the growth characteristics and chemistry of the Al melt is also presented in this work.

Crack Initiation Mechanism in Casting AC4B Aluminum Alloy Parts with Complex Structure

Hot tears were frequently formed in Aluminum (Al) parts with complex structure. In this study, OM (optical microscope), SEM (scanning electron microscope), EDS (energy dispersive spectrometer), and FDM (finite difference method) were used to reveal the hot tears mechanisms in the casted AC4B Al engine. Shrinkage porosities with the size of 300–500 μm were found in casted specimens near the parts’ surface. Many cracked brittle Fe-bearing phase were also found in crack section. The secondary dendrite arm spacing observation in five typical positions showed that the cooling rate in position 5 was faster than that in position 1. The impropriety solidification sequence in position 5 and position 1 impeded the solidification feeding of position 1, and it might lead to casting defects or even casting cracks. Numerical simulation also showed that solidification sequence promoted casting defects, which was accordant with microstructure observation. Impurity may concentrate at position 5 during filling. It is concluded that large β-Fe intermetallics and improper solidification sequence together contributed to crack initiation in the engine.

Intrinsically weak magnetic anisotropy of cerium in potential hard-magnetic intermetallics

Cerium-based intermetallics are currently attracting much interest as a possible alternative to existing high-performance magnets containing scarce heavy rare-earth elements. However, the intrinsic magnetic properties of Ce in these systems are poorly understood due to the difficulty of a quantitative description of the Kondo effect, a many-body phenomenon where conduction electrons screen out the Ce-4f moment. Here, we show that the Ce-4f shell in Ce–Fe intermetallics is partially Kondo screened. The Kondo scale is dramatically enhanced by nitrogen interstitials suppressing the Ce-4f contribution to the magnetic anisotropy, in striking contrast to the effect of nitrogenation in isostructural intermetallics containing other rare-earth elements. We determine the full temperature dependence of the Ce-4f single-ion anisotropy and show that even unscreened Ce-4f moments contribute little to the room-temperature intrinsic magnetic hardness. Our study thus establishes fundamental constraints on the potential of cerium-based permanent magnet intermetallics.

Microstructure of Al-2.5Fe Binary Alloy Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion

In the present study, microstructural and crystallographic features of an Al-Fe binary alloy with a near eutectic composition (Al-2.5wt%Fe) fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process were examined. The LPBF processing for the Al-Fe alloy powder was conducted at room temperature using a 3D Systems ProX 200 operating at a laser power of 204 W and a laser scan speed of 0.6 m/s and 0.8 m/s to fabricate cube samples with high relative density above 99 %. The fabricated sample exhibited characteristic microstructure consisting of a number of melt pools in which the regions had locally melted and rapidly solidified by laser irradiation during the LPBF process. Numerous fine particles of Al-Fe intermetallics with a mean size below 100 nm were found within the α-Al matrix in the observed melt pools, whereas relatively coarsened particles were localized around melt pool boundaries. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analyses revealed a number of columnar a-Al grains with a mean size of approximately 10 μm. The LPBF-fabricated Al-Fe alloy exhibits a high hardness of approximately 90 HV, which is more than twice higher than the conventionally casted Al-Fe alloy.