No abstract

The effect of a 1.5T, 15T and 30T magnetic field on texture evolution in Fe-1%Si was investigated by annealing samples for 1 hour at 787°C, (27° above the Curie temperature, Tc = 760°C). The intensity of the Goss texture component increased with increasing field strength accompanied by a drastic increase in grain size.

Historically, metals exhibit superplasticity only while forming in a two-phase field because a two-phase microstructure helps ensure a fine, stable grain size. In the U-5.8 Nb alloy, superplastici ty exists for up to 2 h in the single phase field (γ1) at 670°C. This is above the equilibrium monotectoid temperature of 647°C. Utilizing dilatometry, the superplastic (SP) U-5.8 Nb alloy requires superheating to 658°C to initiate the α+γ2 → γ1 transformation at a heating rate of 1.5°C/s. Hence, the U-5.8 Nb alloy exhibits an anomolous superplastic behavior.

The uranium-6 niobium (U-6Nb) alloy has been shown to exhibit elongations of 400-600% after a thermomechanical processing (TMP) sequence. This sequence (below the monotectoid temperature of 647°C) was utilized to develop the ultrafine grain size essential for superplastic behavior. The room temperature mechanical properties of the thermomechanically processed (TMP) U- 6Nb alloy before and after a gamma solution heat treatment (GSHT) were measured and compared to conventionally processed, GSHT U-6Nb alloy. These data are in Table I. The data show that the GSHT conditions have comparable mechanical properties and, so, the prior TMP treatment does not cause any loss of properties. However, the as-thermomechanically processed U-6Nb alloy exhibits negligible ductility and an extremely high yield strength. Metallography and AEM techniques have been utilized to characterize the TMP U- 6Nb microstructure to explain this behavior.

The high-density infrared (HDI) transient-liquid coating (TLC) process was successfully developed and demonstrated excellent, enhanced (5 times higher than the current material and process) wear performance for the selected functionally graded material (FGM) coatings under laboratory simulated, in-service conditions. The mating steel component exhibited a wear rate improvement of approximately one and a half (1.5) times. After 8000 cycles of wear testing, the full-scale component testing demonstrated that the coating integrity was still excellent. Little or no spalling was observed to occur.