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- cyclic indentation tests (1)
- cyclic load (1)
- dislocation arrangements (1)
- hydrogen embrittlement (1)
- hydrogen enhanced localized plasticity (HELP) (1)
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To exploit the whole potential of Additive Manufacturing (AM), a sound knowledge about the mechanical and especially cyclic properties of AM materials as well as their dependency on the process parameters is indispensable. In the presented work, the influence of chemical composition of the used powder on the fatigue behavior of Selectively Laser Melted (SLM) and Laser Deposition Welded (LDW) specimens made of austenitic stainless steel AISI 316L was investigated. Therefore, in each manufacturing process two variations of chemical composition of the used powder were utilized. For qualitative characterization of the materials cyclic deformation behavior, load increase tests (LITs) were performed and further used for the physically based lifetime calculation method (PhyBaLLIT), enabling an efficient determination of stress (S)–number of cycles to failure (Nf) curves (S–Nf), which show excellent correlation to additionally performed constant amplitude tests (CATs). Moreover, instrumented cyclic indentation tests (PhyBaLCHT) were utilized to characterize the materials’ defect tolerance in a comparably short time. All material variants exhibit a high influence of microstructural defects on the fatigue properties. Consequently, for the SLM process a higher fatigue lifetime at lower stress amplitudes could be observed for the batch with a higher defect tolerance, resulting from a more pronounced deformation induced austenite–α’-martensite transformation. In correspondence to that, the batch of LDW material with an increased defect tolerance exhibit a higher fatigue strength. However, the differences in defect tolerance between the LDW batches is only slightly influenced by phase transformation and seems to be mainly governed by differences in hardening potential of the austenitic microstructure. Furthermore, a significantly higher fatigue strength could be observed for SLM material in relation to LDW specimens, because of a refined microstructure and smaller microstructural defects of SLM specimens.
Indentation into a metastable austenite may induce the phase transformation to the bcc phase. We study this process using
atomistic simulation. At temperatures low compared to the equilibrium transformation temperature, the indentation triggers the
transformation of the entire crystallite: after starting the transformation, it rapidly proceeds throughout the simulation crystallite.
The microstructure of the transformed sample is characterized by twinned grains. At higher temperatures, around the equilibrium
transformation temperature, the crystal transforms only locally, in the vicinity of the indent pit. In addition, the indenter
produces dislocation plasticity in the remaining austenite. At intermediate temperatures, the crystal continuously transforms
throughout the indentation process.
Ultrasonic processes such as ultrasonic welding or ultrasonic fatigue testing use power
ultrasound to stimulate materials with amplitudes in the range of 1–100 µm. The ultrasonic welding
process is sensitive to any changes in the system or even the environment that may result in lower
joint quality. The welding tools, so called sonotrodes, have to be accurately designed to endure high
mechanical and thermal loads while inducing a sufficient amount of welding energy into the joining
zone by oscillation with the Eigenfrequency of the whole system. Such sonotrodes are often made of
thermally treated metals where the heat treatment is accompanied by microstructural changes. During
ultrasonic stimulation, the material may further change its properties and microstructure due to cyclic
loading. Both are expected to be recognized and identified by loss coefficients. Therefore, the loss
coefficient was determined by modal analysis of rods and fatigue specimen made of different materials
to correlate microstructural changes to attenuation. The determined loss coefficients indicated
microstructural changes in all materials investigated, confirming results from previous investigations
that showed an increasing attenuation due to cyclic loading for AISI 347. For the sonotrode materials
Z-M4 PM and Ferrotitanit WFN, the loss coefficients decreased due to thermal treatments. Technically
most relevant, changes in elastic modulus due to thermal treatments were quantitatively related to
frequency changes, which can significantly simplify future sonotrode development.
In this paper, the effect of shot peening and cryogenic turning on the surface morphologyof the metastable austenitic stainless steel AISI 347 was investigated. In the shot peeningprocess, the coverage and the Almen intensity, which is related to the kinetic energy of thebeads, were varied. During cryogenic turning, the feed rate and the cutting edge radiuswere varied. The manufactured workpieces were characterized by X-ray diffractionregarding the phase fractions, the residual stresses and the full width at half maximum.The microhardness in the hardened surface layer was measured to compare the hardeningeffect of the processes. Furthermore, the surface topography was also characterized. Thenovelty of the research is the direct comparison of the two methods with identical work-pieces (same batch) and identical analytics. It was found that shot peening generally leadsto a more pronounced surface layer hardening, while cryogenic turning allows the hard-ening to be realized in a shorter process chain and also leads to a better surface topog-raphy. For both hardening processes it was demonstrated how the surface morphology canbe modified by adjusting the process parameter.
