The Influence of the Precipitation Heat Treatment Temperature on the Metallurgical, Microstructure, Thermal Properties, and Microhardness of an Alpha Brass

Abstract

Metals obtain optimum conditions of metallurgical and physical properties through a heat treatment. Brass is one of the copper alloys which has many applications in everyday life and in the industry. Brass is one of the copper alloys which has many applications in everyday life and the industry. In this work, the influence of the precipitation heat treatment temperature on the metallurgical microstructure, structure, thermal properties, and microhardness of an alpha brass is analyzed. Samples were heat treated by precipitation for 2 h at 300˚C, 400˚C, 500˚C, 600˚C, and 700˚C. The best mechanical properties were found at 500˚C of precipitation heat treatment temperature. Specimens were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Vickers microhardness, photothermal radiometry, and photoacoustic to study the thermal diffusivity and conductivity, as well as the heat capacity. The inverse of the full width at the half maximum analysis showed that the crystallinity decreased as the precipitation heat treatment temperature increased. Metallurgical microstructure and microhardness were correlated to the precipitation heat treatment temperatures to determine the effect on the metallurgical and mechanical properties, as well as the effect on the thermal properties of alpha brass. How to cite this paper: Rojas-Rodríguez, I., Lara-Guevara, A., Salazar-Sicacha, M., Mosquera-Mosquera, J.C., Robles-Agudo, M., Ramirez-Gutierrez, C. and Rodríguez-García, M. (2018) The Influence of the Precipitation Heat Treatment Temperature on the Metallurgical, Microstructure, Thermal Properties, and Microhardness of an Alpha Brass. Materials Sciences and Applications,9,[440][441][442][443][444][445][446][447][448][449][450][451][452][453][454]

Physical Behaviour of Thermally Affected Bronze and Brass

“…The variation of electrical conductivity under different heating temperature of the copper, bronze, and brass metals are depicted in Fig 2. Initial increase of conductivity is due to stress relieving in the experimental metals. After heating at high temperature, the subsequent drop in conductivity is due to the formation of fine precipitates [19]. (Fig 3).…”

Analysis of the Absorption Phenomenon through the Use of Finite Element Method

“…Frequency modulation range from 15 to 400 Hz was used. Photoacoustic technique was used to observe amplitude and phase signal behaviors in the sample [18,19]. A thermal diffusion model was used to calculate the pressure at the photoacoustic gas chamber [20], with the simplification for the thermally thick and optically opaque regime [21] according to the following equation:…”

Characterization of Automotive Aluminum AA356 by Photo Thermal Radiometric Spectroscopy

“…Additionally, PTR can be utilized to assess the homogeneity and/or the presence of internal or surface defects or micro-Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering cracks in metals [4]. PTR has been applied to case depth determination on heat treatment steel parts [5] and in the characterization of Steel-Cu bonded by impact [6], and in the study of thermal, structural, and microstructural properties of annealed carbon steel samples with four different carbon contents [7]. A positive correlation between Vickers microhardness and PTR amplitude images was found, in the characterization of SAE4320H Automotive Steel, indicating that the annealing process increases the PTR signal.…”

“…PTR had been used to obtain sample thermal images of samples of Kunial brass to determine the effect of the precipitation heat treated on the metallurgical and mechanical properties [7] and were applied to, in the Thermal and Structural Characterization of Copper-Steel Bonding Interfaces Produced by Impact Welding [9], PTR had been applied in the Microstructural, Structural, and Thermal Characterization of Annealed Carbon Steels [8].…”