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Ultrasonic surface rolling process (USRP) is one of the effective mechanical surface enhancement techniques. During the USRP, unstable static force will easily do harm to the surface quality. In order to achieve a higher surface quality on the part with a curved surface, an active and passive compliant USRP system has been developed. The compliant USRP tool can produce the natural obedience deformation along the part surface. Force control based on the fuzzy Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) method is then designed to maintain the static force during the USRP. Experiments have been performed on a real aero-engine blade with curved surface. It is proved that the deigned active and passive compliant USRP system can significantly reduce the force variation from 42.2 N to 4.2 N, and achieve a uniform surface quality after processing.

The thermal stability and mechanical properties of a gradient-nanograined structure (GNS) CoCrNi medium entropy alloy (MEA) processed by ultrasonic surface rolling were studied by using isothermal/isochronal annealing tests combined with quasi-in-situ electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) characterization and Vickers micro-hardness (HV) measurements. A layer by layer high-throughput investigation method was used to quantitatively study the grain growth kinetics and grain boundary evolution with different initial grain sizes, which could effectively save specimen and time costs. The grain nucleation and growth, as well as shrink and disappearance process through Σ3 coincidence site lattice boundary migration with slightly lattice rotation during annealing were directly revealed. The layer by layer grain growth kinetics and calculated activation energy indicate that the thermal stability of nano-grained top surface layer is relatively higher than that of nano-twined subsurface layer for the gradient CoCrNi MEA processed by ultrasonic surface rolling. Further analysis show that the grain boundary relaxation and dynamic recrystallization of the topmost nano-grains led to the decrease of grain boundary energy, thus improving their thermal stability. The present work provided theoretical basis for the application of CoCrNi MEA at high temperatures. Moreover, the high-throughput method on the investigation of grain stability by using gradient structure can be easily extended to other materials and it is of great significance for understanding the microstructural evolution of gradient materials.

Different micro-regions of weldment are expected to present various cyclic softening behaviours during creep–fatigue interaction (CFI), which has a significant influence on the remaining mechanical properties. The present work aims to investigate the cyclic softening and remaining creep behaviour of different micro-regions of P92 steel weldment using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) and nanoindentation technology. CFI tests were performed and interrupted at various pre-set fatigue cycles at elevated temperature of 650 °C and hold time of 180 s, and thereafter EBSD analyses, nanoindentation tests and high-temperature creep tests were conducted on these interrupted specimens. Experimental results reveal that the microstructure of the parent metal and fine austenite grain heat-affected zone, which is adjacent to the intercritical heat affected zone, are sensitive to CFI loading. Notably, the microstructural evolution in intercritical heat affected zone almost reaches saturated after fatigue cycles of 20%Nf. Nanoindentation results uncover that the intercritical heat affected zone exhibits the lowest elastic modulus and microhardness, and with increasing the number of fatigue cycles, the weakest region changes. Accordingly, creep fracture location transits and creep life was degraded. Finally, a fatigue damage parameter based on the microhardness was developed to capture the effects of CFI on remaining creep life.

Double-sided tools system is a promising design to counteract the forces caused by tools, and has become a practical way to machine thin-walled parts with the twisted structure. However, it is still difficult to obtain uniform machining effects on the part surfaces. This paper proposes a coordinated motion planning method for coordinating two tools in the double-sided tools system. The tools are devoted to guaranteeing the uniform surface quality while meeting the constraints about tools' velocity, tools' inclination and the system structure. At first, a velocity-dependent model is presented to describe the two tools' motions along the predefined paths. Then, the motion-planning problem of two tools is formulated as a constrained velocity-optimization problem, and the genetic algorithm is proposed to achieve the optimization target of the surface uniformity. Finally, experiments are performed on a real blade in a self-developed double-sided ultrasonic surface rolling process machine tool. The results demonstrate that the proposed coordinated motion planning method can effectively improve the surface uniformity in the double-sided tools system.

