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Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 1997. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1988. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographies.

This research is concerned with a single crystal nickel-base superalloy which has been developed for application as a high pressure turbine blade material in jet aircraft engines. The microstructures and mechanical properties of superalloys, including the effects of heat-treatments, have been reviewed. The effects of heat-treatments on the γ' precipitate distributions have been investigated. During ageing at 900°C or 800°C, the precipitates adopt an irregular, rounded and highly interconnected microstructure, indicative of precipitate coalescence, whilst at higher ageing temperatures a regular cuboidal precipitate morphology is formed. The kinetics of precipitate coarsening have been investigated, and slight deviations from the power-law predicted by a number of theoretical models were observed. These deviations have been discussed in terms of a progressive transition in the dominant coarsening mechanism. Constant load creep tests were carried out, and although the tensile axis was nominally parallel to [001], the degree and direction of misorientation were found to be critical to the extent of the primary creep strain. Primary creep was shown to proceed by slip on a single (111)[112] system, until the activation of intersecting slip systems brings about the onset of the secondary creep stage. The extent of primary creep has been shown to be reduced by application of a final ageing treatment at 870°C. Precipitate shear by paired dislocations in intense slip bands occurs during high strain-rate deformation at both ambient temperature and at 750°C. Application of a final ageing treatment at 870°C was found to increase the 0.2% proof stress and to bring about the activation of an alternative mode of precipitate shear by dissociated dislocations. The 870°C ageing treatment was shown to cause slight chemical changes at the γ/γ' interfaces, and these are believed to have caused the observed changes in mechanical properties.

Consideration of diagnosability in product design promises to increase product quality by reducing maintenance time without increasing cost or decreasing reliability. Methods for investigating the diagnosability of mechanical and electro-mechanical systems are described and are applied to the Bleed Air Control System (BACS) on the Boeing 747-400. The BACS is described and a diagnostic model is developed using information from the system Failure Modes and Effects Analysis. Emphasis is placed on the relationships between the system's functions and its components. Two metrics for the evaluation of system diagnosability and two metrics for the evaluation of component diagnosability are defined. These metrics emphasize diagnostic ambiguity and are combined with the probability of different system failures to weight the effects of each failure. Three modified systems are produced by reassigning functions from one component to another. The resulting effects on the system and component diagnosability are evaluated. We show that by changing these relationships system diagnosability can be improved without adding sensors or other components. / Graduation date: 1994