Microstructure and mechanical properties of spark plasma sintered Ti-Mo alloys for dental applications

Ti-Mo alloys with various Mo contents from 6wt% to 14wt% were processed by spark plasma sintering based on elemental powders. The influence of sintering temperature and Mo content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the resulting alloys were investigated. For each Mo concentration, the optimum sintering temperature was determined, resulting in a fully dense and uniform microstructure of the alloy. The optimized sintering temperature gradually increases in the range of 1100–1300℃ with the increase in Mo content. The microstructure of the Ti-(6–12)Mo alloy consists of acicular α phase surrounded by equiaxed grains of β phase, while the Ti-14Mo alloy only contains single β phase. A small amount of fine α lath precipitated from β phase contributes to the improvement in strength and hardness of the alloys. Under the sintering condition at 1250℃, the Ti-12Mo alloy is found to possess superior mechanical properties with the Vickers hardness of Hv 472, the compressive yield strength of 2182 MPa, the compression rate of 32.7%, and the elastic modulus of 72.1 GPa. These results demonstrate that Ti-Mo alloys fabricated via spark plasma sintering are indeed a perspective candidate alloy for dental applications.     

Effect of vanadium carbide on commercial pure aluminum

The effect of vanadium carbide (VC) on the grain size of commercial pure aluminum was experimentally investigated by varying the content of VC, the holding time, and casting temperature. The refining efficiencies of VC and Al5Ti1B were also compared. The refined samples of commercial pure aluminum were examined using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results suggest that VC is a good refiner of commercial pure aluminum. The addition of only 0.3wt% VC can decrease the grain size of aluminum to 102 μm, whereas the casting temperature and holding time have little effect on the grain size. The refining efficiency of VC is better than that of Al5Ti1B. The VC particles in molten aluminum act as nuclei and the grain refinement of aluminum alloys by VC particles is achieved via heterogeneous nucleation.     

Effects of Sn addition on microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg- Zn-Al alloys

The effects of Sn addition(0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 3 wt%) on microstructure of Mg-4Zn-1.5Al alloy in cast and extruded states were investigated, and the mechanical properties of as-extruded Mg-4Zn-1.5Al-xSn studied. The experimental results showed that the as-cast Mg-4Zn-1.5Al alloy was composed of two phases α-Mg and Mg_(32)(Al, Zn)_(49), while Sn-containing alloys consisted of α-Mg, Mg_(32)(Al, Zn)_(49) and Mg_2Sn phases, and Mg_(32)(Al, Zn)_(49) was not detected after extruding due to that the most of them dissolved into the matrix during the homogenized treatment. The addition of Sn refined the grains of as-cast and as-extruded Mg-Zn-Al alloys obviously. It was noted that the basal texture intensity reduced with increasing Sn content significantly in as-extruded Mg-Zn-Al alloys. The tensile tests results indicated that Sn addition improve the tensile strength of the extruded alloys,while it had a harmful effect on the ductility. When the addition of Sn was 2 wt%, the ultimate tensile strength(UTS), yield strength(YS) and elongation(ε_f) of the alloy were 280 MPa, 147 MPa and 17.4%, respectively.     

The study on the relationship between breakup modes and gas-liquid interfaces

Based on the linear instability analysis, the study on the relationship between breakup modes and gas-liquid Interfaces of a viscous annular liquid jet moving in two swirling gas streams has been carried out. From the numerical results of the dispersion equation, the relevancy of the breakup mode between an annular liquid jet and two liquid jets of limiting cases, namely the cylindrical liquid jet and hollow gas jet, as well as the effects of injecting factors on the instability of an annular liquid jet, is studied in detail. Considering the effects of inner and outer interface radii on the instability of the jet, it is proved that the pars-sinuous mode mainly relates to the inner interface, whereas the pars-varicose mode mainly relates to the outer interface. The results also indicate that all the forces produced by liquid jet have similar impacts on either the instability of pars-sinuous mode or pars-varicose mode due to the fact that they can affect both inner and outer gas-liquid interfaces. On the other hand, all the forces exerting only on the inner interface have more powerful effects on the instability of pars-sinuous mode, and all the forces exerting only on the outer interface have more powerful effects on the instability of pars-varicose mode. That is to say, the effects of forces are weakened greatly when penetrating the liquid jet.     

