Test research on sticking mechanism during hot rolling of SUS 430 ferritic stainless steel

The sticking phenomenon during hot rolling of SUS 430 ferritic stainless steel was investigated by means of a two-disc type high-temperature wear tester. The test results indicate that sticking particles on the surfaces of high chromium steel (HiCr) and high-speed steel (HSS) rolls undergo nucleation, growth, and saturation stages. Grooves on the roll surface generated by grinding provide nucleation sites for sticking particles. The number of sticking particles on the HiCr roll surface is greater than that on the HSS roll surface. The average surface roughnesses (R_a) of HiCr and HSS rolls change from 0.502 and 0.493 μm at the initial stage to 0.837 and 0.530 μm at the saturation stage, respectively. The test further proves that the sticking behavior is strongly dependent on roll materials, and the HSS roll is more beneficial to prevent particles sticking compared with the HiCr roll under the same hot-rolling conditions.     

Precipitation and stability of reversed austenite in 9Ni steel

A new method was used to analyze the factors affecting the precipitation of reversed austenite during tempering. The samples were kept at various tempering temperatures for 10 min and their length changes were recorded. Then, the precipitation of reversed austenite which led to the length reduction was shown by thermal expansion curves. The results show that the effects of process parameters on the precipitation of reversed austenite can be determined more accurately by this method than by X-ray diffraction. When the quenching and tempering process is adopted, both the lower quenching temperature and higher tempering temperature can promote the precipitation of reversed austenite during tempering; and when the quenching, lamellarizing, and tempering process is used, intercritical quenching is considered beneficial to the precipitation of reversed austenite in the subsequent tempering because of Ni segregation during holding at the intercritical temperature.     

Electrical conductivity changes of bulk tin and Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu in bulk and in joints during isothermal aging

The changes of electrical conductivity (resistance) between Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder joints and printed circuit board (PCB) assembly during aging at 125℃ were investigated by the four-point probe technique. The microstructural characterizations of interfacial layers between the solder matrix and the substrate were examined by optical microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy. Different types of specimens were designed to consider several factors. The experimental results indicate that electrical conductivities (resistances) and residual shear strengths of the solder joint specimens significantly decrease after 1000 h during isothermal aging. Microcracks generate in the solder matrix at the first 250 h. Besides, the evolutions of microstructural characterizations at the interface and the matrix of solder joints were noted in this research.     

Influence of isothermal aging on σ precipitation in super duplex stainless steel

The time-temperature-transformation (TTT) curve of the 00Cr25Ni7Mo4N duplex stainless steel was obtained with a Formastor-digital thermal dilatometer, and the influence of isothermal aging on σ precipitation was studied by metallographic observation, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the decomposition of ferrite phase is accompanied by the formation of σ phase at 750–1000℃, especially in the range of 800–900℃. The longer the aging time, the higher the amount of σ precipitation. The area fraction of various phases remains at a certain value upon the completion of ferrite deformation. The temperature of 850℃ is the most sensitive transaction temperature, the incubation time for the formation of σ precipitation is less than 1 min, and aging for 20 min leads to the complete transformation of ferrite. The σ phase is formed preferentially at the α/α/γ junction, and then grows along the α/α boundary in the matrix.     

Tool life modeling for evaluating the effects of cutting speed and reinforcements on the machining of particle reinforced metal matrix composites

The wear of cutting tools in the machining of 2024Al alloy composites reinforced with Al₂O₃ particles using varying sizes and volume fractions of particles up to 23.3vol% was investigated by a turning process using coated carbide tools K10 and TP30 at different cutting speeds. Machining tests were performed with a plan of experiments based on the Taguchi method. The tool life model was developed in terms of cutting speed, size, and volume fraction of particles by multiple linear regressions. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also employed to carry out the effects of these parameters on the cutting tool life. The test results show that the tool life decreases with the increase of cutting speed for both cutting tools K10 and TP30, and the tool life of the K10 tool is significantly longer than that of the TP30 tool. For the tool life, cutting speed is found to be the most effective factor followed by particle content and particle size, respectively. The predicted tool life of cutting tools is found to be in very good agreement with the experimentally observed ones.     

