Effect of La Doping on Microstructure and Critical Current Density of MgB2
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×××对×××合金铸态组织的影响张三1,李四2,王五1,2(1.××大学材料科学与工程学院,湖南长沙,410083;2.××大学××学院,湖南长沙,410083)摘要:××××××。
(按方法、结果、结论的要求写,要详细、具体)关键词:×××;×××;×××(3个或3个以上)中图分类号:TG146.2+1 文献标志码:A 文章编号:1672-7207(2010)Effect of×××on as-cast microstructure of×××alloyZHANG San ,LI Si,WANG Wu(1.School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;2. School of ××,××University, Changsha 410083, China)Abstract:×××(与中文摘要相对应;用被动语态,研究过程用过去时,研究结果和结论用现在时).Key words:×××(与中文关健词相对应)××××××(正文)一.在论文首页地脚处标注:收稿日期:基 金项目:国家“973”重点基础研究发展规划项目(×××××××(即项目号))通信作者:张三(1968-),男,湖南××人,教授,博士,从事×××研究;电话:×××;E-mail: ×××二.文中图、表举例(注:图题、表题的中英文应对照):表1制备TiO x薄膜的工艺参数Table 1Preparing process parameters of TiO x film样品编号氩气流量/(mL∙min−1)氧气流量/(mL∙min−1)溅射功率/W总气压/Pa沉积速率/(nm∙min−1)1 100 0 300 0.70 25.602 973 300 0.69 23.303 95 5 300 0.68 38.544 93 7 300 0.68 3.285 90 10 300 0.66 5.006 80 20 300 0.62 4.507 70 30 300 0.59 3.80图1 沉积速率随氧气流量的变化Fig.1 Variation of deposition rate on oxygen flow-0.20.00.20.40.60.81.01.21.41.61.82.02.22.4-202468101214a 54321P /k N 位移/m m -0.20.00.20.40.60.81.01.21.41.61.82.02.2100200300400500b 52143P /N 位移/m m(a)-垂直抗压;(b)—Ⅰ抗弯 1—未经热处理; 2—HTT,1 600℃; 3—HTT,2 000℃;4—HTT,2 200℃;5—HTT,2 400℃图2 Ⅰ试样不同热处理温度下的应力-位移曲线Fig.1 Stress-displacement curves of three kinds of C/C under different HTTs……三.参考文献举例:[1] Fang J H, Lu X M, Zhang X F. CdSe/TiO 2 nanocrystalline solar cells[J]. Superamolecularm Science, 1998, 5(5/6):709−711.[2] 王鹤, 杨宏, 于化丛, 等. 单晶硅太阳电池纳米减反射膜的研究[J]. 固体电子学研究与进展, 2003, 23(3): 316−319.WANG He, YANG Hong, YU Hua-cong, et al. The experimental study on nanometer antireflection coating used in single crystalline silicon solar cells[J]. Research & Progress of Solid State Electronics, 2003, 23(3): 316−319.[3] 尹荔松, 谭敏, 陈永平, 等. La 掺杂对纳米TiO 2薄膜晶体结构和光催化性能的影响[J]. 中南大学学报: 自然科学版,2008, 39(4): 665−670.YIN Li-song, TAN Min, CHEN Yong-ping, et al. Effect of La doping on crystal structure and photocatalytic properties of TiO 2 thin film[J]. Journal of Central South University: Science and Technology, 2008, 39(4): 665−670.[4] ZHAO Lei, LIAN Jian-she. Effect of substrate temperature on structural properties and photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 thinfilms[J]. Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China, 2007, 17(4): 772−776..……。
TiAlCN涂层界面扩散机理与结合强度孔德军;付贵忠;郭皓元【摘要】利用阴极弧离子镀在Cr12MoV钢表面制备了TiAlCN涂层,通过扫描电镜(SEM)、能量分散光谱法(EDS)、X射线衍射术(XRD)等手段分析了TiAlCN涂层的表面-界面形貌、化学元素分布和物相特性,并对其界面结合机理进行了探讨.结果表明,Al原子第一电离能低于Ti原子,容易从靶材上气化电离出来沉积在基体上,使得涂层中Al元素含量较高;涂层中TiN、AlN和AlTiN为硬质相,其中涂层中高含量的Al原子有利于提高抗磨损性能,无定形C原子有利于降低摩擦系数;Ti、Al、C、N等原子在涂层中产生富集现象,在结合界面处发生扩散,是形成冶金结合的主要机制.另外,用划痕法测得涂层界面结合强度为76.9N,具有较高的抗剥落能力.文中的结果为TiAlCN涂层在冷作模具表面改性处理中的应用提供了实验基础.【期刊名称】《光学精密工程》【年(卷),期】2014(022)005【总页数】7页(P1260-1266)【关键词】TiAlCN涂层;阴极弧离子镀;线扫描;面扫描;结合强度【作者】孔德军;付贵忠;郭皓元【作者单位】常州大学机械工程学院,江苏常州213016;常州大学机械工程学院,江苏常州213016;常州大学机械工程学院,江苏常州213016【正文语种】中文【中图分类】TB431 引言过渡金属氮化物涂层通常采用电弧离子镀和物理气相沉积(Physical Vapor Deposition,PVD)方法制备,这类涂层包括TiN、Cr N、Cr CN、Al-TiN等。
TiN涂层的最高工作温度为500℃,硬度达到2 200 Hv[1],与钢的摩擦系数为0.6,由于其抗氧化温度不高,只能在普通的工作温度下使用,因此,TiN涂层正逐渐被性能更好的Al-TiN涂层所取代。
Al TiN涂层的抗氧化温度高达800℃,硬度达到3 300 Hv,可满足较高工作温度的要求,但由于Al元素的加入提高了Al-TiN涂层的摩擦系数[2],与钢的摩擦系数上升至0.7,会加剧涂层的磨损。
Effect of Laser Welding Process Parameters on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties on Butt Joint of New Hot-Rolled Nano-scale Precipitation-Strengthened SteelMin Zhang •Xiaonan Wang •Guangjiang Zhu •Changjun Chen •Jixin Hou •Shunhu Zhang •Hemin JingReceived:3April 2014/Revised:11May 2014ÓThe Chinese Society for Metals and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014Abstract A 4kW fiber laser was chosen to weld the new hot-rolled nano-scale precipitation-strengthened steel with a thickness of 4.5mm.The effect of laser power,defocusing distance,and welding speed on the welded joint appearance was examined,and the microstructure and mechanical properties on the typical butt joints were investigated.Results showed that increasing laser welding power may cause faster downward flow of molten metal to produce greater root humping.With the welding speed increasing,the average welding seam (WS)width decreased,and the average WS and heat-affected zone (HAZ)hardness increased.The microstructures of WS,fusion line,and coarse grain heat-affected zone were lath martensite,but the growth direction of the original austenite grain boundaries was significantly different.The microstructures of fine grain heat-affected zone were ferrite and martensite,and the microstructure of mixed grain heat-affected zone contained ferrite,massive M/A island,and a small amount of martensite.The micro-hardness values of WS,HAZ,and base metal (BM)were 358,302,and 265HV,respectively.The butt joint fracture at the BM far from the WS and the welded joint tensile strength are observed to follow proportional relationship with hardness.KEY WORDS:Laser welding;Microstructure;Mechanical properties;Microalloyed steel1IntroductionHot-rolled advanced high-strength steels have received high attention due to the continuing need for vehicle weightreduction and improved safety due to their high strength and ductility [1,2].Hot-rolled high-strength steel is com-monly referred to hot-rolled dual phase,hot-rolled bainitic steel,hot-rolled transformation-induced plasticity,complex phase steel,nano-scale precipitation-strengthened steel [3–5],and martensitic steels which are characterized as steels with a yield strength [300MPa and a tensile strength [600MPa [6].In general,the design idea of the chemical composition of nano-scale precipitation-strengthened steel is mostly adopted,and single or combined microalloy elements such as Mo,Cr,Ni,Nb,V,Ti,etc.are added,which play the role of the grain refinement and precipita-tion strengthening;the microstructure of nano-scale pre-cipitation-strengthened steel is mainly 2–5l m ferrite grain and \20nm microalloy carbonitride in ferrite matrix.700MPa grade hot-rolled ultra-high strength steel is one of the typical nano-scale precipitation-strengthened steel,namely nano-scale precipitation-strengthened steel (NPS steel)[7,8].The strengthening mechanism of the NPS steelAvailable online at /journal/40195M.Zhang ÁC.ChenLaser Processing Research Center,School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering,Soochow University,Suzhou 215021,ChinaX.Wang (&)ÁJ.Hou ÁS.ZhangShagang School of Iron and Steel,Soochow University,Suzhou 215021,China e-mail:wxn@G.Zhu ÁH.JingSchool of Materials Science &Engineering,Anhui University of Technology,Ma’ansha 243002,ChinaActa Metall.Sin.(Engl.Lett.)DOI 10.1007/s40195-014-0081-zinclude grain refinement strengthening,precipitation strengthening,solid solution strengthening,dislocation strengthening and transformation strengthening,andfine microstructure and a large number of\10nm dispersed (Nb,Ti)C precipitates were obtained,so the NPS steel had excellent mechanical properties and formability.The NPS steels have been successfully used for heavy-duty truck frame and carriage[9].However,the NPS steel belongs to ultra-fine grain steel,the microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joint showed large gradient changes with conventional CO2gas-shielded welding,and fatigue fracture was easily generated in the actual application pro-cess[7].Laser beam has the advantage of high brightness,high directivity,high color,high spatial coherence,etc.,and power density can be up to106W/mm2[10].Compared with the conventional welding technology,laser welding technology has the following advantages:deeper penetra-tion,narrower HAZ,better quality of welded joints,and higher production efficiency[11–14].In the present study, 4.5-mm-thick NPS steels were welded by4kWfiber laser welding,and the laser welding parameters,microstructure,and mechanical properties of the welded joint were studied.Finally,the optimal laser welding process was obtained,and the microstructure and mechanical properties of the optimal welded joints were gradient changed.2Experimental Procedure2.1MaterialIn the present welding experiment,an NPS steel with a thickness of4.5mm was chosen as the welding material. The experimental steel was hot rolled to4.5mm thickness after7passes rolling on the/450two-roll hot-rolling reversing mill.The chemical composition(wt%)and mechanical properties of the experimental steel are shown in Tables1and2.2.2Laser Welding ProcessThe experiments were carried out by a continuous-wavefiber laser(IPG YLS-4000)with a maximum power of4kW,and the laser welding head was mounted on a robotic arm (KUKA KR30HA).The spot diameter of the laser beam was 0.78mm with a focal length of300mm.The ultra-high argon(Ar)was selected as the shielding gas with theflow rate of0.9m3/h.In order to obtain the better laser welding quality quickly and use less material,parameters such as laser power (P),the welding speed(v),and defocusing distance(D f)were chosen to change.The welding parameters used during the experiments are given in Table3.2.3Morphologic ObservationAfter thefiber laser welding,typical cross sections of the samples were cut by electro-discharge machining.Then,the samples were polished and etched with4%nital before being examined by the optical microscope(Carl Zeiss Axio Vert. A1)and the scanning electron microscope(FEI Quanta600).2.4Measurement of Mechanical PropertiesThe micro-hardness of thefiber laser welding joint was performed by micro-hardness tester(HV-1000IS)using a diamond indenter at room temperature of25°C.The micro-hardness gauge was HV,the multiplying power of the objective lens was409,the force was1.961N,and the holding time of the force was10s.The transverse tests were conducted using a universal tensile testing machine(RGM-4100)operated with a crosshead speed of3mm/min.3Results and Discussion3.1Effect of Processing Parameters on Butt JointAppearancesMany important factors can be used to reflect thefiber laser welding quality[15,16].A good welding quality can beTable1Chemical compositions of experimental steel(wt%)C Si Mn P S Al Ti Nb Fe0.1050.20 1.950.0150.0150.050.120.06Bal.Table2Mechanical properties of the experimental steelYield strength(MPa)Tensile strength(MPa)Elongation(%) 66073020Table3Parameters used in the laser welding experiments No.1–7 ser powerP(kW)Welding speed m(m/min)Defocusing distanceD f(mm)1 2.5 1.2-22 3.0 1.2-23 3.5 1.2-24 3.0 1.5-25 3.0 1.8-26 3.0 1.2-37 3.0 1.20M.Zhang et al.:Acta Metall.Sin.(Engl.Lett.)reflected directly from external features,such as the width of the welded butt joint,the penetration depth,the smoothness of the surface appearances,and so on [17].Figure 1shows the surface appearances and cross section images of butt joints at different laser welding powers (P )at a welding speed (v )of 1.2m/min and defocusing distance (D f )of -2mm.When the P is 2.5kW,the neg-ative sides of the fiber laser welding seam (WS)are not in the full penetration statuses,the white arrows zone is incomplete penetration zone (Fig.1a,b,c),and porosity is generated in the WS (Fig.1c).Porosity deteriorates the mechanical properties of welded joints and should be inhibited.These inferior appearances indicate that the laser power may be low and,therefore,should be improved.When the P is 3.0or 3.5kW,the negative sides of the fiber laser WS are in the full penetration statuses (Fig.1d,e,g,h)and there is no porosity in WS (Fig.1f,i).However,comparing Fig.1f with Fig.1i,it can be found that a higher root humping at P of 3.5kW.Laser welding heat input (E )was calculated based on the following equation [18]:E ¼Pv Âd;ð1Þwhere d is the focused laser beam diameter on the sample surface.With increasing of the laser welding,power results in increasing of laser welding line energy and causes adecrease in weld solidification growth rate and cooling rate [18],and the microstructure is obviously coarsened,and the mechanical properties are deteriorated [19].In addition,improving laser welding power may cause faster downward flow of molten metal to produce greater root humping [20].Therefore,to achieve full penetration without defects welded joint of the 4.5-mm-thick NPS steel,the laser power of 3.0kW is preferred.Figure 2shows the surface appearances and cross section images of butt joints at different welding speeds at a laser welding power of 3.0kW and defocusing distance (D f )of -2mm.Full penetration welded joints are achieved at welding speed of 1.2m/min (Fig.2a,b,c),and partial penetration welded joints are obtained at welding speeds of 1.5and 1.8m/min (Fig.2d,e,f,g,h).Moreover,at welding speed of 1.2m/min,the WS widths on the positive and negative surfaces are narrow and uniform.Hence,decrease in the welding speed results in an increase in the penetration depth.According to Eq.(1),decreasing of the welding speed can effectively increase laser welding line energy and improve the penetration [20–22].Therefore,the welding speed of 1.2m/min is determined.Defocusing distance is generally defined as the distance between the focal plane and the specimen surface.According to Eq.(1),the value of defocusing distance determines the spot size and the power density ontheFig.1Typical surface positive and negative appearances (PA and NA)and cross section images of butt joints welded at v =1.2m/min,D f =-2mm,and P ranging from 2.5to 3.5kW:a PA at P of 2.5kW;b NA at P of 2.5kW;c cross section at P of 2.5kW;d PA at P of 3.0kW;e NA at P of 3.0kW;f cross section at P of 3.0kW;g PA at P of 3.0kW;h the NA at P of 3.5kW;i cross section at P of 3.5kWM.Zhang et al .:Acta Metall.Sin.(Engl.Lett.)specimen surface,and also plays an important role in the WS quality [17].Figure 3shows the surface appearances and cross section images of butt joints at different defo-cusing distances (D f )at a laser welding power (P )3.0kW and welding speed (v )of 1.2m/min.Partial penetration welded joints are achieved at defocusing distance of -3mm (Fig.3a,b,c),and full penetration welded joints are achieved without defects at defocusing distance ofFig.2Typical surface appearances and cross section images of butt joints welded at P =3.0kW,D f =-2mm,and v ranging from 1.2to 1.8m/min:a PA at v of 1.2m/min;b NA at v of 1.2m/min;c cross section at v of 1.2m/min;d PA at v of 1.5m/min;e NA at v of 1.5m/min;f cross section at v of 1.5m/min;g PA at v of 1.8m/min;h NA at v of 1.8m/min;i cross section at v of 1.8m/minFig.3Typical surface appearances and cross section images of butt joints welded at P =3.0kW,v =1.2m/min,and D f ranging from 0mm to -3mm:a PA at D f of -3mm;b NA at D f of -3mm;c cross section at D f of -3mm;d PA at D f of -2mm;e NA at D f of -2mm;f cross section at D f of -2mm;g PA at D f of 0mm;h NA at D f of 0mm;i cross section at D f of 0mmM.Zhang et al .:Acta Metall.Sin.(Engl.Lett.)and -2mm (Fig.3d,e,f,g,h,i).Defocusing distance is a key parameter in high power fiber laser welding of stainless steel.Since the welding quality of welded joint is the best when the defocusing distance is a negative value [21],the defocusing distance of -2mm is the best value for 4.5-mm-thick NPS steel.From the above experimental results,it can be found that the most appropriate fiber laser welding parameter combination can be described as follows:the laser power is 3.0kW,the welding speed is 1.2m/min,and the defo-cusing distance is -2mm.3.2Microstructure Evolution and MechanicalProperties of Butt Joint 3.2.1Microstructure EvolutionFigure 4shows the microstructure of laser welding butt joint of NPS steel.The butt joint consists of WS,FL-HAZ,and base metal (BM);the HAZ contained three different regions,namely CG-HAZ,FG-HAZ,and mixed grain heat-affected zone (MG-HAZ),as shown in Fig.4a.The width of laser welding HAZ is only 0.6–1mm,far lessthanFig.4Microstructure of different zones in laser welding butt joint:a OM image of butt joint;b SEM image of WS;c SEM image of CG-HAZ;d SEM image of FG-HAZ;e SEM image of MG-HAZ;f SEM image of BMM.Zhang et al .:Acta Metall.Sin.(Engl.Lett.)conventional CO 2gas-shielded welding HAZ width of 4–5mm [7].The microstructure of BM is mainly ferrite (F)with average grain size of 3–4l m,and a small amount of pearlite (P)and a large number of grain boundary carbides (Fig.4f).The microstructure of MG-HAZ consists of fer-rite,massive M/A island,and a small amount of lath martensite (LM);the average grain sizes of ferrite and M/A island are 3–4and 0.8–1.2l m,respectively (Fig.4e).The microstructure of FG-HAZ is composed of tiny ferrite (F)and a certain amount of LM,and the average grain size of ferrite is 1.5–2.5l m (Fig.4d).Although the micro-structural constituent of WS,FL,and CG-HAZ is LM (Fig.4b,c),the growth direction of original austenite grain boundaries (OAGB)is significantly different.The direction of OAGB in WS and FL has obvious directional charac-teristics,whereas the direction of OAGB in CG-HAZ tends to be straight.The continuous cooling transformation diagram of BMs shows that the butt joint microstructure,depending on the cooling rate,could contain a combination of grain bound-ary ferrite,pearlite,acicular ferrite,bainite,and martensite [4,8].During fiber laser welding,the metal of WS is liq-uefied,then c -Fe is formed with solidification process,and then LM is obtained due to extremely fast cooling rate.Since the fact that the distance from the center of the WS is different,the thermal cycle experiences (the peak temper-ature and cooling rate)of BM are also different.Figure 5shows schematic illustration of CG-HAZ and FG-HAZ microstructure evolution induced by laser welding.For FL and CG-HAZ,the BM near the WS had a high peak tem-perature (greater than the austenitic coarsening tempera-ture),so the original microstructure is completely austenized (Fig.5a).In the subsequent cooling process,since the cooling rates are extremely high (2,000–3,000°C/s)[15,23],carbon and alloy elements inthe austenite do not have enough time to diffuse,and the austenitic structure is fully transformed to martensite at low temperature (Fig.5a).The peak temperature at FG-HAZ reaches the grain refining temperature,resulting in com-plete austenitizing but not coarsening,producing tiny fer-rite and a certain amount of LM after cooling (Fig.5b).Only the high carbon of the original organization partly is austenized in MG-HAZ,so the ferrite,LM,and M/A island are obtained together.In addition,the direction of OAGB in WS near FL has obvious directional characteristics.In the weld pool crys-tallization,comparing with spontaneous nucleation,non-spontaneous nucleation is dominant [24].The energy bar-rier D G for the crystal to nucleate on the substrate is [25]D G ¼4pc 3LC T 2m3D H m D T ðÞ2À3cos h þcos 3h ÀÁ;ð2Þwhere c LC is the surface energy of the liquid–crystalinterface,T m the equilibrium melting temperature,D H m the latent heat of melting,D T the undercooling below T m ,and h is the contact angle.If the liquid can wet the substrate completely,the contact angle h is zero and so is D G .Dur-ing the laser welding NPS steel,the existing BM grains at the FL act as the substrate for nucleation.Since chemical compositions of the liquid metal in the weld pool and substrate are the same,the liquid metal can wet the sub-strate grains (h =0),and the crystals nucleate from the liquid metal upon the substrate grains without difficulties.Epitaxial growth of WS near fusion line and SEM image of laser welding butt joint are shown in Fig.6.In Fig.6a,the arrow in each grain indicates its h 100i direction,and each grain grows without changing its h 100i direction is called epitaxial growth.In Fig.6b,WS and CG-HAZ are weld pool and substrate before crystallizing,respectively.Therefore,the microstructure of WS near fusion line has typical characteristics of epitaxialgrowth.Fig.5Schematic illustration showing CG-HAZ and FG-HAZ microstructure evolution induced by laser welding:a CG-HAZ;b FG-HAZM.Zhang et al .:Acta Metall.Sin.(Engl.Lett.)3.2.2Mechanical PropertiesFigure 7shows the micro-hardness law of NPS steel wel-ded joint at different defocusing distances (D f )at a laser welding power (P ) 3.0kW and welding speed (v )of 1.2m/min.It is seen that the hardness profile exhibited a symmetric characteristic with a higher hardness on the WS and a lower hardness on the BM.For example,at defo-cusing distance of -2mm,the averages of micro-hardness of WS,HAZ,and BM are 358,302,and 265HV,respec-tively.Whereas,in traditional CO 2gas-shielded welding joint,the averages of micro-hardness of WS,HAZ,and BMare 272,259,and 265HV,respectively [7].The micro-hardness of WS and HAZ is higher than that of the BM,because the alloy elements have no time to form the second phase to precipitate due to the extremely high cooling rate,and these elements dissolve to a great degree,which makes solid solution strengthening to occur after the laser welding process.Figure 8displays the effect of welding speed on WS and HAZ average hardness values.Increasing the welding speed from 1.2to 1.8m/min at constant laser power level and defocusing distance causes an increase in the average WS hardness from 358to 385HV and an increase in the average HAZ hardness from 295to 325HV.With increasing the welding speed,the cooling rate was increased [17],more alloy elements were dissolved,andFig.6Epitaxial growth of WS near fusion line [25]a and SEM image of laser welding butt jointbM.Zhang et al .:Acta Metall.Sin.(Engl.Lett.)solid solution strengthening was improved,so the hardness increased.The tensile strength of the welded joint was about 730MPa based on tensile testing,and the tensile stress–strain curve of the butt joint is given in Fig.9.The fracture position is in BM(Fig.10a).Figure10b shows the SEM image of tensile sample fractured surface,there arefine and deep dimples,which indicate that the tensile fracture is a typical ductile fracture.In general,tensile properties of the welded joint depend on their chemical composition and microstructure[26].The strength and hardness of mar-tensite are the highest in all room-temperature micro-structures of the steel.The microstructures of WS and HAZ are all or part of martensite,whereas the microstructure of BM is mainly ferrite,so the tensile testing failure position is in BM.However,in traditional CO2gas-shielded weld-ing joint,the tensile testing failure position is in HAZ[7].Therefore,laser welding can effectively improve the strength of BM and HAZ.In addition,it can found that the welded joint tensile strength is observed to follow pro-portional relationship with hardness[27].4ConclusionsIn this investigation,4.5-mm-thick NPS steel was welded using4kWfiber laser,and the effect of laser welding parameters on welded joint appearance was studied,and the microstructure evolution of welded joint was demon-strated.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Increase in the welding speed results in a decrease inthe average WS width and causes an increase in the average WS and HAZ hardness.Improving laser welding power may cause faster downwardflow of molten metal to produce greater root humping.For4.5-mm-thick NPS steel,the optimal laser weldingprocess parameters are laser power is3.0kW,weld-ing speed is1.2m/min,and defocusing distance is -2mm.(2)The microstructure of WS,FL,and CG-HAZ wasLM,but the growth direction of the OAGB was significantly different.The microstructure of WS near FL has typical characteristics of epitaxial growth. (3)The microstructure of FG-HAZ was ferrite andmartensite,and the average grain size of ferrite was1.5–2.5l m.The microstructure of MG-HAZ wasferrite,massive M/A island,and a small amount of martensite;the average grain sizes of ferrite and M/A island are3–4l m and0.8–1.2l m,respectively. (4)The micro-hardness values of WS,HAZ,and BMwere358HV,302HV,and265HV,respectively,and the butt joint fracture at the BM was far from theWS.Fig.10Fractured samples after tensile testing a and SEM image of a typical fracture surface bM.Zhang et al.:Acta Metall.Sin.(Engl.Lett.)The welded joint tensile strength is observed to follow proportional relationship with hardness. Acknowledgments This work wasfinancially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51305285and 51104110)and the Basic Research Program of Jiangsu Province(Nos. 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第26卷 第5期 无 机 材 料 学 报V ol. 26No. 52011年5月Journal of Inorganic Materials May, 2011Received date: 2010-11-24; Modified date: 2011-01-26; Published online: 2011-03-10Biography: Leila Torkian(1971−), female, PhD, associated professor. E-mail: ltorkian@azad.ac.irArticle ID: 1000-324X(2011)05-0550-05 DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1077.2011.10815Synthesis of Nano Crystalline MgAl 2O 4 Spinel Powder by Microwave Assisted CombustionLeila Torkian 1, Mostafa M Amini 2, Zohreh Bahrami 3(1. Department of Applied Chemistry, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran; 2. Department of Chem-istry, Shahid Beheshti University, G .C., Tehran, Iran; 3. School of Chemistry, Collage of Science, University of Tehran, Te-hran, Iran)Abstract: Stoichiometric MgAl 2O 4 spinel nanoparticles were synthesized by microwave assisted combustion reactionfrom aluminium nitrate nanohydrate (Al(NO 3)3·9H 2O) and Sol-Gel prepared magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) in the presence of urea ((NH 2)2CO) as a fuel, in about 20 min of irradiation. