No abstract

In the present work, Co-Cr-Mo alloy compacts with a unique bimodal microstructural design, harmonic structure design, were successfully prepared via a powder metallurgy route consisting of controlled mechanical milling of pre-alloyed powders followed by spark plasma sintering. The harmonic structured Co-Cr-Mo alloy with bimodal grain size distribution exhibited relatively higher strength together with higher ductility as compared to the coarse-grained specimens. The harmonic Co-Cr-Mo alloy exhibited a very complex deformation behavior wherein it was found that the higher strength and the high retained ductility are derived from fine-grained shell and coarse-grained core regions, respectively. Finally, it was observed that the peculiar spatial/topological arrangement of stronger fine-grained and ductile coarse-grained regions in the harmonic structure promotes uniformity of strain distribution, leading to improved mechanical properties by suppressing the localized plastic deformation during straining.

No abstract

No abstract

In the pursuit of creating new structures with improved overall mechanical properties, we produced a duplex stainless steel with both high strength and good plasticity, which combines in a harmonized way a refined microduplex structure with a coarse structure. This is accomplished by applying a mixed process of mechanical milling followed by spark-plasma sintering for a duplex steel powder, leading to a microstructure with a gradual and continuous transition between coarse and ultra-fine-grained regions at the microscale. This type of structure is referred to as Harmonic. The grain refinement at the surface of the milled powder particles occurs through the recrystallization of the severely-deformed surface layers during sintering, and results in a microduplex structure which gradually transitions to a coarse duplex structure away from the particles surface. Both the recrystallization mechanism and the effect of this refined structure on the sinterability and final mechanical properties of the compacts are investigated.