Tailored microstructures in powder bed fusion - laser beam (PBF-LB) can aid in crack mitigation of non-weldable Ni-base superalloys such as CM247LC. This study explores the effect of a range of stripe widths from 5 mm down to 0.2 mm to control solidification cracking, microstructure, and residual stress in CM247LC manufactured by PBF-LB. The decrease in melt pool depth with the reduction in stripe width from 5 to 0.2 mm promoted the < 100 > crystallographic texture along the build direction. The crack density measurements indicated that there is an increase from 0.62 mm/mm2 (5 mm) to 1.71 mm/mm2 (1 mm) followed by a decrease to 0.33 mm/mm2 (0.2 mm). Atom probe tomography investigations at high-angle grain boundaries revealed that there is higher Hf segregation in 0.2 mm stripe width when compared to 5 mm. This indicates that the cracking behavior is likely influenced by the grain boundary segregation which in turn is dependent on melt pool shape/size and mushy zone length indicated by accompanying simulations. Residual stress, measured by X-ray diffraction, decreased from 842 MPa (5 mm) to 690 MPa (1 mm), followed by an abnormal rise to 842 MPa (0.7 mm) and 875 MPa (0.5 mm). This residual stress behavior is likely associated with the cracks acting as a stress relief mechanism. However, the 0.2 mm stripe width exhibited the lowest stress of 647 MPa, suggesting a different mechanism for stress relief, possibly due to re-melting. These findings highlight the critical role of stripe width as a scan strategy in PBF-LB processing of crack-susceptible alloys.

Molten salts play a crucial role in numerous industrial applications, including nuclear reactors, thermal energy storage, and high-temperature electrochemical processes. Their thermophysical properties, such as viscosity, surface tension, and molar volume, are essential for optimizing performance and ensuring operational safety, as they govern heat transfer, fluid flow, and interfacial behavior in high-temperature environments. The TCSALT Molten Salts Database (Version 2.0) provides critically assessed thermodynamic and thermophysical data for fluoride- and chloride-based salts with oxide additions: AlCl3–AlF3–Al2O3–CaCl2–CaF2–CaO–KCl–KF–K2O–LiCl–LiF–Li2O–MgCl2–MgF2–MgO–NaCl–NaF–Na2O–SiCl4–SiF4–SiO2–SrCl2–SrF2–SrO–ZnCl2–ZnF2–ZnO. The database employs the Ionic Two-Sublattice Liquid Model to describe the molten salt solutions, enabling accurate predictions of multicomponent phase diagrams together with both thermodynamic and thermophysical properties. Using this database, viscosity and surface tension can be directly predicted from the underlying ionic structure description of the melt, offering quantitative insights into species distribution, connectivity, and structural evolution across a wide range of temperatures and compositions. The database also includes molar volume descriptions for both liquid and solid phases, further enhancing its applicability in high-temperature material processing and engineering applications. The integration of these thermophysical properties within a unified computational thermodynamic framework provides a powerful tool for material design and process optimization.

Improvements in machinability by alloying of the workpiece often adversely impact the end user properties of a material. For example, the common use of non-metallic inclusions can lead to improved tool life during turning or milling, but often adversely affects weldability, corrosion, and wear resistance. A cutting tool material meets kilometers of workpiece material during a machining operation. Hence elements in small quantities in the workpiece may insignificantly affect the end user properties but may have large effects on tool wear. One such effect is the formation of refractory and wear resistant reaction products between the workpiece and tool. Such reaction products forming on tool surfaces may lead to improved machinability. This paper proposes the use of small amounts of alloying to induce such a Tool Protection Layer. Additionally, the paper develops a computational framework for designed alloying which balances formation of Tool Protection Layers, its in-process retention, and the functional properties of the alloy. The method has been validated for a case of manganese steel. The calculations were validated first by a wide range of diffusion experiments. Then by industrial turning of cast alloys, by comparing one reference and two newly designed alloys based on the alloying concept. The alloy with 0.003 mol fractions of Al resulted in more than 3 times increase in tool life, due to in-operando formation of Al2O3 Tool Protection Layer. The designed manganese steel maintained its functional properties with respect to abrasive wear resistance and retained its ability to work harden.

The demand for manufacturing increasingly complex geometries for high temperature applications drives the increasing interest into additive manufacturing of nickel-based superalloys. Of particular interest are superalloys with high contents of the strengthening phase y' such as IN738LC. Previous research suggests that especially B and Zr have a detrimental influence on crack formation during the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process. The present study investigates solidification cracks in an IN738LC derivative with increased B (0.03 wt.%) and Zr (0.07 wt.%) in more detail using high resolution techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atom probe tomography (APT). Analysis of the bulk material shows a high number of MC carbides containing Ti and Cr. The concentration profiles indicate non-equilibrium carbide compositions by suggesting that Cr is pushed out of these particles. The carbides are surrounded by a thin B-rich layer at the metal/carbide interface. Analysis of the fracture surface shows both Zr and small amounts of B in the formed oxide layer. The presence of these elements together with thermodynamic calculations and previously reported findings of the same material variant support the hypothesis that low-melting phases are likely reasons for cracking of IN738LC.