Room temperature plastic deformation behavior of ZrCuNiAl bulk metallic glasses

The Zr_62.55Cu_17.55Ni_9.9Al₁₀ bulk metallic glass (BMG) was prepared by using copper-mold suction-casting. X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry were utilized to determine its structure and thermal stability. Uniaxial compression and Rockwell indentation tests were adopted to study the plastic deformation behavior at room temperature. The results show that the glass transition temperature and the onset temperature of exothermic reaction of the BMG are 651.5 and 748 K, respectively. During the compression test, the BMGs undergo an engineering strain of about 2.5%, i.e., true strain of 2.8%, and then fracture. The BMGs deform via the formation and propagation of shear bands. Under indentation loading, the BMGs deform through the formation of radiation-like and circular shear bands. The circular shear bands form earlier than the radiation-like ones. The formation mechanism of shear bands in the BMGs was analyzed and discussed.     

A process model for BOF process based on bath mixing degree

The process model for BOF process can be applied to predict the liquid steel composition and bath temperature during the whole steelmaking process. On the basis of the traditional three-stage decarburization theory, the concept of mixing degree was put forward, which was used to indicate the effect of oxygen jet on decarburization. Furthermore, a more practical process model for BOF steelmaking was developed by analyzing the effect of silicon, manganese, oxygen injection rate, oxygen lance height, and bath temperature on decarburization. Process verification and end-point verification for the process model have been carried out, and the verification results show that the prediction accuracy of carbon content reaches 82.6% (the range of carbon content at the end-point is less than 0.1wt%) and 85.7% (the range of carbon content at end-point is 0.1wt%–0.7wt%) when the absolute error is less than 0.02wt% and 0.05wt%, respectively.     

Effect of Dy substitution on the microstructure and magnetic properties of nanograin Nd-Fe-B single-phase alloys

Nanocrystalline single-phase alloys with the nominal compositions (at%) of Nd_12.3-xDy_xFe_79.7Zr_0.8Nb_0.8Cu_0.4B_6.0 (x=0, 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5) were prepared by melt-spinning and subsequent annealing. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the as-spun ribbons were mainly composed of the amorphous phase. A slight content of Dy stabilizes the amorphous phase during annealing treatment. The grain size becomes smaller and the coercivity of the annealed ribbon is gradually improved with the increase of Dy content. Excessive Dy is harmful to the remanence. It is found that no intergranular phase exists between the grains by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and the grain boundaries are crystallographically coherent in the optimally annealed sample. The optimum magnetic properties of remanence (J_r=1.09 T), coercivity (H_ci=1048 kA/m), and maximum magnetic energy product ((BH)_m=169.5 kJ/m3) are obtained from the x=0.5 ribbon in a post heat-treated state (700℃, 10 min).     

Simulation of solute transportation within porous particles during the bioleaching process

A mathematical model, accounting for the sulfuric acid and ferric ions diffusion and the copper sulfide mineral leaching process, was developed for an ore particle by considering its porous structure. It was simulated with the simulation tool COMSOL Multiphysics. The simulation results show that the highest acid and ferric concentrations near the particle surface are apparent, while the concentrations in the central particle increase slightly as the less-porous ore core with low permeability prevents the oxidation from penetrating. The extraction of the mineral near the particle surface is the maximum, mainly because of ample sulfuric acid, ferric ions, bacteria, and oxygen available for the leaching process. Because of low oxidation concentration in the central part of the particle, the reaction rate and copper sulphide conversion are small. The simulation shows good agreement with the experimental results.     

A new route of ferric ions rejection in a synthetic nickel leach solution

A new route of impurity rejection to remove ferric iron from a synthetic nickel leach solution was introduced, which simulated the chemical composition of a typical acid leach solution of nickel laterites under atmospheric pressure. The synthetic solution underwent a stepwise neutralization process, with each step adopting different pH value-temperature combinations. In a conventional nickel atmospheric leach (AL) process, the nickel loss could be as high as 10wt%, which was a longstanding issue and prevented this process from commercialization. The new impurity rejection route is the first step towards resolving this issue. The results show that, the best neutralization performance is achieved at the nickel loss of 3.4wt% in the neutralization scheme that employs ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid as a nickel stabilizer (pH: 1.3–3.5; temperature: 95–70℃)