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies reveal that mi-crowave assisted combustion synthesis route yields single-phase spinel nanoparticles with larger crystalline size (around 75 nm) than other conventional heating methods. Scanning electronic microscope (SEM) images show nanoparticles with spherical shape and homogenous morphology. The surface area measurements (S BET ) show crystals with 2.11 m 2/g and 0.0033 mL/g pore volume.Key words: MgAl 2O 4 nanoparticles; spinel; microwave assisted reactionThe magnesium aluminate with spinel structure offers an attractive combination of properties such as high me-chanical strength at high temperature, high melting point (2135℃), high chemical inertness and thermal stability [1-3]. Due to these properties, it is greatly desired as a refractory material [4], humidity sensor [5], catalyst or catalyst support and recently as an excellent transparent ceramic material for high temperature arc-enclosing envelopes and al-kali-metal vapor discharge devices [6]. Nowadays this spinel has owned many applications in metallurgical, chemical, electro technical, catalysis, electronic and glass industries [7-8].Over the last few decades various novel techniques have been applied for the synthesis of MgAl 2O 4 spinel including Sol-Gel [9], spray drying [10], freeze-drying [11], mechanical activation [12], organic gel-assisted citrate process [13]. Al-though wet-chemical techniques have successfully been used for the preparation of pure spinel nanoparticles at rela-tively low temperatures, but have not received much com-mercial attention because of the expensive row materials and multiple processing steps [14-17]. The conventional preparation method of MgAl 2O 4 spinel is to calcine the mixture of metal oxides at elevated temperatures (1625℃ for 2 h), which has disadvantages of large aggregates and inhomogeneous compositions [18-19]. Recent works show combustion synthesis for preparation of binary oxides has many advantages including homogeneity, high purity, for-mation of crystalline oxide powders in shorter time periodsand lower amount of external energy [20-23].In our previous work, the coprecipitation and combus-tion methods were applied to prepare MgAl 2O 4 spinel par-ticles with conventional heating [24]. In this paper, applica-tion of microwave-assisted combustion synthesis tech-nique for preparation of MgAl 2O 4 spinel has been reported and physical properties of the synthesized powders are compared with that of prepared by conventional heating method.1 Experimental procedure1.1 Powder synthesisAnalytical grade aluminum nitrate nonahydrate (Al(NO 3)3·9H 2O), magnesium chloride hexahydrate (MgCl 2.6H 2O) and urea (CH 4N 2O) were purchased from Merck (99%) and were used without further purification. A solid mixture containing aluminum nitrate and Sol-Gel synthesized magnesium hydroxide [25] with n (Al 3+)/ n (Mg 2+)= 1:2 and urea with n (urea)/n (metal) = 5:3 was taken in a pyrex glass dish and after complete mixing was irradiated with microwaves in a domestic microwave oven (National, 1000W, input range 210−230V-ac SOHZ, mi-crowave frequency 2.45GHz).1.2 CharacterizationPhase analysis of the samples was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD; Bruker's D8 advance system, Bruker's AXS, GmbH, Germany) using CuK α radiation. The crys-第5期 LeilaTorkian, et al: Instant Synthesis of Nano Crystalline MgAl2O4 Spinel Powder 551tallite size of MgAl2O4 spinel was estimated with the aid of Debye-Scherrer equation (L hkl=Kλ/βhkl cosθ, where K is a constant taken as 1 and βhkl is the integral breadth that depends on the width of the particular (hkl) plane, λ = 0.15406 nm, the wavelength of the CuKα source, and θ is the Bragg's angle) using the XRD data of the spinel (311) reflection[26]. A Micromerities analyzer (Gemini 2375 V4/02 Instrument 1D:1) was used for Brunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) surface area measurements. The BET surface area was measured by nitrogen physisorption at liquid nitrogen temperature −196℃. Prior to measurements, the samples were evacuated (up to 0.133 Pa) at 180℃ for 2 h.A PHILIPS XL-30 scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to observe the particle morphology of the syn-thesized and ground spinel powders.2 Results and discussionNanoparticles of magnesium aluminate formed by en-dothermic redox reaction during a microwave assisted combustion method. The combustion reaction can be ex-pressed as follow:2Al(NO3)3·9H2O + Mg(OH)2 + 5CH4N2O → MgAl2O4 + 13N2 + 5CO2 + 29 H2OAluminum nitrate is an oxidizer and urea is a fuel[20-21, 27]. Oxidation valences of the Al, Mg, C, N, O, and H are +3, +2, +4, 0, −2 and +1, respectively[28-30]. Therefore, the total oxidizing and the reducing valences of aluminum nitrate, magnesium hydroxide, and urea become −15, 0 and +6, respectively. In order to obtain maximum energy for the spinel formation reaction, and also balance the total oxidizing and reducing valances in the mixture, the stoichiometric mole ratio (2:1) of the Al(NO3)3·9H2O (total valence ‒15) and Mg(OH)2 (total valence 0) and 5 mole urea are required (2(‒15) + 1(0) + n(+6) = 0 or n = 5).The net enthalpy (∆H, 25℃) of the reaction was calcu-lated from the standard enthalpy of formation (∆H f , 25℃) of products and reactants using the following thermody-namic data: Al(NO3)3·9H2O: −897.38 kcal/mol; Mg(OH)2: −924.5kcal/mol; CH4N2O: 79.7kcal/mol; MgAl2O4: −547.38 kcal/mol; N2: 0 kcal/mol; CO2: −94.05kcal/mol; H2O: −57.79 kcal/mol[31-32]. According to these thermody-namic data the combustion reaction is endothermic (∆H°= 425.77 kcal/mol, 25℃).Within 5 min of irradiation, reaction mixture was con-verted into a clear solution and started to boil. After about 20 min of irradiation, the concentrated mixture solution burst into flames and resulted into a foamy white powder. X-ray diffraction pattern of synthesized powder is shown in Fig. 1. This pattern shows that prepared powders are well crystallized with single-phase spinel structure[33]. Table 1 shows the particle size, BET surface area and pore volume of microwave assisted synthesized MgAl2O4 spinel nanoparticles. The size of particles calculated from XRD peaks by using Scherrer’s formula and the (311) plane was considered for the crystallite size calculation (around 75 nm)[26]. For the purpose of comparison, physi-cal properties of magnesium aluminate spinel nanoparti-cles which were produced by recent various methods, i.e. conventional solid state[34], co-precipitation[24], conventional combustion[24], and microwave-assisted solid-state[14] routes, are listeded in Table 1. Although applying microwave ir-radiation results in formation of spinel powders with larger crystallite size, smaller BET surface area and pore volume than other traditional methods, it reduces the duration of whole preparation process. In the conventional solid-state methods metal oxide powders must be milled, granulated, dry-pressed in the form of pellets and sintered at 1625℃ for at least 2h[34-35]. Furthermore, most times mineral-izer[36], additives like ZnO[37] or sintering aids as AlCl3[7, 38] are required. Applying coprecipitation and also conven-tional combustion methods are also require sintering Fig. 1 X-ray diffraction pattern of MgAl2O4 spinel nanoparticlesTable 1 Physical properties of MgAl2O4 spinel nanoparticles produced by the various methodsMethods BET surface area /(m2·g−1)Crystallite size a /nm Pore volume /(mL·g−1) ReferencesMicrowave combustion 2.1 75 0.0033 This workConventional solid state 8.1 44 − [34] Coprecipitation 8.1 15 0.0313[24] Conventional combustion 28.2 27 0.0436 [24]Microwave solid state 36.0 66 −[14]a MgAl2O4 crystallite size is calculated from (311) plane[26]552 无机材料学报第26卷at high temperatures, i.e. 1000℃ for 2 h[24, 39]. In micro-wave assisted solid-state method carbon black has been added to metal oxides as a microwave susceptor up to 50wt% (after activation at 550℃ for 6 h) and also SiC are used as a bottom plate. These precursors must be irradi-ated by microwave for 60 min in order to magnesium alu-minate spinel to form[14]. According to Ganesh et al., a solid mixture of metal nitrates and urea as a fuel will pro-duce the nanoparticles of spinel in 45 min microwave ir-radiation[40]. It seems that replacing magnesium nitrate by active magnesium hydroxide decreased the irradiation time for more than 55% in this work.It is well known that heating mechanism in microwave processing is fundamentally different from conventional processing. Microwave radiation is absorbed and con-verted rapidly to thermal energy from inside the material and therefore a dramatic decrease of processing time and energy consummation will result[41]. Therefore, by apply-ing microwave irradiation and replacing active magnesium hydroxide as a precursor instead of magnesium oxide or nitrate in this combustion method, the time duration for preparation of spinel nanopowders is decreased and elec-trical heating and sintering process is omitted. This method can be regarded as an effective and economic method for preparation of spinel due to its convenient process, simple experimental setup, significant time and energy saving and high purity products. Therefore, this method should be considered as an alternative route for the fabrication of MgAl2O4 nanopowder.Generally, increasing temperature treatment due to the sintering process increases the crystallite sizes of pow-ders[42-45]. Therefore, it can be concluded that microwave assisted combustion synthesized spinel powders are ex-posed to higher temperatures than conventional heating prepared powders. According to the SEM image (Fig. 2) microwave-assisted combustion synthesized sample has spherical shape with homogenous morphology.Fig. 2 SEM image of MgAl2O43 ConclusionMgAl2O4 spinel nanoparticles can be prepared by mi- crowave-assisted combustion method and applying syn-thesized magnesium hydroxide as a reagent in 20 min. Spinel nanoparticles synthesized through this method are exposed to higher temperatures than conventional heating methods and have larger crystallite size (around 75 nm). This method is technically simple, cost effective and time- and energy-saving compared with conventional heating methods.AcknowledgementThe authors thank the Offices of the Vice-President for Research Affairs of South Tehran Branch of Islamic Azad University and also Shahid Beheshti University for sup-porting this work.References:[1] Pati R K, Pramanik P. Low-temperature chemical synthesis ofnanocrystalline MgAl2O4 spinel powder. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 2000, 83(7): 1822−1824.[2] Salmans J, Galicia J A, Wang J A, et al. Synthesis and characteri-zation of nanocrystallite MgAl2O4 spinels as catalysts support.Journal of Materials Science Letters, 2000, 19(12): 1033−1037. [3] Li G J, Sun Z R, Chen C H, et al. Synthesis of nanocrystallineMgAl2O4 spinel powders by a novel chemical method. 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Effect of Sn addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg–6Zn–1Mn (wt.%)alloyFugang Qi a ,⇑,Dingfei Zhang b ,c ,Xiaohua Zhang a ,Xingxing Xu b ,caChina Academy of Engineering Physics,Mianyang 621900,PR ChinabCollege of Materials Science and Engineering,Chongqing University,Chongqing 400045,PR China cNational Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloys,Chongqing University,Chongqing 400044,PR Chinaa r t i c l e i n f o Article history:Received 23June 2013Received in revised form 21September 2013Accepted 24September 2013Available online 11October 2013Keywords:Mg–Zn Mg–Sn PrecipitateMechanical propertiesa b s t r a c tThe microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloys with varying Sn contents (0,1,2,4,6,8and 10wt.%)have been examined using optical microscopy (OM),X-ray diffractometer (XRD),scan-ning electron microscopy(SEM),transmission electron microscopy (TEM),hardness test and uniaxial ten-sile test at room temperature,respectively.The samples were prepared by hot-extrusion after casting.The results showed that the as-cast Sn-containing alloys consisted of a -Mg,Mg 7Zn 3,Mn and Mg 2Sn phases.T6treatments could obviously improve the strengths of the as-extruded samples,and the double aged samples exhibited enhanced age-hardening response at an earlier stage compared to the single aged ones.Among them,the 4wt.%Sn containing sample with double peak aging after solution treatment had the highest strengths and moderate elongation.Microstructure characterization indicated that the high-strengths of the peak aged alloys were mainly determined by a synergistic effect on precipitation strengthening of b 01(MgZn 2)and Mg 2Sn precipitates,and the precipitates after double aging were finer than those after single aging.Ó2013Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved.1.IntroductionMagnesium alloys have wide applications in the aerospace,transportation and mobile electronics industries due to their advantages such as low density,high specific strength and stiff-ness,good damping capacity,excellent machinability and good castability [1–4].However,the application of magnesium alloys is still very limited due to the inadequate strength,poor formabil-ity,and high cost of either expensive alloying elements used or special processing technology involved [5–7].Therefore,it is press-ing to develop some low cost and high strength wrought magne-sium alloys for wider applications.Mg–Zn system alloys,which are the most widely used wrought magnesium alloys,have more pronounced response to age harden-ing compared to other magnesium alloys [8–11].The studies on age-hardening and microstructure in this Mg–Zn alloy have been carried out since 1960s [8,9,11–15],and the precipitation sequence from a supersaturated solid solution (SSSS)during aging were re-ported to be [8,9,15,16]:SSSS ?GP zones ?b 01rods,blocks \{0001}Mg ;(MgZn 2)?b 02discs ||{0001}Mg ;laths \{0001}Mg ;(MgZn 2)?b (MgZn or Mg 2Zn 3).Recently,Mg–6Zn–1Mn (wt.%)(ZM61)alloy (hereafter,all compositions are in weight percentsunless stated otherwise),a new promising high-strength magne-sium alloy,has attracted attention due to good castability,excel-lent formability and significant precipitation hardening response [17–20].In our previous study,we reported that T6treatments,especially double aging,could significantly improve the mechani-cal properties of the as-extruded ZM61alloy [17,18].The high-strengths of peak aged ZM61alloy are associated with the precipitation of the rod-shaped transition b 01phase,and double aging promotes the precipitation of b 01phase.Further,the micro-structure and mechanical properties of Mg–x Zn–1Mn alloy were reported [19,20].Accordingly,the Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy had the best comprehensive mechanical properties.In addition,Mg–Sn alloys are also known as a precipitation-hardening system,which has a relatively high solubility (14.48wt.%)at about 561°C and low solubility at ambient temper-ature [21,22].However,since the Mg 2Sn precipitates forms with a lath-shaped morphology on the (0001)Mg basal planes of the ma-trix,the precipitation hardening response for the Mg–Sn binary al-loy is low [23].Moreover,the peak hardness of Mg–Sn binary alloy occurs after long-term aging,which is not practical for industrial application [23].Sasaki et al.[24–26]reported that a minor addition of Zn can enhance the age-hardening response of the binary alloy by the homogeneous dispersion of the precipitates.It is of great inter-est to explore the possible cumulative effects on precipitation strengthening of MgZn 2and Mg 2Sn precipitates,so as to develop0925-8388/$-see front matter Ó2013Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved./10.1016/j.jallcom.2013.09.156Corresponding author.Tel.:+868163626782.E-mail address:fugangqi@ (F.Qi).1.XRD patterns of the as-cast Mg–6Zn–1Mn–x Sn(x=0,1,2,4,6,8andalloys(the red arrows in thefigure indicate that the intensifying tendency of Mgphase diffraction peak).(For interpretation of the references to colour in thisfigurelegend,the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)micrographs of the as-cast Mg–6Zn–1Mn–x Sn alloys.(a)x=0,(b)x=1,(c)x=2,(d)x=4,(e)x=6,(f)x=as-cast(a)Mg–6Zn–1Mn and(b)Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloys,and(c and d)corresponding EDS results of the as-homogenized Mg–6Zn–1Mn–x Sn alloys.(a)x=0,(b)x=1,(c)x=2,(d)x=4,(e)ZG-0.01vacuum induction melting furnace under an Ar atmosphere.The actual chemical compositions of the experimental alloy ingots were analyzed by XRF-800CCDE X-rayfluorescence spectrometer,and the results are shown in Table1. The ingots were then homogenized at330°C for24h followed by the air cooling.Before the ingots were extruded,both the alloy ingots and extrusion die were heated to350°C for60min.The ingots were extruded at350°C with an extrusion ratio of25and a ram speed of2mm/s.Extrusion was conducted under a controlled constant force by a XJ-500Horizontal Extrusion Machine.After extrusion,the extru-sion bars were cooled in open air.Then the extruded bars were solution-treated at 440°C for2h in air atmosphere followed by water quenching(T4).After solution treatment,the following artificial aging treatments(T6)would be divided into sin-gle aging and double aging,respectively.The single aging was carried out at180°C, and the double aging was carried out by pre-aging at90°C for24h,followed by the secondary aging at180°C.Hardness measurements were performed by a micro-Vickers apparatus under a load of50g.The mechanical properties of the as-extruded,single peak aged(180°C/12h) and double peak aged(90°C/24h+180°C/8h)samples were evaluated by tensile tests at room temperature.Tensile tests were carried out using a SANS CMT-5105 electronic universal testing machine.Samples for tensile tests had a cross-sectional diameter of5mm and a gauge length of60mm.the tensile axis paralleled to extru-sion direction and the tests were performed at a cross-heat speed of3mm/min at room temperature.Mechanical properties were determined from a complete 3.Results and discussion3.1.As-cast and as-homogenized microstructuresThe XRD analysis results of the as-cast Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloys with different Sn contents are shown in Fig.1.It can be seen that the Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy consists of a-Mg,Mg7Zn3and Mn phases, while the alloys with Sn additions consists of four phases,i.e.,a-Mg,Mg7Zn3,Mn and Mg2Sn.It is also evident that the intensity of the Mg2Sn peaks increase with the increasing Sn content.Fig.2shows the optical microstructures of the as-cast alloys with different Sn contents.As shown in Fig.2,the coarse dendritic structure of the as-cast Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy is generally refined after the Sn addition.The microstructure of the Sn-free alloy mainly consists of a-Mg and eutectic Mg7Zn3phases at the grain boundaries.The addition of Sn leads to the formation of the eutec-tic Mg2Sn phases at the grain boundaries.Furthermore,withHAADF–STEM micrographs of the as-homogenized(a)Mg–6Zn–1Mn and(b and c)Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloys,and(d)F.Qi et al./Journal of Alloys and Compounds585(2014)656–666659bright phases includes Mg,Sn and Mn.The bright phase is likely the Mg2Sn phase because the Mg/Sn(in at.%)ratio is approximately 2:1.Fig.4shows the optical microstructure of the as-homogenized alloys with different Sn contents.Discontinuous secondary phases disperse in the alloys,and the secondary phases are identified by means of SEM and EDS.Fig.5a shows the BSE image of the Sn-free 3.2.As-extruded and solution-treated microstructuresMicrostructural changes after the hot extrusion are shown in Figs.6and7.Owing to the deformation and the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization(DRX)during the hot extrusion process, the undissolved blocky eutectic compounds after homogenization treatment are further broken into small particles,which distrib-as-extruded Mg–6Zn–1Mn–x Sn alloys(the extruded direction is horizontal).(a)x=0,(b)x=1,(c)x= 660 F.Qi et al./Journal of Alloys and Compounds585(2014)656–666solution-treated sample consists of a -Mg matrix and Mn phases.For the alloys with Sn content of less than 4%and more than 0%,almost all the secondary phase particles dissolve into the matrix as same as the Sn-free alloy.However,with further increasing Sn content,a lot of undissolved compounds are remained in the matrix.The XRD pattern of the solution-treated Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy is shown in Fig.9d.It is obvious that the solution-treated sample consists of a -Mg matrix,Mn and Mg 2Sn phases.Fig.10a and b shows the BSE and bright-field TEM micrographs in detail of the solution-treated Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy.From the Fig.10,only one spherical phase can be observed.The sizes of these spherical particles range from 10to 70nm,which are randomly distributed within the a -Mg matrix.In addition,No other phases are seen within the a -Mg matrix after solution treatment.Based on XRD result and EDS analysis,we can conclude that the spherical phase is pure Mn particle.3.3.Age-hardening behaviors and peak-aged microstructures Fig.11shows the age-hardening curves of the solution-treated Mg–6Zn–1Mn–x Sn alloys subjected to single aging at 180°C and double aging at 180°C (pre-aging at 90°C for 24h).During the sin-gle aging at 180°C,the hardness of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy in-creases with aging time and reaches a peak hardness after about 12h.The age-hardening curve of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy is very similar to that of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy during the single aging,and the time to reach peak hardness is relatively unaffected by the Sn addition.However,the peak hardness increases from 74Hv to 82Hv by increasing the Sn content from 0%to 4%.A slight increase in the hardness for the Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy is observed by double aging.The peak hardness increases to 85Hv in 8h after starting the secondary aging.The time to reach the peak hardness,8h,is slightly shorter than that for the single aging,12h.Like sin-gle aging,the age-hardening curves of the quaternary alloys are very similar to those of the ternary alloy during the double aging,and the time to reach peak hardness is relatively unaffected bythe Sn addition.Moreover,the peak hardness values increase grad-ually with increasing Sn content.The base hardness for the alloys containing no more than 4%Sn is about 60Hv,while the base hard-ness of the alloys containing more than 4%Sn increases gradually with increasing Sn addition.As mentioned above,almost all the secondary phases for the alloys containing no more than 4%Sn dis-solve into the matrix after solution treatment,while a lot of undis-solved compounds for the alloys containing more than 4%Sn are still remained in the matrix.This suggests that these undissolved compounds after solution treatment mainly contribute to the in-crease of the base hardness.Fig.9b and c and e and f shows the XRD patterns of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn and Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloys in single peak aged and double peak aged conditions.As mentioned previously,for the two alloys almost all the Mg–Zn and/or Mg 2Sn phases dissolve into the Mg matrix after solution treatment,which suggests that the uniform solid-solution structure is produced.After T6treatments,MgZn 2precipitates are formed in the Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy,while the 4%Sn addition bring about the formation of Mg 2Sn precipitates as well as MgZn 2phases as illustrated by XRD patterns.Generally,the MgZn 2precipitation relates to the peak hardness in the Sn-free alloy;while the Sn-containing alloys show a greater magnitude aging response due to a larger amount of precipitations resulting from the Sn addition.Fig.12shows a bright-field TEM and a high resolution TEM (HR–TEM)images of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy aged at 90°C for 24h,taken from the [0001]Mg zone axis.This corresponds to the pre-aged condition of the double aging.From the Fig.12a,it can be observed that a number of fine particles ( 9nm)having dark contrast are evenly dispersed in the matrix.The HR–TEM im-age shows a spherical precipitate having 9nm in size in Fig.12b.Clear lattice contrast cannot be seen inside the particle.According to the previous reports [8,27],we can conclude that these fine par-ticles are G.P.zones.Fig.13shows the TEM images of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy in single peak aged (180°C/12h)and double peak aged (180°C/8h)(SE)micrographs of the as-extruded (a)Mg–6Zn–1Mn and (b)Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloys (the extruded direction of the points indicated in (a and b).conditions.All images are obtained from Fig.13a and b shows the bright-field TEM jected to peak aging by single aging and In both conditions,the microstructure after ner than those after single peak aging.1Mn–4Sn samples have three kinds of Fig.13.One is rod along the [0001]direction second is lying on the (0001)basal plane.studies [8,15,28,29],we can conclude are rod-like b 01and disc-like b 02phases,between the b 01and matrix is coherent,between the b 02and matrix.Therefore as a more enormous impediment to than the b 02precipitate [27].The third is common morphology.In this work,some tates are flaky-like.Fig.13b shows a HR–TEM Mg 2Sn precipitate observed in the single Fourier transform (FFT)pattern obtained taken from the ½11 20 zone axis.Through can be preliminary found that the micrographs of the solution-treated Mg–6Zn–1Mn–x Sn alloys.(a)x =0,(b)x =1,(c)x =2,(d)x =4,(e)x =6,(f)9.XRD patterns of the (a–c)Mg–6Zn–1Mn and (d–f)Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloys different states.(a and d)solution-treated,(b and e)Single peak aged at 180°C 12h,and (c and f)double peak aged at 180°C for 8h.[001]Mg2Sn//½11 20Mgand no clear orientation relationshipobserved.It can be concluded there is a certain angle between this Mg2Sn and base level[0001]Mg,otherwise this Mg2Sn phase is ob-served as a rod through the½11 20Mgview direction.Based on the previous studies[21,26],this Mg2Sn precipitate may be parallel to the prismatic plane of the magnesium matrix. many other irregular-shaped Mg2Sn precipitates, is needed to discuss the orientation relationship tates since the reason for this still remains As previously stated,a number of G.P.pre-aging condition.G.P.zones are believed neous nucleation sites for the transitionhigh temperature aging,leading to thetribution offiner precipitates.In addition,like phase for Mg2Sn phase during theand the times to reach the peak hardnessof double peak aging are much shorter than aging,so Mg2Sn precipitates of the doublefiner than those of the single peak agedpeak hardness of the double peak agedthose of single peak aged ones.Furthermore, precipitate b01and b01precipitates occursble peak aged samples than the singleage-hardening is accelerated.In addition,it can be seen that many dispersed in the matrix,which are founditates but not found in disc-like b02precipitates,solution-treated Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy.(a)BSE micrograph and(b)bright-field TEM micrograph,takendiffraction pattern).Fig.11.Age-hardening curves of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn–x Sn(x=0,2,4,6,8and10)alloys subjected to single aging at180°C and double aging at180°C(pre-aging at90°C for24h and secondary aging at180°C).Fig.12.