Zr and Mo macrosegregations were investigated in Ti6246 titanium alloy industrial-scale ingotby vacuum arc remelting. The formation mechanism of Zr and Mo macrosegregations was studied during the solidification process. Zr macrosegregation was characterized by low content in the equiaxed grain zone and high content in the hot top zone. Mo exhibits an opposite trend with Zr. The macrosegregations of Zr and Mo were the most pronounced, with a statistic segregation degree higher than Al and Sn. It could be concluded that temperature gradient and solidification rate dominated the macrosegregation formations during the solidification process. The thermal buoyancy made the negative segregation Zr be continuously discharged to the front of the solid-liquid interface. Mo was enriched in the solid phase at the solid-liquid interface as the positive segregation.
This article describes a simple heat model of the vacuum arc remelting (VAR) process that includes solution of the nonlinear heat conductivity equation with the nonlinear boundary conditions which are typical for VAR process. The finite-difference analogue of the model equations was obtained through the finite volume method. To check the efficiency of the simplified model that does not include magnetohydrodynamic phenomena in the liquid metal pool, the comparison has been made of the numerical calculation of the metal pool depth when melting the Russian titanium alloy VT3-1 with the results of radiographical tests. It was established that the model adequately describes the test data for various melting modes (ingot diameter and current strength).
The alpha/beta interface in Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-6Mo (Ti-6246) is investigated via centre of symmetry analysis, both as-grown and after 10% cold work. Semi-coherent interface steps are observed at a spacing of 4.5 +/-1.13 atoms in the as-grown condition, in good agreement with theory prediction (4.37 atoms). Lattice accommodation is observed, with elongation along [-1 2 -1 0]alpha and contraction along [1 0 -1 0]alpha . Deformed alpha exhibited larger, less coherent steps with slip bands lying in {110}beta. This indicates dislocation pile-up at the grain boundary, a precursor to globularisation, offering insight into the effect of deformation processing on the interface, which is important for titanium alloy processing route design.
Motived by experimentally synthesized $mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$ (textcolor[rgb]{0.00,0.00,1.00}{Science 369, 670-674 (2020})), the intrinsic piezoelectricity in monolayer $mathrm{XSi_2N_4}$ (X=Ti, Zr, Hf, Cr, Mo and W) are studied by density functional theory (DFT). Among the six monolayers, the $mathrm{CrSi_2N_4}$ has the best piezoelectric strain coefficient $d_{11}$ of 1.24 pm/V, and the second is 1.15 pm/V for $mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$. Taking $mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$ as a example, strain engineering is applied to improve $d_{11}$. It is found that tensile biaxial strain can enhance $d_{11}$ of $mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$, and the $d_{11}$ at 4% can improve by 107% with respect to unstrained one. By replacing the N by P or As in $mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$, the $d_{11}$ can be raise substantially. For $mathrm{MoSi_2P_4}$ and $mathrm{MoSi_2As_4}$, the $d_{11}$ is as high as 4.93 pm/V and 6.23 pm/V, which is mainly due to smaller $C_{11}-C_{12}$ and very small minus or positive ionic contribution to piezoelectric stress coefficient $e_{11}$ with respect to $mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$. The discovery of this piezoelectricity in monolayer $mathrm{XSi_2N_4}$ enables active sensing, actuating and new electronic components for nanoscale devices, and is recommended for experimental exploration.
The mechanism of AgCl-induced stress corrosion cracking of Ti-6246 was examined at SI{500}{megapascal} and SI{380}{celsius} for SI{24}{hour} exposures. SEM and STEM-EDX examination of a FIB-sectioned blister and crack showed that metallic Ag was formed and migrated along the crack. TEM analysis also revealed the presence of ce{SnO2} and ce{Al2O3} corrosion products mixed into ce{TiO2}. The fracture surface has a transgranular nature with a brittle appearance in the primary $alpha$ phase. Long, straight and non-interacting dislocations were observed in a cleavage-fractured primary $alpha$ grain, with basal and pyramidal traces. This is consistent with a dislocation emission view of the the cracking mechanism.
Here we report the observation of extraordinary superconductivity in a pressurized commercial niobium-titanium alloy. We find that its zero-resistance superconductivity persists from ambient pressure to the pressure as high as 261.7 GPa, a record high pressure up to which a known superconducting state can continuously survives. Remarkably, at such an ultra-high pressure, although the ambient pressure volume is shrunk by 45% without structural phase transition, the superconducting transition temperature (TC) increases to ~19.1 K from ~9.6 K, and the critical magnetic field (HC2) at 1.8 K has been enhanced to 19 T from 15.4 T. These results set new records for both of the TC and the HC2 among all the known alloy superconductors composed of only transition metal elements. The remarkable high pressure superconducting properties observed in the NbTi alloy not only expand our knowledge on this important commercial superconductor but also are helpful for a better understanding on the superconducting mechanism.