Internal stress relief and microstructural evolution by ultrasonic treatment of austeno-ferritic 2205 duplex stainless steel

The effect of ultrasonic treatment (UST) and thermal annealing (THA) post-processes on the mechanical properties and the related microstructural mechanisms of the tensile pre-strained 316 stainless steel was investigated. It was shown that both processes reduce the microhardness and the yield point as well as increasing the elongation of the pre-deformed alloy. A 10% reduction of the yield point and 28% increase in the elongation was observed after the higher power UST (500 W), while an enhanced ductility of 56% and 41% reduction of the yield point was measured for the high-temperature THA (800°C) treated steel. The increased ductility was related to de-twinning and dislocation annihilation mechanisms, which increase the mean free path distance of dislocations. The de-twinning mechanism was proposed as the boundary migration mechanism and reverse gliding of the partial dislocations by cyclic shear stress for the THA and UST processes, respectively. Unlike the UST process, the high-temperature thermal annealing was associated with the formation of M23C6 precipitates, which causes depletion of alloying elements from the vicinity of grain boundaries and makes the alloy more prone to intergranular corrosion. Compared with THA, the advantages of the UST process are as follows: a rapid and straightforward process, low energy consumption, enhanced ductility without significant reduction in strength, and inhibition of grain boundary precipitation.

The effect of finish rolling temperature and tempering on the microstructure, mechanical properties and dislocation density of direct-quenched steel

Effects of heat treatment below beta transus temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti–6Al–4V alloy fabricated by selective laser melting

Porosity changes in bituminous and anthracite coal with ultrasonic treatment

Effect of microstructure modification on magnetic and mechanical properties of high-grade non-oriented silicon steel during annealing treatment

In this study, the effect of ultrasonic treatment (UST) parameters such as amplitude, sonication time, and melt temperature on microstructure and microhardness of Al 6061 alloy is evaluated. The effect of UST on the dispersion of tungsten disulfide (WS2) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) as reinforcement particles in Al 6061 during casting is also studied. The cast Al 6061 with UST demonstrated 32% grain size reduction and 8% increase in the microhardness for optimum processing conditions. The cavitation process induced by UST is responsible for the refinement in microstructure and increase of hardness by enhancing the degassing and nucleation process. UST treated 6061 Al alloy demonstrated Hall-Petch relationship for all processing conditions. The UST process also aids in excellent dispersion of WS2 and CNT as reinforcement particles. UST treated WS2 and CNT reinforced Al 6061 composites displayed improved wear resistance as compared to samples without cavitation.

The degradation of mechanical properties of materials is essentially related to microstructural changes under service loadings, while the inhomogeneous degradation behaviors along welded joints are not well understood. In the present work, microstructural evolution under low-cycle fatigue in base metal (BM) and weld metal (WM) of NiCrMoV steel welded joints were investigated by miniature tensile tests and microstructural observations. Results showed that both the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the BM and WM decreased after low-cycle fatigue tests, which were attributed to the reduction of dislocation density and formation of low-energy structures. However, the microstructural evolution mechanisms in BM and WM under the same cyclic loadings were different, i.e., the decrease of dislocation density in BM was attributed to the dislocation pile-ups along the grain boundaries, dislocation tangles around the carbides at the lower strain amplitudes (±0.3% or ±0.5%). Additionally, when the strain amplitude was ±8%, the dislocation density was further decreased by the formation of subgrains in BM. For WM, the dislocation density decreased with the increase of strain amplitude, which was mainly caused by the dislocation pile-ups along the grain boundaries and the formation of subgrains.

This study presents an application of ultrasonic technology in the high voltage liquid insulation domain towards the reduction of pour point of vegetable oil samples for the utilization of vegetable oils as liquid insulation in cold climate areas on power transformers. Pour point reduction has been achieved by processing the vegetable oil samples by using ultrasonic treatment process with 100 W and 30 kHz ultrasonic waves for various exposure times of 15, 30, 45 and 60 min. Edible vegetable oils such as sunflower oil, palm oil, sesame oil and non edible vegetable oils such as honge oil, neem oil and punna oil are considered as two categories of vegetable oils for this experimental investigation. Ultrasonic treatment process results in the reduction of pour point of vegetable oils to meet out the standard value of pour point for liquid insulation as per IEEE Standard C57.147, 2018. A significant reduction in pour point temperature of vegetable oil samples have been obtained with an increased exposure time. The obtained variations in pour point after exposure with ultrasonic waves may be due to the possible changes in crystallization kinetics of fatty acids components of vegetable oil samples due to energy input of ultrasonic waves. The experimental results have given a way towards the positive encouragement and development with ultrasonic treatment for achieving low pour point vegetable oils as liquid insulation in power transformers for applications on cold climatic areas.