(a)Bright-field and(b)high resolution TEM micrographs of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy aged at90°C for24h,taken from3.4.Mechanical propertiesFig.14shows the mechanical properties of the test alloys in the as-extruded,single peak aged (180°C/12h)and double peak aged (90°C/24h +180°C/8h)conditions.It can be seen that Sn addition has a beneficial effect on the mechanical properties of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy.For the as-extruded alloys,the ultimate tensile strength (UTS)and yield strength (YS)increase gradually with increasing Sn content.The alloy containing 4%Sn has the best strengths,i.e.,an UTS of 331MPa and a YS of 272Mpa,which are superior to the commercial high-strength ZK61with an UTS of 305MPa and a YS of 240MPa [30].However,the excessive Sn addi-tion (>4%)results in the decrease of the elongation.As shown in Fig.14,T6treatments result in large increases in the strengths of all the investigated alloys compared to the as-extruded ones.On one hand,with increasing Sn content,the elongation decreases gradually while the UTS and YS significantly increase,and the maximum of the UTS and YS is obtained for the alloy containing 4%Sn.Further increasing Sn content results in a slight reduction of the UTS and YS in the peak-aged conditions.On the other hand,the strengths of the double peak aged samples are higher than that of the single peak aged ones,while the elonga-tions are slightly lower.The mechanical properties of the double peak aged Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy are an UTS of 390MPa,a YS of 378MPa and an elongation of 4.16%,while those of the single peak aged sample are an UTS of 379MPa,a YS of 358MPa and an elongation of 4.24%.These strengths are comparable to those of some T5-treated or T6treated RE-containing magnesium alloys,including Mg–Gd–Y–Zn–Zr [31],Mg–Gd–Y–Nd–Zr [32]and Mg–Y–Sm–Zr [33].The high-strengths of the Mg–Zn–Mn–Sn wrought alloys are mainly determined by grain refinement strengthening and precip-itation strengthening.It is well-known that strengthening via grain size control is particularly effective in magnesium alloys because of the higher Hall–Petch coefficient [34].The strengths of the as-extruded alloys are strongly influenced by the relatively fine grains with an average size of approximately 2.8l m.As shown in Fig.14,the strengths of the as-extruded samples are improved signifi-cantly by the T6aging treatments.After T4treatment,almost all the Mg–Zn and Mg–Sn compounds in the as-extruded alloys with no more than 4%Sn can dissolve into the matrix,which suggests that a uniform and supersaturated solid-solution structure is produced,as shown in Figs.8and 10.Aging the solution-treated samples is necessary so that the fine b 01,b 02and Mg 2Sn precipitates form within the matrix.The precipitate particles act as obstacles to dislocation movement and thereby strengthening the aged alloy.However,when the content of Sn exceeds 4%,some compounds cannot dissolve into the matrix after solution treatment.At subse-quent aging,these undissolved compounds in the matrix will lead to the decrease of the mechanical properties,while they can con-tribute to the increase of the base hardness,resulting in the in-creased hardness values with increasing Sn content.Moreover,the peak hardness of the double peak aged samples is higher than those of the single peak aged ones and the double aging achieves finer microstructure than the single aging,so the strengths of the double aged samples are higher than that of the single agedones.peak aged Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy.(a)Bright-field TEM image of the single peak aged at 180°C for 12h,pattern),(b)HR–TEM image of a Mg 2Sn phase observed in the single peak aged (inset:FFT pattern obtained aged at 180°C for 8h,taken along the ½11 20 zone axis (inset:½11 20 Mgdiffraction pattern)and (d)HAADF–STEM4.ConclusionThe microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the Mg–6Zn–1Mn–x Sn (x =0,1,2,4,6,8and 10wt.%)alloys subjected to extrusion,single aging and double aging have been investigated by hardness measurements,tensile tests and microstructureanalysis using SEM,XRD and TEM.The following conclusions are obtained:1.The as-cast Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy mainly consists of a -Mg,Mg 7Zn 3and Mn phases.Sn addition results in the formation of Mg 2Sn phase and the refinement of the eutectic.2.The addition of Sn can clearly improve the mechanical proper-ties of the as-extruded Mg–6Zn–1Mn alloy due to grain refine-ment strengthening.In more detail,with increasing Sn content,the strengths increase gradually while the elongation decreases gradually.3.T6treatments,especially double aging,can markedly improve the strengths of the as-extruded investigated alloys.Among them,the Mg–6Zn–1Mn–4Sn alloy with double peak aging after solution treatment exhibits the highest tensile strength of 390MPa,the highest yield strength of 378MPa and the moder-ate elongation of4.16%.4.The microstructure characterization suggests that the high-strengths of the peak aged alloys are mainly determined by a synergistic effect on precipitation strengthening of the b 01and Mg 2Sn precipitates,and the precipitates of the double aged samples are finer than those of the single aged ones.AcknowledgementsThis work was sponsored by National Great Theoretic Research Project (2007CB613700),National Science &Technology Support Project (2011BAE22B01-3),International Cooperation Project (2010DFR50010,2008DFR50040),Chongqing Science &Technol-ogy Project (2010CSTC-HDLS)and Chongqing Science &Technol-ogy Commission 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氮含量对纯钛表面类金刚石薄膜内应力与附着力的影响张艺君;张翼;尹路【摘要】目的:采用脉冲电弧离子镀膜法于不同氮含量条件下在纯钛表面制备类金刚石膜(DLC)以观察对薄膜内应力和附着力的影响.方法:在四种氮含量条件下纯钛表面制备类金刚石薄膜,利用扫描电镜观察分析不同氮含量下薄膜的表面形貌及能谱分析薄膜成分,显微压痕仪对比分析不同氮含量对薄膜厚度和硬度的影响.结果:薄膜中氮含量与氮气甲烷流量比成正比,当氮含量达到9.6%时,薄膜性能最稳定.氮掺入DLC薄膜后,改变了薄膜的微观结构,产生几十纳米量级的颗粒.SEM、XPS分析表明纳米颗粒是富氮的非晶氮化碳CNx结构.DLC/CNx致密的纳米复合结构,减小薄膜的内应力,提高薄膜对衬底的附着力.结论:氮含量的增加会形成DLC/CNx致密的纳米复合结构,减小薄膜的内应力,提高薄膜对衬底的附着力.【期刊名称】《口腔颌面修复学杂志》【年(卷),期】2014(015)002【总页数】5页(P96-100)【关键词】纯钛;类金刚石;表面改性;压痕实验【作者】张艺君;张翼;尹路【作者单位】厦门市仙岳医院口腔科福建 361012;解放军第一七四医院口腔科福建 361003;厦门市口腔医院修复科福建 361003【正文语种】中文【中图分类】R783.1纯钛作为理想的义齿支架材料已广泛应用于口腔修复领域。
但由于铸造工艺局限,会出现耐磨性差,金属离子析出,卡环折断等缺陷,这些都需要对纯钛进行表面改性来解决。
类金刚石薄膜(DLC)作为上世纪60年代发展起来的新兴工业材料已得到广泛应用,而在口腔修复中应用较少,主要是其自身存在诸多问题,如内应力较高,附着力偏低,易剥脱等[1,2]。
人们在研究类金刚石(DLC)薄膜掺氮的过程中发现,随着氮含量的增加,薄膜中的内应力下降,从而提高了DLC薄膜与基底材料之间的附着力。
Mikami等[3]认为这是DLC薄膜中氢原子含量降低所致。
Franceschini[4]指出,在DLC薄膜中掺入氮降低薄膜的内应力是sp3氮键替代了DLC薄膜中的sp2键碳所致。
锶掺杂的钛酸钡陶瓷制备及介电性能巩晓阳;李允令;李伟杰【摘要】钛酸钡作为一种高介电材料,在相变温度120℃附近具有较大的介电常数,为了更好应用于电子陶瓷材料中,需添加锶、锆、硅等掺杂物降低其相变温度至室温附近。
本文用固相反应法制备了多种比例锶掺杂的钛酸钡陶瓷(Ba1-xSrxTiO3)。
在不同频率下对其介电性能与相变温度做了对比研究。
研究结果表明:一定比例锶掺杂能提高钛酸钡陶瓷的有效介电常数,同时随着掺杂比例增加可使相变温度向低温方向移动。
x=0.3的锶掺杂比例使钛酸钡的相变温度移至室温附近,介电常数高于6000,满足了一般电容器的工作环境要求。
【期刊名称】《河南科技大学学报(自然科学版)》【年(卷),期】2014(000)004【总页数】4页(P92-95)【关键词】钛酸钡;钛酸锶钡陶瓷;介电性能;固相法【作者】巩晓阳;李允令;李伟杰【作者单位】河南科技大学物理工程学院,河南洛阳 471023; 河南科技大学洛阳市光电功能材料重点实验室,河南洛阳 471023;河南科技大学物理工程学院,河南洛阳 471023; 河南科技大学洛阳市光电功能材料重点实验室,河南洛阳471023;河南科技大学物理工程学院,河南洛阳 471023; 河南科技大学洛阳市光电功能材料重点实验室,河南洛阳 471023【正文语种】中文【中图分类】O484钛酸钡作为一种高介电材料,是电子陶瓷中使用最广泛的材料之一[1-6]。
但纯钛酸钡陶瓷的相变温度(居里点)约为120℃,此时具有最大的介电常数,而室温时介电常数较小,同时其较高的温度系数及随电压和频率的变化具有不稳定性,使其应用受到极大的局限,通常通过添加锶、锆、硅等掺杂物可以有效地改善它的性质[4-9]。
钛酸锶钡陶瓷因具有较高的电容率,低介电损耗,优良的铁电、压电、耐压和绝缘性能,广泛应用于体积小而容量大的微型电容器、热敏电阻、超大规模动态随机存储器、调谐微波器件等,是一种重要的电子陶瓷材料。
International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Volume 26, Number 7, July 2019, Page 869https:///10.1007/s12613-019-1799-4Corresponding author: Wei-min Mao E-mail: mao_wm@© University of Science and Technology Beijing and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and micromechanical properties of the rapidly solidified Mg61.7Zn34Gd4.3 alloy containing icosahedral phaseWen-bo Luo1,2), Zhi-yong Xue2,3), and Wei-min Mao1)1) School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China2) Institute for Advanced Materials, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China3) School of Energy, Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China(Received: 5 September 2018; revised: 7 January 2019; accepted: 11 January 2019)Abstract: In this paper, the microstructure evolution of the rapidly solidified (RS) Mg61.7Zn34Gd4.3 (at%, atomic ratio) alloy at high tempera-tures was investigated. The hardness and elastic modulus of the main precipitated phases were also analyzed and compared with those of the α-Mg matrix on the basis of nanoindentation tests. The results show that the RS alloy consists of either a petal-like icosahedral quasicrystal (IQC) phase (~20 μm) and block-shaped H1 phase (~15 μm) or IQC particles with an average grain size of ~107 nm as well as a small pro-portion of amorphous phase, which mainly depends on the holding time at the liquid temperature and the thickness of the ribbons. The IQC phase gradually transforms at 400︒C to a short-rod-shaped μ-phase (Mg28.6Zn63.8Gd7.7) with a hexagonal structure. The hardness of the IQC phase is higher than that of H1 phase, and both phases exhibit a higher hardness than the α-Mg matrix and the μ-phase. The elasticity of the H1 phase is superior to that of the α-Mg matrix. The IQC phase possesses a higher elastic modulus than H1 phase. The easily formed H1 phase exhibits the poorest plastic deformation capacity among these phases but a higher elastic modulus than the α-Mg matrix. Keywords: magnesium alloy; icosahedral phase; rapidly solidification; nanoindentation; micromechanical properties1. IntroductionWith increasing emphasis on reducing weight in the air-craft field, Mg alloys are attracting attention for their lightweight character and excellent castability [1–2]. Be-cause of their outstanding mechanical properties and corro-sion resistance, Mg–RE (RE denotes a rare-earth element) series alloys have become representative high-performance Mg alloys [3–4]. These Mg alloys contain some special but significant strengthening phases, one of which is the icosa-hedral quasicrystal (IQC) phase [5–6].The IQC phase has received intensive attention because it exhibits higher hardness and better wear resistance than most of the strengthening phases in commercial Mg al-loys [7]. As a three-dimensional quasicrystal structure, the atom-cluster structure of the IQC phase belongs to the Samson–Pauling–Bergman model (a triacontahedron struc-ture) [8–9]. In the past few decades, numerous IQC phases have been found and investigated, including Mg32(Zn, Al)49 [10], Mg35Al49Ag15, and Mg30Zn60RE10 [11]. Such phases are also commonly added to other Mg alloys with free-RE elements to enhance their strength [12–13]. For example, when the Mg3Zn6Gd (at%) IQC phase was introduced into AZ31 alloy via a mechanical process, the tensile yield strength of the al-loy reached 334 MPa [14]. Recently, stable IQC-phase-based Mg–Zn–RE and Mg–Zn–Sc have been developed and stu-died [15], but the thermal stability of the IQC phase is un-certain [16]. The literature contains numerous accounts of an IQC phase transformation at 400︒C in Mg–Zn–RE alloys. For instance, it can transform to the hexagonal-structured H phase, the H1 phase, or even the cubic W phase [4,16–17]. However, these phases’ mechanical properties are rarely discussed even though the phase transitions have been in-vestigated in detail. The Young’s elastic modulus of the ico-870 Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., Vol. 26, No. 7, Jul. 2019sahedral Al-based alloys has been determined to be ap-proximately 200 GPa at room temperature [7], which is sub-stantially higher than that of Al-based alloys. However, the data for the icosahedral Mg-based alloys have seldom been reported, primarily because of the difficulty associated with preparing a bulk single crystal of the IQC-phase-based Mg–Zn–RE and its corresponding structure-approximate phases. Therefore, the mechanical properties of these phases, such as the elastic modulus and the hardness, have seldom been investigated even though they are important for the development of new Mg alloys.The nanoindentation technique has been used to test the micromechanical properties of materials, especially thin-film materials and small-sized bulk metal glasses [18]. It has also been used to test the hardness and the modulus of the dif-ferent phases in an alloy [19] because the curve of the load–depth is easily obtained [20]. In addition, various me-thods-based mechanical models and energy methods can be used to analyze the mechanical properties and the plastic deformation behaviors of the tested materials [21–22].In this work, an Mg–Zn–Gd alloy was first melted and cast and then sprayed to obtain rapidly solidified (RS) rib-bons with different thicknesses. The ribbons consist of plen-tiful nanosized IQC grains and a small proportion of amorphous phase. This paper mainly describes the micro-structures of the alloy and their evolution during the heat treatment processes and examines the precipitated phases’ mechanical properties on the basis of nanoindentation tests.2. ExperimentalAn ingot with a nominal composition of Mg61.7Zn34Gd4.3 (at%, atomic ratio) was produced from commercial pure Mg (99.98wt%, weight ratio), pure Zn (99.98wt%), and Mg–30Gd (wt%) alloy. The ingot was then melted and sprayed to obtain RS ribbons with a single copper roller spinning method, where the speed of the copper roller was approximately 20 m/s. To obtain a greater proportion of icosahedral phase, both appropriate chemical compositions and the proper techniques are needed. In the RS process, we found that both the temperature of the alloy liquid and the holding time at this temperature strongly affected the phase formation of the ribbons, especially the formation of the IQC phase. According to Ref. [23], a longer holding time at the melting temperature of an alloy favors the formation of a block-shaped IQC phase. Therefore, two kinds of processes were conducted in this work: one process conducted at a slightly lower melting power (~20 kW) and shorter holding time (3–5 s) led to thinner ribbons (50–90 μm), and the oth-er process at a higher melting power (20–30 kW) and longer holding time (5–10 s) led to thicker ribbons (80–120 μm). Most of the as-sprayed ribbons were then subjected to an isothermal heat treatment at 400︒C for 5–30 min under an Ar atmosphere. Other ribbons were subjected to a non-isothermal treatment, where the temperature was in-creased from RT to 400︒C (heating rate of ~25︒C/min) and held at 400︒C for 30 min under an Ar atmosphere.Nanoindentation tests were performed with a Nano In-denter XP tester equipped with a Berkovich tip (the elastic modulus (E i) and the Poisson's ratio (νi) of the tip are about 1.141 GPa and 0.07, respectively). It recorded the displace-ment as a function of applied load with a high load resolu-tion (50 nN) and a high displacement resolution (0.01 nm). The measurement parameters were as follows: maximum depth h max = 1000 nm, Poisson’s ratio ν= 0.35. To remove the size effects of nanoindentation, the indentation depth was unified (1000 nm) in this work. Each phase was meas-ured at least five times to obtain the average value of the hardness and the Young’s elastic modulus at room tempera-ture and 400︒C.The phases in the alloy were identified by X-ray diffrac-tion (XRD) (Rigaku Ultima IV 3KW, Cu-Kα radiation, at 40 kV and 300 mA); the 2θ range was from 10° to 90° with a scanning rate of 0.02°·s−1. A Zeiss Auriga-EVO 18 field-emission scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) system was used to analyze the microstructure of the alloy. In addition, a Tecnai G2 F30 transmission electron microscope equipped with a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy system was also used to observe the microstructure of the phases and to analyze the parameters of the crystal lattice. Samples for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were etched in a solution of 4vol% nitrate alcohol to reveal grain boundaries. The foils for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation were first mechanically polished to ~50 μm, punched into discs 3 mm in diameter, and then ion-milled using a Gatan plasma ion polisher.3. Results and discussion3.1. Microstructure evolution of the alloy at high tem-peraturesFig. 1 shows the XRD patterns of the as-cast and RS Mg61.7Zn34Gd4.3 alloy. Substantially different phases exist in the as-cast sample and the RS ribbons. Because of the high Zn and RE Gd contents (the total content of Zn and Gd is ~38.3at%), the XRD peaks of the as-cast alloy are compli-cated and three phases are detected in the as-cast sample:W.B. Luo et al., Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and micromechanical (871)α-Mg solid solution, Mg 7Zn 3, and the τ phase. The composi-tion of the alloy is Mg 59Zn 35Gd 6, as verified by EDS in Fig. 2(d). For the RS ribbons, the XRD patterns are relatively simple and show substantial line broadening due to the for-mation of ultrafine crystal grains in a rapid solidification process. Notably, the IQC phase is the main second phase in the as-sprayed material. The μ-phase precipitates upon heat treat-ment of the ribbon at 400°C for 0.5 h. In the meantime, the in-tensity of the XRD peaks of the IQC phase decrease slightly. The results also show that a few particles of the Mg 7Zn 3 phases form during the non-isothermal treatment process.Fig. 2 shows SEM images of the Mg 61.7Zn 34Gd 4.3 alloy under different conditions. For the as-cast sample (Fig. 2(a)), four precipitated phases are detected by EDS (Fig. 2(d)): the τ phase and the Mg 7Zn 3 phase were confirmed by XRD (Fig. 1), and the other two phases were analyzed as follows. One of them is confirmed to be the H1 phase (symbol A3 in Fig. 2(a)), which mainly locates on block-shaped phases; the second one is the binary MgZn phase (symbol A4 in Fig. 2(a)), which is distributed on the adjacent zone of the τ phase and the Mg 7Zn 3 phase. With regard to the RS ribbons (Figs. 2(b) and 2(c)), the main second phases are the IQC phase and the block-shaped H1 phase. On the basis of the quantitative metallographic technique, the contents of thesetwo phases are determined to be approximately 3.4vol% and 5.5vol%, respectively. We observed that the IQC phase dis-plays two substantially different morphologies in the RS al-loy: a petal-like morphology with an average grain size of ~20 μm and fine nanosized particles with an average size of ~107 nm, as shown in Figs. 2(c) and 3(a). The irregular block-shaped H1 phase with an average grain size of ~15 μm forms directly during the solidification process in thethicker RS ribbons.Fig. 1. XRD patterns of the Mg 61.7Zn 34Gd 4.3 alloy under vari-ous conditions.Fig. 2. SEM images and EDS analysis results of the Mg 61.7Zn 34Gd 4.3 alloy: (a) SEM image of the as-cast sample; (b,c) SEM images of the microstructure of the RS ribbons with thinner and thicker thicknesses, respectively; (d) the average EDS results of the phases in the alloy.Fig. 3(a) shows the TEM images of both the nano-IQC phase and the amorphous phase, and no obvious other second phases are observed. The IQC particles, whose siz-es range from 40 to 230 nm, show an approximately glo-bular shape and are homogenously distributed in the RS ribbons. The volume ratio of the amorphous phase is872 Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater ., Vol. 26, No. 7, Jul. 20199vol%–21vol% in the ribbons: more amorphous phases are present in the thinner ribbon than in the thicker one. Fig. 3(b) shows a high-resolution TEM image of the small proportion of the IQC phase and the adjacent amorphous phase. It reveals that the amorphous phase has crystallized to a quasicrystalline structure to a certain extent. Figs. 3(c) and 3(d) show the selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns of the nanosized IQC particles and the amorphous phase. Fig. 3(e) indicates that the IQC phase belongs to the P-type quasicrystal. Fig. 3(f) and 3(g) shows the EDS spectra of these two phases; the spectra reflect the significant differences in the chemical compositions be-tween the intergranular amorphous region and the granular IQC phases.Fig. 3. TEM images, corresponding SAED patterns, and EDS spectra of the thinner RS ribbon: (a) bright-field TEM image of the nanosized IQC phase and the amorphous phase; (b) a high-resolution TEM image of the two phases, where the insets display the fast Fourier transform patterns; (c, d) the SAED patterns of the nano-IQC phase (the beam is parallel to the 5-fold axis) and the amorphous phase, respectively; (e) the SAED patterns of nano-IQC along the 2-fold axis; (f, g) EDS spectra of the amorphous phase and the IQC phase, respectively.The atomic structure of the amorphous phase is random in the long-range and medium-range atomic environments. Some representatively atomic models of short-range order and even medium-range order have been proposed to ex-W.B. Luo et al., Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and micromechanical (873)plain the amorphous structure in recent years [24]. One of the structural models is based on icosahedral atomic stack-ing, where the icosahedral nuclei are speculated to already exist in the amorphous phase [7,24]. However, icosahedral nuclei have rarely been observed in Mg–Zn–RE alloys even though the IQC phase is easily formed in these alloys. The main reason for the rarity of the icosahedral nuclei is likely the poor glass-forming ability of the Mg–Zn–RE glass. In the TEM image, similar icosahedral nuclei were found in the zone of the amorphous phase in the RS ribbon, as shown in Fig. 3(b). A number of nanosized IQC particles are likely transformed from the amorphous phase. The results also in-dicate that the formation of the petal-like IQC phase is more likely diffusion controlled than nucleation controlled in the RS process. These results also coincide with the observation that the longer holding time promotes the formation of the block-shaped IQC phase at the liquid temperature [23].Additional stable IQC phases have been found and stu-died systematically, especially for the icosahedral phase based on Mg–Zn–RE [8,15]. However, most of the IQC phases based on Mg–Zn–RE are well known to be metastable or even unstable at temperatures greater than 400°C [7,16]. This kind of phase could transform to the W phase (400︒C), H phase (415︒C), or F phase [17–18], among others. In the present work, the icosahedral phase based on Mg–Zn–Gd was stable during the heat treatment process at 200–300︒C but changed to a hexagonal phase (μ-phase) when the rib-bons were heat-treated at 400︒C for 0.5 h, as shown in Figs. 4(a) and 5(b). Figs. 5(d) and 5(e) display the corresponding SAED patterns. The short-rod-shaped μ-phase with a com-position of Mg31.6Zn61.8Gd7.1 (Fig. 4(a)) plentifully precipi-tated on the Mg matrix. This phase contains more Zn atoms and fewer Mg atoms than the α-Mg matrix. Even so, the heat treatment had little effect on the morphology of the H1 phase at 400︒C. The chemical composition of the H1 phase exhibited a slight change to Mg29Zn59Gd12 during the heat treatment. Although the composition of the μ-phase is quite similar to that of the H1 phase, the lattice parameters of these two phases substantially differ. The crystal structure of the μ-phase and H1 phase were determined to be hexagonal type, with a = 1.415 nm, c = 0.908 nm and a = 2.107 nm, c = 0.795 nm, respectively, as obtained from Figs. 5(c)–5(e). Fig. 4(b) shows that the μ-phase grows and coarsens during non-isothermal treatment at 400︒C, resulting in particles larger than those formed during the isothermal heat treat-ment. Figs. 5(a)–5(b) show the corresponding TEM images of the H1 phase and the μ-phase in the heat-treated RS alloy, respectively. The block-shaped H1 phase grew slightly dur-ing the heat treatment process, and the newly formed μ-phase has a regular hexagonal morphology with several micrometers in the transversal surface.According to Sugiyama et al. [25], the short-rod-shaped μ-phase with the composition Mg28.6Zn63.8Gd7.7, as the crys-talline approximant of the IQC phase, was also observed in the as-cast Mg42Zn50Gd8 alloy after annealing at 540︒C for 20 h. In the present work, the results clearly indicate that the μ-phase could also rapidly form at the expense of the nano-sized IQC phase under a lower-temperature (400︒C for 0.5 h) heat treatment, although it is still seldom found after treat-ment at 400︒C for 0.2 h. We speculate that the formation of the μ-phase is controlled by its growth rather than by its nucleation. The crystal structure of the μ-phase [25] shows that this phase includes seven Zn atomic sites and that these Zn atoms are described as icosahedra with 12 nearest neighbors. These Zn atoms can be directly supported by the IQC phase. Consequently, the μ-phase can conveniently nucleate without long-range atomic diffusion under high-temperature conditions because its chemical composi-tion is similar to that of the IQC phase.3.2. Micromechanical properties of the phasesThe section details the results of nanoindentation analys-es conducted at two temperatures (25 and 400︒C). Fig. 6(a) shows the load–depth curves of the IQC phase, μ-phase, H1Fig. 4. SEM microstructure of the thicker RS ribbons after heat treatment: (a) isothermal heat treatment at 400︒C; (b) non-isothermal heat treatment at 400︒C. The insets in (a) show the scanning EDS through the μ-phase and α-Mg matrix and the av-erage EDS analysis results of the phases.874 Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater ., Vol. 26, No. 7, Jul. 2019Fig. 5. TEM images and SAED patterns of the hexagonal phases after isothermal heat treatment at 400︒C in the thicker RS rib-bons: (a) bright-field (BF) TEM image of the H1 phase; (b) BF TEM image of the μ-phase; (c) SAED patterns of the H1 phase, where the incident beams are parallel to [0001]; (d, e) SAED patterns of the μ-phase, where the incident beams are parallel to [0001] and [1000], respectively.Fig. 6. Micromechanical properties of the RS Mg 61.7Zn 34Gd 4.3 alloy based on nanoindentation tests: (a) the load–depth curves of various phases; (b) the hardness (including the apparent hardness after heat treatment) and the Y oung’s modulus of the corres-ponding phases (HT means heat treatment at 400︒C).phase, and the α-Mg matrix. Notably, the nanoindentation method used in this work was unable to measure the hard-ness of the isolated nanosized IQC particles or the small zone of the amorphous phase shown in Fig. 3; it instead measured the hardness of the nanosized features within a surrounding amorphous phase and therefore yielded a “mixed” hardness value of the α-Mg matrix with these two phases.The measured hardness (based on the Oliver-Pharr me-thod) and the Young’s modulus of the various phases are summarized in Fig. 6(b). The hardness of the α-Mg matrix is 3.0 ± 0.2 GPa, which includes both the nanosized IQC phase and the amorphous phase. After heat treatment at 400︒C, the hardness of the α-Mg matrix decreases to ~1.9 GPa becauseW.B. Luo et al., Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and micromechanical (875)fewer solute Zn and Gd atoms are distributed in the solidsolution. In the meantime, the nano-IQC phase transforms tothe μ-phase, which weakens the α-Mg matrix. The hardnessof the H1 phase increases from ~4.2 GPa to ~5.2 GPa afterheat treatment. Atomic diffusion occurs during the heattreatment process. Thus, the higher hardness values wereobtained because the chemical composition was more uni-form and the structure was more stable than those before theheat treatment. The hardness of the μ-phase is taken fromthe coarse particles; its value, 3.0 ± 0.5 GPa, is similar tothat of the matrix containing the nanosized IQC phase andthe amorphous phase. The IQC phase exhibits the highesthardness (5.2 ± 0.2 GPa) among these phases.The apparent hardness (Fig. 6(b)), which is the hard-ness usually associated with