Volume 21 (2021): Issue 2 (June 2021)

This study aims to investigate the influence of adding a coating layer of austenitic stainless steel type 316L on Ti6Al4V alloy on corrosion behaviour. Samples of 316L, Ti6Al4V, and 316L on Ti6Al4V were prepared by hot-press sintering of their powders. The potentiodynamic polarization technique was used to characterize the corrosion behaviour of the samples in 0.9 and 3.5 wt. % NaCl concentrations. The corrosion potential (Ecorr.), current density (icorr) and corrosion rate (CR) of the sintered samples were compared in this study. The results showed that 316L samples had the best corrosion resistance, although micropits were observed on the surface, while Ti6Al4V samples had the lowest. This corrosion behaviour of sintered 316L samples can be interrelated to the existence of a passive layer on stainless steel alloys that can be attacked by chloride ions and causing localized corrosion. In general, the CR values of Ti6Al4V samples coated by 316L were between the 316L and Ti6Al4V samples. The CR values of the samples, in 0.9 wt. % NaCl, did not show significant changes with increasing time, as the CR for 316L values were around 0.003 mm/year, while for Ti6Al4V the CR values changed noticeably from 0.018 mm/year of 0 hr, to 0.015 mm/year for 24 hours. However, the changes were less than that of Ti6Al4V. For 3.5 wt. % NaCl solution, although the same order of CR remained, i.e., the CR values of coated Ti6Al4V samples were between 316L (lowest) and Ti6Al4V (highest), the overall CR values for the samples were higher than 0.9 wt. % NaCl.

The mechanical properties of the Al-7075 material, which is used in important areas such as automotive, aviation and defense industry, are still being studied by researchers. In this study, the effects of different proportions of Nb additives on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the rapidly solidified Al-7075 alloy was investigated. Rapid solidification processes were carried out with a single roller melt spinner at a disk surface speed of 25 m / s. Microstructure characterization was performed by using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction. According to the results, the Nb additive significantly increased the micro hardness of the Al-7075 alloy. The microhardness of the sample added with 0.5% by weight of Nb is 0.9 GPa. This value is 3 times higher than the sample without Nb added. The Nb contribution has led to modification of the dimensions and shapes of both α-Al and intermetallic phases. Nb addition reduced the average grain size from 9.1 µm to 2.46 µm.

The article presents the results of modelling the friction phenomenon using artificial neural networks and analysis of variance. The test material was composed of strip specimens made of 0.5-mm-thick alpha-beta Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V) titanium alloy sheet. A special tribotester was used in the tests to simulate the friction conditions between the punch and the sheet metal in the sheet metal forming process. A test called the strip drawing test has been conducted in conditions in which the sheet surface is lubricated with six environmentally friendly oils (palm, coconut, olive, sunflower, soybean and linseed). Based on the results of the strip drawing test, a regression model and an artificial neural network model were built to determine the complex interactions between the process parameters and the friction coefficient. A multilayer perceptron with one hidden layer and eight neurons in this layer showed the best fit to the training data. The network training was conducted using three algorithms, i.e. Levenberg-Marquardt, back propagation and quasi-Newton. Taking into consideration both the coefficient of determination R2 (0.962) and S.D. ratio (0.272), the best regression characteristics were presented by the network trained using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. From the response surfaces of the quadratic regression model it was found that an increase in the density of lubricant at a specific pressure causes a reduction in the coefficient of friction. Low density and high kinematic viscosity of the oil leads to a high coefficient of friction.

The influences of processing parameters and tool feature on the microstructure of AA1100 and AA3003 aluminium alloys were investigated using bobbin friction stir welding (BFSW). The research includes flow visualization and microstructural evolution of the weld texture using the metallographic measurement method. Results indicated that the operational parameters of the welding (e.g. feed rate, rotating speed) and the geometry of the tool can directly affect the flow patterns of the weld structure. The microscopic details revealed by the optical and electron microscope imply the dynamic recrystallization including grain refinement and precipitation mechanisms within the stirring zone of the weld region. The microscopic observations for the weld samples show a better performance of the fully-featured tool (tri-flat threaded pin and scrolled shoulders) compared to the simple tool without inscribed surface features. The fully-featured tool resulted in a more uniform thermomechanical plastic deformation within the weld structure along with the precipitation hardening and the homogeneity of the microstructure.

Mechanical properties, wear resistance and impact resistance of a high-alloy chromium cast iron used in the fabrication of grinding balls have been studied. A rank of tempering heat treatments under several temperatures 500°C, 525°C, 550°C and 575°C was performed after austenitized at 1050°C. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) techniques have been used to characterize the microstructures and identify the phases. The wear balls tests were conducted in a rotating drum with a velocity 0.5 r/s. The tribological tests were carried out by evaluated a weight loss as function time. The measurement of the rebound resilience was determined by Charpy impact tests. The results of XRD showed the presence of the martensite, carbides type M₇C₃ and M₂C for all tempering heat treated. The hardness of the sample increased after the tempering and reach nearly 65 HRC at 1050°C. In another hand, it decreased after the tempering treatment it could be explained by precipitation of the carbides type M₂C.

The aircraft industry is striving to reduce the weight of aircraft to save fuel and hence reduce total cost. New alloys and composites with properties such as low weight and high strength are continuously developed. Titanium alloys have the best strength-to-weight ratio among metals which makes them very suitable for aircraft applications. Ti-64 is the most common Titanium alloy used in aircraft. AA2099 is a 3rd generation Al-Li alloy and has the lowest density among all Aluminium alloys making it very attractive for aircraft applications. Pylons of commercial aircraft are currently made primarily with Ti-64 and this study focused on the replacement of Ti-64 with AA2099. Loading conditions, operating temperature, corrosion resistance, manufacturability and recyclability of the pylon were analysed of both Ti-64 and AA2099. Three critical scenarios were chosen for the loading conditions of the pylon. These were simulated using finite element analysis first using Ti-64 and then AA2099. From the results, it is evident that using AA2099 as the material of the pylon instead of Ti-64 offered weight savings. The operating temperature, manufacturability and recyclability also showed advantages when using AA2099 whereas corrosion factors favoured Ti-64, since AA2099 was found to be very prone to galvanic corrosion.

This paper presents new results of studying the influence of parameters of microplasma spraying (MPS) of Zr wire on the structure of Zr coatings. The coating experiments were accomplished in a two level fractional factorial design. Individual particles of sprayed Zr wire and their splats on the substrate were collected under various spraying parameters (amperage, spraying distance, plasma gas flow rate and wire flow rate) and evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to establish the effect of particle size and shape on the coating microstructure. The particles were characterized by measurement of their sizes and the obtained results were evaluated in terms of their degree of melting. This was compared with the experimentally observed coating microstructure type and finally correlated to the investigated coating porosity to select the specific MPS parameters of Zr coatings depositing onto medical implants from Ti alloy. It was found that the main parameters influencing the size of the sprayed Zr particles and the porosity of the Zr coatings are the plasma gas flow rate and amperage. It was demonstrated that it is possible to control the porosity of Zr microplasma coatings in the range from 2.8% to 20.3% by changing the parameters of the MPS. The parameters of microplasma spraying of Zr wire were established to obtain medical implant coatings with porosity up to 20.3% and pore size up to 300 μm.