Simulation of sub-micron particle formation and growth during combustion processes

Sub-micron particle formation and growth during combustion processes is very complex because of its strong uncertainty and randomness. A model to simulate the sub-micron particle formation and growth during the combustion process is developed based on the gas kinetic theory and is expressed by the vapor concentration changes and particle loading changes, which reflects effect characteristics of different mechanism (nucleation, condensation and coagulation) in particle formation processes. The developed characteristic time is used to token the three mechanisms. It is thought that environmental temperature and pressure, vapor temperature and critical pressure are important factors influencing the sub-micron particle formation and growth. The sub-micron particle formation processes under different conditions are studied and the effect characteristics of these mechanisms are analyzed, which show that the nucleation, condensation,and coagulation occur simultaneously during the sub-micron particle formation and growth process. Nucleation contributes to the sub-micron particle formation, while condensation and coagulation is helpful to the growth of the particle size.     

Peculiar aging response of near b Ti–25 Nb–2Mo–4Sn alloy for biomedical applications

In this paper,aging response of a recently developed near β Ti-25Nb-2Mo-4Sn(wt%) alloy with high strength and low modulus was investigated intensively.The experimental results from X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy showed that the aging production of the Ti-2524 alloy was(β+ω) or(β+α) even under the same aging treatment condition,depending on the pre-treatments prior to the aging.Solid evidence confirmed the competition between stable α phase and metastable ω phase during the decomposition of β phase on aging.Different aging response of Ti-2524 alloy can be attributed to high-density dislocations and grain boundaries which suppress the formation of ω,and alternatively promote a phase formation.This provides a thermo-mechanical approach to inhibit deleterious ω phase formation and assist fine α phase precipitation.Upon an appropriate aging treatment,superior mechanical properties of high ultimate tensile strength(1233 MPa) and low elastic modulus(77 GPa) were achieved in Ti-2524 alloy.     

Formation and transformation of volatile nanoparticles from a diesel engine during exhaust dilution

A classic H 2 SO 4-H 2 O binary homogeneous nucleation model coupled to an aerosol dynamics model,suitable for studying the formation and transformation of volatile nanoparticles (VNPs) during diesel engine exhaust dilution,has been developed.Using the H 2 SO 4-H 2 O binary homogeneous nucleation model,the nucleation ratio and molecular cluster size were calculated.The effect of aerosol dynamic processes on VNP number size distributions was studied.The effects of fuel sulfur content (FSC) and sampling conditions in the laboratory on VNP number size distributions were also calculated.Our simulations demonstrated that nucleation increased the cluster number concentration and that FSC,temperature and humidity significantly affected the nucleation ratio and molecular cluster size.Coagulation promoted the evolution of cluster-particle size distributions from monodisperse to polydisperse.Soot present in the exhaust can suppress the formation of VNPs.FSC and sampling conditions,like the primary dilution temperature,the primary dilution relative humidity,residence time and the primary dilution ratio have significant effects on VNP number size distributions.     

Determination of the critical nucleation frequency in undercooled metal melt

By studying the effect of thermodynamic and kinetic factors on the nucleation frequency of under cooled metals, the expressions for heterogeneous and homogenous critical nucleation frequencies have been established. The results show that the homogenous critical nucleation frequency per unit volume is directly proportional to the ratio of the cooling rate to the volume of liquid metal. As the value of the equilibrium contact angle function f(θ) of the most effective catalyst is constant, the heterogeneous critical nucleation frequency per unit area of the catalyst surface is di rectly proportional to the ratio of the cooling rate to the sum of the surface area of the most effective catalyst surface ( Rc/ VSv). When Rc/VSv is constant, the heterogeneous critical nucleation frequency per unit area of the catalyst surface is inversely proportional to f(θ)0.53; the critical nucleation frequency per unit continuous mass of the metal melt for both the homogenous and heterogeneous nucleation can be expressed in terms of a general formula. The critical nucleation fre quency is slightly influenced by the nature of the metal. The obtained theoretical result agrees well with the homogenous critical nucleation frequency estimated by Turnbull.     

Tensile deformation behavior of a solution-treated Ti-33Nb-4Sn alloy with a dual β and α" phases under cyclic loading-unloading

The cyclical tensile deformation behavior of a solution-treated(ST) Ti-33Nb-4Sn alloy with a dual β and α "phases was investigated in this study.Experimental results indicated that the ST Ti-33Nb-4Sn alloy exhibited different deformation behavior during two different loading-unloading cycles,and that the deformation behavior was closely related to the characteristics of stress-induced martensitic(SIM) transformation,mainly including the extent and the reversibility of SIM transformation.During the first cycle,the extensive and incompletely reversible SIM transformation occurred,resulting in notable "double yielding" during loading and residual permanent strain after unloading.In the second cycle,however,a slight and reverse SIM transformation,together with pure elastic deformation,taken place concurrently,giving rise to a recoverable nonlinear deformation behavior.Our results also imply that by tailing the characteristics of SIM transformation,the Ti-based alloys with a mixture of α" and β phases might perform recoverable deformation and possess a promising potential for engineering applications.