Sharif Digital Repository

In this study, the effects of stress-assisted heat treatment on the microstructure and phase transformation of a Ti-rich (Ti-49.52 at.% Ni) shape memory alloy were investigated. For this purpose, the alloy was heat treated at temperature of 500 °C for 10 h under applied stresses of 100 and 200 MPa. XRD, TEM, and repeated thermal cycling were employed to study the microstructure and transformation behavior of the heat-treated materials. Room temperature XRD diffractogram of the stress-free heat-treated material showed a weak reflection of austenite (B2), while that for the stress-assisted heat-treated materials had a high intensity implying the presence of residual austenite in the... 

A study has been made to determine the influence of the carbon content on the kinetics of dynamic and static recrystallization during and after hot deformation of carbon steels. For this purpose, single- and double-hit hot compression experiments at various strain rates and temperatures together with the Avrami-type kinetics equation and Bergstrom approach have been utilized to investigate recrystallization behavior. The results show that the apparent activation energy of hot deformation decreases with increasing carbon content and this phenomenon results in a faster dynamic recrystallization at high temperatures and/or low strain rates. Also, increasing carbon content leads to a higher rate... 

Different concentrations of CaF2 were incorporated in mica glass-ceramics to evaluate their effects on the crystallization and microstructure. The kinetics of phase transformations, and the microstructures of the final crystalline phase were found to be dependent on the concentration of nucleation agents. The results showed that CaF2 in high concentration had a synergistic effect and enhanced the formation of interlocked mica crystals. Non-isothermal DTA experiments showed that the crystallization activation energies of base glasses were changed in the range of 235-405 kJ/mol, while the crystallization activation energies of samples with addition of CaF2 were changed in the range of 419-747... 

In this study, a particular nickel-based superalloy has been studied by transmission electron microscopy and the results are discussed in terms of phase transformations that may have taken place. The alloy has been found to consist of three major phases; a FCC γ phase containing a random distribution of nearly spherical γ′ - Ni3Al(Ti) - precipitates and elongated thin Ni3Ti(Ta) platelets with a hexagonal structure. The orientation relationships between the different phases have been determined; loss of coherency and possible occurrence of misfit-relieving interfacial dislocations are discussed and compared with experimental observations, and possible mechanisms of phase transformations are... 

In this research, an algorithm based on the Q-state Potts model is presented for modeling the austenite to ferrite transformation. In the algorithm, it is possible to exactly track boundary migration of the phase formed during transformation. In the algorithm, effects of changes in chemical free energy, strain free energy and interfacial energies of austenite-austenite, ferrite-ferrite and austenite-ferrite during transformation are considered. From the algorithm, the kinetics of transformation and mean ferrite grain size for different cooling rates are calculated. It is found that there is a good agreement between the calculated and experimental results  

This paper presents a new phenomenological constitutive model for shape memory alloys, developed within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics and based on a scalar and a tensorial internal variable. In particular, the model uses a measure of the amount of stress-induced martensite as scalar internal variable and the preferred direction of variants as independent tensorial internal variable. Using this approach, it is possible to account for variant reorientation and for the effects of multiaxial non-proportional loadings in a more accurate form than previously done. In particular, we propose a model that has the property of completely decoupling the pure reorientation mechanism from... 

The effect of aluminium content on the formation mechanism, volume fraction, morphology, and particle size distribution of graphite has been investigated. Addition of aluminium to ductile iron causes some fundamental changes in iron-carbon phase diagrams and, as a result, improves graphite formation during eutectic transformation. Results reveal that aluminium compounds have been formed in the core of graphite nodules; thus aluminium plays an important role in the formation of graphite nodules. Furthermore, it is indicated that an increase in the aluminium content also leads to an increase in the number of graphite nodules and a decrease in the nodule size. By using electron probe... 