Ultrasonic surface deep rolling (USDR), oxygen boost diffusion (OBD), and their combination (USDR-OBD) were all used to improve the surface hardening of pure titanium. The microstructure, microhardness, and fatigue life of pure titanium treated by USDR, OBD, and USDR-OBD methods were analyzed. USDR treatment induced a severe deformation area, while OBD treatment produced a brittle oxygen diffusion zone. The USDR-OBD treated samples approached the highest hardness in comparison with other treated samples. The fatigue lives of USDR treated samples were improved, which was due to the high compressive residual stress and refined grains. However, the fatigue lives of both OBD treated samples and USDR-OBD treated samples were decreased due to premature crack initiation and rapid propagation in the oxygen diffusion zone. Finally, the fatigue fracture mechanisms of different samples were proposed.

The microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of ultrafine-grained (UFG) CP-Ti after an innovative large-volume equal channel angular pressing (L-ECAP) and multi-directional forging (MDF) were systematically examined using monotonic tensile tests combined with transmission electron microscope (TEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) techniques. Substantially refined and homogeneous microstructures were achieved after L-ECAP (8-pass and 12-pass) and MDF (2-cycle and 3-cycle), respectively, where the grain size distribution conformed to lognormal distribution. The grain refinement of 450 °C L-ECAP is dominated by dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and dynamic recovery (DRV), while that of MDF is dominated by DRX. The iron impurities promote recrystallization by pinning-induced dislocation accumulation so that DRX is prone to occur at iron segregation regions during L-ECAP. The monotonic tensile results show that the strain hardening rate of CP-Ti increases with the decrease of grain size, while the continuous strain hardening ability decreases. The relationship between the average grain size and yield strength is in accordance with Hall-Petch relationship. Meanwhile, the individual strengthening mechanisms were quantitatively examined by the modified model. The results indicate that the strengthening contribution of dislocation accumulation to yield strength is greater than that of grain refinement.

Structural health monitoring is potentially useful to improve the safety of critical pressure equipment serving in high-temperature environments, which is increasingly important in the process industry. A waveguide transducer enables the long-term monitoring of these equipment using reliable ultrasonic technology. For waveguide transducers used in specially engineered projects, the matching mechanism between the piezoelectric wafer and the waveguide unit proves crucial to excite the pure quasi-fundamental shear horizontal (shorten for SH0*) wave. In the present research, the piezoelectric wafer is mounted on the end surface of the waveguide unit, and the matching criterion of the piezoelectric wafer and the waveguide unit is investigated by numerical modeling and experiments. Both experimental and simulation results show that the non-dispersive and pure SH0* wave can be generated successfully when the ratio of the wafer length to the strip width lies within the range of 0.8 to 1 and the piezoelectric wafer width is equal to the waveguide unit thickness. Moreover, waveguide transducers have been designed and applied to measure the thickness of plates in high-temperature environments according to the derived matching criterion. The results show that the transducers can measure the plate thickness with great precision that the measurement error is less than 0.05 mm. This measurement accuracy can satisfy the needs of industrial thickness measurement. Therefore, the reliability of the matching criterion has been verified, which provides a reliable theoretical guideline for the design of waveguide transducers to generate and receive quasi-fundamental shear horizontal waves.

In pursuit of carbon neutral goal, the service conditions of many industrial structures in aero-engine systems, gas turbines and fire-power equipment are going to be harsher to improve high energy conversion efficiency. In terms of rotating components undergoing start-up, steady service and shut down periods, complicated creep-fatigue interaction causes a primary failure mode that restricts the lifetimes of materials and structures and poses severe challenge in structural integrity. The objective of this study is, therefore, to establish an accurate and efficient creep-fatigue reliability analytical framework from material-level to component-level. The data-driven surrogate modeling was integrated into this framework, facilitating rich insight into high reliable life assessment of industrial applications without a large number of high-fidelity and time-consuming finite element analysis cases. In particular, a novel technical route was proposed for probabilistic creep-fatigue evaluation with considering multi-sources of uncertainty. Herein, the typical component of low-pressure turbine disk was applied to case studies to demonstrate how to perform creep-fatigue reliability assessment by using this technical route in practice.

