Sharif Digital Repository

Nanostructured W-20 wt% Cu composite powder was synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) in an Attritor ball mill. The morphological changes and structural evolution of the composite powder during MA was studied by employing scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), laser particle size analyzer (LPS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometry, atomic absorption spectrophotometery (AAS), and the bulk powder density measurement. The results were compared with those obtained from attrition milling of monolithic W and Cu powders processed at the same condition. Whereas the milling mechanism of the monolithic powders follow the ductile (for Cu)... 

In the present work, the fracture toughness data generated on the QE22 magnesium alloy as the matrix alloy and SiC particles reinforced composites using the short rod standard specimens. The short rod specimens of 18 mm diameter were prepared from the extruded rods in the extrusion direction. The fracture toughness values are primarily evaluated experimentally and then analytically by using mathematical methods. The suitability of these methods to predict this property was also discussed. Results showed that the incorporation of the SiC particles with three different shapes (i.e. sharp, blocky and round) decreases in general the fracture toughness of the QE22 Mg-alloy. This effect is... 

The effects of nitriding, nitrocarburizing and shot peening on fatigue behavior of AISI D3 cold work tool steel were investigated. Five batches of fatigue specimens were manufactured according to the ASTM E466-96 standard. All specimens were quenched and tempered to a hardness of 50 HRC. One group of specimens was shot peened with an Almen intensity of 16 A, one group was nitrocarburized, one group was gas nitrided by single stage and another group was also nitrided by double stages. Rotating-bending fatigue tests were carried out. Our results showed that nitriding and nitrocarburizing treatments did not have a beneficial effect on the fatigue resistance of D3 tool steel. Fatigue test... 

The behavior of a cemented gravely sand was studied using triaxial compression tests. Gypsum, Portland cement and lime were used as the cementing agents in sample preparation. The samples with different cement types were compared in equal cement contents. Three cement contents of 1.5%, 3.0% and 4.5% were selected for sample preparation. Drained and undrained triaxial compression tests were conducted in a range of confining pressures from 25 kPa to 500 kPa. Failure modes, shear strength, stress-strain behavior, volume and pore pressure changes were considered. The gypsum cement induced the highest brittleness in soil among three cement types while the Portland cement was found to be the most... 

The copper/copper (Cu/Cu) interface has an important role in wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding for 3D integration applications. Reports indicate the possibility of the formation of post-bonding interfacial voids and cracks which must be avoided. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the effect of annealing-induced tensions on the strength and deformation mechanisms of Cu/Cu interfaces. We perform tensile tests on the pristine and defective Cu/Cu interfaces including a prototypical interfacial grain boundary in two defective limits: the presence of a single (isolated) void, and an array of multiple voids. The latter resembles interfacial nanoscale roughness as a result of... 

The behavior of a cemented gravely sand is studied using triaxial tests. Drained and undrained tests were performed on dry and saturated specimens, and stress-strain characteristics of the soil, along with volumetric and pore pressure changes, were identified. The gypsum plaster was used as the cement agent and was mixed with the soil in different percentages. The tests were done in the usual range of confining pressures, from 25 to 500 kPa. Test results show that dilation occurs even at the highest confining stress and the least cement content. The behavior of the cemented soil is found to be more brittle in drained condition than the undrained one. However, the brittleness of soil... 

4340 steel bars were austenitized at 850 °C for 1 h followed by heating at 700 °C for 90 min and quenching into a salt bath at the temperature range of 300-450 °C for 1 h to obtain dual structures with 34 vol.% fraction ferrite and various bainite morphologies. SEM studies showed that by increasing the austempering temperature, bainite morphology varies from lower to upper bainite. Tensile, impact and hardness tests revealed that increasing the austempering temperature from 300 to 400 °C leads to a reduction in yield and ultimate tensile strength, hardness, uniform and total elongation and impact energy. But in dual phase steel produced by austempering at 450 °C, yield and tensile strength... 

In this work, examinations on the microstructure and mechanical properties of plain carbon steel and AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel dissimilar welds are carried out. Welding is conducted in both autogenous and using ER309L austenitic filler rod conditions through gas tungsten arc welding process. The results indicate that fully-ferritic and duplex ferritic-martensitic microstructures are formed for autogenous and filler-added welds, respectively. Carbide precipitation and formation of martensite at ferrite grain boundaries (intergranular martensite) as well as grain growth occur in the heat affected zone (HAZ) of AISI 430 steel. It is found that weld heat input can strongly affect grain... 

The so-called enriched weight functions (EWFs) are utilized in mesh-free methods (MMs) to solve linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) problems; the following issues are of concern: convergence behavior; sufficiency of EWFs to capture singular fields around the crack-tip; and the preservation of the J-integral path-independency. EWFs prove useful in conjunction with the moving least square reproducing kernel method (MLSRKM); for this purpose, both EWFs and MLSRKM are modified. Since EWFs are not truly representative of the near-tip solution, fully EWFs (FEWFs) are introduced. Finally, some descriptive examples address the aforementioned concerns and the accuracy and efficacy of the... 

In the present paper, thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) and low cycle fatigue (LCF) or isothermal fatigue (IF) lifetimes of a cast magnesium alloy (the AZ91 alloy) were studied. In addition to a heat treatment process (T6), several rare elements were added to the alloy to improve the material strength in the first step. Then, the cyclic behavior of the AZ91 was investigated. For this objective, strain-controlled tension-compression fatigue tests were carried out. The temperature varied between 50 and 200. °C in the out-of-phase (OP) TMF tests. The constraint factor which was defined as the ratio of the mechanical strain to the thermal strain, was set to 75%, 100% and 125%. For LCF tests,... 

