The magnesium alloys Mg-0.5Mn-2Zn, Mg-1.0Mn-2Zn, and Mg-1.5Mn-2Zn (wt.%) with potential biomedical applications, synthesized by powder metallurgy, were investigated to evaluate the influence of manganese content on their microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance. The results show that Mg-Mn-Zn alloys prepared by powder metallurgy reached the maximum compressive stress of 316 MPa and the maximum bending strength of 186 MPa, showing their good resistance to compression and bending, and meeting the mechanical properties required for the human bone plate. With an increase in manganese content, the corrosion resistance improved. In the polarization curve, the maximum positive shift of corrosion potential was 92 mV and the maximum decrease of corrosion current density was 10.2%. It was concluded that, of the alloys tested, Mg-1.0Mn-2.0Zn (wt.%) had the best overall performance, and its maximum compressive stress force and corrosion current density reached 232.42 MPa and 1.32 × 10−5 A·cm−2, respectively, being more suitable for service in human body fluids.
High-speed machining of γ-TiAl alloy is a significant challenge due to high cutting temperatures. From the perspective of environmental protection and improving tool life, appropriate cooling strategies should be adopted. Compared with dry and conventional flood cooling conditions, the feasibility of machining γ-TiAl in cryogenic LN2 cooling conditions was discussed. The cutting force, tool wear and its mechanism, and surface roughness, as well as sub-surface morphology characteristics, were studied by combining macro and micro techniques. The results revealed that the wear morphology of the rake and flank face under the three cooling media shows different degrees. The crater wear of the rake face is expanded at high speeds and then progresses into more serve flaking and notching wear. The main wear pattern on the flank face is gradually transformed from adhesive wear to diffusion and oxidation wear at high speeds in dry machining. In the LN2 condition, the diffusion of workpiece elements and cutting-edge oxidation were restrained. The wear pattern is still mainly adhesive wear. In addition, cryogenic machining shows significant advantages in reducing cutting force, suppressing heat-affected zone, improving surface quality, and inhibiting micro-lamellar deformation.
Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) is a potential technology for reducing the consumption of cutting fluids in machining processes. However, there is a need for further improvement in its lubrication and cooling properties. Nanofluid MQL (NMQL) and ultrasonic vibration-assisted machining are both effective methods of enhancing MQL. To achieve an optimal result, this work presents a new method of combining nanofluid MQL with ultrasonic vibration assistance in a turning process. Comparative experimental studies were conducted for two types of turning processes of aluminum alloy 6061, including conventional turning (CT) and ultrasonic vibration-assisted turning (UVAT). For each turning process, five types of lubricating methods were applied, including dry, MQL, nanofluid MQL with graphene nanosheets (GN-MQL), nanofluid MQL with diamond nanoparticles (DN-MQL), and nanofluid MQL with a diamond/graphene hybrid (GN+DN-MQL). A specific cutting energy and areal surface roughness were adopted to evaluate the machinability. The results show that the new method can further improve the machining performance by reducing the specific cutting energy and areal surface roughness, compared with the NMQL turning process and UVAT process. The diamond nanoparticles are easy to embed on the workpiece surface under the UVAT process, which can increase the specific cutting energy and Sa as compared to the MQL method. The graphene nanosheets can produce the interlayer shear effect and be squeezed into the workpiece, thus reducing the specific cutting energy. The results provide a new way for the development of eco-friendly machining.
1 January 2020 in Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Dynamic shear properties under high strain rate are an important basis for studying the dynamic mechanical properties and microscopic mechanisms of materials. Dynamic impact shear tests of aerial aluminum alloy 7050-T7451 in rolling direction (RD), transverse direction (TD) and normal direction (ND) were performed at a range of strain rates from 2.5 × 104 s−1 to 4.5 × 104 s−1 by High Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB). The influence of different forming directions and strain rates on the dynamic shear properties of material and the microstructure evolution under dynamic shear were emphatically analyzed. The results showed that aluminum alloy 7050-T7451 had a certain strain rate sensitivity and positive strain rate strengthening effect, and also the material had no obvious strain strengthening effect. Different forming directions had a great influence on dynamic shear properties. The shear stress in ND was the largest, followed by that in RD, and the lowest was that in TD. The microstructure observation showed that the size and orientation of the grain structure were different in three directions, which led to the preferred orientation of the material. All of those were the main reasons for the difference of dynamic shear properties of the material.