Thermal sprayed aluminum coatings are widely scalable to corrosion protection of the offshore steel structure. However, the corrosion rate of the Al coating increases considerably due to the severe marine environment. It has remained a challenge to improve the corrosion resistance and protective ability of Al coatings. The superhydrophobic surface provides a potential way to improve the corrosion resistance of metal materials. Hence, the development of superhydrophobic Al coatings with superior corrosion resistance is of great interest. In this work, the feasibility of the preparation of superhydrophobic Al coatings on a steel substrate was explored. First, Al coatings were prepared onto the steel substrate by the arc-spraying process, followed by ultrasonic etching with 0.1 M NaOH solution, and afterward passivated using 1% fluorosilanes. The effects of the etching time on morphology, contact angle, and corrosion resistance of the Al coatings were evaluated. The schematic model of the fluorosilane passivation process on the Al coating surface was provided. The micro/nanoscale surface structure of the low-surface-energy fluorosilanes promotes the wetting angle of 153.4° and a rolling angle to 6.6°, denoting the superhydrophobic properties. The superhydrophobic Al coating surface displays excellent self-cleaning performance due to its weak adhesion to water droplets. The corrosion current density of the superhydrophobic Al coating (1.36 × 10–8 A cm–2) is 2 orders of magnitude lower than that of the as-sprayed Al coating (1.18 × 10–6 A cm–2). Similarly, the charge-transfer resistance is found to be 12 times larger for the superhydrophobic Al coating and the corresponding corrosion inhibition efficiency reaches 98.9%. The superhydrophobic Al coating displays superior corrosion resistance and promising applications in a marine corrosion environment.

Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is one of the most dangerous yet most elusive embrittlement problems in metallic materials. Advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) are particularly prone to HE, as evidenced by the serious degradation of their load-bearing capacity with the presence of typically only a few parts-per-million H. This strongly impedes their further development and application and could set an abrupt halt for the weight reduction strategies pursued globally in the automotive industry. It is thus important to understand the HE mechanisms in this material class, in order to develop effective H-resistant strategies. Here, we review the related research in this field, with the purpose to highlight the recent progress, and more importantly, the current challenges toward understanding the fundamental HE mechanisms in modern AHSS. The review starts with a brief introduction of current HE models, followed by an overview of the state-of-the-art micromechanical testing techniques dedicated for HE study. Finally, the reported HE phenomena in different types of AHSS are critically reviewed. Focuses are particularly placed on two representative multiphase steels, i.e., ferrite–martensite dual-phase steels and ferrite–austenite medium-Mn steels, with the aim to highlight the multiple dimensions of complexity of HE mechanisms in complex AHSS. Based on this, open scientific questions and the critical challenges in this field are discussed to guide future research efforts.

This study deals with Al2O3-13wt.%TiO2-reinforced CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy (HEA) composite coatings prepared by plasma spraying. The effect of the Al2O3-TiO2 ceramic phase on the microstructure, mechanical properties and high-temperature tribological performance of the as-sprayed composite coatings was investigated. The results showed that the composite coatings consisted of a HEA phase with a FCC (face-centered cubic) structure and an Al2O3-TiO2 ceramic phase with a three-dimensional network structure. The coatings presented a typical layered structure with less porosity than pure HEA coatings. The three-dimensional network structure was mainly due to partially melted Al2O3-13wt.%TiO2 particles during the spraying process. The composite coating with Al2O3-TiO2 ceramic phase had an improved plastic deformation resistance and a reduced elastic recovery resistance. Its wear rate was lower than that of the pure HEA coating. The main wear mechanisms included oxidation, wear and adhesive wear. The Al2O3-TiO2 ceramic phase reduced the adhesive wear and promoted the tribological behavior of the HEA composite coating at low temperature. The excellent wear resistance of the as-sprayed coating at high temperatures was mainly due to the formation of an oxide layer on the worn surface.