The bonding temperature is an important parameter for optimization of the Transient Liquid Phase (TLP) bonding process in order to achieve a sound joint with good mechanical properties. However, the bonding temperature used can also be restricted by the microstructural stability of the base metal. In this study, the effect of bonding temperature (1050-1200 °C) on the joint microstructure and mechanical properties was studied for TLP bonding of FSX-414 superalloy using MBF-80 interlayer with thickness of 50 μm. Increasing bonding temperature from 1050 to 1150 °C caused reduction in the time required for complete isothermal solidification in agreement with models based on the diffusion induced... 

Effects of cold rolling on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Fe-Ni-Mn-Mo-Ti-Cr maraging steels were studied. To investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, tensile test, and hardness test were used. The results show that the solution-annealing treatment in the cold-rolled steel redounds to the formation of submicrocrystalline Fe2 (Mo, Ti) Laves phase particles, which are stable at high temperatures. These secondary Laves phase particles prevent from recrystallization at high temperatures and correspond to semi-brittle fracture in the subsequent aging treatment  

To improve the strength and toughness of AISI 4340 steel, different microstructures, containing full bainite, bainite-ferrite, martensite-ferrite and full martensite were produced by different heat treatment cycles. Tensile, impact and hardness tests were carried out at room temperature. The ductile-brittle transition temperature was determined from impact data at different temperatures. The results showed that steel with bainite - 0.34 ferrite microstructure has the highest elongation and charpy impact energy, while its tensile strength and yield stress decreased in comparison to other microstructures. This increment was noticeable when bainite - 0.34 ferrite steel was tempered. The... 

During the shut down period, a 32. MW gas turbine experienced a severe failure accompanied by a loud noise near its second natural frequency at 4200. rpm. After opening the turbine casing, it was revealed that the disks of stages 16 and 17 of the compressor had been fractured and all of the stationary and rotary blades of stages 14-18 of the compressor had been detached from the dovetail region of the disks. The degree of damage was such that repairing the compressor was not economical, and thus, the compressor was no longer able to be used. Diagnostic work was carried out using different finite element models and fractography analysis. Analysis showed that multiple cracks had been initiated... 

Joining of commercially pure Ti to 304 stainless steel by fusion welding processes possesses problems due to the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds in the weld metal, which degrade the mechanical properties of the joints. Solid-state welding processes are contemplated to overcome these problems. However, intermetallic compounds are likely to form even in Ti-SS joints produced with solid-state welding processes such as friction welding process. Therefore, interlayers are employed to prevent the direct contact between two base metals and thereby mainly to suppress the formation of brittle Ti-Fe intermetallic compounds. In the present study, friction-welded joints between commercially... 

Friction stir processing (FSP) is a solid state route with a capacity of preparing fine grained nanocomposites from metal sheets. In this work, we employed this process to finely distribute TiO2 nanoparticles throughout an Al-Mg alloy, aiming to enhance mechanical properties. Titanium dioxide particles (30 nm) were preplaced into grooves machined in the middle of the aluminium alloy sheet and multipass FSP was afforded. This process refined the grain structure of the aluminium alloy, distributed the hard nanoparticles in the matrix and promoted solid state chemical reactions at the interfaces of the metal/ceramic particles. Detailed optical and electron microscopic studies showed that the... 

The finite element method has been used to predict the stress intensity factors for cracked annular discs under constant central torque. Linear elastic fracture mechanics finite element analyses have been performed and the results are demonstrated in the form of crack configuration factors. To this end, the extensive ranges of crack configuration factors have been employed while considering the effect of disc stiffness. Then, the finite element results are applied to develop equivalent prediction equations using a statistical multiple nonlinear regression model. The accuracy of this model is measured using a multiple coefficient of determination, R2, where 0 ≤R2 ≤1. This coefficient is found... 

To improve both strength and toughness of AISI 4340 steel three microstructures, full bainite, bainite-ferrite and tempered bainite-ferrite, were produced by heat treatment of this steel. Tensile, impact and hardness properties of these microstructures were compared. The results showed that with tempering of bainite-34% ferrite dual phase steel, elongation and charpy impact energy increased significantly in comparison to bainite and bainite-ferrite microstructures. Also ductile-brittle transition temperatures of bainite-ferrite and tempered bainite-ferrite steels were measured and confirmed superior toughness properties of this microstructure. Fracture surface analysis of charpy specimens... 

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) of underground formations has widely been used in different fields of engineering. Despite the technological advances in techniques of in situ HF, the industry uses semi-analytical tools to design HF treatment. This is due to the complex interaction among various mechanisms involved in this process, so that for thorough simulations of HF operations a fully coupled numerical model is required. In this study, using element-free Galerkin (EFG) mesh-less method, a new formulation for numerical modeling of hydraulic fracture propagation in porous media is developed. This numerical approach, which is based on the simultaneous solution of equilibrium and continuity... 

A tensile-compression fatigue response of Al matrix composites containing different amount of SiC nanoparticles (50 nm diameter) up to 6 vol. pct was studied. The nanocomposite powders were prepared by a powder metallurgy (P/M) route consisting of mechanical alloying, hot extrusion, and hot closed-die forging. The microstructure of the materials was evaluated by optical microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, and electron backscattered diffraction. A fine distribution of the nanoparticles in submicron and ultrafine grains was obtained. The low cycle fatigue behavior was examined in stress control mode under fully reversed tension-compression cycle at 1 Hz up to 1000...