the analysis of the unloadingcurve [21], was obtained at the same time. The apparenthardness value can be obtained via nanoindentation elas-tic–plastic deformation theory. Energy is lost as heat during plastic deformation and as stored elastic energy (from resi-dual stresses) within the tested material, which is represented by the net area enclosed by the loading and un-loading displacement response [21]. For example, for the IQC phase, the plastic-deformation energy U p lost is ob-tained from the area of OAB (Fig. 6(a)) within the load–depth zone. When the values of the maximum load(P max ) and indentation depth h (including h max and h r ) areobtained, then the apparent hardness (H a ) can be assessedfrom Eq. (1):p a rU H V = (1)where the value of U p can be calculated by integrating Pwith respect to h on the basis of the load–depth curve; V r isthe volume of the indentation and is obtained from Eq. (2) on the basis of the residual impression: 2r max r π(tan )3V h h α=⋅⋅⋅ (2) where α is the effective cone angle (radians), which is 70.3︒ in the case of a Berkovich indenter. The apparent hardnesses of all of the phases are obvious-ly smaller than the hardnesses obtained via the Oliver–Pharr method (Fig. 6(b)). This discrepancy suggests that these phases exhibit elastic–plastic deformation—specifically, these phases represent the resistance to both elastic and plastic deformations, not just the resistance to plastic defor-mation. Although the hardness of the H1 phase is equal to that of the IQC phase, the apparent hardness of the latter (~3.6 GPa) is greater than that of the former (~3.1 GPa),implying that the IQC phase could endure greater deforma-tion resistance, mainly because of the high elastic modulus of the IQC phase. The modulus of the α-Mg matrix and the μ-phase are similar and approach that of the pure Mg (~44 GPa). The IQC phase exhibits the highest elastic modulus among these phases; its value is approximately 70.7 GPa. Fig. 7 shows SEM images of the indentations on these phases. Fig. 7(a) shows the indentations of the α-Mg matrix containing fine short-rod-shaped μ-phase after the heat treatment. Notably, the deformational zone does not appear around this indenta-tion and the same behavior is also observed on the coarse μ-phase, as shown in Fig. 7(c). The hardness of the H1 phase is uncertain and might be greater than the actual value because pile-up deformation substantially occurs around the indentation of the H1 phase, as evident in Fig. 7(b). This observation implies that the H1 phase is likely a non-strain-hardening material with a high value of E/σy (where E is the elastic modulus and σy denotes the yieldstress) [21]. That is, this phase will exhibit a low yield stress under the tensile load condition. A similar phenomenon isalso observed near the zone of the IQC phase, as shown in Fig. 7(d). Pile-up occurs only in a very small zone aroundthe edges of the indentation of this phase. Therefore, its ef-fect can be ignored for the IQC phase. The highest hardness is observed in the petal-shaped IQC phase. The hardness ofthe hexagonal H1 phase is substantially greater than that of the μ-phase with the same structure, possibly because the H1 crystal structure contains more Gd atoms. The plasticity index, ψ, is a parameter that characterizes the relative plastic/elastic behavior of a material subjected to external stresses [18]. In the case of indentation contacts, the value of ψ is obtained from Eq. (3) on the basis of the ener-gy method [19,21]: pe pU U U ψ=+ (3)where the elastic-deformation energy U e lost is obtained from the area of the elastic zone, similar to the area of ABC for the IQC phase. Fig. 8 displays the plasticity index (ψ) of the four phases. The values of ψ for the IQC and H1 phases are smaller thanthose of the Mg matrix and the μ-phase. These results imply that the two former phases resist elastic deformation better than the latter two phases. These observations are consistent with the trends of the corresponding high elastic modulus. The values of ψ for the μ-rod and α-Mg matrix phases aresimilar because the sizes of the μ-phase are relatively small; thus, the tested indentation might permeate into the sol-id-solution matrix phase (α-Mg). The results also indicate that less plastic deformation occurs in the H1 phase than in the IQC phase.876Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater ., Vol. 26, No. 7, Jul. 2019Fig. 7. SEM images of the indentations: (a) the matrix and nano-size μ-phase in the thicker ribbons after heat treatment at 400︒C for 0.5 h; (b) the H1 phase in the as-sprayed thicker ribbons; (c) the block-shaped μ-phase in the thicker ribbons after heat treat-ment at 400︒C for 0.5 h; (d) the petal-shaped IQC phase in the as-sprayed thicker ribbons.Fig. 8. Plasticity indexes of various phases in the as-sprayed thicker Mg 61.7Zn 34Gd 4.3 ribbons or the ribbons after heat treatment at 400︒C for 0.5 h.4. ConclusionsThe effect of heat treatment on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the RS Mg 61.7Zn 34Gd 4.3 (at%) alloy were studied in detail. The following conclusions were drawn:(1) The phases in the thick RS ribbons consist of pet-al-like IQC phase (~20 μm) with a P-type structure and block-like H1 phase (~15 μm) with a hexagonal structure. However, the IQC particles with an average grain size of ~107 nm, as well as a small proportion of amorphous phase, are found in the thinner RS ribbons.(2) The IQC phase generally transforms to a short-rod-liked μ-phase with the hexagonal structure and a composition of Mg 28.6Zn 63.8Gd 7.7 during heat treatment at 400︒C for 0.5 h. Meanwhile, the H1 phase with the compo-sition of Mg 26-30Zn 56-60Gd 10-14 grows slightly during this process.(3) The hardness values of the α-Mg matrix, block-like H1 phase, short-rod-like μ-phase, and petal-shaped IQC phase are 3.0 ± 0.2 GPa, 4.2 ± 0.2 GPa, 3.0 ± 0.5 GPa, and 5.2 ± 0.5 GPa, respectively. The hardness of the H1 phase is similar to that of the IQC phase after heat treatment at 400︒C. Additionally, the IQC phase exhibits the highest ap-parent hardness among these phases.(4) The IQC phase and H1 phase exhibit a lower plastic-ity index than the α-Mg matrix because of their higher elas-tic modulus. The H1 phase exhibits poorer plastic behavior than the IQC phase but a higher elastic modulus than the α-Mg matrix.AcknowledgementsThis work is supported by the Youth Science Fund Project of National Natural Science Fund of China (No. 51401070). We also gratefully acknowledge Dr. Li You from University of Science and Technology Beijing for the discussion of TEM results’ analysis.W.B. Luo et al., Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and micromechanical (877)References[1] F.C.T, Alloys of magnesium, Nature, 141(1938), p. 45.[2] J.D. Robson, Critical assessment 9: Wrought magnesium al-loys, Mater. Sci. Technol., 31(2015), No. 3, p. 257.[3] B.L. Mordike and T. 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JOURNAL OF RARE EARTHS,Vol.27,No.6,Dec.2009,p.1031Fou ndation it em:Project supported by t he National Natural Science Foundati on of China (50575034)Cor respondin g aut hor:JIN Zhuji (E-mail:ki msg@;Tel.:+86-411-84706519)DOI 6S ()633XEffect of La 2O 3on microstr uctur e and high-temperature wear proper ty of hot-press sinter ing FeAl intermetallic compoundMA Xingwei (马兴伟)1,JIN Zhuji (金洙吉)1,YAN Shi (闫石)1,XU Jiujun (徐久军)2(1.Key Laboratory for Precis ion and Non-Traditional Machini ng Technology of Mini stry of Education,Dalian University of Technol ogy,Dalian 116024,China;2.Elec-tromechanics and Material Engineering College,Dali an Maritime University,Dali an 116026,China)Received 9April 2009;revi sed 10October 2009Abstract:FeAl intermetallic compound with different contents of rare earth oxide La 2O 3addition was prepared by hot pressing the me-chanically alloyed powders.Effect of La 2O 3on microstructure and high-temperature wear property of the sintered FeAl samples was investi-gated in this paper.The results showed that 1wt.%La 2O 3addition could refine the microstructure and increase the density of the FeAl inter-metallic compound,and correspondingly improved the high-temperature wear resistance.SEM and EDS analyses of the worn surface indi-cated that micro-ploughing and local melting combined with oxidation were the dominant wear mechanisms.Keywords:FeAl;La 2O 3;hot-press sintering;high-temperature wear resistance;local melting combined with oxidation;rare earthsIntermetallic compound B2-FeAl has attracted much at-tention as potential high-temperature structural and antifric-tion material due to its excellent combined properties from room to high temperature,such as low density and cost,high strength and hardness,excellent oxidation and sulfuration resistance.Whereas its low plasticity and poor machinability at room-temperature limit its application in the fields men-tioned above [1–4].Many attempts have been done to improvethe properties of FeAl intermetallic alloys [5–8],and additionof rare earths has become an effective method [9].Rare earths (RE)are widely used in metallurgical fields [10,11],due to im-proved performance of sintering,heat-machining,mechanics,oxidation/corrosion and wear resistance by means of puri-fying,transformation and alloying processes.Wang K L et al.[12]reported effects of rare earth oxides on microstructure and corrosion resistance of laser clad nickel-based alloys and Wang Y et al.[9]presented influence of CeO 2on corro-sion and wear resistance of FeAl thermal-spraying coating,indicating that addition of CeO 2can improve coating quality,lessen cracks,increase coating hardness,and consequently enhance wear resistance.However,previous researches on RE addition to FeAl intermetallic alloys were focused mainly on coatings,but bulk materials were rarely referred so far.In this article,La 2O 3addition on FeAl bulk material was prepared by hot-pressing the mechanically alloyed (MAed)Fe-Al powders,and the influence of RE oxide La 2O 3on structure and high-temperature wear performanceof FeAl compound was investigated.The wear mechanism was also analyzed.1Experimental1.1Preparation of the samplesCommercial powders of iron (purity 99.5%,200mesh)and aluminum (purity 99.5%,200mesh)were blended with nominal composition of Fe-40at.% 2O 3powder (purity 99.9%,2m)was added to the Fe-Al mixture with the amount of 0wt.%,1wt.%,3wt.%and 5wt.%,respectively.The four mixtures with symbols 0E,1E,3E,5E were ball milled for 50h in a high energy planetary ball-mill (QM-1SP2,Nanjing University)followed by sintering in a vacuum hot-press (ZRYS,Shenyang Weitai).Four samples underwent the same ball-milling and hot-pressing process.To avoid adhesion of particles to the ball and inner wall of the jar during mechanical alloying process,some organic solvent was added to the blended powders before milling.The weight ratio of the ball-to-powder was 10:1,and the ro-tation speed was set to 480r/min.Fig.1shows the sintering parameters of the four MAed powders.1.2Performance t estingThe sintered samples were cut with a diamond saw into different size of specimens for testing.The density was meas-:10.101/1002-07210808-1032J OURNAL OF RARE EARTHS,Vol.27,No.6,Dec.2009Fig.1Hot-press sintering parameters of the four MAed powders ured by Archimedes’method,and compared with theoretical density of FeAl alloy(5.56g/cm3)to get the relative density. Hardness was examined by Vickers hardness tester (HV-50A,China)under a load of98N for20s,and the av-erage hardness was obtained from5measurements for each specimen.The phase composition of the specimens was de-termined by X-ray diffractometer(XRD-6000,Shimadzu, Japan)using Cu Kαradiation.Element concentration distri-butions was detected by X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF-1800,Shimadzu,Japan)and electron probe micro-analysis(EPMA-1600,Shimadzu,Japan)with a voltage of 15kV and a current of50nA;more detailed microstructural characteristics were observed by scanning electron micros-copy with X-ray energy disperse spectroscopy(SEM-EDS, JSM-5600LV,Jeol,Japan).And the worn surface mor-phologies were analyzed by optical microscope(OM, Olympus2000,Japan),SEM and EDS.1.3Wear testWear experiment was carried out on a self-designed pin on disk-high temperature friction machine shown in Fig.2. The sintered FeAl sample with a dimension ofΦ65mm×5mm was driven to rotate by a motor underneath,and the rotation speed was200r/min.The coupled material was a commer-cial available DC-Arc-Plasma-Jet chemical vapor deposition (CVD)diamond films with a surface roughness of Ra16.9m on the growth surface(Hebei Institute of Laser,China), which was fixed by the clamp and pressed against the sin-tered FeAl sample under load p.The distance r between two axis lines was invariable.The FeAl sample and diamond film were surrounded by the heating setups and heated to 600°C.Friction f between diamond and FeAl sample was meas-ured real time by piezoelectric force sensor.So friction co-efficient was obtained by=f/p(1) where f is the friction in N and p is the load in N.The wornmassm of the samples were evaluated by electric-balance(resolution0.01mg),and the average wear rate R W was cal-culated by the equationR W=m/(ρt)(2)where R W is the average wear rate in mm3/h,m is the wornmass in mg,ρis the measured Archimedes’density ing/cm3and t is the friction time in h.2Results and discussion2.1Str ucture and phase compositionFig.3shows XRD patterns of ball-milled powders for50h,which indicated that the four kinds of powders all trans-formed totally into single phase powders-α-Fe(Al)solid so-lution,which accorded with the Ref.[13].And due to thetiny amount,La2O3was not detected in Fe(Al)XRD pat-terns.The microstructure of the four kinds of powders isshown in Fig.4.During50h of ball-milling processes,theoriginal particles were exposed to repeated extruding,plasticdeformation,cold welding,fracturing,and rewelding[14],andfinally formed uniform and fine lamellar structure with grainsize of20m.No obvious change is found in the ball-milled powders with different contents of La2O3but someparticles gather in5E sample.Therefore rear earth La2O3hasno distinct influence on mechanical alloying procedure.Fig.2Schematic illustration of the friction and weartestFig.3XRD patterns of the ball-milled powdersMA Xingwei et al.,Effect of La 2O 3on microstructure and high-temperature wear property of hot-press sintering FeAl …1033Fig.4Microstructure of ball-milled powders(a)0E;(b)1E;(c)3E;(d)5ETable 1shows XRF results of sintered samples,indicating that sintered samples had the same element percent content with the starting powders.XRD patterns of sintered samples in Fig.5show that four samples are all made up of B2-FeAl phase,and have narrow peaks compared with the broadened Fe(Al)peaks of the MAed powders,which indicated that after 3h of sintering,the MAed α-Fe(Al)solid solution has totally transformed into FeAl intermetallic compound.Fig.6shows SEM images of sintered samples,which ob-viously indicates that samples 1E and 3E have the most compacted microstructure.Sample 1E has finer grains and sample 3E has more compact microstructure but has some bigger pits,sample 5E has the coarsest grains followed byTable 1XRF analysis results of sintered samplesSamples w Fe /wt.%w A l /wt.%w La /wt.%Impurity *Poss ible composition 0E 68.9529.800Bal.FeAl1E 69.3029.590.78Bal.FeAl-1%La 2O 33E69.7527.272.30Bal.FeAl-3%La 2O 35E 68.4027.55 3.94Bal.FeAl-5%La 2O 3*Because of the tiny amount in the alloys and its small atom weight,oxygen ele-ment was class ified into impurityFig.5XRD patterns of sintered samples0E sample.The results are consistent with the density values of the alloys measured with Archimedes principle (Fig.7).Because of the large ion radii and extremely low solid solu-bility in the alloy,the RE are dispersed between Fe(Al)par-ticles during mechanical alloying,with the Fe(Al)particles refined,the fine La 2O 3is sandwiched within the Fe(Al)la-mellae.When hot-pressing is applied to fine MAed particles,intense diffusion is carried on between iron and aluminum atoms and long-term ordered B2-FeAl lattice formed,but with the presence of the La 2O 3with high melting-point (up to 2250°C)and low solid solubility in the alloy,growth of the FeAl grains is inhibited,leading to finer microstruc-ture [12,15,16].With the effect of grain refinement and sintering activity,proper La 2O 3can enhance sintering activity and diffusion process during sintering,thus increased the relative density of the alloy [15,17].Fig.8shows lanthanum element face distribution images of sintered samples 1E and 5E,it is obvious that proper ad-dition of La 2O 3(Fig.81E)brings about even and dispersed distribution of RE,which blocks grain boundaries and re-sults grains refinement (Fig.6(b))[17].On the contrary,ex-cessive La 2O 3(Fig.85E)will lead to gathering of RE at grain boundaries,baffling the diffusion process,and wors-ening sintering characteristics of alloy powders,resulting in uneven microstructure with lots of porosities and pits (Fig.6(d)).2.2Har dnessFig.7shows hardness of the sintered FeAl alloy with dif-ferent contents of La 2O 3.It can be seen that proper amount of La 2O 3addition does not decrease FeAl alloy ’s hardness,or even slightly increase its hardness.However,excessive amount of La 2O 3addition would cause drop and nonuni-formity of hardness greatly.Due to small solid solubilityofFig.6SEM images of sintered samples();();()3;()5a 0E b 1E c E d E1034J OURNAL OF RARE EARTHS,Vol.27,No.6,Dec.2009Fig.7Hardness and relative density of sintered samples against REcontentFig.8Lanthanum element face distribution images of sinteredsamples 1E (a)and 5E (b)rare earth in FeAl alloys,La 2O 3mainly existed at grain boundaries.When suitable amount of La 2O 3is added,grain boundary is strengthened and toughened [17].On the contrary,too much accumulation of rare earth La 2O 3at grain bounda-ries will result in insufficient sintering and the appearance of porosities in FeAl matrix,which is closely related to the de-crease of density and hardness.2.3Wear char acter isticsFig.9shows variation of friction coefficient against slid-ing time of sintered FeAl alloys at 600°C.It can be easilyseen that the friction coefficients keep stable and smooth against sliding time,and gradually reduce with the increase of La 2O 3content.0E sample has the highest friction coeffi-cient and 5E sample possesses the lowest.The wear rate of the four samples is shown in Fig.10,which obviously indicates that samples 1E and 3E have the best wear resistance,which is only about 1/6of the wear rate of sample 0E.However,the wear rate of sample 5E is 1.4times of sample 0E,so sample 5E has the worst wear resis-tance.Fig.11shows wear morphology of the four samples.It can be easily found that samples 1E and 3E have uniform and smooth worn surface,while samples 0E and 5E have relatively rough surface with many holes and scratches.So a conclusion can be drawn based on the analyses of density,hardness,friction coefficient,worn mass and worn surface topography,that wear resistance of the alloys is connected closely with densification,and has little relationship with hardness,which is consistent with researches of Wang et al.[9]When the sintered alloy is dense,the bonding of the materials is strong and tough,and there are little porosities in the alloy matrix (Fig.6(b)and (c)),so the alloy has per-fect wear resistance (Fig.101E and 3E).On the other hand,when the alloy with incompact structure is exposed to the abrading of coupled diamond film with a roughness of RaFig.9Variation of friction coefficient against friction time(1)0E;(2)1E;(3)3E;(4)5EFig.10Wear rate of four samplesMA Xingwei et al.,Effect of La 2O 3on microstructure and high-temperature wear property of hot-press sintering FeAl …1035Fig.11Optical morphology of the worn surface(a)0E;(b)1E;(c)3E;(d)5EFig.12(a)Typical SEM topography with (b)local magnified image and (c)EDS images of the worn surface (1E)16.9m and extremely high hardness,the contact part of the alloy is easily scratched out and leaves a rough worn surface with many holes and furrows (Fig.11(a)and (d)),which correspond with a bad wear resistance (Fig.105E).As for friction coefficient,it has close relationship with RE content,more RE content accounts for lower friction coefficient,but it does not mean better wear resistance,though it is common that lower friction coefficient implies better wear resistance.So it can be concluded that the wear resistance of FeAl based alloy to diamond at high temperature is closely related to its density rather than hardness,as compared with ex-tremely hard counterpart diamond,the hardness change of the FeAl based alloy is not sensitive.Fig.12shows typical morphologies and EDS images of the worn surface (1E),it is easily observed that sample 1E presents uniform and smooth worn surface and exhibits a melting-flow pattern (Fig.12(b)),which can be attributed to local melting of the surface layer material caused by the combination of high temperature and friction heat.However,alloy without RE addition shows rough worn surface with many micro-furrows and scales (Fig.11).EDS spectrum (Fig.12(c))indicates that the worn surface is composed of O,Fe and Al elements.From Figs.11and 12,conclusion can be drawn that the main wear mechanisms are micro-ploughing and local melting combined with oxidation.3Conclusions(1)With 1wt.%–3wt.%of rare earth oxide La 2O 3addi-tion,the microstructure of FeAl intermetallic compound was f y ,y the high-temperature wear resistance.(2)The refinement of microstructure was attributed to dis-persed distribution of fine La 2O 3particles at FeAl grain boundaries,which inhibited grain growth during hot-press-ing process and led to fine microstructure.(3)The friction coefficient decreased with the increasing of RE content,and 1wt.%–3wt.%RE addition remarkably improved the wear resistance of the alloy though the hard-ness had little increase.The wear resistance of FeAl based alloy to diamond at high temperature was closely related to the density rather than the hardness,as compared with ex-tremely hard counterpart diamond,the hardness change of the FeAl based alloy was not sensitive.(4)The main wear mechanisms were micro-ploughing and local melting combined with oxidation.References:[1]Liu C T,George E P,Maziasz P J,Schneibel J H.Recent ad-vances in B2iron aluminide alloys:deformation,fracture and alloy design.Materials Science and Engineering,1998,A258:84.[2]Alman D E,Hawk J A,Tylczak J H,D gan C P,Wilson R D.Wear of iron-aluminide intermetallic-based alloys and com-posites by hard particles.Wear,2001,251:875.[3]Deevi S C,Sikka V K.Nickel and iron aluminides:an over-view on properties,processing and applications.Intermetallics,1996,4:357.[4]David G.Morris,Maria A.Munoz-Morris,Jesus Chao.De-velopment of high strength,high ductility and high creep re-sistant iron aluminide.Intermetallics,2004,12:821.[5]R ,B R G,S D S ff f re ined and its densit increased correspondingl improvedadhakrishna A aligidad arma .E ect o carbon1036J OURNAL OF RARE EARTHS,Vol.27,No.6,Dec.2009on structure and properties of FaAl based intermetallic alloy.Scripta Materialia,2001,45:1077.[6]Stoloff N S,Liu C T.Environmental embrittlement of 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Journal of Alloys and Compounds437(2007)146–150The effects of Cu addition on the microstructure andthermal stability of an Al–Mg–Si alloyJin Man∗,Li Jing,Shao Guang JieSchool of Materials Science and Engineering,Shanghai University,Shanghai200072,PR ChinaReceived11May2006;received in revised form25July2006;accepted25July2006Available online14September2006AbstractThe effects of Cu addition on the microstructure and thermal stability of6082Al–Mg–Si alloys were investigated.The results show the Q precipitates are formed when aged at170◦C for4h in6082alloy with0.6%Cu addition.The hardness value of the alloy with0.6%Cu is always distinctly higher than that of the alloy without Cu during isothermal treatment at250◦C.Based on the TEM and three-dimensional atom probe (3DAP)results,the thermal stability of the6082alloys with Cu addition is discussed with respect to the distribution of Cu.©2006Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved.Keywords:Aluminum alloys;Precipitation;Microstructure;Transmission electron microscopy1.IntroductionAl–Mg–Si alloys are widely used for medium strengthstructural applications and in architectural sections[1].TheAl–Mg–Si alloys are mostly used in extruded Al productsin Western Europe,as well as for construction and auto-motive purposes[2].In the past several decades,the6xxxseries of Al–Mg–Si alloys have been widely studied due totheir excellent properties and extensive use in the automotiveindustries[1–3].These alloys,produced by an artificial age-ing treatment,could be strengthened through precipitation of  ormetastable phases.The precipitation sequence which is generally accepted is the following[2,4,5]:SSSS atomicclusters→GP-zones→ → /B’phase→(stable).Where, SSSS is super saturated solid solution and GP-zones are referredto as pre- .With the rapid development of the aviation and automo-tive industries,it is necessary to further develop high-strengthaluminum alloys.It is well known that the addition of cop-per to Al–Mg–Si alloys improves its mechanical properties,especially ductility[6,7].The effect of copper on the precipi-tation behavior of Al–Mg–Si alloys has been previously inves-tigated,where it has been established that addition of copper∗Corresponding author.Tel.:+862156331371;fax:+862156333080.E-mail addresses:jinman919@,jinman919@ (J.Man).usually enhances the precipitation hardening kinetics[8–10]. Earlier,investigations mostly focused on the crystal structure and composition of the Q -phase in Cu-containing Al–Mg–Si alloy[6,11,12].Miao and Laughlin[11]proposed that the pre-cipitation sequence in the6022alloy with0.07%Cu was: SSSS→GP-zones→needle-like →rod-like +lath-like Q →+Si,while the precipitation sequence in the alloy with 0.91%Cu was:SSSS→GP-zones→needle-like →lath-like Q →Q+Si.The three-dimensional atom probe(3DAP) analyses[13]indicated that the addition of Cu had not changed the chemical nature of the Gp-zones,while enhanced forma-tion of and Q precipitates had not contributed to the age hardening of the alloy at175◦C.Yassar et al.