The aluminum oxide-coating on cemented carbide tools used for metal cutting have been regarded as inert during cutting of steels. Because diffusional dissolution is not possible. Chemical degradation of aluminum oxide coatings is often overlooked, especially in the presence of ambient oxygen and non-metallic inclusions. High-pressure diffusion couples, advanced microscopy, and thermodynamics are used to investigate and predict the chemical degradation of aluminum oxide-coated tools. During interactions with steel and different combinations of inclusions with and without ambient oxygen. The results show that alumina is resistant to chemical degradation by steel in the absence of oxygen. However, this is not the case when oxygen and non-metallic inclusions are present. These experiments and microscopy together with the thermodynamic calculations allow for the creation of a method and guidelines for chemical wear modeling and steel inclusion engineering when machining with aluminum oxide-coated tools.

The ability to control the shape, distribution and composition of non-metallic inclusions has had an important impact on many aspects of steel making. One such impact is on the machinability. Ca-treatments have shown to be able to reduce the abrasiveness of oxide inclusions, improve chip-breaking and lead to formation of deposits that reduce tool wear. However, machining Ca-treated steels with Al2O3 coated cemented carbide tools has not been as advantageous as expected. This study investigates the mechanisms behind the anomalous wear of Al2O3 coatings when turning soft Ca-treated steels. Longitudinal turning tests at a range of speeds (vc = 100-600 m/min) show rapid localized degradation of the Al2O3 coating limited to the sliding zone. Detailed analysis of the degradation mechanisms was performed using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The results demonstrate a presence of chemical interactions between the alumina coating and non-metallic inclusions. The interaction resulted in the formation of mainly calcium aluminates and partly alumina-magnesia spinel. In-operando infrared thermography measurements indicate cutting temperatures of 850-1000 degrees C. Thermodynamic calculations give that CaO and MgO readily reacts with Al2O3, while the reaction with CaS requires presence of additional oxygen at these cutting conditions. Additional turning experiments investigate the influence of oxygen by controlling the cutting environment by adding oxygen (compressed air) or removing oxygen (supply argon). These additional tests show that the presence of additional oxygen has a limited impact on the possible Ca-Al2O3 interaction. This demonstrat a potential for further machinability improvements by controlling the chemical interaction between Ca and Mg based non-metallic inclusions and alumina coatings.

In laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), powder degradation is mainly driven by the accumulation of highly oxidized spatter particles in the powder bed. Although the amount of spattering can be controlled by the melt pool stability, spatter formation is an unavoidable characteristic of PBF processes. Oxidized spatter risks defect formation in the printed components. However, the factors influencing the level of spatter oxidation during L-PBF processing are not yet fully understood. Herein, the residual oxygen in the process atmosphere was reduced from the traditionally applied 1000-20 ppm using an oxygen partial pressure control system to process Alloy 718 powder. Spatter particles accumulated on the gas inlet were further analyzed to reveal the effect of the oxygen content in the process atmosphere on the spatter oxidation by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Increasing the residual oxygen in the process atmosphere increased surface coverage by oxide phases rich in Al and Cr. The XPS analysis confirmed that the surface of Alloy 718 spatter particles were covered with Al-and Cr-based oxides, whose thickness increased with the oxygen content in the process atmosphere. The bulk oxygen content in the spatter powder showed the same trend with approximately thrice the oxygen content in spatters generated at 1000 ppm O2 (608 ppm O in the sample) compared to spatters generated with oxygen at 20 ppm (206 ppm O in the sample). Thermodynamic simulations demonstrate a transition from thick Al-and Cr-based mixed corundum and spinel-type oxides to Al-based corundum oxide with decreasing oxygen partial pressure, consistent with the XPS findings.