Turn-to-turn fault (TTF) is one of the most prominent reasons for transformer failure. This fault typically initiates by involving only a few turns and can progress to a much more severe fault in a very short time. Therefore, it is critical for the transformer protective relays to detect the TTF in the early stages of its occurrence. The conventional differential relays, in general, cannot detect a minor TTF, and thus, a supplementary protective algorithm is usually required to improve the sensitivity of differential relays against TTFs. This paper proposes a percentage-based fault-related incremental currents method for the precise detection of a low-level TTF. The proposed method employs... 

The strain-induced martensitic transformation greatly affects the plastic behavior of the metastable austenitic stainless steels. The martensitic transformation continuously changes the initially homogeneous material into a strongly heterogeneous bi-phase one. In addition to the hardening behavior, this phenomenon would influence the damage growth and load-carrying capacity of the material during the plastic deformation. In this study, plastic behavior of the material AISI 304 including the hardening and damage growth, has been examined at low temperature; where a high rate of martensitic transformation affects the microstructure strongly. Experimental analysis and microscopic observations... 

Thermal oxidation of commercial ilmenite concentrate from Kahnouj titanium mines, Iran, at 500-950 C was investigated for the first time. Fractional conversion was calculated from mass change of the samples during oxidation. Maximum FeO to Fe2O3 conversion of 98.63 % occurred at 900 C after 120 min. Curve fit trials together with SEM line scan results indicated constant-size shrinking core model as the closest kinetic mechanism of the oxidation process. Below 750 C, chemical reaction with activation energy of 80.65 kJ mol-1 and between 775 and 950 C, ash diffusion with activation energy of 53.50 kJ mol-1 were the prevailing mechanisms. X-ray diffraction patterns approved presence of... 

In this paper, the shear deformation behavior of A286 Iron-based superalloy was studied with an emphasis on the influence of η phase on shear strength. The η (Ni3Ti phase precipitates at high temperature heat treatment or during services at the expense of gamma prime phase. According to the microstructural features, no evidences of η phase were found at 650 and 720°C. η phase precipitated at 780 and 840°C and the amount of it increased with an increase the time and temperature. Because of using the alloy as fasteners, investigation of shear properties and the influence of η phase on it are indispensable. The shear strength of the alloy with different volume fractions of η was examined. It... 

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... 

The demand for bidirectional DC/DC converters is increasing because of their potential capability for sustainable energy conversion systems where the power is to be captured from or stored in energy storage elements. This paper presents a three-phase series resonant bidirectional converter which is suitable for high power applications. The converter consists of two three-phase full bridge networks, the resonant tanks and a high frequency three-phase transformer. All switches can work either in ZVS or ZCS mode. The voltage drop on leakage inductances is minimized by choosing the switching frequency close to the resonant frequency, allowing high efficient power conversion. The phasor analysis... 

Bi2O3 compositions were prepared to investigate the effect of rare earth metal oxides as co-dopants on phase stability of bismuth oxide. Compositions containing 9-14 mol% of Y2O3 and Er2O3 were synthesized by solid state reaction. The structural characterization was carried out using X-ray powder diffraction. The XRD results show that the samples containing 12 and 14 mol% total dopants had cubic structure, whereas the samples with lower dopant concentrations were tetragonal. Comparing the lattice parameters of the cubic phases of (Bi 2O3)0.88(Y2O3) 0.06(Er2O3)0.06 and (Bi 2O3)0.86(Y2O3) 0.07(Er2O3)0.07 revealed that lattice parameter decreases by increasing the dopant concentration. The XRD... 

Porous shape memory alloys (SMAs) exhibit the interesting characteristics of porous metals together with shape memory effect and pseudo-elasticity of SMAs that make them appropriate for biomedical applications. In this paper, a 3-D phenomenological constitutive model for the pseudo-elastic behavior and shape memory effect of porous SMAs is developed within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics. Comparing to micromechanical and computational models, the proposed model is computationally cost effective and predicts the behavior of porous SMAs under proportional and non-proportional multiaxial loadings. Considering the pressure dependency of phase transformation in porous SMAs, proper...