[14]studied the effect of pre-deformation on the sequence of the metastable pre-cipitates in6022Al–Mg–Si alloy and the following sequence was reported:clusters/Gp-zones→ +Q →Q .Although a number of studies concerning the structure,composition and properties of precipitates of Al–Mg–Si alloy with Cu addition are available,some controversy still remains and the precise precipitation sequence and role played by Q are still not fully understood.In this study,the effects of Cu addition on the microstructure and thermal stability of6082Al–Mg–Si alloys were investi-gated.Based on the TEM and three-dimensional atom probe results,the thermal stability of the6082alloy with Cu addition is discussed with respect to the distribution of Cu.The3DAP is capable of mapping individual atoms in real space with0925-8388/$–see front matter©2006Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2006.07.113J.Man et al./Journal of Alloys and Compounds437(2007)146–150147Table1Chemical composition of the alloys used in the experiment(wt%)Alloy Mg Si Mn Cu Fe Ti Zn Cr Al 10.72 1.200.75–0.160.0310.0190.011Bal 20.73 1.200.750.600.160.0310.0160.013Bala near-atomic resolution[13,15],thus,it provides accurate information on particle density,composition and morphology of clusters and small precipitates[15].2.Experimental procedureThe chemical compositions of the two alloys are shown in Table1.The AA6082Al–Mg–Si ingots with and without Cu were made by a vertical contin-uous casting method.The ingots were homogenized at530◦C for4h,in order to reduce composition segregation and then extruded at450◦C to13mm diameter billets.The samples were solution treated at530◦C for1h in salt,quenched in water at room temperature and aged at170◦C,respectively.The tests for hardness were performed with each reading being the average of three measurements. The TEM investigation was performed on a JEM-2010F electron transmission microscope.Thin foils were etched by double-jet polishing with an electrolyte consisting of5%KClO4and ethanol at−20◦C,at40V and a current40–50mA. The3DAP analyses were carried out at about25K with a pulse fraction(V p/V dc) of20pct in ultra high vacuum condition(UHV).The detailed3DAP technique is described elsewhere[16,17].Blanks of size0.4mm×0.4mm×25mm were cut from the samples and needle-shaped specimens for3DAP were prepared by standard electro-polishing in25%KClO4and75%acetic acid at about10V at roomtemperature.Fig.1.Hardness–time curves for the alloys Al–Mg–Si and Al–Mg–Si–0.6%Cu isothermal aged at170◦C.3.ResultsAge hardened curves at a temperature of170◦C for two alloys as-quenched are shown in Fig.1.It can be seen from Fig.1that the alloy with0.6%Cu addition had a greatly accelerated age hardening rate which developed immediately from the start of ageing.The peak hardness is achieved after approximately4h Fig.2.(a)Brightfield TEM micrograph,(b)electron diffraction pattern and(c)corresponding EDS spectra analysis of6082alloy with0.6%Cu addition after aged at170◦C for4h.148J.Man et al./Journal of Alloys and Compounds 437(2007)146–150for 0.6%Cu addition.Thereafter,hardness reached a plateau with further ageing.The hardness curve for 6082alloy without Cu addition reached peak hardness after 8h of ageing.It is clear that Cu additions enhance the peak hardness and reduce the time to reach the peak hardness.Fig.2shows a bright field image,corresponding EDS spec-tra analysis and the [001]selected-area electron diffraction (SAED)patterns of the 0.6%Cu alloy aged at 170◦C for 4h,which corresponds to the peak hardness condition.In Fig.2(a),it can be seen lath-shaped strain field con-trasts which oriented along [100]and [010]directions of the matrix.Meanwhile,these precipitates have a rectangular cross section with an angle less than 11◦with respect to the near-est 001 Al direction in the matrix when viewed end on (i.e.along the 001 direction),which is a typical characteristic of the Q -phase [6,18].The SAED pattern seen in the Fig.2(b)is in agreement with that reported on Q by Miao and Laughlin [11].Thus,it is concluded that the Q precipitates are formed when aged at 170◦C for 4h in 6082alloy with 0.6%Cu addition.This conclusion is different from the result obtained by Murayama et al.[13],who reported that the Q -phase was not observed even after 10h of ageing at 175◦C and,therefore,does not contribute to the age hardening at 175◦C for Al–0.61Mg–1.22Si–0.39Cualloy.Fig.3.3DAP elemental maps of:(a)Mg,(b)Si and (c)Cu in the sample aged at 170◦C for 4h.Fig.3shows selected volumes of 3DAP elemental maps of:(a)Mg,(b)Si and (c)Cu obtained from the sample with 0.6%Cu addition aged for 4h at 170◦C.For clarity,Al atoms are not shown in these maps;only Mg,Si and Cu atoms are displayed.In these elemental maps,the Mg,Si and Cu atoms are represented by different colour symbols.It must be pointed out that thesizeFig.4.Integrated concentration profiles of Mg,Si and Cu obtained from the precipitate.J.Man et al./Journal of Alloys and Compounds437(2007)146–150149 of the various symbols in Fig.3is not related to the actual sizeof the corresponding atoms[19].It can be seen that nano-scale Q particles enriched with Mg,Si and Cu are clearly observed in these maps.The morphol-ogy of the particle was assessed as approximately lath-shapedafter viewing the volumes during rotation through360◦C.Theaverage size of the particle is approximately15nm in lengthand3nm in diameter.It was also found that this precipitate ismainly composed of Mg and Si with an enrichment of Cu.Fig.4shows the integrated concentration profiles detected in Fig.3,Fig.5.The concentration depth profiles of the selectedvolume.parison curves of HB hardness vs.isothermal holding time at250◦Cfor alloys with0.6%Cu and without Cu.where the number of detected solute atoms is plotted as a func-tion of the total number of detected atoms.The region betweenthe two dashed lines corresponds to the precipitate.Thus,theslope of the profile represents the local chemical compositionof the Q precipitate.Mg,Si and Cu concentrations in the Qprecipitate are estimated to be17.6%Mg,13.6%Si and4%Cu,respectively.Since most of the Mg,Si and Cu atoms are masked in the background,the location of Mg,Si and Cu atoms is not visuallyclear.In order to examine the local distribution of solute ele-ments at the Q precipitate/␣interface well,a volume shown asa small box in Fig.3(a)is selected.This volume is perpendicularto the Q /␣interface with a cross section of4nm×3nm.Fig.5shows the concentration depth profiles of the selected volume.These concentration profiles clearly prove that Mg,Si and Cuare major elements detected from the Q -phase and the concen-tration depth profiles indicate that Cu atoms are segregated at theQ /␣interfaces rather than incorporated within the precipitate.In order to test the effect of Cu addition on the thermal stability of6082alloy,the changes in hardness curves duringisothermal treatment at250◦C were investigated.Fig.6showsthat the hardness curves of the alloys with and without Cu addi-tion clearly exhibit different characteristics when both weresolution treated at530◦C for1h,then aged at170◦C for4hprior to isothermal treatment at250◦C.The hardness of the alloywithout Cu addition sharply decreases;this is then followed bya further decrease in hardness with isothermal holding time.Incontrast,the hardness value of the alloy with0.6%Cu is alwaysdistinctly higher than that of the alloy without Cu under the sameheat treatment conditions.4.DiscussionThe present study has shown that the addition of Cu enhances the peak hardness in a6082Al–Mg–Si alloy.According to theresults in Figs.2and3,taking into account the main mechanisms150J.Man et al./Journal of Alloys and Compounds437(2007)146–150of precipitation hardening processes,the higher hardness of theCu-containing Al–Mg–Si alloy aged at170◦C can be attributedto the existence of the quaternary metastable Q -phases.Thecrystal structure of the Q -phase in the Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloyshas been discussed in detail.The lath-like Q has a hexagonalcrystal structure with the lattice parameter of a=1.04nm andc=0.405nm[6].It is evident that the Q precipitates formed during ageinghave a strong influence on the thermal stability of Al–Mg–Sialloy with Cu addition.As is already known,in order to improvethe strength of the alloys,a microstructure containing thermallystable and coarsening resistant dispersoids is required[20,21].It was found that the hardness value of the alloy with0.6%Cuwas always distinctly higher than that of the alloy without Cuduring isothermal treatment at250◦C,indicating that the Qprecipitates do not easily to coarsen and grow.In the presentstudy,it was found that Q precipitates are formed when agedat170◦C for4h in6082alloy with0.6%Cu addition.The3DAP results,shown in Fig.5,revealed that Cu atoms are seg-regated at the Q /␣interfaces rather than incorporated withinthe precipitate.In order to reduce the lattice misfit at the Q /␣-Al interface,the Cu atoms would be expected to be attractedtowards the{200}Al/{1010}Q interface,which are the small-est of the four elements Al,Mg,Si and Cu[22].Therefore,the segregation of the Cu atoms at the Q /␣interfaces wouldexplain the tendency to relieve the coherency strain.Matsudaand Teguri et al.[22]studied the Cu-segregation at the Q /␣interface in an Al–1.0mass%Mg2Si–0.5mass%Cu alloy byenergy-filtered transmission electron microscopy.It was sug-gested that as ageing proceeds,Cu atoms are most likely tosegregate towards the precipitate/matrix interface by a processsimilar to Ag-segregation of the -phase/matrix interface inAl–Cu–Mg–Ag alloy.That is to say the Cu atoms are attractedto the region of the lattice mismatch at the Q /␣-Al interface.This observation is in good agreement with the results obtainedhere by3DAP.The Cu-segregation at the Q /␣interface may be the reason forthe lower coarsening rate of the Q precipitates.The interfacialenergy should be minimized in order to obtain thermal stability[23].It has been shown that the repeat distance along the 150directions of the aluminum matrix is1.03nm.This value beingabout the same as the lattice parameter of the Q -phase[14,24]and the Q precipitates,which tend to form as a lath so as tominimize the misfit at its surface and consequently also decreaseits interfacial energy.Due to the diffusivity of Cu being lowerin the Al matrix,the Cu-segregation on the Q interface retardsand delays the coarsening of Q .Thus,the rate of coarsening ofQ is reduced,this may also be the reason why the alloy withCu addition displays a higher thermal stability than the alloywithout Cu addition.5.ConclusionsThe effects of Cu addition on the microstructure and thermalstability of6082Al–Mg–Si alloys were investigated.It was found that the addition of0.6%Cu to the6082Al–Mg–Si alloy clearly increases the peak hardness and reduces the time to reach the peak hardness.The hardness value of the alloy with 0.6%Cu was always distinctly higher than that of the alloy without Cu during isothermal treatment at250◦C.The TEM and3DAP revealed that the Q precipitates are formed when aged at170◦C for4h in6082alloy with0.6%Cu addition. Cu atoms are segregated at the Q /␣interfaces rather than incorporated within the precipitate,which retards and delays the coarsening of Q precipitates during holding the temperature at 250◦C.AcknowledgementThefinancial support of the Scientific and Technical Com-mission Fund of Shanghai is greatly acknowledged. 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氧化钐掺杂对氧化锌压敏陶瓷电学特性的影响汪建华;谢杰;熊礼威【摘要】以氧化锌、氧化镨、氧化亚钴、氧化铬和氧化钐作为原料,经配料、球磨、造粒、压片和烧结等工序制得压敏电阻片,采用电流-电压特性测试、X射线衍射和扫描电子显微镜分别获得陶瓷的电性能参数,材料成分和微观结构图.实验结果表明:随着氧化钐含量的增加,氧化锌压敏陶瓷的非线性和压敏电压呈现先增大后降低的趋势.当氧化钐摩尔百分比低于0.3时,非线性系数和压敏电压随氧化钐含量的增加而增大.而氧化钐摩尔分数为0.3%时,压敏陶瓷具有最佳非线性电学特性,非线性系数为35,压敏电压为435伏/毫米;继续增加氧化钐至摩尔分数为0.5%时,非线性系数和压敏电压将会降低.氧化钐绝大多数聚集在晶界层,抑制晶粒生长,从而提高了压敏陶瓷的压敏电压.而极少数氧化钐与氧化锌发生置换反应,降低了氧化锌颗粒的电阻,从而提高了非线性.因此氧化锌压敏陶瓷因掺杂氧化钐提高了电性能而有望应用在高压领域.【期刊名称】《武汉工程大学学报》【年(卷),期】2013(035)005【总页数】5页(P52-56)【关键词】氧化锌氧化镨系压敏陶瓷;氧化钐;非线性系数【作者】汪建华;谢杰;熊礼威【作者单位】武汉工程大学材料科学与工程学院,湖北省等离子体化学与新材料重点实验室,湖北武汉430074;武汉工程大学材料科学与工程学院,湖北省等离子体化学与新材料重点实验室,湖北武汉430074;武汉工程大学材料科学与工程学院,湖北省等离子体化学与新材料重点实验室,湖北武汉430074【正文语种】中文【中图分类】TQ1740 引言氧化锌(ZnO)压敏材料是一种多晶电子陶瓷结构,由ZnO和几种微量金属氧化物烧结而成;根据掺杂物的不同,可把ZnO压敏陶瓷分ZnOBi2O3 系和ZnO-Pr6O11系压敏陶瓷[1].ZnO-Bi2O3系因其具有优良的非线性早已被广泛应用于电子电力领域.但随后研究发现陶瓷的一些缺点导致其性能的优化,如最致命的缺点是Bi2O3在液相烧结中挥发,导致气孔率增加,电性能降低.其次是掺杂组分多、掺杂物价格昂贵、制备工艺复杂、烧结温度高等致使制造成本大幅度增加[2-3];ZnO-Pr6O11系压敏陶瓷因具有优良压敏特性、微观结构简单和掺杂组分少等优点,有望成为下一代备受欢迎的压敏陶瓷[4].ZnO-Pr6O11系压敏陶瓷是一种以ZnO和Pr6O11作为主要原材料,并添加一种或几种微量的金属氧化物(如 CoO、Cr2O3、Y2O3、Dy2O3、SnO2、Fe2O3等)烧结而成的半导体材料.综述前人一系列关于ZnO-Pr6O11系压敏陶瓷的实验得知:掺杂Pr6O11使得ZnO压敏陶瓷形成绝缘晶界骨架,具有微量的非线性;CoO、Cr2O3等物质的添加进一步提高ZnO-Pr6O11系压敏陶瓷的非线性;要想得到更加良好的非线性,还需要添加如Y2O3、Dy2O3、La2O3、Al2O3 等物质[5-9].Choon-Woo Nahm等人研究Dy2O3含量对ZnO-Pr6O11-CoO-Cr2O3 压敏陶瓷微观结构和电性能的影响.当Dy2O3摩尔分数为0.5%时,压敏陶瓷具有最高的非线性系数:α=55.3[9].且 M.A.Ashrafa等进行了Sm2O3 对 ZnO-Bi2O3-Sb2O3-MnO2-Co3O4-Cr2O3-NiO压敏陶瓷的微观结构和电性能的影响研究,结果表明,当Sm2O3摩尔分数为0.3%时,ZnO-Bi2O3系陶瓷的压敏性能最好[10].Sm2O3与Dy2O3同属于稀土氧化物,且离子半径都比ZnO大;Dy2O3掺杂使得ZnO-Pr6O11系压敏陶瓷的非线性提高,且Sm2O3掺杂ZnOBi2O3系压敏陶瓷使其具有优异的非线性,因此大胆设想掺杂Sm2O3也能同Dy2O3一样达到提高ZnO-Pr6O11系压敏陶瓷的电性能的效果.本实验在 ZnO-Pr6O11-CoO -Cr2O3压敏陶瓷中加入Sm2O3形成ZPCCS陶瓷,主要研究了Sm2O3的含量对ZPCCS压敏陶瓷微观结构和压敏性能的影响,并对其内在机理进行分析.1 实验本实验是以ZnO、Pr6O11、CoO、Cr2O3、Sm2O3作为原材料,采用传统陶瓷工艺制备氧化锌压敏电阻.材料的比例分别为(95.5-x)ZnO-1Pr6O11-2CoO -1.5Cr2O3-xSm2O3;(x=0,0.1,0.3,0.5,单位摩尔分数%),按该比例配比药品,并将样品依次编号为S0,S1,S3,S5.采用氧化锆球和玛瑙罐在行星球磨机中湿磨6h,研磨浆料在50℃烘干12h后取出,在750℃下煅烧2h,然后加5%聚乙烯醇,造粒过筛后,在80MPa的压力下压制成11.5mm×1.2mm的生坯.再在1350℃下空气中保温1h自然降温,之后把样品磨成直径为11.5mm×1mm.把样品的两面涂上直径为5mm的银浆,620℃下烧结10min后自然降温.采用自制电路系统测试ZPCCS压敏陶瓷的主要电性能参数,即1mA,10mA对应的电压,其电路原理图如图1所示.非线性系数α根据测试数据及公式(1)计算得出.利用阿基米德原理测得密度.通过扫描式电子显微镜(SEM)来观察ZPCCS 压敏陶瓷的微观结构,XRD分析物相成分.其中I1=1mA;I2=10mA;V1V2是I1I2对应的电压(单位:V).图1 直流测试电路图Fig.1 Circuit diagram of direct current testing2 结果与分析2.1 X射线衍射分析图2显示了ZPCCS压敏陶瓷的X射线衍射(XRD)图;从图中可以看出,当没有掺杂Sm2O3时,ZnO压敏陶瓷的晶相简单,只有主晶相ZnO和Pr6O11,Pr2O3 构成的晶界相;这与 Hng[9]等人的报道结果相一致,Pr6O11和Pr2O3共同存在于ZnO-Pr6O11-Co3O4 系压敏陶瓷中,且Pr2O3 含量明显小于Pr6O11.但掺杂Sm2O3后,ZnO颗粒的衍射峰明显降低,且检测到了Sm2O3衍射峰.这说明ZnO比例相对减少的同时,还说明其很可能与Sm2O3发生共熔反应,生成ZnSm2O4新相[10-12].而CoO、Cr2O3因掺杂量少,且与Pr6O11、ZnO 发生共熔反应[6-8],因此XDR图没有明显的CoO、Cr2O3峰.图2 不同浓度氧化钐掺杂氧化锌压敏陶瓷的XRD图Fig.2 X-ray diffraction patterns(XRD)of ZnO varistor doped with different Sm2O3concentration 2.2 扫描式电子显微镜分析图3显示了不同含量的Sm2O3对ZPCCS系压敏电阻微观结构的影响,从图中可以明显看出由灰白色片状物质依附在黑色材料聚集而成,经晶粒、晶粒边界和晶界层三处能谱分析EDX图对比验证,凸显出来的灰白色物质是含Pr及Sm氧化物;灰黑色物质则是ZnO晶相.由于掺杂量相对较多,导致表层Pr及Sm氧化物小部分凸显出来,相互支架,这样容易造成孔洞.不掺杂Sm2O3时,其微观结构凸陷明显而松散,样品的表面存在很多孔洞.通过阿基米德原理测出密度ρ=5.35g/cm3.但加入Sm2O3后,晶界层明显溶解,且更紧密覆盖在ZnO表面上,这是因为Sm2O3起着促进液相烧结、连接剂和晶粒生长抑制剂的作用[10],使得陶瓷致密度越来越高;当Sm2O3摩尔分数为0.5%时,Sm2O3使得晶界层与ZnO 紧密相连.此时,ZPCCS系压敏电阻的表面最平整,致密度最高,ρ=5.49g/cm3. 图3 不同浓度氧化钐掺杂氧化锌压敏电阻的SEM图Fig.3 Scanning electron microscope(SEM)photographs of ZnO varistor doped with differentSm2O3concentration注:(a)摩尔分数0%;(b)摩尔分数0.1%;(c)摩尔分数0.3%;(d)摩尔分数0.5%A:ZnO晶粒;B:晶界层(含Pr6O11、Pr2O3、ZnSm2O4、Sm2O3 等)2.3 压敏性能分析1350℃下烧结1h样品的I-V特性参数如表1所示,随着Sm2O3含量的增加,非线性系数和压敏电压先是增加,然后逐步降低.添加摩尔分数为0.1%的Sm2O3时,非线性系数和压敏电压都略有提高;当摩尔分数为0.3%时,非线性系数和压敏电压达到最大值,分别为:α=35,V1mA=435 V/mm;添加Sm2O3摩尔分数达到0.5%时,氧化锌的非线性出现恶化现象,压敏电压略有降低.表1 氧化锌压敏陶瓷的相关性能参数Table 1 Relation characteristic parameters of ZnO varistor ceramics样品编号Sm2O3的掺杂量摩尔分数/%密度/(g/cm3)α 压敏电压/(V/mm)S0 0 5.35 20 325 S1 0.1 5.39 25 380 S3 0.3 5.45 35 438 S5 0.5 5.49 28 395由SEM图可知,ZnO压敏陶瓷的微观结构简单,仅由ZnO晶粒和晶界层两相组成;随着氧化钐含量的增加,由于Sm2O3离子半径比ZnO的离子半径大,因而大部分Sm2O3偏析在晶界层,极少部分Sm2O3固溶于ZnO颗粒内.由表1得知,适量掺杂Sm2O3,ZnO压敏陶瓷的压敏电压得到了提高,这可能是因为Sm2O3在晶界层起着晶粒生长抑制剂的作用而引起的;但本实验因掺杂量过多,比较难以辨别晶粒尺寸变化情况,但众多研究证明:稀土氧化物掺杂ZnO-Pr6O11系压敏陶瓷,都起着抑制晶粒生长,提高压敏电压的作用[5,13-14].而非线性系数的提高,是极少数的Sm2O3会与ZnO发生固溶反应,如式(2),产生了氧填隙原子和ZnO空位,自由电子浓度也随着Sm2O3含量的增加而增加,因电子效应而致ZnO晶粒内的电阻降低,从而增大了ZnO压敏陶瓷的非线性.但随着Sm2O3的摩尔分数增加到0.5%时,非线性在逐步降低,压敏电压也由438降到395 V/mm,造成的原因可能是因为过多Sm2O3掺杂ZnO压敏陶瓷,使得球磨过程中粉料混合不均匀,或烧结后ZnO晶粒内部孔洞数量开始增多等.3 结语本文研究了Sm2O3不同添加量对ZnOPr6O11-CoO-Cr2O3压敏陶瓷的微观结构和压敏特性的影响,结果表明:Sm2O3掺杂也能同其他稀土氧化物一样提高了ZnO-Pr6O11系压敏陶瓷的压敏特性;氧化钐掺杂因促进ZnO压敏陶瓷液相烧结而提高了陶瓷的微观结构致密和压敏性能.当Sm2O3掺杂量摩尔分数为0.3%时,具有最佳压敏特性,压敏电压为V1mA=435V/mm,非线性系数α=35;与未掺杂Sm2O3相比,非线性提高了10;继续添加Sm2O3,ZnO压敏陶瓷的压敏特性开始变差.Sm2O3的掺杂研究将对在高压工作下的压敏陶瓷具有重要意义. 参考文献:[1]巫欣欣,张剑平,施利毅,等.稀土掺杂氧化锌压敏瓷的研究进展[J].电瓷避雷器,2009,2(1):22-26.WU Xin-xin,ZHANG Jian-ping,SHI Li-yi,et al.Research Progress of Rear Earth Doped ZnO-based Varistor Ceramics [J].Insulators and 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JOURNAL OF RARE EARTHS, Vol. 31, No. 2, Feb. 2013, P. 209Foundation item: Project supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (07KJD430246)*Corresponding author: JIN Huiming (E-mail: doctorjhm@; Tel.: +86-514-87978377)DOI: 10.1016/S1002-0721(12)60260-9Influence of LaCl3 addition on microstructure and properties ofnickel-electroplating coatingWANG Dan (王 丹), CHENG Yanfang (成艳芳), JIN Huiming (靳惠明)*, ZHANG Jiqun (张骥群), GAO Jicheng (高吉成) (College of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China)Received 4 July 2012; revised 4 December 2012Abstract: The influence of rare earth chloride LaCl3·7H2O addition on the microstructural features, phase structure, corrosion resis-tance and microhardness of nickel-electroplating was investigated. The Watts-type with different additive amounts of LaCl3·7H2O (0–1.2 g/L) were used in the experiment. Surface morphologies of coatings were examined by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) was used to measure the coatings’ grain size and the microstructure of coatings was de-tected by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Corrosive investigation was carried out in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. The microhardness values of the coatings with different amounts of LaCl3·7H2O were measured, and the mechanism of the variation in microhardness was studied. Results showed that the addition of rare earth lanthanum refined the grain size and improved the surface consistency of the coatings, meanwhile the microhardness and corrosion property of coatings were improved and achieved a maximum with arround 1.0 g/L LaCl3·7H2O addition in electrolyte. The preferred growth orientation of lanthanum doped coating was crystal face (200), meanwhile the La2Ni7 phase was detected in the nickel coating by XRD and this was due to the induced co-deposition of elements La and Ni. The reason maybe was that the special out-layer electronic structure of element La raised the polarization of Ni cathode deposition, accelerated the nucleation of Ni and reduced hydrogen evolution from cathode surface.Keywords: nickel-electroplating; lanthanum chloride; microstructure; corrosion; microhardness; rare earthsElectroplating nickel coating has been widely investi-gated and used due to its excellent corrosion resistance,wear resistance and high hardness. Its chemical and me-chanical properties depend much on its microstructure.Most of the earlier studies on electroplating nickel coat-ing have focused on addition of soluble salt, granularoxide and electroplating parameters. Meenu et al.[1] stud-ied the changes in microstructure and corrosion behaviorof eletrodeposited nickel with respect to cobalt addition.Atanassov et al.[2] found that the inclusion of manganesein the electrolyte led to the increase of internal stress andmicrohardness of the nickel layers and substantial de-crease of plasticity. Zhao et al.[3] found that the incorpo-ration of Cr particles enhances the microhardness andwear resistance of Ni coatings.Rare earth (RE) elements, with many special physicaland chemical properties, have been successfully used inmany fields such as chrome coating, composite coatingand other surface modification technology. Wang et al.[4]investigated the characteristics of Ni-W-B compositescontaining CeO2 nano-particles prepared by pulse elec-trodeposition. Zhou et al.[5] studied the microstructureand depositional mechanism of Ni-P coatings with nano-ceria particles by pulse eletrodeposition. Wang et al.studied the amorphous rare-earth films of Ni-RE-P(RE=Ce, Nd) prepared by electrodeposition from anaqueous citric bath[6]. However, there is still little pub-lished work on the application of RE in nickel coatingand their probable influence on depositing mechanism. Inour earlier work, we have investigated that effects oflanthanum ion-implantation on microstructure of oxidefilm formed on Co-Cr alloy, structural characterizationand corrosive property of Ni-P/CeO2 composite coatingand influence of nanometric ceria coating on oxidationbehavior of chromium at 900 ºC[7–9]. In this study, rareearth lanthanum was added to Watts coating bath and thecoatings’ surface morphology, micro-grain size, surfacemicrohardness, corrosion resistance, preferred growthorientation of nickel crystal and their correlation withlanthanum content added in electrochemical bath werestudied.1 Experimental1.1 MaterialA modified Watts-type Ni bath and the electroplatingprocess conditions are presented in Table 1. The lantha-num chloride LaCl3·7H2O was used as additive and thecontents used in the experiment was ranged from 0 to210 JOURNAL OF RARE EARTHS, Vol. 31, No. 2, Feb. 2013Table 1 Bath formula and process parameters Parameters Dosage/valueNiSO 4·6H 2O/(g/L) 250NiCl 2·6H 2O/(g/L) 50 H 3BO 3/(g/L) 35 C 12H 25SO 4Na/(g/L) 0.1Saccharin/(g/L) 0.8LaCl 3·7H 2O/(g/L) 0–1.2 pH 4.2Pulse frequency/Hz1000Current density/(A/dm 2) 1.0 T /ºC 30±2Duty cycle/% 501.2 g/L as enumerated in Table 1. All reagents used inthe experiment were analytic grade. The pH of electro-chemical bath was adjusted to appropriate value withNH 3·H 2O (10 wt.%) and H 2SO 4 (10 wt.%) solutions.Low carbon mild sheet (20 mm×15 mm×2 mm) speci-mens were used as the substrate, the working surfaces ofwhich were finally ground by 1000# SiC abrasive paperand ultrasonically cleaned in alcohol and acetone, and thenon-working surface insulated by insulating varnish. Ahigh purity (99.99%) nickel plate was used as the solubleanode, the surface area of which was chosen approxi-mately five times greater than that of the cathode to en-sure that no problem would arise from the anodic polari-zation of nickel, particularly at high current densities.The equipments used in the electroplating progress aredrawn in Fig. 1.1.2 CharacterizationScanning electron microscopy (XL-30ESEM, PHIL-IPS) was used to examine the surface morphology while the grain size was studied by a transmission electron mi-croscope (TECNAI 12 TEM, PHILIPS); The preferred growth orientation of coatings was detected by XRD (D8 ADVANCE, AXS) and Scherrer Equation was used toverify the grain size; Vickers microhardness testerFig. 1 Schematic diagram of experimental equipments (operat-ing temperature range: 0–100 ºC)(MVC-1000D1) was used to measure the microhardness;Tafel corrosion polarization curve of different coatings was measured in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution by CP5 potentiostat. 2 Results and discussion2.1 Surface morphology of coatingsFig. 2(a) and (b) are the SEM images of pure nickelcoating and lanthanum doped nickel coating (LaCl 3·7H 2Ocontent is 1.0 g/L in the bath), respectively. It can be seenthat the SEM images of the nickel coating without lan-thanum additive turns out to be colony-like morphology.It consists of a lot of grains colonies, and each colonyconsists of several smaller grain colonies, and the surfaceappears coarse and with many micropores on it, thus itcan be corroded easily in corrosive environment. Whilethe grains colonies of lanthanum-added are obviously re-fined and there are no obvious defects found on its outersurface, the coating’s surface structure is more compactand significantly better than that of the pure nickel coat-ing. Considering from the grain size, the quality of thecoating containing rare earth elements was investigatedby TEM images in Fig. 3(a) and (b). It can be seen fromFig. 3(a) that the grain size of pure nickel is about 60–80 nmwhile Fig. 3(b) shows that the grain size of the lanthanumdoped coating is about 35–45 nm. We can see that thegrain size is significantly refined after doping rare earthlanthanum. Besides, the electron diffraction pattern oflanthanum doped nickel coating indicates the presence ofa polycrystal structure, and grain number of lantha-Fig. 2 SEM images of coatings(a) Pure nickel coating; (b) Lanthanum doped nickel coatingWANG Dan et al., Influence of LaCl 3 addition on microstructure and properties of nickel-electroplating coating 211Fig. 3 TEM images of coatings(a) Pure nickel coating; (b) Lanthanum doped nickel coatingnum doped nickel coating is significantly more than pure nickel coating.The refinement of grain size and the improvement of surface compaction not only enhances the mechanical properties of coatings, but also are beneficial to the coat-ings’ corrosion resistance. These excellent properties of lanthanum doped nickel coating can mainly be attributed to the three effects of rare earth element on the electro-chemical depositing process. Firstly, as we all know that the process of deposition is mainly that the cation is ad-sorbed on the surface of cathode. La is surface active element with a rather large atomic radius (radius of lan-thanum is 0.1877 nm), and the outer layer electronic structure of lanthanum means that the La 3+ is more easily adsorbed on the surface of cathode. When the plating process begins, Ni 2+ is reduced on the surface of cathode, but La 3+ almost does not participates the reaction, the loss of positive charge should be supplied by the new cations (La 3+, Ni 2+), so the content of Ni 2+ in the electric double layer decreases as well as the increase content of La 3+ , and it obstructs supply and reduction of Ni 2+ in the bath, this process can be seen in Fig. 4 shown in the form of schematic diagram, so it needs a high overpotential to provide the energy of Ni 2+ reduction thus alter the depo-sition of Ni 2+ and refine the grain size [6]; Secondly, theoverpotential also reduces the hydrogen evolution fromFig. 4 Schematic diagram of the cathode reactionthe cathode surface, so that reduces the hydrogen embrit-tlement and pin holes and makes perfect surface integrity. Thirdly, the outermost electronic structure of rare earth lanthanum makes lanthanum ion adsorbed on the surface of cathode, that need to increase the cathodic potential to supply the Ni 2+ reduction energy, thus increases the speed of new crystal nuclei’s formation, and then refines grains [10].Fig. 5 is EDS analysis of grain boundary of lanthanum doped nickel coating by Line Scanning (LS). The results show that the content of nickel is 99.73% and the content of La is little (It will be not precise when the content is below 0.5%). The reason of the results is that the ex-periment conditions dissatisfy the co-deposition of rare ear elements and other metallic elements: (1) existence of complexing agent to shift potential positively, (2) induc-tion of transition ions. So the additive LaCl 3·7H 2O only alters the deposition mechanism of coating, and there is little or none into the coating.2.2 Microstructure and phase of coatingsThe influence of lanthanum addition on the preferred orientation of coating can be seen from the XRD (Cu K α, λ=0.15406 nm) spectrum of pure nickel coating and lan-thanum doped coating patterns as shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen that both coatings exhibit face-centered cubic (fcc) lattice but with different preferred orientations. Both coatings have apparent high diffraction peak gener-ated from the Ni(111) and (200) crystal face, pure nickel coating has preferential growth of crystal face (200) trend slightly higher than that of (111) face, but the crys-tal face (200) of lanthanum doped coating is significantly enhanced, and the peak height of crystal face (200) is about 3 times of the peak height of (111) crystal face. Besides, the half width ratio of diffraction peaks of lan-thanum doped coating is smaller than pure nickel. It is the evidence that lanthanum additive in electrolyte can refine the grain of coating. Meanwhile, it is also found that two little peaks are reduced because of the adding of lanthanum. This phenomenon may be attributed to the adsorption of lanthanum ion on the “growing point” of those crystal faces.The coatings’ grain size was also approximately cal-culated by the Scherrer's formula as in Eq. (1),212 JOURNAL OF RARE EARTHS, Vol. 31, No. 2, Feb. 2013Fig. 5 EDS analysis of rare earth doped platingFig. 