Good toughness properties in base and weld material enable the use of duplex stainless steels (DSS) in critical applications. DSS offer high strength compared to common austenitic stainless steels. The high strength can be utilized to reduce the wall thickness and accordingly accomplish reduction of cost, welding time and transportation weight, contributing to ecological and energy savings. Although DSS have been used successfully in many applications the last decades, the full utilisation in pressure vessels has been restricted due to conservative design rules. The consequences of failure in a pressure vessel are often very severe and it is accordingly important to verify a high ductility and fracture toughness. In this study fracture toughness data has been generated that has been used to analyse the brittle failure model in the European pressure vessel code EN 13445. The evaluation of the results has been made successfully by the master curve analysis, previously applied to ferritic steels. The master curve analysis includes calculation of a reference temperature, which can be correlated to an impact toughness transition temperature. A correlation between fracture and impact toughness results is necessary for a practically applicable design code. The heat distribution and austenite reformation have been modelled to verify satisfactory toughness properties in the heat affected zone. A similar model was used to evaluate the nucleation and diffusional growth of sigma phase during isothermal heat treatment or continuous cooling. For future stainless steel development, the availability of satisfactory correlations between composition, microstructure and mechanical properties are essential to optimize alloy design. Stainless steel data has been analysed to find approximate relations between mechanical properties and the chemical composition, grain size, ferrite content, product thickness and solution hardening size misfit parameter. The solution hardening effect was successfully predicted by the Labusch-Nabarro relation and multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate hardening equations for stainless steel. / QC 20100920

The recent development of tool steels and high-speed steels has led to a significant increase in alloy additions, such as Co, Cr, Mo, N, V, and W. Knowledge about the phase relations in these multicomponent alloys, that is, the relative stability between different carbides or the solubility of different elements in the carbides and in the matrix phase, is essential for understanding the behaviour of these alloys in heat treatments. This information is also the basis for improving the properties or designing new alloys by controlling the amount of alloying elements. Thermodynamic calculations together with a thermodynamic database is a very powerful and important tool for alloy development of new tool steels and high-speed steels. By thermodynamic calculations one can easily predict how different amounts of alloying elements influence on the stability of different phases. Phase fractions of the individual phases and the solubility of different elements in the phases can be predicted quickly. Thermodynamic calculations can also be used to find optimised processing temperatures, e.g. for different heat treatments. Combining thermodynamic calculations with kinetic modelling one can also predict the microstructure evolution in different processes such as solidification, dissolution heat treatments, carbide coarsening, and the important tempering step producing secondary carbides. The quality of predictions based on thermodynamic calculations directly depends on the accuracy of the thermodynamic database used. In the present work new experimental phase equilibria information, both in model alloys containing few elements and in commercial alloys, has been determined and was used to evaluate and improve the thermodynamic description. This new experimental investigation was necessary because important information concerning the different carbide systems in tool steels and high-speed steels were lacking. A new thermodynamic database for tool steels and high-speed steels, TOOL05, has been developed within this thesis. With the new database it is possible to calculate thermodynamic properties and phase equilibria with high accuracy and good reliability. Compared with the previous thermodynamic description the improvements are significant. In addition the composition range of different alloying elements, where reliable results are obtained with the new thermodynamic database, have been widened significantly. As the available kinetic data did not always predict results in agreement with new experiments the database was modified in the present work. By coupling the new thermodynamic description with the new kinetic description accurate diffusion simulations can be performed for carbide coarsening, carbide dissolution and micro segregation during solidification. / QC 20100929