Ultrasonic welding of titanium alloy Ti6Al4V to carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) at 20 kHz frequency requires suitable welding tools, so called sonotrodes. The basic function of ultrasonic welding sonotrodes is to oscillate with displacement amplitudes typically up to 50 µm at frequencies close to the eigenfrequency of the oscillation unit. Material properties, the geometry of the sonotrode, and the sonotrode tip topography together determine the longevity of the sonotrode. Durable sonotrodes for ultrasonic welding of high-strength joining partners, e.g., titanium alloys, have not been investigated so far. In this paper, finite element simulations were used to establish a suitable design assuring the oscillation of a longitudinal eigenmode at the operation frequency of the welding machine and to calculate local mechanical stresses. The primary aim of this work is to design a sonotrode that can be used to join high-strength materials such as Ti6Al4V by ultrasonic welding considering the longevity of the welding tools and high-strength joints. Material, sonotrode geometry, and sonotrode tip topography were designed and investigated experimentally to identify the most promising sonotrode design for continuous ultrasonic welding of Ti6AlV4 and CFRP. Eigenfrequency and modal shape were measured in order to examine the reliability of the calculations and to compare the performance of all investigated sonotrodes.
The locally occurring mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement significantly influence
the fatigue behavior of a material, which was shown in previous research on two different AISI
300-series austenitic stainless steels with different austenite stabilities. In this preliminary work, an
enhanced fatigue crack growth as well as changes in crack initiation sites and morphology caused
by hydrogen were observed. To further analyze the results obtained in this previous research, in
the present work the local cyclic deformation behavior of the material volume was analyzed by
using cyclic indentation testing. Moreover, these results were correlated to the local dislocation
structures obtained with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in the vicinity of fatigue cracks.
The cyclic indentation tests show a decreased cyclic hardening potential as well as an increased
dislocation mobility for the conditions precharged with hydrogen, which correlates to the TEM
analysis, revealing courser dislocation cells in the vicinity of the fatigue crack tip. Consequently,
the presented results indicate that the hydrogen enhanced localized plasticity (HELP) mechanism
leads to accelerated crack growth and change in crack morphology for the materials investigated. In
summary, the cyclic indentation tests show a high potential for an analysis of the effects of hydrogen
on the local cyclic deformation behavior.
Cyclic indentation is a technique used to characterize materials by indenting repeatedly on the same location. This technique allows information to be obtained on how the plastic material response changes under repeated loading. We explore the processes underlying this technique using a combined experimental and simulative approach. We focus on the loading–unloading hysteresis and the dependence of the hysteresis width ha,p on the cycle number. In both approaches, we obtain a power-law demonstrating ha,p with respect to the hardening exponent e. A detailed analysis of the atomistic simulation results shows that changes in the dislocation network under repeated indentation are responsible for this behavior.
The 22 wt.% Cr, fully ferritic stainless steel Crofer®22 H has higher thermomechanical
fatigue (TMF)- lifetime compared to advanced ferritic-martensitic P91, which is assumed to be caused
by different damage tolerance, leading to differences in crack propagation and failure mechanisms.
To analyze this, instrumented cyclic indentation tests (CITs) were used because the material’s
cyclic hardening potential—which strongly correlates with damage tolerance, can be determined
by analyzing the deformation behavior in CITs. In the presented work, CITs were performed for
both materials at specimens loaded for different numbers of TMF-cycles. These investigations show
higher damage tolerance for Crofer®22 H and demonstrate changes in damage tolerance during
TMF-loading for both materials, which correlates with the cyclic deformation behavior observed in
TMF-tests. Furthermore, the results obtained at Crofer®22 H indicate an increase of damage tolerance
in the second half of TMF-lifetime, which cannot be observed for P91. Moreover, CITs were performed
at Crofer®22 H in the vicinity of a fatigue crack, enabling to locally analyze the damage tolerance.
These CITs show differences between crack edges and the crack tip. Conclusively, the presented
results demonstrate that CITs can be utilized to analyze TMF-induced changes in damage tolerance.
The fatigue life of metals manufactured via laser-based powder bed fusion (L-PBF) highly
depends on process-induced defects. In this context, not only the size and geometry of the defect, but
also the properties and the microstructure of the surrounding material volume must be considered.
In the presented work, the microstructural changes in the vicinity of a crack-initiating defect in a
fatigue specimen produced via L-PBF and made of AISI 316L were analyzed in detail. Xenon plasma
focused ion beam (Xe-FIB) technique, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron backscatter
diffraction (EBSD) were used to investigate the phase distribution, local misorientations, and grain
structure, including the crystallographic orientations. These analyses revealed a fine grain structure
in the vicinity of the defect, which is arranged in accordance with the melt pool geometry. Besides
pronounced cyclic plastic deformation, a deformation-induced transformation of the initial austenitic
phase into α’-martensite was observed. The plastic deformation as well as the phase transformation
were more pronounced near the border between the defect and the surrounding material volume.
However, the extent of the plastic deformation and the deformation-induced phase transformation
varies locally in this border region. Although a beneficial effect of certain grain orientations on the
phase transformation and plastic deformability was observed, the microstructural changes found
cannot solely be explained by the respective crystallographic orientation. These changes are assumed
to further depend on the inhomogeneous distribution of the multiaxial stresses beneath the defect as
well as the grain morphology
Two different material batches made of random and textured orientated polycrystalline nickel-base superalloy René80 were investigated under isothermal low cycle fatigue tests at 850 °C for a notched specimen geometry. In contrast to a smooth specimen geometry, no significant improvement in fatigue behaviour of the notched specimen could be observed for the textured material. Finite element simulations reveal an area along the notch where high stiffness evolves for the textured material, which lead to nearly similar shear stresses in the slip systems compared to a random orientation distribution and therefore to no distinct differences in the lifetime.