6 XRD spectrum of coatingsD c =0.89λ/(B cos θ) (1)Where λ is X-ray wavelength, B FWHM of diffractionpeak, and θ the diffraction angle. The grain size of purenickel coating is about 75 nm, while the grain size oflanthanum doped coating is about 40 nm, and these cal-culated grain size are approximately consistent with thegrain size observed from the TEM images in Fig. 3. Byanalyzing the XRD spectrum, it is also found that someof the lanthanum ions enter into the coating and co-de-posit with nickel ion forming the La 2Ni 7 phase, the con-tent of which is about 0.13 wt.% in the coating. Becausethe lanthanum ion is difficult to be reduced to metalform, so only a little of its ions can co-deposit with nickel ions to form the lanthanum nickel inter-metallic compound.2.3 Corrosion testThe Tafel polarization curves for Ni electroplating in the absence and presence of the rare earth element addi-tive. There are five kinds of coatings in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution which are shown in Fig. 7. Saturated calomel electrode (SCE) is used as the reference electrode and the potential dynamic scanning rate is 2 mV/s. It can be seen that the corrosion current of the nickel coating gradually decreases and the self-corrosion potential gradually shifts to the positive direction with increasing the content of LaCl 3·7H 20 added in the bath. According to Table 2, when the additive content of LaCl 3·7H 20 is 1.0 g/L in the bath, the coating’s self-corrosion current decreases to the minimum value of 3.735×10–7 A/cm 2, and the self-corro-sion potential reached a maximum value of –0.731 V, which represents the best anti-corrosion status of nickel coating. However, it should also be pointed out that when the additional quantity of LaCl 3·7H 20 is too high, for example, when the content is 1.2 g/L, the corro-WANG Dan et al., Influence of LaCl 3 addition on microstructure and properties of nickel-electroplating coating 213Fig. 7 Tafel polarization curves of five kinds of nickel coatings Table 2 Self-corrosion conditions under different lantha-num contentsLaCl 3·7H 2O/ (g/L)Self-corrosion potential (V)Self-corrosion current/(A/cm 2)0 –0.831 1.584×10–6 0.6 –0.776 1.122×10–6 0.8 –0.753 7.070×10–7 1.0 –0.731 3.735×10–7 1.2 –0.742 5.620×10–7sion current of nickel coating turns larger and the corro-sion potential shifts to the negative direction compared with 1.0 g/L LaCl 3·7H 2O in the bath. Therefore, the lan-thanum addition of appropriate content in the electro-chemical bath can improve the corrosion resistance of Ni coating, and the optimum adding quantity of LaCl 3·7H 2O is 1.0 g/L.The corrosive property improvement can be attributed to surface integrity difference and structural difference. As our investigation on SEM images of pure coating and lanthanum doped coatings, the surface of RE coatings is more compact, less micropores and the grain of RE coating is finer than pure coating, the improvement of the quality of coating leads to the corrosive property improvement. So the corrosive property is increased with the increasing of RE content, and the corrosive property of RE coatings has a maximum with 1.0 g/L LaCl 3 addition in electrolyte. 2.4 Microhardness of coatingThe microhardness of nickel coatings with different LaCl 3·7H 2O doping contents was measured and are enu-merated in Table 3. After doping lanthanum additive, the microhardness of lanthanum doped coating is visibly higher than that of the pure nickel coating. With the doping content of LaCl 3·7H 2O increasing, the micro-hardness of coating is gradually enhanced. When the ad-Table 3 Microhardness under different lanthanum contentsLaCl 3·7H 2O/(g/L) 0 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 Microhardness/(kg/mm 2) 217.23 321.51 357.20 397.67384.53ditive content reaches to 1.0 g/L, the maximum Vickersmicrohardness value is 397.67 kg/mm 2. When the LaCl 3·7H 2O doping content is further to rise, it can be found that the coating’s microhardness has a slight decrease. The doping of LaCl 3·7H 2O helps to enhance the micro-hardness of the coating but the content of LaCl 3·7H 2O must be strictly controlled. And 1.0 g/L is the optimum content. According to Hall-Petch law (HPL), the microhard-ness of coatings will increase with the refinement of grain size. The relationship between the yield stress (or microhardness) and the grain size, based on the disloca-tion pile-up theory of nanocrystalline or polycrystalline materials, can be expressed asσ=σ0+K H ·d n(2) Where σ is macro yield stress, σ0 is lattice friction to be overcome when removing a single dislocation, K H is constant, d is the average grain diameter, and n is the exponent of grain size, usually is −1/2. But, this rela-tionship has some limitations: Firstly, strength will not grow unlimitedly to exceed the theoretical restrictions; Secondly, any relaxation processes on crystal boundary may result in the reduction of microhardn ess, so the phenomenon of inverse HPL will appear in a critical grain size; Thirdly, HPL is theoretically based on dislo-cation pile-up theory, when the grains are ultrafine, the individual grain could not produce multiple dislocation pile-up, the HPL will be invalid [11]. In our experiment, when LaCl 3·7H 2O content in the bath is less than 1.0 g/L, the grain size of coating is relatively large and satisfies the HPL theory, and the microhardness will increase; And when LaCl 3·7H 2O content in the bath is more than 1.0 g/L, the microhardness of the deposits decreases which can be correlated to the “inverse HPL effect”[12].3 ConclusionsAdditions of rare earth chloride LaCl 3·7H 2O to elec-troplating nickel coating resulted in the followings con-clusions:(1) Nickel coatings prepared by adding lanthanum chloride in the electrolyte turned out to be better surface quality with more compact, less micropores.(2) The optimum addition of LaCl 3·7H 20 in this study was 1.0 g/L and the microstructure was refined.(3) According to X-ray diffraction, it could be found that both coating had apparent high diffraction peak gen-erated from the Ni(111) and (200) crystal face, pure nickel coating had preferential growth of crystal face (200), and the preferred growth orientation of lanthanum doped coating’s crystal face (200) was significantly enhanced. Meanwhile, a very small amount of lanthanum ions co- deposited with nickel ions in the coating as the La 2Ni 7 phase. (4) The corrosion resistance and microhardness of coating with 1.0 g/L LaCl 3·7H 20 in the bath was the highest.214 JOURNAL OF RARE EARTHS, Vol. 31, No. 2, Feb. 2013References:[1] Meenu S, Ezhil Selvi V, William Grips V K, Rajam K S.Corrosion resistance and microstructure of electrodepos-ited nickel-cobalt alloy coatings. Surf. Coat. Technol., 2006, 201: 3015.[2] Atanassov N, Mitreva V. Electrodeposition and propertiesof nickel-manganese layers. Surf. Coat. Technol., 1996, 78: 144.[3] Zhao G G, Zhou Y B, Zhang H J. Sliding wear behaviorsof electrodeposited Ni composite coatings containing mi-crometer and nanometer Cr particles. Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China, 2009, 19: 319.[4] Wang J L, Xu R D, Zhang Y Z. Study on characteristics ofNi-W-B composites containing CeO2 nano-particles pre-pared by pulse electrodeposition. J. Rare Earths, 2012, 30(1): 43.[5] Zhou X W, Shen Y F, Jin H M, Zheng Y Y. Microstruc-ture and depositional mechanism of Ni-P coatings with nano-ceria particles by pulse electrodeposition. Trans.Nonferrous Met. Soc. China, 2012, 22: 1981.[6] Wang L L, Tang L M, Huang G F, Huang W Q, Peng J.Preparation of amorphous rare-earth films of Ni-Re-P (Re=Ce, Nd) by electrodeposition from an aqueous bath.Surf. Coat. Technol., 2005, 192: 208.[7] Jin H M, Zhou X W, Zhang L N. Effects of lanthanumion-implantation on microstructure of oxide film formed on Co-Cr alloy. J. Rare Earths, 2008, 26(3): 406.[8] Jin H M, Jiang S H, Zhang L N. Structural characterizationand corrosive property of Ni-P/CeO2 composite coating. J.Rare Earths, 2009, 27(1): 109.[9] Jin H M, Liu X J, Zhang L N. Influence of nanometricceria coating on oxidation behavior of chromium at 900 °C.J. Rare Earths, 2007, 25(1): 63.[10] Wang D L, Wang C Y, Dai C S. Study of Co-Ce coatingand surface on pasted nickel electrodes substrate. Rare Met., 2006, 25(10): 47.[11] Liu Y, Luo Y H, Wei Z D. Current status of pulse platingresearch. Plat. Surf. Finish., 2005, 27(5): 25.[12] Chen Y R, Long J M, Pei H Z. Research status Quo andfuture prospects of nickel and nickel alloys pulse elec-tro-deposition. Plat. Surf. Finish., 2009, 31(2): 16.。
表面技术第53卷第8期TiAlSiN涂层力学性能改善措施的研究现状及进展周琼,王涛,黄彪*,张而耕,陈强,梁丹丹 (上海应用技术大学 上海物理气相沉积(PVD)超硬涂层及装备工程技术研究中心,上海 201418)摘要:TiAlSiN涂层具有耐温性好、化学惰性高等优异性能,其作为防护层被广泛应用于摩擦零部件、机械加工工具上。
但TiAlSiN涂层内应力过大导致的力学性能不足,限制了其在严苛工况下的进一步应用。
总结了目前改善TiAlSiN涂层力学性能的主要措施:涂层微观结构优化、膜层结构设计以及热处理工艺。
对改善涂层力学性能所涉及的细晶强化、共格效应、固溶强化以及模量差理论等机理进行了全面的描述,并详细地对比分析了上述理论之间的内在联系与差异。
系统地讨论了纳米多层和梯度复合膜层结构对涂层力学性能的影响规律,主要从调制结构以及成分调整2个角度对膜层结构变化进行了分析,有利于指导具有良好力学性能的膜层结构的设计。
此外,分别阐述了退火温度、时间以及气氛环境对TiAlSiN涂层力学性能的影响规律,分析了退火条件对涂层微观结构的影响以及微观结构与力学性能之间的关系。
在此基础上,提出了未来可以从基础理论和改善措施之间的协同作用角度,对TiAlSiN涂层力学性能的改善展开进一步研究。
关键词:TiAlSiN;性能改善;力学性能;微观结构;膜层结构;热处理中图分类号:TG174.4 文献标志码:A 文章编号:1001-3660(2024)08-0040-12DOI:10.16490/ki.issn.1001-3660.2024.08.004Research Status and Progress of Improving MechanicalProperties of TiAlSiN CoatingsZHOU Qiong, WANG Tao, HUANG Biao*, ZHANG Ergeng, CHEN Qiang, LIANG Dandan(Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Superhard Coating and Equipment,Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai 201418, China)ABSTRACT: TiAlSiN coatings have excellent high temperature resistance and chemical inertness, and they have been widely used on friction work pieces and cutting tools. However, their high internal stress limits their further application in industries under harshworking conditions. This paper focuses on the main techniques employed to improve the mechanical properties of TiAlSiN coatings, including microstructure optimization, micro-structure design and treatment. The coating hardness is predominantly influenced by microstructure, which can be tailored through various processing methods such as deposition method optimization, and modulation of the deposition process parameters including nitrogen flow rate, substrate bias, target quantity, and power duration. In addition, doping new elements and changing the original element content of TiAlSiN coatings also affect the hardness of the coatings. In this work, the mechanisms involved in improving the mechanical properties of the收稿日期:2023-05-08;修订日期:2023-07-29Received:2023-05-08;Revised:2023-07-29基金项目:国家自然科学基金资助项目(51971148);上海市自然科学基金资助项目(20ZR1455700)Fund:The National Natural Science Foundation of China (51971148); Shanghai Natural Science Foundation (20ZR1455700)引文格式:周琼, 王涛, 黄彪, 等. TiAlSiN涂层力学性能改善措施的研究现状及进展[J]. 表面技术, 2024, 53(8): 40-51.ZHOU Qiong, WANG Tao, HUANG Biao, et al. Research Status and Progress of Improving Mechanical Properties of TiAlSiN Coatings[J]. Surface Technology, 2024, 53(8): 40-51.*通信作者(Corresponding author)第53卷第8期周琼,等:TiAlSiN涂层力学性能改善措施的研究现状及进展·41·coatings, such as fine grain strengthening, solid solution strengthening and modulus difference theory, were compared and analyzed. The refinement of grain size resulting from fine-crystal strengthening reduced the crack propagation, while solid-solution strengthening was achieved by introducing foreign atoms into a compound to form a solid solution, thereby increasing the hardness of the TiAlSiN coatings. The coherent effect and modulus difference theory promoted the enhancement of TiAlSiN coating hardness through interface structure optimization. Both mechanisms induced interfacial stresses that prevented dislocation generation. The internal relations and differences between the above theories were compared and analyzed in detail. The effect of nano-multilayer and gradient composite layers on the mechanical properties of the coatings was systematically discussed. Modulation structure and composition adjustment were the two main factors that affected the variation of micro-structure. Currently, research on the strengthening mechanisms of nano-layered coatings and gradient-structured coatings is not comprehensive. Even small structural alterations to these coatings can cause various influence mechanisms that alter their mechanical properties. For instance, changing the modulation period significantly impacts the mechanical behavior of TiAlSiN coatings by means of coherent strain and the modulus difference theory. It is helpful to guide the design of membrane structure with good mechanical properties. In addition, heat treatment has the most significant effect on the properties of TiAlSiN coatings. So the influence of annealing temperature, annealing time, and atmosphere on the mechanical properties of TiAlSiN coatings was summarized. The effect of annealing conditions on the microstructure of the coatings and the relationship between the microstructure and mechanical properties were analyzed. In addition to experimental research, basic theoretical research was also be conducted by starting from first principles to identify the specific relationships and influence mechanisms between microstructure and mechanical properties of coatings. Annealing had three main effects on the mechanical properties of TiAlSiN coatings: grain coarsening, phase transformation, and surface oxide formation. Annealing resulted in grain coarsening, which improved the toughness of the coatings. The mechanical properties of TiAlSiN coatings were affected by the phase structure when phase transitions occurred during annealing. Additionally, the significance of the synergistic effect of improving measures on the mechanical properties of TiAlSiN coatings was emphasized. Finally, it was suggested to conduct deep research in future on improving mechanical properties of TiAlSiN coatings from basic theory and cooperation effect of various improvement actions.KEY WORDS: TiAlSiN; property improvement; mechanical property; microstructure; film structure; heat treatment现代刀具材料主要有高速钢、硬质合金、金属陶瓷等,随着切削加工技术的不断提高,其力学性能已经逐渐不能满足工业上的要求,而提升涂层的力学性能可以弥补刀具材质上的不足[1-5]。
Effect of heat treatment on microstructure andtensile properties of A356 alloysPENG Ji-hua1, TANG Xiao-long1, HE Jian-ting1, XU De-ying21. School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology,Guangzhou 510640, China;2. Institute of Nonferrous Metal, Guangzhou Jinbang Nonferrous Co. Ltd., Guangzhou 510340, ChinaReceived 17 June 2010; accepted 15 August 2010Abstract: Two heat treatments of A356 alloys with combined addition of rare earth and strontium were conducted. T6 treatment is a long time treatment (solution at 535 °C for 4 h + aging at 150 °C for 15 h). The other treatment is a short time treatment (solution at 550 °C for 2 h + aging at 170 °C for 2 h). The effects of heat treatment on microstructure and tensile properties of the Al-7%Si-0.3%Mg alloys were investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy and tension test. It is found that a 2 h solution at 550 °C is sufficient to make homogenization and saturation of magnesium and silicon in Į(Al) phase, spheroid of eutectic Si phase. Followed by solution, a 2 h artificial aging at 170 °C is almost enough to produce hardening precipitates. Those samples treated with T6 achieve the maximum tensile strength and fracture elongation. With short time treatment (ST), samples can reach 90% of the maximum yield strength, 95% of the maximum strength, and 80% of the maximum elongation.Key words: Al-Si casting alloys; heat treatment; tensile property; microstructural evolution1 IntroductionThe aging-hardenable cast aluminum alloys, such as A356, are being increasingly used in the automotive industry due to their relatively high specific strength and low cost, providing affordable improvements in fuel efficiency. Eutectic structure of A390 can be refined and its properties can be improved by optimized heat treatment [1]. T6 heat treatment is usually used to improve fracture toughness and yield strength. It is reported that those factors influencing the efficiency of heat treatment of Al-Si hypoeutectic alloys include not only the temperature and holding time [2], but also the as-cast microstructure [3í5] and alloying addition [6í8]. Some T6 treatment test method standards of A356 alloys are made in China, USA, and Japan, and they are well accepted. However, they need more than 4 h for solution at 540 °C, and more than 6 h for aging at 150 °C, thus cause substantial energy consumption and low production efficiency. It is beneficial to study a method to cut short the holding time of heat treatment.The T6 heat treatment of Al-7Si-0.3 Mg alloy includes two steps: solution and artificial aging; the solution step is to achieve Į(Al) saturated with Si and Mg and spheroidized Si in eutectic zone, while the artificial aging is to achieve strengthening phase Mg2Si. Recently, it is shown that the spheroidization time of Siis dependant on solution temperature and the original Si particle size [9í11]. A short solution treatment of 30 minat 540 or 550 °C is sufficient to achieve almost the same mechanical property level as that with a solution treatment time of 6 h [12]. From thermal diffusion calculation and test, it is suggested that the optimum solution soaking time at 540 °C is 2 h [13]. The maximum peak aging time was modeled in terms of aging temperature and activation energy [14í15]. According to this model, the peak yield strength of A356 alloy could be reached within 2í4 h when aging at 170 °C. However, few studies are on the effect of combined treatment with short solution and short aging.In our previous study, it was found that the microstructure of A356 alloy could be optimized by the combination of Ti, B, Sr and RE, and the eutecticFoundation item: Project (2008B80703001) supported by Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, China; Project (09A45031160) supported by Guangzhou Science and Technology Commission, China; Project (ZC2009015) supported by Zengcheng Science andTechnology Bureau, ChinaCorresponding author: PENG Ji-hua; Tel/Fax: +86-20-87113747; E-mail: jhpeng@DOI: 10.1016/S1003-6326(11)60955-2PENG Ji-hua, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 21(2011) 1950í1956 1951melting peak temperature was measured to be 574.4 °Cby differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) [16]. In this study, using this alloy modified together with Sr and RE, the effect of different heat treatments on the microstructure and its mechanical properties were investigated.2 ExperimentalCommercial pure aluminum and silicon were melted in a resistance furnace. The alloy was refinedusing Al5TiB master alloy, modified using Al-10Sr andAl-10RE master alloys. The chemical composition ofthis A356 alloy ingot (Table 1) was checked by readingspectrometer SPECTROLAB. Before casting, the hydrogen content of about 0.25 cm 3 per 100 g in the meltwas measured by ELH-III (made in China). Four bars of50 mm×70 mm×120 mm were machined from the sameingot and heat-treated according to Table 2. Followed thesolution, bars were quenched in hot water of 70 °C.Samples cut from the cast ingot and heat-treated barswere ground, polished and etched using 0.5% HF agent.Optical microscope Leica í430 and scanning electricmicroscope LEO 1530 VP with EDS (Inca 300) wereused to examine the microstructure and fractograph. Toquantify the eutectic Si morphology change of differentheat treatments, an image analyzer Image-Pro Plus 6.0 was used, and each measurement included 800í1200 particles. Table 1 Chemical composition of A356 modified with Ti, Sr and RE (mass fraction, %) Si Cu Fe Mn Mg Ti Zn RE Sr 6.85 <0.01 0.19 <0.01 0.370.23 0.03 0.250.012Table 2 Heat treatments in this study Solution Aging Treatment Temperature/ °C Holding time/h Temperature/°C Holdingtime/hST 550r 5 2 170 2T6 535r 5 4 150 15 Tensile specimens were machined from the heat treated bars. The tensile tests were performed using a screw driven Instron tensile testing machine in air at room temperature. The cross-head speed was 1 mm/min. The strain was measured by using an extensometer attached to the sample and with a measuring length of 50mm. The 0.2% proof stress was used as the yield stressof alloys. Three samples were tested for each heat treatment to calculate the mean value.3 Results and discussion3.1 Microstructural characterization of as-cast alloyThe microstructure of as-cast A356 alloy is shown in Fig. 1(a). It is shown that not only the primary Į(Al) dendrite cell is refined, but also the eutectic silicon is modified well. By means of the image analysis, microstructure parameters of as-cast A356 alloy were analyzed statistically as follows: Į(Al) dendrite cell sizeis 76.1 ȝm, silicon particle size is 2.2 ȝm×1.03 ȝm (length×width), and the ratio aspect of silicon is 2.13. The distributions of RE (mish metal rare earth, more than 65% La among them), Ti, Mg, and Sr in the area shown in Fig. 1(b) are presented in Figs. 1(c)í(f)respectively. It is shown that the eutectic silicon particle is usually covered with Sr, which plays a key role in Siparticle modification; Ti and RE present generallyuniform distribution over the area observed, although alittle segregation of RE is observed and shown by arrowin Fig. 1(d). It is suggested that because the refiner TiAl 3and TiB 2 are covered with RE, the refining efficiency isimproved significantly. In the as-cast alloy, some clustersof Mg probably indicate that coarser Mg 2Si phases exist(arrow in Fig. 1(d))).Ti solute can limit the growth of Į(Al) primarydendrite because of its high growth restriction factor [17].The impediment of formation of poisoning Ti-Si compound around TiAl 3 [18] and promotion of Ti(Al 1íx Si x )3 film covering TiB 2 [19] are very important in Al-Si alloy refining. For Al-Si alloys, the effect of RE on the refining efficiency of Ti and B can be contributed to the following causes [20]: preventing refiner phases from poisoning; retarding TiB 2 phase to amass and sink;promoting the Ti(Al, Si)3 compound growth to cover theTiB 2 phase. In this work, with suitable addition of Reand Sr, the microstructure of A356 alloy was optimized. Especially, eutectic Si is modified fully, which isbeneficial to promote Si to spheroidize further duringsolution treatment. 3.2 Microstructural evolution during heat treatmentThe microstructures of A356 alloys treated withsolution at 550 °C for 2 h and ST treatment are presented in Figs. 2(a) and (b) respectively, while those treatedwith solution at 535 °C for 4 h and T6 treatment are presented in Figs. 2(c) and (d), respectively. From Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, after different heat treatments, the primary Į(Al) has been to some extent and the eutectic silicon has been spheroidized further. Both ST and T6 treatmentsproduce almost the same microstructure. The eutectic Si particle distribution and statistical mean aspect ratio of eutectic Si particle are shown in Fig. 3. After onlysolution at 535 °C for 4 h and 550 °C for 2 h, the meanPENG Ji-hua, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 21(2011) 1950í19561952Fig. 1 SEM images (a, b), and EDS mapping from (b) for Ti (c), La (d), Mg (e) and Sr (f) in as-cast alloyFig. 2 Microstructure of A356 alloy with different heat treatments: (a) Solution at 550 °C for 2 h; (b) ST treatment; (c) Solution at 535 °C for 4 h; (d) T6 treatmentPENG Ji-hua, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 21(2011) 1950í1956 1953Fig. 3 Statistic analysis of eutectic Si in A356 alloy with different heat treatmentsaspect ratios of Si are 1.57 and 1.54 respectively. After being treated by ST and T6, those aspect ratios of Si do not vary greatly, and they are 1.49 and 1.48, respectively. After solution or solution + aging in this study, the friction of eutectic Si particles with aspect ratio of 1.5 is 50%.The eutectic melting onset temperature of Al-7Si-Mg was reported to be more than 560 °C [16, 19]. 550 °C is below the liquid +solid phase zone. During solution, two steps occur simultaneously, i.e., the formation of Al solution saturated with Si and Mg, and spheroidization of fibrous Si particle. The following model predicts that disintegration and spheroidization of eutectic silicon corals are finished at 540 °C after a few minutes (IJmax ) [9]:2maxs 32ʌ..ln 9kT D U UW JI I§· ¨¸©¹ (1) where I denotes the atomic diameter of silicon; Ȗ symbolizes the interfacial energy of the Al/Si interface; ȡ is the original radius of fibrous Si; D s is the inter-diffusion coefficient of Si in Al; and T is the solution temperature. When the D s variation at different temperatures is taken into account, it is plausible to suggest that IJmax at 550 °C is less than IJmax at 540 °C. From Fig. 2(a), it is actually proved that spheroidization of eutectic Si particle could be finished within 2 h when solution at 550 °C.In a selected area of A356 alloy treated with only solution at 550 °C for 2 h (Fig. 4(a)), the distribution of element Mg is presented in Fig. 4(b). Because there is no cluster of Mg in Fig. 4(b), it means a complete dissolution of Si, Mg into Al dendrite during this solution. From the microstructure of A356 alloy treated with T6 (Fig. 5(a)), the distribution of Mg is shown in Fig. 5(b).Fig. 4 SEM image (a) and EDS mapping (b) of Mg distribution in alloy after only solution at 550 °C for 2 hFig. 5 SEM image (a) and EDS mapping of Mg (b) in alloy after heat treatment with T6For A357 alloy with dendrite size of 240 ȝm, uniform diffusion and saturation of Mg in Al could be finished at 540 °C within 2 h [13]. In this study, the cellPENG Ji-hua, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 21(2011) 1950í1956 1954size of primary Į(Al) is less than 100 ȝm. It is reasonable that those solutions treated at 535 °C for 4 h and 550 °C for 2 h, can achieve Į(Al) solid solution saturated with Mg and Si because diffusion route is short, even at a higher solution temperature.During aging, Si and Mg2Si phase precipitation happened in the saturated solid solution of Į(Al) according to the sequence in the Al-Mg-Si alloys with excess Si [21]. The needle shaped Mg2Si precipitation was observed to be about 0.5 ȝm in length and less than 50 nm in width, and the silicon precipitates were mainly distributed in Į(Al) dendrites and few of them could be observed in the eutectic region [22]. Because of the small size, these precipitations could not be observed by SEM in this study. However, it is plausible to suggest that the distribution of Mg in dendrite Al cell zone and eutectic zone is uniform (Fig. 4(b) and 5(b)). According to the study by ROMETSCH and SCHAFFER [15], the time to reach peak yield is 2í4 h and 12í14 h at 170 °C and 150 °C, respectively. From 150 to 190 °C of aging temperature, the peak hardness varies between HB110 and HB120. Hence, it is believed that aging at 170 °C for 2 h produces almost the same precipitation hardening as aging at 150 °C for 15 h.3.3 Tensile properties of A356 alloysThe tensile mechanical properties of A356 alloys are given in Table 3. Due to the microstructure optimization of A356 alloy by means of combination of refining and modification, tensile strength and fracture elongation can reach about 210 MPa and 3.7% respectively. Using T6 treatment in this study, strengthand elongation can be improved significantly. For those samples with T6 treatment, the tensile strength and ductility present the maximum values. 