Chemical, oxidational and diffusional interactions between the tool, chip and cutting environment are known tool wear mechanisms in machining. However, the interaction between tool, coating, workpiece, coolant and atmospheric oxygen can, under favorable conditions, lead to formation of reaction products that retard tool wear. A method with the ability to predict theses interactions, would therefore enable a better control over tool life in machining. An attempt to create such a modelling framework is developed in this study. This method can predict the phase composition and the driving force for degradation and the formation of protective interaction products in the cutting zone. This modeling approach is applicable across cutting processes in which chemical, diffusional and oxidational wear are dominant or present. This framework has been applied to investigate the interactions occurring in the cutting zone during turning of a medium alloyed low-carbon steel (Hybrid Steel® 55). A range of degradation events are predicted, as well as the formation of a protective corundum (Al,Fe,Cr)2O3 or spinel (Al,Fe,Cr)3O4 film due to an interaction between the Al-alloyed steel and the environment. Validation of the modeling was performed by studying tool wear and reaction products formed when machining with ceramics, PcBN and coated carbide tooling. Inserts are studied by the use of scanning and transmission electron microscopy, after cutting tests were performed. Additional tests were performed in different environments (dry, argon and coolant). The results confirmed the model predictions of oxidation and diffusion wear as well as the formation of an (Al,Fe,Cr)3O4 tool protection layer. Thus, the proposed thermodynamic framework seem promising to serve as a predictive instrument for the correct pairing of existing tool and workpiece combinations and cutting parameters, or for tailoring respective material compositions for intentional formation of a tool protection layer. As well as guidance on how to apply present and future kinetic models when concurrent interaction mechanisms are present. Which lead to a reduction and minimization of costly experimental machining tests.

Knowledge concerning powder degradation during additive manufacturing (AM) processing is essential to improve the reusability of the powder in AM and hence maximize feedstock powder reuse and economy of the process. AlSi10Mg powder degradation in Concept Laser XLINE 2000R machine over the total period of 30 months was analyzed in order to understand the extent and mechanism affecting powder aging. Thereby, detailed analysis of the powder morphology, microstructure and surface chemistry was performed by SEM, TEM and XPS. The results show an increase in volume fraction of heavily oxidized spatter particles up to 3% in 30 months. XPS analysis of the powder surface chemistry indicates that powder particles are covered by uniform oxide layer, formed by Mg- and Al-based oxides, average thickness of which increased from ~4 nm in case of the virgin powder up to about 38 nm in case of the reused for about 30 month powder, established by XPS. Analysis of the oxide characteristics were consistent with the observed oxygen content in the sampled powder. Columnar oxide scale formation on spatter particles was revealed as well, reaching up to 125 nm in thickness measured using STEM. Results of the XPS and STEM-EDX analysis of oxide composition are shown to be in agreement with the thermodynamic calculations confirming that oxide scale on sputter particles is formed by MgAl2O4 spinel and Al2O3 (corundum) oxides.

The detrimental effect of nitrogen and oxygen when it comes to the precipitation of the strengthening γ’’ and γ’ phases in Alloy 718 is well-known from traditional manufacturing. Hence, the influence of the two processing atmospheres, namely argon and nitrogen, during the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) of Alloy 718 parts was studied. Regardless of the gas type, considerable losses of both oxygen of about 150 ppm O2 (≈30%) and nitrogen on the level of around 400 ppm N2 (≈25%) were measured in comparison to the feedstock powder. The utilization of nitrogen as processing atmosphere led to a slightly higher nitrogen content in the as-built material—about 50 ppm—compared to the argon atmosphere. The presence of the stable nitrides and Al-rich oxides observed in the as-built material was related to the transfer of these inclusions from the nitrogen atomized powder feedstock to the components. This was confirmed by dedicated analysis of the powder feedstock and supported by thermodynamic and kinetic calculations. Rapid cooling rates were held responsible for the limited nitrogen pick-up. Oxide dissociation during laser–powder interaction, metal vaporization followed by oxidation and spatter generation, and their removal by processing atmosphere are the factors describing an important oxygen loss during L-PBF. In addition, the reduction of the oxygen level in the process atmosphere from 500 to 50 ppm resulted in the reduction in the oxygen level in as-built component by about 5%.

In particle accelerator facilities, single-phase niobium is used in superconducting accelerator components. Machining induced surface quality of such components is strongly connected to the functionality of accelerators. In this study, tool wear development and its influence on the surface quality of Nb workpiece have been investigated in longitudinal turning. Uncoated cemented carbide cutting tools were used under finishing conditions (cutting speed v(c) = 300 m/min and feed f = 0.05 mm/rev) up to the wear criterion of VBmax = 300 mu m. A detailed analysis of wear mechanisms of the cutting tool was conducted with help of high resolution electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). Further, the results obtained were correlated with controlled diffusion couples experiments under high pressure - high temperature conditions (2 GPa and 1000 degrees C). Diffusion of carbon from WC and formation of NbC was found to occur on the niobium - cemented carbide interface. Electron microscopy of the worn tools reports identical mechanisms of diffusion and chemical interaction which lead to rapid flank wear, yet formation of NbC on the rake completely inhibits tool degradation and thus acts as tool protection layer.

