Electrochemical Studies of Stainless Steel and Stainless Steel-TiO2 Composite in Reference to Molten Aluminum Alloy Using a Solid-State BaCO3 Electrolyte.

The influence of TiO2 addition on the high-temperature electrochemical characteristics of stainless-steel-based materials was investigated by means of differential potential measurement, electrochemical polarization and impedance spectroscopy. A new three-electrode approach was utilized which incorporated a liquid aluminum alloy AlSi7Mg0.3 as the reference electrode, barium carbonate BaCO3 as the solid-state electrolyte, and stainless steel or a stainless steel-TiO2 composite as the working electrode. The potential differences between the steel-based working electrodes and the liquid-aluminum-alloy reference electrode were measured for 85 h throughout the whole experiment, including the heating and cooling period. The experiments were performed at 850 °C. The determination of the high-temperature open circuit potential (ECorr) in reference to the liquid aluminum alloy was carried out via potentiodynamic polarization. The polarization-related changes in the impedance characteristics were evaluated by the correlation of impedance responses before and after the polarization. The addition of 40 vol% TiO2 resulted in a reduction in the potential of the steel-TiO2 composite and led to the formation of a more uniform electrode-electrolyte interface. The reaction products on the surface of the working electrodes were investigated by means of SEM/EDS and XRD. They consisted of mixed oxides within the Fe-O, Ba-Fe-O and Ba-Cr-O systems.

Metal-Ceramic Beads Based on Niobium and Alumina Produced by Alginate Gelation.

Full metal-ceramic composite beads containing different amounts of niobium and alumina, particularly 100 vol% alumina, 100 vol% niobium, and 95/5 vol% niobium/alumina, were produced by the alginate gelation process. The suspension for bead fabrication contained sodium alginate as gelling agent and was added dropwise into a calcium chloride solution to trigger the consolidation process. After debinding in air, sintering of the composite beads was performed under inert atmosphere. Samples in green and sintered state were analyzed by digital light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Investigations by mercury intrusion porosimetry revealed that pure alumina beads featured smaller pores compared to composite beads, although the open porosities were comparable. The fracture strength was evaluated on single beads. Contrary to the pure alumina, the composite beads showed a clear plastic deformation. Pure niobium beads showed a ductile behavior with very large deformations. XRD analyses revealed the presence of calcium hexaluminate and beta-alumina as minor phases in the alumina beads, while the composite ones contained about 25 wt% of impurities. The impurities comprised NbO arising from the oxidation, and ß-Nb2C, from the reaction with the residual sodium alginate.

Synthesis of Niobium-Alumina Composite Aggregates and Their Application in Coarse-Grained Refractory Ceramic-Metal Castables.

Niobium-alumina aggregate fractions with particle sizes up to 3150 µm were produced by crushing pre-synthesised fine-grained composites. Phase separation with niobium enrichment in the aggregate class 45-500 µm was revealed by XRD/Rietveld analysis. To reduce the amount of carbon-based impurities, no organic additives were used for the castable mixtures, which resulted in water demands of approximately 27 vol.% for the fine- and coarse-grained castables. As a consequence, open porosities of 18% and 30% were determined for the fine- and coarse-grained composites, respectively. Due to increased porosity, the modulus of rupture at room temperature decreased from 52 MPa for the fine-grained composite to 11 MPa for the coarse-grained one. However, even the compressive yield strength decreased from 49 MPa to 18 MPa at 1300 °C for the fine-grained to the coarse-grained composite, the latter showed still plasticity with a strain up to 5%. The electrical conductivity of fine-grained composite samples was in the range between 40 and 60 S/cm, which is fifteen magnitudes above the values of pure corundum.

Corrosion-Resistant Steel-MgO Composites as Refractory Materials for Molten Aluminum Alloys.

In this study, a novel metal matrix composite based on 60 vol% 316L stainless steel and 40 vol% MgO manufactured by powder metallurgy technology was developed. The corrosion resistance of the developed steel-MgO composite material against molten aluminum alloy AlSi7Mg0.3 was investigated by means of wettability tests and long-term crucible corrosion tests. The wettability tests were carried out using the sessile drop method with the capillary purification technique in a hot-stage microscope (HSM). Static corrosion tests were performed in molten aluminum alloy at 850 °C for 168 h to evaluate the impact of pre-oxidation of the composite surface on the corrosion resistance. The pre-oxidation of steel-MgO composites was carried out at 850 and 1000 °C for 24 h, based on preliminary investigations using thermogravimetry (TG) and dilatometry. The influence of the pre-oxidation on the composite structure, the corrosion resistance, and the phase formation at the interface between the steel-MgO composite and aluminum alloy was analyzed using SEM/EDS and XRD. The impact of the steel-MgO composite material on the composition of the aluminum alloy regarding the type, size, and quantity of the formed precipitations was investigated with the aid of ASPEX PSEM/AFA and SEM/EBSD. It was revealed that the pre-oxidation of the steel-MgO composite at 1000 °C induced the formation of stable MgO-FeO solid solutions on its surface, leading to a significant increase of long-term corrosion resistance against the liquid aluminum alloy.

Aluminum Melt Filtration with Carbon Bonded Alumina Filters.

The wetting behavior was measured for Al2O3-C in contact with AlSi7Mg with a conventional sessile drop test (vacuum, 950 °C and 180 min) and a sessile drop test with a capillary purification unit (vacuum, 730 °C and 30 min). The conventional test yielded contact angles of around 92°, whereas the sessile drop measurement with capillary purification showed a strongly non-wetting behavior with a determined apparent contact angle of the rolling drop of 157°. Filtration tests, which were repeated twice, showed that the Al2O3-C filter possessed a better filtration behavior than the Al2O3 reference filter. For both filtration trials, the PoDFA (porous disc filtration analysis) index of the Al2O3-C filter sample was equal to half of the PoDFA index of the Al2O3 reference filter sample, indicating a significantly improved filtration performance when using Al2O3-C filter. Notable is the observation of a newly formed layer between the aluminum and the Al2O3-C coating. The layer possessed a thickness between 10 µm up to 50 µm and consisted of Al, C, and O, however, with different ratios than the original Al2O3-C coating. Thermodynamic calculations based on parameters of the wetting and filtration trials underline the possible formation of an Al4O4C-layer.

Mechanical High-Temperature Properties and Damage Behavior of Coarse-Grained Alumina Refractory Metal Composites.

The present study provides the mechanical properties of a new generation of refractory composites based on coarse-grained Al2O3 ceramic and the refractory metals Nb and Ta. The materials were manufactured by refractory castable technology and subsequently sintered at 1600 °C for 4 h. The mechanical properties and the damage behavior of the coarse-grained refractory composites were investigated at high temperatures between 1300 and 1500 °C. The compressive strength is given as a function of temperature for materials with two different volume fractions of the refractory metals Ta and Nb. It is demonstrated that these refractory composites do not fail in a completely brittle manner in the studied temperature range. The compressive strength for all materials significantly decreases with increasing temperature. Failure occurred due to the formation of cracks along the ceramic/metal interfaces of the coarse-grained Al2O3 particles. In microstructural observations of sintered specimens, the formation of tantalates, as well as niobium oxides, were observed. The lower compressive strength of coarse-grained Nb-Al2O3 refractory composites compared to Ta-Al2O3 is probably attributed to the formation of niobium oxides. The formation of tantalates, however, seems to have no detrimental effect on compressive strength.