Iranian Journal of Materials science and Engineering
Volume:2 Issue: 3, Sep 2005

Hydration behavior and antioxidising effect of aluminium (AI) powder has been investigated. Bayerite Al (OH) 3 product layers formed on Al in pure water at 25-45°C were porous, so the hydration rate, although very slow at 25°C, increased rapidly with increasing temperature from 25 to 45°C. On further increasing temperature from 45 to 95°C, initial hydration rate increased, but changed little over long hydration periods due to formation of denser and more continuous product layers. At 100?C, due to rapid water-evaporation, hydration product layers (composed of Al (OH)3 and a small amount of boehmite AlO (OH) became detached from the Al surfaces, so offering less protection, so that the hydration rate of Al increased markedly. The presence of MgO or calcium aluminate cement (CAC) in water did not change the hydration product, but greatly accelerate the hydration rate of AI. Addition of even a small amount (e.g. 0.25 wt% of Al amount) of MgO or CAC to water accelerated significantly the hydration of Al, and with increasing level of MgO or CAC, the hydration extent increased markedly. Sol-gel Si02 coatings on Al were useful in improving the hydration resistance of Al, and did not have a negative effect on the behavior of Al as an antioxidant.

Dispersion and rheological behaviors of ionically stabilized aqueous alpha alumina suspensions were investigated in various pH values (3, 11) and solid volume fractions (4, 7, 10, 15) Vol% using sedimentation experiment as well as viscosity measurement. Interface separating porous-packed sediment from a relatively clear supernatant at pH 11 was measured over 20 hours with the aim of obtaining linearity range, initial settling velocity, final sediment height and suspension sensitivity factor, whilst it failed to be observed in the case of pH 3 for its turbid supernatant. Thus, the final sediment level instead of interface location was taken into consideration. For all solids loading, final sediment level in the case of pH 3 was smaller than those in pH 11. The interface was observed to be moving downward in a linear fashion, with the steady drive toward an equilibrium state, which was substantiated to be pH and solid loading dependent. As? increased, linearity time changed in an ascending order. pH 11 suspensions showed good agreement with the well-known Richardson-Zaki equation and displayed dramatic variations in initial settling velocity, whilst it was not the case for pH 3 as understood generally by turbidity observations. In addition, pH and? appeared to be more effective in giving stability to the suspending systems. On the other hand, rheological behaviors of these suspensions were taken into consideration for better indication of suspension stabilization degree in which suspension yield stress derived using viscosity values was focused. The results showed that? y at pH 3 is much lower than that of at pH 11. This is a further indication of better dispersion at pH 3. It was also found that for all? values, pH 3 suspensions were more stable than the flocculated pH 11 ones.

In this research pitting Corrosion of a sensitized 316 stainless steel was investigated employing potentiodynamic, potentiostatic techniques. Sensitization process was carried out on as-received alloy by submitting the specimen in electric furnace set at 650°Cfor five hours and then the specimen was quenched 25°C water. Potentiodynamic polarization of as received and sensitized specimens in 1M H2SO4 solution at room temperature and 70°C clearly revealed that the sensitization process has caused a magnificent change on electrochemical behavior of the specimen by changing critical current density for passivation, passivation potential and passive current density. Optical microscopy examination of the specimen surface after oxalic acid electrochemical etching also showed the deterioration of grain boundary of sensitized specimen due to chromium carbide precipitation in compared to as-received one. Several anodic potentiodynamic polarization on rode shaped working electrodes prepared from as-received and sensitized specimen in 3.5% NaCl test solution proved an average ~220 mV drop in pitting potential due to sensitization. Anodic potentiostatic polarization at 400 and 200 mV above corrosion potential also demonstrate the deterioration of pitting resistance of alloy as a result of sensitization. Scanning electron microscopy examination of anodically polarized of sensitized specimen at 700mVprior and after oxalic acid etching revealed large stable pits with lacy cover and also openpits with deep crevice for etched specimens.

Carbon fibers are fabricated from different materials such as special polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers, cellulose fibers and pitch. But PAN fibers are recognized as the most widely used precursor for the present-day manufacture of carbon fibers. The process of fabrication carbon fibers from special PAN fibers is composed of two steps including oxidative stabilization at low temperature and carbonization at high temperatures in an inert atmosphere. Today carbon fibers are still expensive because of the high price of their raw material (special PAN fibers).This study focuses on making carbon fibers from commercial PAN fibers (low price PAN fibers used in textile industry). The results shows that in case of conducting complete stabilization process, it is possible to produce desirable carbon fibers from commercial PAN fibers. With some changes in conventional procedure of stabilization in terms of temperature and time of operation, the desirable conditions of complete stabilization are achieved.

A numerical model has been developed for the determination of liquid flow permeability through columnar dendrite during growth. The model is inclusive two stages, first numerical evolution of the dendrite shape during growth, and second numerical determination of the interdendritic liquid permeability. Simulation results shown which solute concentration by evolution of dendrite shape could result to reduction of the permeability during solidification time. Comparison between the experimental data from other authors and the present numerical model data, for the low and high solid fractions, has shown a good agreement rather than current numerical models. Therefore present permeability model, in this investigation, could be used for all of the micro solidification codes by coupling on the segregation and the Fick''s equations in domain of the inter-dendritic liquid for mushy alloys.

AZ31 magnesium alloy is considered as a promising alloy in various applications and industries. Furthermore, to design a proper hot working process (rolling, forging and extrusion), the assessment of hot working behaviour of the alloy is necessary. Accordingly, the hot deformation behaviour of AZ31 alloy was studied through hot compression testing method This was carried out in a wide range of temperature (523K to 783K) and strain rates. The obtained true stress-true strain curves and final microstructures were examined and a partial melting was realized at 740K. It was concluded that the presence of liquid did change the deformation mechanisms thereby affecting the flow behaviour.

Fracture behavior of a 7075 aluminium alloy reinforced with 15 Vol%. SiC particles was studied after T6 and annealing heat treatments under uniaxial tensile loading at room temperature. The scanning electron microscopy of fractured surfaces and EDS analysis showed:, that fracture mechanism changed from due mainly to fractured particle in T6 condition to interface decohesion in samples in annealed state. Different fracture mechanisms in annealed and T6 conditions can be ascribed mainly to the significant difference in the stress concentration levels around the particles. In T6 condition, very high local stress sufficient to cause fracture of particle can be generated during loading, while the presence of large precipitates at the particle/matrix interface produced interface decohesion leading to final fracture in the annealed state.