The microstructure of the ceramic topcoat has a great influence on the service performance of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). In this study, conventional layered-structure TBCs, nanostructured TBCs, and novel-structured TBCs with a unique microstructure were fabricated by air plasma spraying. The relationship between the microstructure and properties of the three different TBCs was analysed. Their thermal insulation ability, sintering resistance, and durability were systematically evaluated. Additionally, their failure modes after being subjected to two kinds of thermal shock tests were analysed. The results revealed that the novel-structured TBCs had remarkably superior performances in all the examined aspects. The thermal conductivity of the novel-structured TBCs was significantly lower than those of the conventional and nanostructured TBCs both in the as-sprayed state and after thermal treatment for 500 h at 1100 °C. The macroscopic elastic modulus of the novel-structured TBCs after sintering at 1300 °C for 100 h was similar to those of the conventional and nanostructured TBCs in the as-sprayed state. During both a burner rig thermal shock test and a furnace cyclic oxidation test, the thermal shock lifetime of the novel-structured TBCs was much longer than those of the conventional and nanostructured TBCs. This study has demonstrated novel-structured plasma-sprayed TBCs with high thermal insulation ability and high durability.

Preferred surface integrity around the hole wall is one of the key parameters to ensure the optimized performance of hole components for nickel-based superalloy. The novel hole cold expansion technique introduced in this work involves the laser texturing process (LTP) followed by the Hertz contact rotary expansion process (HCREP), where the cylindrical sleeve is the critical component connecting the above-mentioned two processes. The purpose of LTP is to obtain the most optimized strengthened cylindrical sleeve surface, preparing for the following HCREP. Hereafter, the HCREP acts on the nickel-based hole components by the rotary extruding movements of the strengthened sleeve and conical mandrel tools. As compared to the as-received GH4169 material, the surface integrity characterization for the strengthened hole shows that a plastic deformation layer with finer grains, higher micro-hardness, deeper compressive residual stress (CRS) distribution and lower surface roughness is formed at the hole wall. In addition, transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations reveal the microstructure evolution mechanism in the strengthened hole. Grain refinement near the hole wall is regarded as the fundamental reason for improving the surface integrity, where the aggregated dislocations and recombined dislocation walls can be clearly observed.

Abstract The post-dynamic recrystallization behavior of ultrafine-grained (UFG: 0.44 μm) cp-Ti under annealing, room temperature (RT) monotonic and cyclic loading was investigated across a range of temperatures and deformation rates wherever appropriate. By characterizing the grain and boundary structures, it was confirmed that recrystallization and grain growth occurred due to annealing (≥ 600 °C) and R = − 1 fatigue at RT. There was a noticeable 30 deg aggregation in misorientation distribution, along with the increased grain size. However, the hypothetical correlation between 30 deg aggregation and Σ13a or the other characteristic coincidence site lattice boundaries was found to be weak. The fatigue-induced grain growth is particularly intriguing for two reasons. First, the large monotonic deformation with low strain rate cannot trigger grain growth. Second, fatigue sharpened the basal intensity around the ND and caused a weaker texture component close to TD (load axis along the LD, perpendicular to the TD–ND plane). By contrast, high-temperature annealing only strengthened the UFG processing induced basal pole but without affecting its location. Novel insights into this fatigue-induced texture evolution in UFG cp-Ti has been provided. The lattice rotation during fatigue can be attributed to the combined effect of activation of prismatic $$ \langle a\rangle $$ ⟨ a ⟩ slip parallel to LD, and basal $$ \langle a\rangle $$ ⟨ a ⟩ slip perpendicular to it. The theoretically calculated stress to activate dislocation slip by assuming a non-equilibrium grain boundary state lent support to the above assertion. Moreover, the TEM observation evidently showed the characteristics of dislocation cross-slip and multiple slip in the grain interior. Graphical Abstract

The machinability of 7055 aluminum alloy with wide temperature range is examined, with focus on the three cutting forces, surface quality and work hardening of the material under low, medium, and high temperatures. The results demonstrate that, under low temperature, the work hardening depth of 7055 aluminum alloy is almost insensitive to the cutting speed, whereas at a higher cutting speed, the work hardening degree of the material first decreases and then increases; both the work hardening degree and hardening depth are significantly positively correlative to the cutting depth: the work hardening degree is positively correlative, though not so significantly, to the feed rate, while the work hardening depth is insensitive to the feed rate and remains at 100 μm in all cases. Under high temperature, the work hardening degree of 7055 aluminum alloy is positively correlative to the cutting speed; at depths smaller than 80 μm below the machined surface, the work hardening degree is negatively correlative to the cutting depth; at depths larger than 80 μm below the cutting surface, the work hardening degree of the material becomes significantly positively correlative to the cutting depth. A mathematical model of three cutting forces in dry cutting with wide temperature range is established based on wide temperature-range dynamic impact experimental results and the orthogonal cutting model, and modified using the LMSE (least mean square error) principle. The errors between the predicted and experimental three cutting forces, after modification, are all smaller than 10%, which is within the permissible limit of error. This verifies that the modified three cutting force prediction model can predict cutting forces accurately.