In this study, isothermal annealing experiments were conducted on copper-nickel-silicon alloys containing continuous precipitates (CP) and discontinuous precipitates (DP) to investigate the effects of different types of precipitate phases on the microstructural evolution and softening temperature during annealing, as well as to analyze the differences in softening mechanisms. The experimental results revealed that the softening temperature of the CP alloy, subjected to 75% cold deformation, was 505 °C. In contrast, the DP alloy achieved softening temperatures of 575 °C and 515 °C after 75% and 97.5% cold deformation, respectively. This indicates that the DP alloy exhibits significantly superior softening resistance compared to the CP alloy, attributed to the distinct softening mechanisms of the two alloys. In the CP alloy, softening is primarily influenced by factors such as the coarsening of the precipitate phase, the occurrence of recrystallization, and the reduction in dislocation density. In the DP alloy, the balling phenomenon of the DP phase is more pronounced, and its unique microstructure exerts a stronger hindrance to dislocation and grain boundary motion. This hindrance effect reduces the extent of recrystallization and results in a smaller decrease in dislocation density. In summary, the DP alloy, due to its unique microstructure and softening mechanisms, demonstrates better softening resistance, providing higher durability and stability for high-temperature applications.

The effects of the isoelectronic Al doping of epitaxial GaN films grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on a (0001) Al2O3 single crystal substrate were investigated. It was found that the threading screw and edge dislocation densities of the GaN film decreased to less than half of that of the undoped GaN film up to Al doping concentration of 0.45%. The in-plane and out-of-plane strains were simultaneously reduced with the decrease in dislocation density as a result of the solution hardening effect. Accordingly, the electron mobility of the 0.45% Al-doped GaN film (524 cm2/Vs) was greatly improved compared to that of the undoped GaN film (178 cm2/Vs). However, the threading dislocation densities and strains were increased at a 0.64% Al concentration, and the electron mobility decreased accordingly. Therefore, the improvement in the electron mobility by Al doping up to 0.45% is the result of a decrease in the threading dislocation density and not a decrease in the number of point defects (Ga-site vacancy) as suggested earlier [Lee et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 917 (2003)].

Study on removing calcium carbonate plug from near wellbore by high-power ultrasonic treatment.

In the present study, the tensile behavior of nanograin-sized, pure copper produced by the equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) process, which is at present one of the most popular methods for producing nanograined bulk material, was examined as related to the microstructural evolution. It was found that the yield and tensile strength values of 99.99 pct pure, oxygen-free copper increased with the increasing number of ECAP cycles due to the strain hardening in the initial stage. Further ECAP process promoted the formation of equiaxed grains accompanied with the gradual decrease in dislocation density. Once the equiaxed grain formed, the decrease in dislocation density would be further accelerated due to the extremely high rate of dynamic recovery with the grain boundary area acting as a dislocation sink. The strain hardening mechanism would then stop to operate and the fine grain boundary hardening mechanism would begin to dominate after the forth cycle of the ECAP process, resulting in an increase in the tensile ductility without sacrificing the strength.

The influence of hydrogen on the recrystallization texture of a face centered cubic metal

In order to accelerate hydrolysis known to be the rate-limiting step of the overall digestion process for swine wastewater, an ultrasonic treatment process was tested for the solubilization of the swine wastewater. The effectiveness of ultrasonic solubilization of the swine wastewater under various operational conditions was compared by means of an increment of soluble organics in the treated swine wastewater and the hydrolysis rate constant. Ultrasonic treatment resulted in the high degree of solubilization of particulate organics in the swine wastewater and the degree of solubilization increased with increasing supplied energy. The highest extent of an increment of SCOD concentration and SCOD/TCOD ratio at the end of the operation time of 60 min was 109.7 and 117.5%, respectively, under 120 W power output and 20(o)C operating temperature conditions. The observed highest hydrolysis rate constant described by pseudo-first order rate constant was 2.94 h(-1) under the same conditions. Based on the estimated activation energy from modeling using the Arrhenius equation, ultrasonic solubilization of the swine wastewater under higher supplied energy conditions was more dependent on the operating temperature, which was consistent with the experimentally obtained results. Based on the investigation into the effect of gas type and gas delivery methods for ultrasonic solubilization of the swine wastewater, oxygen gas bubbling through the liquid showed the highest degree of an increment of soluble organics possibly attributed to the influent of oxygen in an increase of radicals during the sonolysis.

The ultrasonic impact treatment process is widely used to improve the fatigue life of the weldments by inducing compressive residual stresses at the sub-surface. The purpose of the article is to conduct the dynamic elastic–plastic finite element analysis of multiple impacts on 5A06 aluminum alloy with different controlled parameters. The numerical model was validated by pin drop test. The changes in penetration depth, maximum compressive residual stress, and surface residual stress were obtained by analyzing the residual stress field and equivalent plastic strain. The effect of impact times, impact velocities, pin shapes, and impact angles on the residual stress was investigated so that the ultrasonic impact treatment parameters could be controlled to obtain expected residual stress distributions.