The objective of the present thesis is to optimize the electric arc furnace (EAF) practice from an environmental view point. Two aspects that meet the requirements of the secondary steelmaking industries today, viz. Mo alloying with maximum retainment of the alloying element in molten steel and optimization of foaming by carbonate addition with a view to optimize the energy need of the process. Both these aspects would also have a significant impact on the process economy. Iron molybdate (Fe2MoO4) has been synthesized from commercial grade materials and proposed as a new potential precursor for steel alloying with Mo. The thermal stabilities of different molybdates, viz. Fe2MoO4, CaMoO4 and MgMoO4, were studied using thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). It was found that Fe2MoO4 is the most stable one and doesn’t evaporate in Ar atmosphere when heating up to 1573 K. The synthesis of Fe2MoO4 requires high temperature (1373 K) and long holding time (up to 16 hours). In a view of this, the possibilities for in-situ formation of Fe2MoO4 and CaMoO4 from their precursor mixtures were studied with the aid of high-temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) and TGA analysis. Laboratory and industrial trials on steel alloying with Mo were conducted using precursor mixtures as sources of Mo. It was found that the mixture, which contains FeOx, MoO3 and C (Fe2MoO4 precursor), can provide the Mo yield up to 98 % at both the laboratory as well as industrial trials. The Mo yields even in the case of C+MoO3 and C+MoO3+CaO mixtures were around 93 % in these trials. The higher yield for the MoO3+C+FeOx mixture was attributed to the stabilization of Mo in the precursor (marked by the decrease in the Gibbs energy of Mo) and the readiness to dissolve in the steel bath. The heat effect of the slag foaming with carbonates addition was studied at 1623 and 1673 K with the aid of thermal analysis technique with a new crucible design. Experiments were conducted by adding limestone and dolomite pieces of defined shapes (together with iron sinkers) in molten slag and monitoring the temperature changes accompanying the decomposition of carbonates. It was found that the decomposition energies for dolomite and limestone for the studied slag composition are in the range 56-79 % of theoretical values, which is linked to the energy saving effect of slag foaming. No influence of sample shape on decomposition energy was found both for limestone and dolomite. The kinetics of slag foaming by limestone particles was studied at 1773 K with the aid of X-ray imaging system. A model was proposed to describe the decrease in foam height with time on the basis of CaO shell formation during decomposition reaction. The energy impact of limestone and raw dolomite addition was examined in a 100-ton EAF. It was found that, in the case of addition of carbonates after the scrap is completely molten; the endothermic heat effects for limestone and dolomite (2255 and 2264 kJ/kg respectively) were only 70 % from theoretical values. This is indicative of the resistance to heat transfer due to increased foaming. / QC 20100914

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the influence of ageing process on the microstructure and mechanical properties of aluminium-silicon alloys. The investigation was carried on Al-9%Si-3%Cu and Al-9%Si-0.4%Mg. To obtain different DAS with low content of oxide films and micro shrinkage, gradient solidification has been used. The specimens were treated according to T6 heat treatment. In this thesis it has been shown that solidification rate has great influence on mechanical properties since it controls microstructure. To reach peak level of mechanical properties different times of artificial ageing were used depending on the alloy. In peak value condition Yield’s Strength of alloys was 197MPa for Al-Si-Cu alloy and 243MPa for Al-Si-Mg one. These results can be compared to these presented in other papers concerning aluminium silicon alloys. Such comparison shows that when talking about potential of alloy, these results are more or less the same as in other articles in this field. The work was conducted within 10 weeks and for this reason not all the necessary data was collected. Further work will be conducted to obtain missing results, like overaged state for Al-Si-Cu alloy.