Materials under complex loading develop large strains and often phase transformation via an elastic instability, as observed in both simple and complex systems. Here, we represent a material (exemplified for Si I) under large Lagrangian strains within a continuum description by a 5th-order elastic energy found by minimizing error relative to density functional theory (DFT) results. The Cauchy stress—Lagrangian strain curves for arbitrary complex loadings are in excellent correspondence with DFT results, including the elastic instability driving the Si I → II phase transformation (PT) and the shear instabilities. PT conditions for Si I → II under action of cubic axial stresses are linear in Cauchy stresses in agreement with DFT predictions. Such continuum elastic energy permits study of elastic instabilities and orientational dependence leading to different PTs, slip, twinning, or fracture, providing a fundamental basis for continuum physics simulations of crystal behavior under extreme loading.

As crucial parts of an aeroengine, blades are vulnerable to damage from long-term operation in harsh environments. The ultrasonic surface rolling process (USRP) is a novel surface treatment technique that can highly improve the mechanical behavior of blades. During secondary machining, the nominal blade model cannot be used for secondary machining path generation due to the deviation between the actual and nominal blades. The clamping error of the blade also affects the precision of secondary machining. This study presents a two-sided USRP (TS-USRP) machining for aeroengine blades on the basis of on-machine noncontact measurement. First, a TS-USRP machining system for blade is developed. Second, a 3D scanning system is used to obtain the point cloud of the blade, and a series of point cloud processing steps is performed. A local point cloud automatic extraction algorithm is introduced to extract the point cloud of the strengthened region of the blade. Then, the tool path is designed on the basis of the extracted point cloud. Finally, an experiment is conducted on an actual blade, with results showing that the proposed method is effective and efficient.

Creep damage and creep crack growth (CCG) behavior of Crofer 22 APU as interconnect of solid oxide fuel cell at different temperatures are investigated by the continuum damage mechanics method through CT specimen. It is illustrated that the fracture time of CT specimen reduces with temperature increasing at the same stress level, they are 1297 h, 42 h, 1.8 h and 0.25 h, respectively, at 650, 700, 750 and 800 °C with stress level of 2.73 MPa ⋅ m . The slopes of creep fracture mechanics parameter C* to CCG rate a ˙ (C*- rate of a) are nearly the same at 650 and 700 °C. The slope of C*- a ˙ at 650 and 700 °C is smaller than that at 750 and 800 °C. It is concluded that the temperature effect on CCG behavior of Crofer 22 APU is more evident than that the stress effect. All the data of C*- a ˙ fall within the area of 95% prediction band, and the obtained equation of C* and CCG rate is a ˙ = 3.8 e 2 C ∗ 0.91 . Therefore, the a ˙ of Crofer 22 APU can be predicted under different stress levels and temperatures.

A crystal plasticity model is developed to predict the cyclic plasticity during the low-cycle fatigue of GH4169 superalloy. Accumulated plastic slip and energy dissipation as fatigue indicator parameters (FIPs) are used to predict fatigue crack initiation and the fatigue life until failure. Results show that fatigue damage is most likely to initiate at triple points and grain boundaries where severe plastic slip and energy dissipation are present. The predicted fatigue life until failure is within the scatter band of factor 2 when compared with experimental data for the total strain amplitudes ranging from 0.8% to 2.4%. Microscopically, the adjacent grain arrangements and their interactions account for the stress concentration. In addition, different sets of grain orientations with the same total grain numbers of 150 were generated using the present model. Results show that different sets have significant influence on the distribution of stresses between each individual grain at the meso-scale, although little effect is found on the macroscopic length-scale.