Development of Low-Cost Casting Titanium Alloys: an Integrated Computational
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Development of Low-cost Casting Titanium Alloys: An Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) Guided Study Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Zhi Liang Graduate Program in Materials Science and Engineering The Ohio State University 2018 Dissertation Committee Professor Alan A. Luo, Advisor Professor Glenn Daehn Professor Ji-cheng Zhao Copyrighted by Zhi Liang 2018 Abstract Titanium alloys have proved to be important lightweight structural materials since 1960’s, due to their excellent intermediate temperature mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and weldability. Their good property-to-weight ratios make them ideal for many high-end and weight-sensitive applications. However, the application of titanium alloys is still limited due to the high costs in raw materials and manufacturing, indicating the importance of developing new cost-effective titanium alloys. Compared with other lightweight structural alloys (e.g. aluminum, magnesium), the raw material cost for titanium alloys is generally considered as expensive due to its expensive alloying elements such as vanadium, molybdenum, and tin. The cost issue is further amplified by the difficulties in using conventional machining methods for component-shaping due to the low thermal conductivity. Therefore, cost-effective titanium alloys should address either aspect. This work focuses on the goal of developing new cost-effective Ti-Al-Fe- Mn titanium alloys for the casting process via Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) approach by using cheaper alloying elements and net-shape manufacture process. Calculation of Phase Diagram (CALPHAD) work on the Ti-Al-Mn ternary system was conducted to establish the reliable thermodynamic database to guide the alloy design. ii This investigation includes both experimental work and database programming. Isothermal phase equilibria and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments were conducted to acquire the equilibrium information for the determination of phase boundaries. Based on the experimental results, an updated Ti-Al-Mn ternary thermodynamic database was built, which is beneficial for further multi-component titanium alloy development. The other involved ternary titanium alloy system, Ti-Al-Fe ternary system, was investigated with CALPHAD method first to determine target compositions and desired phases, and then characterized experimentally with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to establish the relationship between process parameters and microstructure. Based on the combining results from CALPHAD and selected experiments, a new Ti-Al- Fe casting titanium alloy was designed and produced with induction melting. Microstructure characterization and mechanical property testing were conducted to examine the potent of this new alloy and establish the preliminary structure-property relationship in the as-cast condition. Besides regular scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was also applied to investigate the effect of certain nano-size microstructural features linked to mechanical properties. Finally, a laboratory-scale manufacture framework was constructed in OSU facility, including vacuum induction skull melting (ISM), gravity tilt-pour casting, and permanent metallic mold casting. This new framework was used to manufacture a prototype casting connecting rod with the new Ti-Al-Fe casting alloy served as iii conceptual validation for further industrialization. A preliminary cost analysis was also presented in this work to illustrate its commercialization potent compared with the current industry applications (e.g. alloy and process). iv Dedication Dedicated to my parents, Fei Huang and Liming Liang, for their continuous and patient support. v Acknowledgments I shall firstly acknowledge my advisor, Prof. Alan Luo for his full support and guidance on my PhD research period. With his significant industry experience and courage, we successfully stepped into a brand new field, titanium alloy, for both of us. Being pushed into this new and challenging area of research, he offered me a precious experience of handling and planning an entire research project. My achievements in OSU and my new career in NIST are mostly thanked to his backing and recommendations. I also want to acknowledge the constant consultation from the other co-PI/advisor during my PhD research/project, Prof. James C. Williams. It is my honor to receive his suggestions and counseling in the titanium field, which is new for both me and Prof. Luo. With his comprehensive experience of titanium in both academia and industry, he gave us many important hints in planning and conducting experiments, and giving us revisions and feedbacks for our publications. I would like to thank Prof. Glenn Daehn and Prof. Ji-Cheng Zhao of OSU for their help and guidance for the completion of my degree, especially making time for my defense in a quite rushing timeframe during summer semester. I specially acknowledge the support of all my colleagues in our research group. Although most of us are all working towards different research directions, we established vi a very strong collaboration and stimulating discussion across different fields. Among them I thank especially Xuejun Huang, Scott Sutton and Emre Cinkilic for their constant assistance in most of my critical experimentations, the titanium casting and testing. I want to mention three of our group’s post-docs, Dr. Weihua Sun, Dr. Renhai Shi, and Dr. Jiashi Miao, for providing me immense help in CALPHAD database-ing and microstructural characterizations. Also, as mentioned by our previous graduating colleague, Scott Sutton, I must thank to Janet Meier, Emre Cinkilic, and Scott Sutton for our routine “coffee caravan” with lots of “academia-bouts-exchanging” discussions that really gave me plenty of brand new (and sometimes weirdo) ideas to explore. I acknowledge the MSE Department’s support staff for assisting us in accelerating our research works. Especially, I would like to appraise Pete Gosser for helping me to achieve a lot of casting mold machining and resolving the mechanical testing issues that really saved me in a pressing need. Finally, I think my family deserves the greatest thanks from me. My parents have always stood with me through my entire college career in both China and the United States, especially for their support and understandings for the path I chose during my PhD period. vii Vita Sep 2008……….B.S. China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China Sep 2010……….B.S. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA Sep 2013……….Graduate Research Associate, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University Publications [1] Z. Liang, J. Miao, J.C. Williams, A.A. Luo, Phase transformation and strengthening mechanisms investigation of a low-cost and high-strength Ti-Al-Fe- based cast titanium alloy, in preparation. [2] Z. Liang, J. Miao, R. Shi, J.C. Williams, A.A. Luo, CALPHAD modelling and experimental assessment of Ti-Al-Mn ternary system, Calphad, Under Review. [3] Z. Liang, J. Miao, T. Brown, A.K. Sachdev, J.C. Williams, A.A. Luo, A low-cost and high-strength Ti-Al-Fe-based cast titanium alloy for structural applications, Scr. Mater., 157 (2018) 124-128. viii [4] Z. Liang, W. Sun, A.A. Luo, J.C. Williams, A.K. Sachdev, CALPHAD modelling and experimental validation of multi-component systems for cast titanium alloy development, Proceedings of the 13th World Conference on Titanium, TMS, 2016 1937-1941. Fields of Study Major Field: Materials Science and Engineering ix Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi Vita ................................................................................................................................... viii List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xv List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xvi Chapter 1 . Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Motivations ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Titanium alloys .................................................................................................. 1 1.1.2 Overall concept of the dissertation and project .................................................. 3 1.2 Organization of the thesis ......................................................................................... 7 1.3 References ................................................................................................................. 9 x Chapter 2 . Titanium Alloying and Casting Technologies: State-of-art ........................... 11 2.1.1 α stabilizers ...................................................................................................... 12 2.1.2 β stabilizers .....................................................................................................