In the last few years people have become more and more aware of how humanity is affecting the climate. In the direction of reducing the greenhouse gases is to design engines with higher tensile properties and reduced weight, in order to achieve lower fuel consumption and cleaner fuel incineration in today's truck engines. In order to achieve these requirements it’s necessary to increase the combustion pressure in the engine. This requires higher tensile properties and high thermal conductivity of the engine material. The department of Component Technology at the University of Jönköping in collaboration with Volvo Powertrain AB, Scania CV AB and DAROS Piston Rings AB has been commissioned to develop this material and to find knowledge of material properties used in truck engines and piston rings used for marine applications. The purpose with this work is to analyze the tensile properties of a series of cast iron, cast under different metallurgical conditions. Four different series of cast irons have been analyzed from four points of view, carbon concentration, nodularity, amount inoculation and cooling rate. After the tensile test all specimen data was analyzed in a mathematic calculation program called Matlab 2006a. These results were plotted in different diagrams to show the relations between the variables. A low carbon contents and high cooling rate result in high tensile properties and vice versa. Also, a high nodularity gives the same result, i.e. high ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and young’s modulus. The experiment which cover different amount of inoculation, shows that Superseed is the most efficient element to increased tensile properties followed by Fe-powder and Fe-C-powder. Lamellar graphite iron has the highest thermal conductivity and vibration damping properties compared to compact graphite iron followed by nodular graphite iron. Researches show that the thermal conductivity increases with slow cooling rate, irrespective of graphite structure. When designing new diesel engines, high tensile properties as well as high thermal conductivity are wanted. Compact cast iron has a compromised quality of these requirements. Higher tensile properties are a higher priority than thermal conductivity when the casting cooling rate is chosen. / Mänskligheten har idag blivit allt mer medveten om vilken påverkan människan har på klimatet. Ett steg i att reducera växthusgaserna är att konstruera motorer med högre hållfasthet och reducerad vikt, detta för att uppnå lägre bränsleförbrukning och renare förbränning i dagens lastbilsmotorer. För att uppnå dessa krav är en lösning att öka kompressionen i motorn. Detta medför högre hållfasthetskrav samt hög värmeledningsförmåga hos materialet i motorerna. Avdelningen för komponentteknologi på Tekniska högskolan i Jönköping har i samarbete med Volvo Powertrain AB, Scania CV AB och DAROS Piston Rings AB fått uppdraget att utveckla ett material med rätt mekaniska egenskaper för att passa i lastbilsmotorer och kolvringar i marina applikationer. Målet med detta examensarbete är att analysera de mekaniska egenskaperna i en serie där gjutjärn gjutets under olika metallurgiska förhållanden. Fyra olika serier av gjutjärn har analyserats med utgångspunkt av variation av kolhalt, nodularitet, mängd ympningsmedel samt svalningshastighet. Efter dragning av samtliga prover analyserades mätdata i Matlab 2006a och resulterade i olika sambandsdiagram. Låg kolhalt samt snabb avsvalning av gjutgodset ger höga hållfasthetsegenskaper och vice versa. En hög nodularitet ger höga hållfasthetsegenskaper gällande brottgrans, sträckgräns och elasticitetsmodulmodul. Från experimenten där olika ympningsmedels påverkan av hållfastheten, har kunnat konstateras att ympningsmedlet Superseed ger de högsta hållfasthetsegenskaperna följt av Fe-pulver och Fe-C-pulver. Värmeledningsförmågan och dämpningsförmågan för vibrationer är bäst i lamellartad grafit följt av kompakt och nodulär grafit. Studier visar att värmeledningsförmågan ökar med långsam svalning, oavsett grafitstruktur. I dagens dieselmotorer eftersträvas både god hållfasthet och god värmeledningsförmåga. En kompromiss av dessa krav är gjutjärn med en kompakt grafitstruktur. Högre hållfasthet bör prioriteras före bättre värmeledningsförmåga när val av svalningshastighet för gjutgodset görs.

Simbassängen i Folkhälsocentrum i Laholm har drabbats av skador. Läckage i skvalprännorna har orsakat problem i de övriga konstruktionsdelarna. Laholmskommun har år 2002 vidtagit akuta åtgärder i hopp om att stoppa läckage och förebygga ännu större skador. Reparationsarbetet utfördes och efter två år konstaterades fortsatt läckage.För att kunna bedömma skadornas omfattning och orsak utförs en tillståndsbedömning av befintlig konstruktion. Tillståndsbedömningen kommer att ligga till grund för val av reparationsmetoder och reparationsomfattning. Det största problemet är armeringskorrosion föranled av karbonatisering och kloridinträngning. Hela konstruktionen befinner sig i en väldigt aggressiv miljö som accelererar hela nedbrytningsprocessen. Genom att göra okulärbesiktning och laboratorieanalys har jag kommit fram till att skadorna är omfattande och reparationsarbeten kommer att vara därefter.

Rapporten beskriver ett designprojekt, utfört som en del av examensarbetet på 15 HP, jag utfört som avgångsstudent på möbeldesignprogrammet vid Carl Malmsten Centrum för Träteknik & Design. Från Ronnie Runesson, produktutvecklare på IKEA of Sweden, fick jag ett uppdrag, ett reellt projekt att arbeta med. Projektet handlade om att ta fram ett koncept på en ny typ av arbetsmöbel för ungdomar i åldersgruppen 12 – 18 år. Målet med projektet var att, förutom att leverera ett fungerande koncept till IKEA, sätta min designmetodik på prov med hjälp av ett konkret designprojekt samt att vid projektets slut analysera den. Rapporten har en beskrivande karaktär där jag berättar om de olika etapper arbetet utförts efter: Etapp 1- Koncept- och instuderingsetapp, Etapp 2- Vidareutvecklingsetapp, Etapp 3- Konkretisering av produkt. Beskrivningen förljer en kronologisk ordning för att underlätta läsarens förståelse för designprocessens gång. Rapporten illustreras av ett fyrtiotal bildfigurer som visar delar ur mitt skiss- och gestaltningsarbete. Rapporten avslutas med en analys av projektet samt den designmetodik jag använt mig av. / This report describes a design project (within a graduation project worth 15 points) that I completed during my final year as a student in the furniture design program at the Carl Malmsten Centre for Wood Technology and Design. I received a commission from Ronnie Runesson, product developer at IKEA of Sweden, to develop an actual project to work with. The project was about creating a concept for a new type of desk for adolescences between the ages of 12 and 18. The aim of the project was to, apart from deliver a working concept to IKEA, try out my design methodology with the aid of a concrete design project and at the end of the project create an analysis of it. The character of the report is descriptive and in it I describe the different phases I worked with: Phase 1- Concept and Research Phase, Phase 2- Further Development Phase, Phase 3- Realisation of Product. To facilitate the reader’s understanding of the design process the description follows a chronological order. The report contains some forty images, showing parts of my sketch work. The report ends with an analysis of the project and the design methodology I used.