A reassessment of the thermodynamic description of the Co–Cr–C system was performed to take into account recent experimental information on the solubility of Co in Cr-based carbides. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations coupled with phonon calculations were performed to calculate the heat capacity and Gibbs energies of formation of stable and metastable carbides in the Co–Cr–C system as a function of temperature, within the limits of the Harmonic or the Quasi Harmonic Approximation. Resulting Gibbs energies were compared with earlier experimental studies and assessments, where calculated values for Cr23C6, Cr7C3 and Cr3C2 from the present work were seen to fall within the experimental scatter. The calculated heat capacity and Gibbs energy of formation as a function of temperature for the metastable Co3C2 compound together with recent experimental information was used in the evaluation of the thermodynamic parameters. As a result, the new and improved thermodynamic description accounts for the solubility of Co in M3C2 in contrast to previous descriptions, where this was neglected due to a complete lack of experimental information. Furthermore, a better representation of previously reported liquidus temperatures was achieved, without increasing the number of parameters in the liquid phase. Other relevant features of the phase diagram and thermochemical properties were also well represented.

Thermodynamic calculations based on the CALPHAD method are nowadays often applied in the design of new materials due to increasing demands on shorter lead times for development. However, such calculations rely heavily on the assessed thermodynamic descriptions, which in turn rely on the amount and quality of available experimental data, especially for binary and ternary sub-systems. The ternary Co-Cr-C system is an extremely important subsystem to, e.g., multi-component cemented carbide grades, such as W-Co-Cr-M-C (M = Ti,Ta,Nb,V,Zr,Hf), as well as Cr-containing Co-base alloys. In the case of the Co-Cr-C system, there is a lack of reliable data on the solubility of Co in Cr-carbides. Therefore, the present work concerns an experimental study of the solubility of Co in all three of the Cr-based carbides, i.e., Cr23C6, Cr7C3, and Cr3C2. This was done by synthesizing appropriate samples in the M7C3+M23C6+liquid and M7C3+M3C2+graphite three-phase fields. The results show that a recent thermodynamic description of the Co-Cr-C system is unable to reproduce the experimentally determined solubilities. Therefore, the present study provides important input for future alloy development and improvement of the thermodynamic description of the Co-Cr-C system.

The CALPHAD technique is a powerful tool for materials process optimization and alloy design. The quality of CALPHAD-type calculations/simulations is strongly dependent on the quality of the thermodynamic and atomic mobility databases used. In the present paper the development of a new thermodynamic database, TCAL1, and an atomic mobility database, MOBAL2, is described. Examples of thermodynamic calculations and kinetic simulations for different kinds of aluminum alloys are shown using the databases and comparing where possible against experimental data, thereby validating its accuracy.

Experimental work on the C-Co-Ti-V-W-Zr system in order to determine the extension of the miscibility gaps in TiC-ZrC and VC-ZrC is presented. Thermodynamic calculations were used to design samples that will form a miscibility gap in equilibrium with liquid, WC and graphite. Samples were produced from powder and sintered for 1 week in controlled atmosphere at 1300, 1410 and 1500 degrees C. From the microstructure it could be concluded that the samples form a miscibility gap in equilibrium with liquid, WC and graphite at all temperatures. The composition of the MC(x) carbides was measured using an analytic SEM. The new experimental information was used to assess the thermodynamic description for the TiC-ZrC system. This work provides valuable information on the miscibility gap in the C-Co-Ti-V-W-Zr system not published previously. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The excess energies for A1−xBxC mixed carbides (where A and B are metals) have been calculated using ab-initio calculations, for 14 systems. A thorough comparison has been made with experimentally assessed excess energies. The comparison shows that conventional ab-initio calculations applied to rather simple structural models can be used to predict the sign, magnitude and symmetry of the excess energy for A1−xBxC mixed carbides. The calculated excess energies have also successfully been used to describe several AC–BC systems where the experimental information does not give a unique determination of the excess energy in traditional CALPHAD modelling. The systems that have been studied are CrC–TiC, HfC–NbC, HfC–TaC, HfC–TiC, HfC–VC, NbC–TaC, NbC–VC, NbC–ZrC, TaC–VC, TaC–ZrC, TiC–VC, TiC–ZrC and VC–ZrC.

New measurements of the influence of Cr and V on the melting temperature of the binder phase in Co-based hardmetals are presented. It was shown that both Cr and V affect the melting temperature significantly. Cr decreases the melting temperature by over 100 degrees C, and V by approximately 40 degrees C. This is due to the high solubility of Cr and V in liquid Co, and this solubility was determined by experiments and calculations. The solubility of Cr in solid fcc-Co is also discussed, as well as the composition of the MC, M7C3 and the M6C carbides in alloys with Cr and V. The new experimental information is used to obtain a reliable thermodynamic description of the binder phase (Co-rich) in C-Co-Cr-W and C-Co-V-W alloys. Calculated equilibria are compared with experiments.