90% of the maximum yield strength, 95% of the maximum ultimate strength, and 80% of the maximum elongation can be reached for samples treated by ST treatment. However,T6 treatment spends about 19 h, while ST treatment takes only about 4 h. Fractographs of samples treated with T6 are presented in Fig. 6. The dimple size is almost similar with different heat treatments, indicating that the size and spacing of eutectic silicon particle vary little with different heat treatments. Shrinkage pore, microcrack inside the silicon particle and crack linkage between eutectic silicon particles were observed on the fracture surfaces.Table 3 Tensile properties of A356 alloys with different heat treatmentsHear treatmentıb/MPa ı0.2/MPa į/% As-cast 210 í 3.7 ST 247 178 5.6T6 255 185 7.0Fig. 6 Fractographs of samples with different heat treatments: (a), (b) T6; (c), (d) STPENG Ji-hua, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 21(2011) 1950í1956 1955It is well known that shrinkage pores have a great effect on the tensile strength and ductility of A356 alloys. In-situ SEM fracture of A356 alloy indicates the fracture sequence as follows [4]: micro-crack initiation inside silicon particle; formation of slipping band in the Al dendrite; linkage between the macro-crack and micro-crack, and the growth of crack. During tensile strain, inhomogeneous deformation in the microstructure induces internal stresses in the eutectic silicon and Fe-bearing intermetallic particles. Although the full modification of eutectic Si particle was reached in this study, those samples treated with T6 treatment do not perform as well as expected. The main reason is probably due to the higher gas content (0.25 cm3 per 100 g Al). Our next step is to develop a new means to purify the Al-SI alloys to further improve their mechanical properties.4 Conclusions1) The solution at 535 °C for 4 h and the solution at 550 °C for 2 h can reach full spheroidization of Si particle, over saturation of Si and Mg in Į(Al). The heat treatments of T6 and ST produce almost the same microstructure of A356 alloy.2) After both T6 and ST treatments, the aspect ratio of eutectic Si particle will be reduced from 2.13 to less than 1.6, and the friction of eutectic Si particles with aspect ratio of 1.5 is 50%.3) The T6 treatment can make the maximum strength and fracture elongation for A356 alloy. After ST treatment, 90% of the maximum yield strength, 95% of the maximum ultimate strength, and 80% of the maximum elongation can be achieved.References[1]WAN Li, LUO Ji-rong, LAN Guo-dong, LIANG Qiong-hua.Mechanical properties and microstructures of squeezed and casthypereutectic A390 alloy [J]. Journal of Huazhong University ofScience and Technology: Natural Science Edition, 2008, 36(8):92í95. (in Chinese)[2]RAINCON E, LOPEZ H F, CINEROS H. Temperature effects on thetensile properties of cast and heat treated aluminum alloy A319 [J].Mater Sci Eng A, 2009, 519(1í2): 128í140.[3]MANDAL A, CHAKRABORTY M, MURTY B S. Ageingbehaviour of A356 alloy reinforced with in-situ formed TiB2particles [J]. Mater Sci Eng A, 2008, 489(1í2): 220í226.[4]LEE K, KWON Y N, LEE S. Effects of eutectic silicon particles ontensile properties and fracture toughness of A356 aluminum alloysfabricated by low-pressure-casting, casting-forging, and squeeze-casting processes [J]. J Alloys Compounds, 2008, 461(1í2):532í541. [5]VENCL A, BOBIC I, MISKOVIC Z. Effect of thixocasting and heattreatment on the tribological properties of hypoeutectic Al-Si alloy[J]. Wear, 2008, 264 (7í8): 616í623.[6]BIROL Y. Response to artificial ageing of dendritic and globularAl-7Si-Mg alloys [J]. J. Alloys Compounds, 2009, 484(1): 164í167. [7]TOKAJI K. Notch fatigue behaviour in a Sb-modifiedpermanent-mold cast A356-T6 aluminium alloy [J]. Mater Sci Eng A,2005, 396(1í2): 333í340.[8]KLIAUGA A M, VIEIRA E A, FERRANTE M. The influence ofimpurity level and tin addition on the ageing heat treatment of the356 class alloy [J]. Mater Sci Eng A, 2008, 480(1í2): 5í16.[9]OGRIS E, WAHLEN A, LUCHINGER H, UGGOWITZER P J.Onthe silicon spheroidization in Al-Si alloys [J]. J Light Metals, 2002,2(4): 263í269.[10]SJOLANDER E, SEIFEDDINE S. Optimisation of solutiontreatment of cast Al-Si-Cu alloys [J]. Mater Design, 2010, 31(s1):s44ís49.[11]LIU Bin-yi, XUE Ya-jun. Morphology transformation of eutectic Siin Al-Si alloy during solid solution treatment [J]. Special Casting &Nonferrous Alloys, 2006, 26 (12): 802í805. (in Chinese)[12]ZHANG D L, ZHENG L H, STJOHN D H. Effect of a short solutiontreatment time on microstructure and mechanical properties ofmodified Al-7wt.%Si-0.3wt.%Mg alloy [J]. J Light Metals, 2002,2(1): 27í36.[13]YU Z, ZHANG H , SUN B, SHAO G. Optimization of soaking timefor T6 treatment of aluminium alloy [J]. Heat Treatment, 2009, 24(5):17í20. (in Chinese)[14]ESTEY C M, COCKCROFT S L, MAIJER D M, HERMESMANNC. Constitutive behavior of A356 during the quenching operation [J].Mater Sci Eng A, 2004, 383(2): 245í251.[15]ROMETSCH P A, SCHAFFER G B. An age hardening model forAl-7Si-Mg casting alloys [J]. Mater Sci Eng A, 2002, 325(1í2):424í434.[16]TANG Xiao-long, PENG Ji-hua, HUANG Fang-liang, XU De-ying,DU Ri-sheng. Effect of mishmetal RE on microstructures of A356alloy [J]. The Chinese Journal of Nonferrous Metals, 2010, 20(11):2112í2117. (in Chinese)[17]EASTON M A, STJHON D H. A Model of grain refinementincorporation alloy constitution and potency of heterogeneous nucleant particles [J]. Acta Mater, 2001, 49(10): 1867í1878.[18]QIU D, TAYLOR J A, ZHANG M X, KELLY P M. A mechanismfor the poisoning effect of silicon on the grain refinement of Al-Sialloys [J]. Acta Mater, 2007, 55(4): 1447í1456.[19]JUNG H, MANGELINK-NOEL N, BERGMAN C, BILLIA B.Determination of the average nucleation undercooling of primaryAl-phase on refining particles from Al-5.0wt% Ti-1.0wt% B inAl-based alloys using DSC [J]. J Alloys Compounds, 2009, 477(1í2):622í627.[20]LAN Ye-feng, GUO Peng, ZHANG Ji-jun. The effect of rare earthon the refining property of the Al-Ti-B-RE intermediate alloy [J].Foundry Technology, 2005, 26(9): 774í778. (in Chinese)[21]EDWARDS G A, STILLER K, DUNLOP G L, COUPER M J. Theprecipitation sequence in Al-Mg-Si alloys [J]. Acta Mater, 1998,46(11): 3893í3904.[22]RAN G, ZHOU J E, WANG Q G. Precipitates and tensile fracturemechanism in a sand cast A356 aluminum alloy [J]. J Mater ProcessTechnol, 2008, 207(1): 46í52.PENG Ji-hua, et al/Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 21(2011) 1950í19561956⛁ ⧚ A356䪱 䞥㒘㒛㒧 㛑ⱘ1ē 1ē 1ē ԃ 21. ⧚ ⾥ Ϣ 䰶ˈ 510640˗2. 䞥䙺 㡆 䞥 䰤 㡆䞥 ⷨお ˈ 510340㽕˖⫼ϸ⾡ϡ ⱘ⛁ ⧚ ⿔ 䬊㓐 㒚 䋼ⱘA356 䞥䖯㸠 ⧚ˈϔ⾡ 䭓 䯈 ⧚ T6(535 °C ⒊4 h+150 °C 15 h)ˈ ϔ⾡ ⷁ 䯈ⱘ⛁ ⧚ ST(550 °C ⒊2 h+170 °C 2 h)DŽ䞛⫼ 䬰ǃ ⬉䬰 ⏽ Ԍ 偠ㄝ ↉ ⛁ ⧚ A356 䞥 㾖㒘㒛 Ԍ 㛑ⱘ DŽ㒧 㸼 ˖ 550 °Cϟ ⒊2 h ҹ㦋 MgǃSi䖛佅 Ϩ ⱘĮ(Al) ⒊ԧˈ Փ ⸙Ⳍ⧗ ˗ 㒣170 °CҎ 2 h ˈ ҹ䖒 Ӵ㒳T6 ⧚ⱘ DŽ Ԍ 偠㒧 㸼 ˈA356䪱 䞥㒣Ӵ㒳T6 ⧚ њ 催ⱘ Ԍ 㺖Ԍ䭓⥛˗䗮䖛STⷁ ⛁ ⧚ ˈ Ԍ ǃ Ԍ䭓⥛ ҹ䖒 T6 ⧚ ⱘ90%ˈ95% 80%DŽ䬂䆡˖Al-Si 䞥˗⛁ ⧚˗ Ԍ 㛑˗ 㾖㒘㒛ⓨ(Edited by LI Xiang-qun)。
Trans.Nonferrous Met.Soc.China30(2020)3296−3306Effects of doping route on microstructure andmechanical properties of W−1.0wt.%La2O3alloysJun-jun YANG1*,Gang CHEN1*,Zheng CHEN1,Xiao-dong MU1,Ying YU1,2,Lin ZHANG1,Xing-yu LI1,Xuan-hui QU1,Ming-li QIN11.Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering,Institute for Advanced Materials and Technology,University of Science and Technology Beijing,Beijing100083,China;2.Grinm Group Co.,Ltd.,Beijing100088,ChinaReceived15February2020;accepted19August2020Abstract:A comparative study was conducted by using solution combustion synthesis with three different doping routes(liquid−liquid(WL10),liquid−solid(WLNO)and solid−solid(WLO))to produce nanoscale powders and further fabricate the ultrafine-grained W−1.0wt.%La2O3alloys by pressureless pared with pure tungsten, W−1.0wt.%La2O3alloys exhibit ultrafine grains and excellent mechanical properties.After sintering,the average grain size of the WLO sample is larger than that of WL10and WLNO samples;the microhardness values of WL10and WLNO samples are similar but larger than the value of WLO sample.The optimized La2O3particles are obtained in the WL10sample after sintering at1500°C with the minimum mean size by comparing with WLNO and WLO samples, which are uniformly distributed either at grain boundaries or in the grain interior with the sizes of(57±29.7)and (27±13.1)nm,respectively.This study exhibits ultrafine microstructure and outperforming mechanical properties of the W−1.0wt.%La2O3alloy via the liquid−liquid doping route,as compared with conventionally-manufactured tungsten materials.Key words:tungsten alloy;solution combustion synthesis;doping route;ultrafine grain;microhardness1IntroductionTungsten-based materials are very attractive for many engineering applications,such as military, aerospace and nuclear industries owing to their high melting point,high thermal conductivity,high strength at elevated temperatures and low thermal expansion[1−5].However,their applications are limited due to the well-known embrittlement problems[6−8].Therefore,it is of great importance to improve their mechanical properties,which are strongly related to the concentration of unavoidable solutes e.g.O,C,P and N[9−12].However,these impurities are mainly located at grain boundaries (GBs)[13],which weaken the GBs and ultimately lead to brittle failure and deterioration of strength. To date,this problem can be mitigated by modifying grain boundaries and impurity distribution of the tungsten-based alloys.In such a case,the most widely-used pathway is to refine their microstructure[14−16],since it not onlyFoundation item:Projects(2017YFB0306000,2017YFB0305600)supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China;Projects(51774035,51604025,51574031,51574030,51574029,51604240)supported by the National NaturalScience Foundation of China;Project(2019JZZY010327)supported by the Shandong Key Research and DevelopmentPlan Project,China;Projects(2174079,2162027)supported by the Natural Science Foundation Program of Beijing,China;Projects(FRF-IDRY-19-025,FRF-TP-17-034A2,FRF-TP-19-015A3,FRF-IDRY-19-003C2)supported by theFundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of ChinaCorresponding author:Ming-li QIN;Tel:+86-10-82377286;E-mail:*****************Jun-jun YANG and Gang CHEN comtributed equally to this workDOI:10.1016/S1003-6326(20)65462-0Jun-jun YANG,et al/Trans.Nonferrous Met.Soc.China30(2020)3296−33063297increases the final strength but creates abundant grain boundaries that can effectively promote the uniformity of impurity distribution and thus the ductility[13].Therefore,nano-structured tungsten-based materials have been intensively studied in recent years,which exhibit promising results.The availability of nanoscale tungsten powders is the key point to prepare ultrafine-grained tungsten alloys.There are several effective routes to fabricate nanoscale powders,including hydrothermal synthesis[17,18],co-precipitation processing[19],sol−gel method[20],mechanical alloying[21]and azeotropic distillation[22−24]. Alternatively,we have successfully prepared nanosized tungsten powders by a novel liquid−liquid doping method,i.e.solution combustion synthesis(SCS)[25].Combined the advantages of wet-chemical synthesis with rapid flame combustion,SCS saves energy and time owing to the abundantly released heat during the short-time processing[26−29],compared with other liquid−liquid doping methods.Particularly,nanoscale rare-earth oxide dispersions(2O3[19], Y2O3[20,21]and Pr2O3[30])doped in the ultrafine-grained tungsten matrix are preferred to gettering impurities due to strong rare-earth−oxygen interactions,which inhibits grain growth by reducing the surface diffusivity of tungsten skeleton[30,31].Currently,there are three routes to dope the rare-earth oxide particles into refractory metals: (I)Solid−solid(SS).Lu2O3particles could be doped into the tungsten matrix by ball milling to prepare the W−Lu2O3alloy[32];(II)Liquid−solid(LS). YAR et al[33,34]produced the W−1.0wt.%Y2O3 and W−0.9wt.%La2O3nanoscale powders through the reactions in aqueous solutions of yttrium nitrate or lanthanum nitrate with ammonium paratungstate; (III)Liquid−liquid(LL).A sol−gel method was also used to produce W−1.0wt.%Y2O3powders[20]. LIU et al[13]employed the aforementioned three doping routes to fabricate the ultrafine-grained Mo−La2O3.They showed that the LL method leads to the most homogeneous and nanoscale microstructure with ultra-high strength and good ductility,since it is processed at a molecular level. However,the commonly-used doping routes are mainly focused on the fabrication of microscale tungsten alloys whose properties should be inferior as compared to the nanoscale-grained tungsten alloys[35].Additionally,the report on fabricating nanoscale powders and ultrafine-grained tungsten alloys by pressureless sintering as a function of doping route is limited.Furthermore,the comparison of ultrafine-grained tungsten alloys using various doping routes is still lacking either on microstructure or on mechanical properties,as pointed out in a recent review by REN et al[36]. Beyond question,this is beneficial to upgrading the ductility of tungsten alloys.In this study,we prepared the ultrafine-grained W−1.0wt.%La2O3alloys from house-made nanosized powders using three different doping methods,i.e.LL,LS and SS,followed by pressureless sintering.As such,the purpose of this work is to provide a promising approach to produce high-performance ultrafine-grain tungsten alloys using the three doping routes via pressureless sintering.Besides,the study also focused on the influences of the doping route on the sintering densification,microstructure and mechanical properties.2ExperimentalNanoscale tungsten powders doped with 1.0wt.%La2O3(LL,termed as WL10hereafter) were made from solution combustion synthesis (SCS)followed by hydrogen reduction,which has been successfully carried out in our previous reports[37−39].First,the starting materials of0.01mol ammonium metatungstate ((NH4)6H2W12O4·n H2O),0.24mol ammonium nitrate(NH4NO3),0.1mol glycine(C2H5O2N)and 0.0014mol lanthanum nitrate(La(NO3)3·6H2O) were dissolved into the deionized water.A homogeneous solution was achieved by continuous stirring,and then heated until the combustion started.The foamy precursors were obtained after the short-time combustion process,which were subsequently ground into powders.The WL10 powders were fabricated by reducing the SCS-synthesized powders at700°C for2h under flowing hydrogen.The XRD pattern of the WL10 powders is shown in Fig.1(a).The SCS-made pure tungsten(PW)powders[25]were mechanically mixed for4h with La2O3particles(commercially available with the purity of99.99%and the D50of ~50nm)in an anhydrous ethanol medium,termed as WLO hereafter,which is called the SS dopingJun-jun YANG,et al/Trans.Nonferrous Met.Soc.China 30(2020)3296−33063298process.Meanwhile,mixing the SCS-made PW powders [25]with nanoscale La 2O 3powders via the La(NO 3)3solution is the LS doping route,called WLNO.Nanoscale La 2O 3powders with the composition of 1.0wt.%were doped in the WL10,WLNO and WLO powders,respectively.Figures 1(b)and (c)show the micro-morphologies of the SCS-made pure tungsten powders whose particle size is below 50nm.Carbon and oxygen levels of the SCS-made tungsten powders are 0.043wt.%and 1.74wt.%,determined using a carbon/sulfur analyzer (LECO TC−436)and an oxygen/nitrogen analyzer (LECO CS−444),respectively.Fig.1XRD pattern of WL10powders (a),and SEM (b)and TEM (c)morphologies of SCS-made nanoscale PW powdersSubsequently,all types of powders with 4g were pressed into a 15mm diameter cylindrical die with a uniaxial compaction pressure of 700MPa holding for 5s,and then sintered at thefinal temperatures of 1200,1350,1500,1650and 1800°C for 2h under flowing hydrogen,respectively.Densities of the as-sintered samples were measured according to the Archimedes principle as per the ASTM B962—14standard.Microstructures and morphologies of the samples were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM,Zeiss LEO−1450)and transmission electron microscopy (TEM,FEI G2),combined with the analysis of selected area electron diffraction (SAED)and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).The grain size of the as-sintered samples was quantitatively determined by employing the linear intercept method [40,41]using the particle size analysis software based on SEM images of the fractured samples.The Vickers microhardness test was carried out on the polished samples using a microhardness tester (Leica MH−6)under a 2N loading at room temperature.Twelve testing readings were used to ensure repeatability in each experiment,and average microhardness values were reported.3Results3.1Powder morphologies and sintering behaviorFigure 2shows the TEM images and elemental distributions for all types of powders,i.e.WL10(Fig.2(a)),WLNO (Fig.2(b))and WLO (Fig.2(c)),respectively.First,the tungsten powders doped with La 2O 3particles seem no remarkable difference from the PW powders from the morphological viewpoint by comparing Fig.2with Fig.1.Second,the elemental mapping results indicate that the La 2O 3particles are homogeneously distributed in the tungsten powder matrix in the case of WL10and WLNO powders as displayed in Figs.2(a)and (b),respectively.However,the La in the WLO alloy powders exhibits accumulation (Fig.2(c)).The results show that both LL and LS doping can realize the uniform distribution of La.The doped tungsten powders demonstrate a similar particle size below 50nm.The sintering behavior was investigated and compared as a function of sintering temperature for the samples of PW,WL10,WLNO and WLO.The measured relative density of the green sample with and without doping is similar,i.e.50%.Figure 3displays the relative density for each type of sampleJun-jun YANG,et al/Trans.Nonferrous Met.Soc.China30(2020)3296−33063299 Fig.2EDS mapping images at STEM mode for powders of WL10(a),WLNO(b)and WLO (c)Fig.3Relative densities as function of sintering temperature for samples of PW,WL10,WLNO and WLOafter sintering at different temperatures.It can be seen from Fig.3that the relative density increases with the sintering temperature for all samples.This is a typical phenomenon in conventional powder sintering,since the atomic diffusion is promoted with increasing the sintering temperature,thus favoring sintering densification.Interestingly,the relative density of the as-sintered PW is at least about10%higher after sintering at1200°C(Fig.3), beyond which it reaches a relatively constant value, as compared with the three types of doped sample. This is because the doped La2O3particles prevent tungsten powders from sintering densification. However,with further increasing the sintering temperature,all samples after sintering at/above 1500°C achieve a high relative density above 95.0%,attributed to the enhanced atomic diffusion at high temperatures using the nanosized powders.3.2MicrostructureSEM images of the W−1.0wt.%La2O3 fabricated using three doping routes(WL10, WLNO and WLO)before and after sintering are illustrated in Fig.4.It seems that the initial status of all powder compacts is similar in terms of particle size and porosity(Figs.4(a)−(c)).After sintering at1200°C,particle sintering necking occurs (Figs.4(d)−(f)),concomitant with densification. With continuous sintering at higher temperatures (i.e.1500and1800°C),sintering densification is enhanced,while the grain size obviously increases with increasing temperature in all samples as observed in Figs.4(g)−(l).In particular,the average grain size approaches(0.57±0.19),(0.54±0.17) and(0.60±0.17)μm for the samples of WL10, WLNO and WLO after sintering at1500°C as demonstrated in Figs.4(g)−(i),respectively. However,grain coarsening appears after sintering at 1800°C for the WLO sintered sample,exhibiting the largest grain size(Figs.4(j)−(l)).The average grain sizes for the PW and W−1.0wt.%La2O3samples are shown in Fig.5(a) as a function of sintering temperature.With the increase of sintering temperature,the average grain sizes of the PW and W−1.0wt.%La2O3alloys gradually increase due to the Ostwald ripening mechanism[13].The average grain sizes of the W−1.0wt.%La2O3alloys are smaller than that of PW at an identical sintering temperature,because the La2O3particles can refine grains by promoting grain nucleation and hindering its growth.When the sintering temperature is below1650°C,there is no difference for all the as-sintered samples in terms ofJun-jun YANG,et al/Trans.Nonferrous Met.Soc.China 30(2020)3296−33063300Fig.4SEM images of W−1.0wt.%La 2O 3alloys fabricated using three doping routes as function of sinteringtemperatureFig.5Average grain sizes for samples of PW and doped W−1.0wt.%La 2O 3as function of sintering temperature (a)and comparison of average grain sizes as reported in literatures (b)average grain size.However,when the sintering temperature rises to 1800°C,the average grain size of the as-sintered WLO sample is larger as compared to those of WL10and WLNO samples.The sintered morphological result is consistent with the relative density data in Fig.3.The result implies that the SCS-made W−1.0wt.%La 2O 3powder compacts can achieve ultrafine-grained microstructure (grain size below 600nm)with the relative density above 95.0%after sintering at 1500°C without assisted pressure.As compared with other reports [1,19,20,30,32−34,42−47]of theJun-jun YANG,et al/Trans.Nonferrous Met.Soc.China30(2020)3296−33063301powder-sintered tungsten-based alloys as summarized in Fig.5(b),this study demonstrates a huge improvement on sintering densification without significant grain coarsening.TEM images and dispersion particle sizes of the samples(WL10,WLNO and WLO)after sintering at1500°C are shown in Fig.6.The La2O3 particles are homogeneously distributed in the tungsten matrix either in the grain interior or at the grain boundary,as observed from the EDS mappings in Figs.6(a)−(c).The white-colored particles are determined as La2O3under the STEM-HAADF mode and EDS analysis in Figs.6(d)−(f). The average sizes of the La2O3particles at grain boundaries are(57±29.7),(111±104.6)and (128±37)nm,while the average sizes of the La2O 3Fig.6TEM images,intragranular and intergranular particle size distributions for samples after sintering at1500°C: (a,d,g1,g2)WL10;(b,e,h1,h2)WLNO;(c,f,i1,i2)WLOJun-jun YANG,et al/Trans.Nonferrous Met.Soc.China 30(2020)3296−33063302particles in the grain interior are (27±13.1),(37±16.3)and (57±17.7)nm for the as-sintered WL10,WLNO and WLO samples as shown in Figs.6(g 1)−(i 2),respectively.Obviously,La 2O 3dispersions with the smallest size are observed in the sample of WL10,as compared with WLNO and WLO samples.In addition,with the increase of sintering temperature,the particle size of La 2O 3also grows because of the Ostwald ripening mechanism [13].The average sizes of the La 2O 3particles at grain boundaries and in the grain interior for the WL10are (120±74.4)and (40±18.5)nm after sintering at 1800°C,respectively.3.3MicrohardnessTo evaluate the effect of the resultant microstructure on the mechanical properties,the microhardness of the as-sintered samples was investigated as a function of sintering temperature as shown in Fig.7(a).The microhardness of the as-sintered samples increases with increasingtheFig.7Microhardness of as-sintered samples of PW and W−1.0wt.%La 2O 3as function of sintering temperature (a)and comparison of microhardness as reported in literatures (b)sintering temperature below/at 1500°C,beyond which it decreases with increasing the sintering temperature (Fig.7(a)).In other words,the microhardness values reach the maximum values of HV (684.1±14.3),(679.7±43.3)and (650.5±38.6)for the doped samples of WL10,WLNO and WLO after sintering at 1500°C,respectively.The microhardness for the as-sintered samples of WL10and WLNO are similar,but slightly higher than that of WLO sample.However,the maximum microhardness is HV (587.1±14.3)after sintering at 1500°C for the PW sample without doping,much lower as compared with those of the doped samples.The ultrafine-grained tungsten-based alloys in this study using La 2O 3doping exhibits superior properties as compared with the results in other reports [19,30,32−34,43,46,47]either using pressureless sintering or spark plasma sintering,as summarized in Fig.7(b).The achieved micro-hardness values in this case are approximately HV 100higher than those reported in literatures (Fig.7(b)),which is mainly due to the ultrafine grains obtained using the SCS-made nanoscale tungsten powders.Therefore,SCS is a promising pathway to produce nanosized powders and ultrafine-grained tungsten-based alloys using pressureless sintering.4Discussion4.1Effects of doping on grain size anddensificationAs shown in Fig.3,when the sintering temperature is below 1500°C,relative densities of W−1.0wt.%La 2O 3are lower than that of PW after sintering.This indicates that the addition of La 2O 3particles via the three doping routes (LL,LS and SS)hinders sintering densification.This is because oxide particles,dispersed at the grain boundaries,can retard the migration of grain boundaries [16].As the sintering temperature increases,however,the atomic diffusion increases and thus promotes densification kinetics [40].Thus,the difference of relative density between the PW and W−1.0wt.