Abstract The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of Manganese (Mn) on cast aluminum alloys where a substantial amount of Iron (Fe) is included. Ductility and tensile strength need to be improved in recycled aluminum alloys where greater amounts of Fe are found. Fe is a common impurity and is known to be detrimental to mechanical properties and in order to neutralize the effects of Fe; modifiers such as Mn are added. In this investigation, attempts will be carried out aiming to find the optimal amount of Mn. Other related topics that will be discussed are whether there exists a Mn/Fe ratio which clearly modifies the harmful iron- rich phases and improves the properties for a certain alloy or not. Also, will the heat treatment have a significant effect on mechanical properties? These are some of the questions that will be answered in this paper. It is hard to find research articles that focus only on the influence of Mn on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Si cast alloys. Much of the work that is already published concerns only a specific alloy and casting method. In this work three different casting processes, sand-, die- and high pressure die-casting, will be simulated by using gradient solidification equipment. Furthermore, the influence of heat treatment on the mechanical properties will be examined. The results showed that the solidification rate had the biggest impact on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloys, where the fastest cooling rate gave the best results. The effect of Mn seems to influence the samples with coarser microstructures significantly where it had time to modify the Iron-rich needles, also called the β-phase. At higher cooling rates the impact of Mn was impeded. It has been observed that a high content of Mn (around 0.6%) needs to be added before the properties start to improve. UTS (Ultimate Tensile Strength) and YS (Yield Strength) are improved while ductility is lowered. Heat treatment did not seem to have any influence on the effects of Mn.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to investigate the influence of ageing process on the microstructure and mechanical properties of aluminium-silicon alloys. The investigation was carried on Al-9%Si-3%Cu and Al-9%Si-0.4%Mg. To obtain different DAS with low content of oxide films and micro shrinkage, gradient solidification has been used. The specimens were treated according to T6 heat treatment.</p><p>In this thesis it has been shown that solidification rate has great influence on mechanical properties since it controls microstructure. To reach peak level of mechanical properties different times of artificial ageing were used depending on the alloy.</p><p>In peak value condition Yield’s Strength of alloys was 197MPa for Al-Si-Cu alloy and 243MPa for Al-Si-Mg one. These results can be compared to these presented in other papers concerning aluminium silicon alloys. Such comparison shows that when talking about potential of alloy, these results are more or less the same as in other articles in this field.</p><p>The work was conducted within 10 weeks and for this reason not all the necessary data was collected. Further work will be conducted to obtain missing results, like overaged state for Al-Si-Cu alloy.</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of Manganese (Mn) on cast aluminum alloys where a substantial amount of Iron (Fe) is included. Ductility and tensile strength need to be improved in recycled aluminum alloys where greater amounts of Fe are found. Fe is a common impurity and is known to be detrimental to mechanical properties and in order to neutralize the effects of Fe; modifiers such as Mn are added. In this investigation, attempts will be carried out aiming to find the optimal amount of Mn. Other related topics that will be discussed are whether there exists a Mn/Fe ratio which clearly modifies the harmful iron- rich phases and improves the properties for a certain alloy or not. Also, will the heat treatment have a significant effect on mechanical properties? These are some of the questions that will be answered in this paper.</p><p>It is hard to find research articles that focus only on the influence of Mn on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Si cast alloys. Much of the work that is already published concerns only a specific alloy and casting method. In this work three different casting processes, sand-, die- and high pressure die-casting, will be simulated by using gradient solidification equipment. Furthermore, the influence of heat treatment on the mechanical properties will be examined.</p><p>The results showed that the solidification rate had the biggest impact on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloys, where the fastest cooling rate gave the best results. The effect of Mn seems to influence the samples with coarser microstructures significantly where it had time to modify the Iron-rich needles, also called the β-phase. At higher cooling rates the impact of Mn was impeded. It has been observed that a high content of Mn (around 0.6%) needs to be added before the properties start to improve. UTS (Ultimate Tensile Strength) and YS (Yield Strength) are improved while ductility is lowered. Heat treatment did not seem to have any influence on the effects of Mn.</p>