%La 2O 3gradually minimizes when the sintering temperature increases above 1500°C.Further,with the increase of relative density as well as sintering temperature,the average sizes of tungsten grains and doped particles also grow because of the Ostwald ripening mechanism [13],Jun-jun YANG,et al/Trans.Nonferrous Met.Soc.China30(2020)3296−33063303as proved in Figs.4and6.The as-sintered sample of WLO exhibits a larger grain size than the WL10 and WLNO after sintering at1800°C by comparing Figs.4(j)−(l).This indicates that grain coarsening is more critical when the doped La2O3particles are likely located at the grain boundaries.In this case, the WLO sample was fabricated from the mechanically-mixed PW and La2O3powders, causing most of La2O3powders located on the tungsten powder surface and thus most likely retained at grain boundaries after sintering. Therefore,the results are totally different from those of the as-sintered samples of WL10and WLNO.Moreover,the coarsened La2O3particles in the as-sintered sample of WLO are believed to weaken the pinning effect on the grain boundary migration during sintering[48].4.2Effects of doping on microhardnessIt is well known that the microhardness of materials is correlated to the grain size,relative density,phase constituent,dislocation and secondary phases[13,49,50],etc.In this study, when the sintering temperature is below1500°C, the as-sintered PW exhibits a higher microhardness as compared with the doped samples after sintering at an identical temperature(Fig.7(a)).Nevertheless, this scenario changes after sintering at temperatures above1500°C.This can be attributed to the following factors.First,the relative density is much larger for the as-sintered PW sample than that of the doped samples when the sintering temperature is below1500°C(Fig.3).However,with further increasing the sintering temperature,the relative density of the doped samples increases to a similar value with that of the PW sample.Second, the nanoscale La2O3particles act as the dispersion-strengthened role in underpinning the dislocation movement and thus enhancing the microhardness/strength[48,51]when the plastic deformation is carried out.Thus,both density and La2O3dispersions play a dominant role in promoting the final microhardness.However,the grain sizes of both tungsten matrix and La2O3particles increase with increasing the sintering temperature,although the relative density increases,as observed in Figs.4and6.The microhardness first increases and then decreases with the increase of sintering temperature for all samples(Fig.7(a)).This is due to the grain size effect on the mechanical properties of materials.We plotted the data of grain size and microhardness from Figs.4,6and7(a)into Fig.8that displays the relationship between the grain size and microhardness of all samples.It seems that the fitting line of relationship is linear as shown in Fig.8,which obviously agrees well with the Hall−Petch equation of H v=H0+k H d−1/2[8,52], where H v is the microhardness of the sample,H0is the microhardness of single crystal,k H is a constant, and d is the grainsize.Fig.8Relationship between grain size and micro-hardness of as-sintered PW and W−1.0wt.%La2O3alloys From the particle sizes of doped La2O3and microhardness of the as-sintered samples in Figs.4,6,7and8,it can be concluded that the LL (WL10)and LS(WLNO)doping routes are more beneficial to grain refinement and microhardness enhancement,as compared with the SS(WLO) route.Mechanical properties can be improved by reducing the grain-boundary La2O3particles both in their size and population[13].A large number of ultrafine La2O3particles are uniformly distributed in the grain interior,while few large La2O3particles are concentrated at grain boundaries for the as-sintered samples of WL10and WLNO.However, most of the large La2O3particles in the as-sintered sample of WLO are more likely located at grain boundaries,which is prone to produce cracks during plastic deformation.Consequently,the microhardnesses for the as-sintered samples of WL10and WLNO are similar,but slightly higher as compared with that of WLO.5Conclusions(1)W−1.0wt.%La2O3alloy powders wereJun-jun YANG,et al/Trans.Nonferrous Met.Soc.China30(2020)3296−3306 3304prepared by SCS using the LL,LS and SS doping routes.The average particle size is below50nm for the as-fabricated WL10,WLNO and WLO doped powders.(2)After sintering at1500°C,the relative density,microhardness,and average grain size are (95.0±0.10)%,(96.9±0.35)%and(97.4±0.59)%; HV(684.1±14.3),(679.7±43.3)and(650.5±38.6);(0.57±0.19),(0.54±0.17)and(0.60±0.17)μm for the as-sintered samples of WL10,WLNO and WLO, respectively.(3)The as-sintered WL10sample using the LL doping route exhibits uniformly distributed La2O3 particles either at grain boundaries or in the grain interior,and thus demonstrates superior microhardness as compared with the samples of PW, WLNO and WLO.References[1]ANTUSCH S,ARMSTRONG D E J,BRITTON T B,COMMIN L,GIBSON J S K L,GREUNER H,HOFFMANN J,KNABL W,PINTSUK G,RIETH M, ROBERTS S G,WEINGAERTNER T.Mechanical andmicrostructural investigations of tungsten and dopedtungsten materials produced via powder injection molding[J].Nuclear Materials and Energy,2015,3−4:22−31.[2]LI Ping,SUN Da-zhi,WANG Xue,XUE Ke-min,HUA Rui,WU Yu-cheng.Microstructure and thermal stability ofsintered pure tungsten processed by multiple directioncompression[J].Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Societyof China,2018,28:461−468.[3]WANG Kai-fei,ZHANG Guo-hua.Synthesis of high-purityultrafine tungsten and tungsten carbide powders[J].Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China,2020,30:1697−1706.[4]XIAO Fang-nao,XU Liu-jie,ZHOU Yu-cheng,PANKun-ming,LI Ji-wen,LIU Wei,WEI Shi-zhong.A hybridmicrostructure design strategy achieving W−ZrO2(Y)alloywith high compressive strength and critical failure strain[J].Journal of Alloys and Compounds,2017,708:202−212. 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于方丽等:烧结助剂对多孔氮化硅陶瓷的力学性能及介电性能的影响· 1273 ·第37卷第8期碳包纳米氧化锆粉体的制备及其晶型转变李亚伟,田彩兰,赵雷,李远兵,金胜利,李淑静(武汉科技大学,高温陶瓷与耐火材料湖北省重点实验室,武汉 430081)摘要:采用溶剂共混法将氢氧化锆沉淀与液态酚醛树脂混合,制备成树脂–氢氧化锆复合体系,在埋碳气氛经500~1000℃热处理、研磨,得到碳–氧化锆纳米复合粉体。
用热重–差示扫描量热仪、X射线衍射仪、场发射扫描电子显微镜及高分辨透射电子显微镜对样品进行了表征。
结果表明;在复合粉体中,一部分碳进入氧化锆晶格中使高温四方相氧化锆在室温稳定存在;另一部分游离于氧化锆周围的碳起空间位阻作用,有效地抑制了复合粉中氧化锆颗粒在烧结过程中的晶粒长大;在空气中700℃氧化除去复合粉中的碳后,氧化锆的粒径仅为20~50nm,但由氢氧化锆分解形成的氧化锆容易成团聚状态,一次粒径可达50~100nm。
关键词:纳米氧化锆;酚醛树脂;前驱体碳;稳定作用;分散中图分类号:TQ175.1 文献标志码:A 文章编号:0454–5648(2009)08–1273–04PREPARATION AND PHASE TRANSFORMATION OF NANO-SIZED ZIRCONIA POWDERSURROUNDED BY CARBONLI Yawei,TIAN Cailan,ZHAO Lei,LI Yuanbing,JIN Shengli,LI Shujing(The Key Laboratory of Ceramics and Refractories, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081, China)Abstract: A resin–Zr(OH)4 mixture was prepared by zirconium hydroxide and liquid phenolic resin in ethanol solvent. Then, the mixture was carburized in a coke bed at 500–1000℃and ground into carbon–ZrO2 composite powder. The samples were character-ized by thermogravimetric analysis–differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the tetragonal phase of zirconia in the carbon–ZrO2 com-posite powder can be stabilized to room temperature owing to the fact that carbon enters easily into the crystal lattice. In contrast, only monoclinic phase exists at room temperature after the decomposition of Zr(OH)4. Carbon surrounding the zirconia particles prevents effectively the agglomeration and growth of zirconia particles. The particle sizes of zirconia are only 20–50nm in the carbon–ZrO2 composite powder oxidized in air at 700℃. However, the particles of zirconia are easily agglomerated and their sizes reach 50–100 nm in the case of the decomposition of zirconium hydroxide.Key words: nano-sized zirconia; phenolic resin; precursor carbon; stabilization; dispersion氧化锆陶瓷材料因具有优良的室温力学性能,耐腐蚀性和弹性模量与不锈钢接近等特性而得到广泛应用。
纳米金属材料强韧化方法研究王英; 蒋鑫; 洑佳程; 温贻芳; 龚肖新【期刊名称】《《苏州市职业大学学报》》【年(卷),期】2019(030)004【总页数】6页(P6-11)【关键词】纳米材料; 金属材料; 韧性强化【作者】王英; 蒋鑫; 洑佳程; 温贻芳; 龚肖新【作者单位】苏州市工业职业技术学院机电工程系江苏苏州 215104【正文语种】中文【中图分类】TB31工业制造,材料先行。
新材料产业被认为是21世纪发展最具潜力并对未来发展有着巨大影响的高技术产业。
制造既强又韧的材料也是人类长期追求的目标。
自20世纪80年代初,德国材料科学家Gleiter[1]首先提出了纳米晶体材料(nanocrystalline materials)的概念,并成功制备出铜等金属的块体纳米晶体后,纳米晶体材料的诞生,引起世界范围内对新材料的关注,开启了对纳米材料、微纳米力学和纳米科技方面研究的新时代。
纳米晶体材料指的是晶粒尺寸介于1 nm到100 nm之间的多晶体材料。
随着材料晶粒尺寸的细化,纳米材料表现出许多其他材料所不具备的特性,如小尺寸效应、量子效应、表面效应和宏观量子隧道效应。
正是由于这些特性导致其具有传统粗晶材料所不具备的一系列优异的电、力、磁以及化学和光学特性[2-5]。
尤其是力学特性方面,纳米材料表现出高强度、高硬度和高耐磨损的性能[6-8],这些特性使其在工程应用方面具有巨大的发展优势。
韧性是强度和塑性的综合指标,是材料塑性变形到断裂整个工程耗散的功,只有强度和塑性都高的材料才具有良好的韧性。
然而,很多实验表明纳米晶体材料的强度虽然很高,但是塑性和延展性非常差,有的轴向拉伸率甚至很少超过5%[9]。
这也是为什么纳晶材料韧性差的原因。
早期研究认为,这种低韧性的主要原因是由于材料在制备的过程中存在缺陷,如孔洞、裂纹和夹杂物。
但是近年来,随着制备工艺的不断进步,研究人员已经制备出高致密度、高纯度、近乎无缺陷的块体纳米材料,通过实验验证,在拉伸延展性和韧性依然存在问题。
Effect of La Doping on Microstructure and Critical Current Density ofMgB2Chandra Shekhar a, Rajiv Giri a, R S Tiwari a, D S Rana b, S K Malik b and O N Srivastava a*a Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, Indiab Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai-400005, IndiaAbstractIn the present study, La-doped MgB2superconductors with different doping level (Mg1-x La x B2; x=0.00, 0.01, 0.03 & 0.05) have been synthesized by solid-state reaction routeat ambient pressure. Effect of La doping have been investigated in relation to microstructural characteristics and superconducting properties, particularly intragrain critical current density(J c). The microstructural characteristics of the as synthesized Mg(La)B2 compounds were studied employing transmission electron microscopic (TEM) technique. The TEM investigations reveal inclusion of LaB6 nanoparticles within the MgB2 grains which provide effective flux pinning centres. The evaluation of intragrain J c through magnetic measurementson the fine powdered version of the as synthesized samples reveal that J c of the samples change significantly with the doping level. The optimum result on J c is obtained forMg0.97La0.03B2 at 5K, the J c reaches ~1.4x107A/cm2 in self field, ~2.1 x 106A/cm2 at 1T, ~2.5x 105A/cm2 at 2.5T and ~1.8 x 104 A/cm2 at 4.5T. The highest value of intragrain J c inMg0.97La0.03B2 superconductor has been attributed to the inclusion of LaB6 nanoparticleswhich are capable of providing effective flux pinning centres.PACS : 74.70Ad; 74.25Sv; 74.62Dh; 74.25HaKey words : superconductor, nanoparticle, intragrain J c*Corresponding authorE-mail: hepons@, girirajiv_bhu@IntroductionThe discovery of superconductivity at 40K in MgB2 by Nagamatsu et al. [1] has generated a great deal of excitement in both fundamental and practical investigations of this material. One advantage of MgB2 is in regard to its applications at comparatively higher temperatures (20-30K) region, where the conventional superconductors can not operate. Also, the progress in cryogen free cooling technique at temperature region of 20-30K will promote the development and application of MgB2. Another important aspect in MgB2 bulk material is that supercurrent flow is largely unhindered by grain boundaries (GBs) [2,3], thus providing a high feasibility of scaling up the material to form bulk shapes like wire and tapes. For widespread applications of MgB2 high value of critical current density in higher magnetic field is required and hence need of adequate flux pinning centres is evident. The effective flux pinning is known to occur when core of fluxoids find higher density normal materials to sit on. Strong pinning centres prevent flux melting and the consequent creep. If local structural perturbations are strong and these are isolated, they can act as effective flux pinning centres provided that their sizes are compatible with the coherence length (~6nm). Unfortunately, the bulk materials prepared at ambient pressure always show lower J c value due to poor grain connectivity, low density and poor flux pinning [4,5]. It is found that most efficient techniques used to fabricate high quality MgB2 samples are hot-isostatic pressing and uniaxial hot pressing at high pressures [6,7]. Also, proton and neutron irradiation are applied to enhance J c properties in MgB2 superconductors [8,9]. However, these techniques are not suitable for the preparation of MgB2 wire and tapes because of their complicated nature and the practical difficulty in the use of very large vessels and dyes in case of high temperature and high pressure. On the other hand, it is reported that chemical doping is effective to increase J c in high-T c cuprates superconductors [10]. Similar techniques have been also utilized for the MgB2 materials. Recently Dou et al. [11] and Matsumoto et al. [12] have synthesized MgB2 superconductor in bulk form at ambient pressure through doping of SiC and SiO2 & SiC respectively. They have reported enhancement of flux pinning properties due to nano inclusion of SiC (10-100 nm) into MgB2 grains. Many groups have been trying to improve the J c by chemical doping. At 20K, pure MgB2 generally has a intragrain J c of about 104 A/cm2 under 1T and irreversible field (H irr) is about 4T [7, 13,14]. It may be pointed out that the estimation of J c ~104 A/cm2 (at 1T and 20K) is for undoped samples devoid of any flux pinning centers. However, when doping is done to produce flux pinning centers, this estimate generally become ~105 A/cm2 (at 1T and 20K) [15-18]. The Ti doping (few to ~10atomic%) in MgB2 has been known to enhance intragrain J c (evaluated through magnetization measurement and using Bean’s formula) values upto 105 A/cm2 under 1T and H irr near 5T at 20K with small T c reduction [15, 16]. Shu-Fang Wang et al. [17] have reported that J c increases up to 5 x 105 A/cm2 at 5K and in self field for Cd doped MgB2. Rui et al. have reported enhancement of J c by adding nano-alumina (10-50nm) into MgB2[18]. It should be pointed out that the above authors have used Bean’s formula to estimate intragrain J c. Recently doping of Al, Fe, Au, Pb into MgB2 have been reported for improvement of flux pinning centres and consequently enhancement in intragrain J c values [19-22]. To date, two important factors of low density and poor flux pinning are main obstacles to obtain high J c value in MgB2 superconductor. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out further research by addition and doping of suitable elements into MgB2 to understand the mechanism of the flux pinning in MgB2 and eventually realize the widespread applications of MgB2. It is known that microstructural features affect crucially the critical current density of superconducting materials. Therefore, in order to explore the microstructural characteristics and its possible correlation with superconducting properties, particularly J c, in the present paper, we have studied structural, microstructural characteristics of the as synthesized Mg1-x La x B2 (0.00≤x≤0.1) samples employing transmission electron microscopic (TEM) technique. TEM investigation reveals nanoparticle LaB6 inclusions within the MgB2 grains.The intragrain critical current density (J c) evaluated through magnetic measurement for sample with various compositions have been found to vary significantly e.g. J c of Mg0.97La0.3B2 sample is ~2.1 x 106 A/cm2 and for Mg0.99La0.01B2 sample, it is ~6.5x105A/cm2 at 5K and 1T. A correlation between intragrain J c and details of the microstructure has been shown to exist. The Mg0.97La0.3B2 sample which possesses the highest intragrain J c ~1.4x107A/cm2 in self field at 5K exhibits LaB6 nanoparticle in the MgB2 grains.Experimental detailsThe synthesis of La doped MgB2 with nominal composition of Mg1-x La x B2 (0.00≤ x ≤0.1) has been carried out by solid state reaction method at ambient pressure by employing a special encapsulation technique developed in our laboratory. The powders [Mg (99.9%), La (99%) and B (99%)] were fully mixed and were cold pressed (3.0 tons/inch2) into small rectangular pellets (10 x 5 x 1) mm3. Then the pellets of Mg(La)B2 were encapsulated in a Mg metal cover to circumvent the formation of MgO during sinteringprocess. The pellet configuration was put on a Ta boat and sintered in flowing Ar atmosphere in a tube furnace at 600o C for 1h, at 800o C for 1h and at 900o C for 2h. The pellet was cooled to room temperature at the rate of 100o C/h. The pellet was taken out and encapsulating Mg cover was removed. The details of the synthesis were similar as described in our earlier publication [23]. All the samples in the present investigation were subjected to gross structural characterization by X-ray diffraction technique (XRD, Philips PW-1710 CuK α), electrical transport characterization by four-probe technique (Keithley resistivity Hall set-up), the microstructural characterization by transmission electron microscope (Philips EM-CM-12) and elemental composition was determined by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX, Oxford-ENCA). The magnetization measurements have been carried out at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai, India) over a temperature range of 5-40K employing a physical property measurement system (PPMS, Quantum Design). Intragrain J c (magnetic J c ) was calculated from the height ‘∆M’ of the magnetization loop (M-H) using Bean’s critical state model [24]. It should be pointed out that Bean’s formula leads to the optimum estimate of intragrain J c for superconductors having weakly coupled grains. It is not quite appropriate for bulk MgB 2 superconductors because of strong grain coupling in this material. The magnetization measurements have been carried out on fine ground powders of the as synthesized samples. In the fine powder form, strong coupling is non-existent, the intragrain critical current density can be estimated employing Bean’s formula and using average size of the powder particles. Usually, the particles after grinding of samples may not correspond to singular grains but are as estimated through SEM small agglomerates of nearly spherical shape ( ~5 µm ) covering only few grains. The intragrain J c , therefore, can be estimated by the following formula :J c = ><∆d M 30Where ‘∆M’ is change in magnetization with increasing and decreasing field (in emu/cm 3) and ‘d’ is average particle size (in cm).Results and discussionThe dc magnetic susceptibility (χ) of Mg 1-x La x B 2 (with x=0.01, 0.03, 0.05) superconducting samples are shown in Fig. 1 for 50 Oe field as a function of temperature. The χ-T curve shows diamagnetic onset transition temperature for Mg 0.99La 0.01B 2,Mg0.97La0.03B2 and Mg0.95La0.05B2 samples to be 40K, 39K and 37K respectively. The central aim of the present investigation is to explore the flux pinning centres originating as a result of doping. We first describe various microstructural features induced by different doping levels of La at Mg site of MgB2 compound. Thereafter, evaluation of critical current density through magnetic hysteresis loop and correlation between microstructural features and intragrain J c will be described and discussed. In order to investigate microstructural features of La doped MgB2, we carried out extensive studies of nature of grain boundaries (GBs) and inclusion of secondary particles by employing the technique of TEM, which is considered to be the viable technique for such studies.Fig. 2(a) shows a representative transmission electron micrograph for Mg0.99La0.01B2 compound. The dominant feature resulting from this doping is the occurrence of LaB6 nanoparticles which are found to be invariably present. The selected area diffraction pattern corresponding to TEM micrograph is shown in Fig. 2(b). The slight splitting of diffraction spots reveals the presence of low angle grain boundaries in Mg0.99La0.01B2 compound.Fig. 2(c) represents the TEM micrograph of Mg0.97La0.03B2 compound. The dominant and specific microstructural feature for this compound is the presence of high density of LaB6 nanoparticles within MgB2 grains. The size of these nanoparticles lies in the range of 5-15nm. Among these nano inclusions, those which are compatible with coherence length of MgB2 (~6nm) may work as effective flux pinning centres. The SAD pattern corresponding to TEM micrograph [shown in Fig. 2(d)] reveals the spotty ring pattern. These diffraction rings, which correspond to LaB6 and MgB2, depict the inclusion of LaB6 nanoparticle in MgB2 grains.The TEM micrograph for Mg0.95La0.05B2 revealing the presence of LaB6 nanoparticles (20-35 nm) is discernible from the micrograph Fig. 2(e). It is interesting to note that the size of LaB6 nanoparticle in this compound is bigger than those of the Mg0.97La0.03B2 compound [as shown in Fig. 2(c)] and has low density of nanoparticles. The SAD pattern corresponding to TEM micrograph [shown in fig. 2(e)] reveals hexagonal arrangement of diffraction spots of MgB2 along with square diffraction spots of cubic LaB6. The diffraction spots of the SAD pattern of Mg0.95La0.05B2 [Fig. 2(f)] have been indexed. These results clearly show that with different doping concentration of La at Mg site of MgB2 their microstructural features manifested by the occurrence of LaB6 nanoparticles vary significantly.The magnetization measurements as a function of magnetic fields have been carried out at temperature 5K, 10K, 20K and 30K, for each samples in the powder form. It mayfurther be pointed out that several workers have employed Bean’s formula for the undoped and doped MgB2 samples [7, 21, 25, 26].Keeping the above in view, in the following we will proceed to describe the estimation of J c (intragrain) for the present Mg1-x La x B2 samples as obtained on powder form. The intragrain J c as function of magnetic field at temperatures of 5K, 10K, 20K and 30K for MgB2, Mg0.99La0.01B2, Mg0.97La0.03B2 and Mg0.95La0.05B2 are shown in Fig. 3(a), 3(b), 3(c) and 3(d) respectively. It is clear from J c vs H curves, the intragrain J c of Mg0.97La0.03B2 compound attains the highest value among all the compounds for all temperature and the whole field region upto 5T. This compound contains high density of LaB6 nanoparticles (~5- 15 nm) inclusion into MgB2 matrix. As for example at 5K, the J c of Mg0.97La0.03B2 compound is ~1.4 x 107A/cm2 in self field and ~2.1 x 106A/cm2 at 1T, ~2.5x 105A/cm2 at 2.5T and ~1.8 x 104A/cm2 at 4.5T. For Mg0.99La0.01B2 compound, which is nearly without inclusion of LaB6 nanoparticles, J c values at 5K are ~6.0 x 106A/cm2 in self field, ~6.5 x 105A/cm2 at 1T, ~8.6 x 104A/cm2 at 2.5T and ~5.6 x 103A/cm2 at 4.5T. The intragrain J c values for Mg0.95La0.05B2 compound, having low density of larger LaB6 nanoparticles in comparison to Mg0.97La0.03B2 compound, are also lower than Mg0.97La0.03B2. The J c value for Mg0.95La0.05B2 compound achieves the value of ~1.2x106A/cm2, ~2.6 x 105A/cm2, ~4.4 x 104A/cm2 and ~1.0 x 104A/cm2 at 5K in self field, 1T, 2.5T and 4.5T respectively. Similar variations of J c with magnetic field were also observed at temperatures 10K, 20K and 30K. Table-1 brings out the comparision of intragrain J c values for the undoped and optimally doped MgB2 samples in the self field and various magnetic fields. As can be seen from this table, Jcs for La doped MgB2 sample (Mg0.97La0.03B2) is higher than undoped version for all fields.These results are first of their type for MgB2 superconductors. All the J c data reported here by us are much higher than the best results reported so far for MgB2 bulk materials including those prepared under high pressure (the typical value of J c is ~2 x 104 A/cm2 at 20K and 1T) [7], Ti doped MgB2 (the typical value of J c is ~2 x 106 A/cm2 at 5K and in self field) [15], Cd doped MgB2 (the typical value of J c at 5K and in self field is ~5 x 105 A/cm2) [17] and Au coated MgB2 thin film (the typical value of J c is ~1.22 x 107 A/cm2 at 5K and in self field [21].It may be noticed from the J c vs H behavior of La doped MgB2 samples that J c decreases slowly with increasing magnetic field. This manifests the presence of effective flux pinning centres in La doped compounds. As revealed by microstructural analyses the nanoparticles of LaB6 (which are comparable in size to the coherence length) may beresponsible for high intragrain J c values in the whole range of temperature and magnetic field investigated in the present work.ConclusionIn conclusion, we have successfully synthesized La doped MgB2 compounds by solid-state reaction at ambient pressure employing a special encapsulation technique. In the present investigation exploration of microstructural features induced by doping of La at Mg site of MgB2 compound and its correlation with intragrain critical density (J c) have been carried out. The highest J c value at 5K (~1.4 x 107 A/cm2 in self field, ~2.1 x 106 A/cm2, ~2.5 x 105 A/cm2 and ~1.8 x 104 A/cm2 at field of 1 T, 2.5T and 4.5T respectively), has been obtained for Mg0.97La0.03B2 compound. This enhancement of J c for specific La doping (Mg0.97La0.03B2) has been found to result due to high density of LaB6 nanoparticle inclusions in MgB2 grains which provide effective flux pinning centres.AcknowledgementThe authors are grateful to Prof. A.R. Verma, Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Prof. A.V. Narlikar and Prof. T.V.Ramakrishnan for fruitful discussions. We put our sincere thanks to Dr. N.P. Lalla for his kind help in EDAX measurements. Financial supports from UGC and CSIR are gratefully acknowledged.References[1]Nagamatsu J, Norimasa N, Muranaka T, Zenitani Y and Akimitsu J 2001Nature 410 63[2]Larbalestier D C et al. 2001 Nature 410 186[3]Bugoslavsky Y, Perkins G K, Qi X, Cohen L F and Caplin A D 2001 Nature410 563[4]Finnemore D K, Ostenson J E, Bud'ko S L, Lapertot G and Canfield P C 2001Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 2420[5]Kambara M, Babu N H, Sadki E S, Cooper J R, Minami H, Cardwell D A,Campbell A M and Inoue I H 2001 Supercond. Sci. 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The splitting of spots is due to the presence of low angle grain boundaries.Fig. 2(c): TEM micrograph corresponding to Mg0.97La0.03B2 compound, showing the high density of LaB6 nanoparticles (~5 to ~15 nm) within the MgB2 grains.Fig. 2(d): Selected area diffraction pattern corresponding to micrograph Fig. 2(c) depicts spotty ring pattern which correspond to MgB2 and LaB6.Fig. 2(e): TEM micrograph corresponding to Mg0.95La0.05B2 compound revealing LaB6 nanoparticles which are bigger in size (~20 to ~35 nm) than those found forMg0.97La0.03B2.Fig. 2(f): Selected area diffraction pattern corresponding to micrograph Fig. 2(e) reveals hexagonal arrangement of diffraction spots of MgB2 along with squarediffraction spots of LaB6 which has cubic lattice (marked by →).Fig. 3: Intragrain critical current density (estimated on fine powder version of the samples) as a function of applied magnetic field at a temperature of 5K, 10K,20K and 30K for (a) MgB2 (b) Mg0.99La0.01B2, (c) Mg0.97La0.03B2,(d) Mg0.95La0.05B2, superconductors. Highest critical current density for theMg0.97La0.03B2 compound may be noticed.Table-1Comparision of intragrain J c (A/cm2) at 5K for undoped MgB2 and optimally dopedMg0.97La0.03B2Compositions IntragrainJ c (A/cm2) at 5Kfield 1T 2.5T 4.5T SelfUndoped MgB2 3.0 x 105 9.4 x 104 1.8 x 1048.7 x 1021.4 x 1072.1 x 106 2.5 x 105 1.8 x 104Mg0.97La0.03B2(optimally doped)-5.0x10-4-4.0x10-4-3.0x10-4-2.0x10-4-1.0x10-40.01.0x10-4Fig. 1S u s c e p t i b i l i t y (e m u /g /O e )T(K)101010101010Fig. 3H (tesla)10101010101010101010101010I n t r a g r a i n c r i t i c a l c u r r e n t d e n s i t y (A /c m 2)1010101010。