A produção economicamente viável dos aços inoxidáveis duplex, pressupõe a utilização de sucatas e retornos de ligas contendo altos teores de elementos como Cr, Ni e Mo. O aproveitamento destes materiais pode entretanto, introduzir na composição química outros elementos não previstos pela norma do material sendo produzido. Este trabalho estudou a influência do Nb na microestrutura e nas propriedades mecânicas do aço inoxidável superduplex fundido SEW 410 W. Nr. 1.4517, bem como sobre as etapas de fabricação de um produto fundido. Os teores de Nb estudados foram 0%, 0,2%, 0,5% e 1,5% (% em peso). Foi dado ênfase às microestruturas e propriedades no estado bruto de fundição, após tratamento térmico de solubilização e finalmente, após envelhecimento das amostras solubilizadas. Foram utilizadas diversas técnicas de avaliação microestrutural: microscopia ótica, metalografia quantitativa, microscopia eletrônica de varredura e de transmissão, análise química de microregiões com microssonda eletrônica, ensaios magnéticos via ferritoscópio e ensaios dilatométricos. Os ensaios mecânicos realizados foram: dureza, ensaio de tração e ensaio Charpy. A análise dos resultados demonstrou que o Nb causou uma sensível alteração na microestrutura e nas propriedades mecânicas da liga, dificultando o processo de produção de uma peça fundida. / To produce duplex stainless steel in an economic way it is necessary to use scrap and process returns containing high Cr, Ni and Mo contents. This procedure can result in an unexpected alloy chemical composition with some elements not included in the material standard. This work studied the Nb influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast super duplex stainless steel SEW 410 W. Nr. 1.4517, as well as the influence over the fabrication process of a casting. The Nb contents studied were 0%, 0,2%, 0,5% and 1,5% (weight %). Emphasis was given to the microstructures and mechanical properties in as cast condition, after solution heat treatment and finally after aging of previous solution heat treated samples. Several microstructural analysis techniques were used: optical microscopy, quantitative metallography, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, chemical microanalysis using energy dispersive spectrometry, magnetic phase detection using feritscope and dilatometry. The mechanical testing realized were hardness testing, tension testing and Charpy impact testing. Results analysis demonstrated that Nb caused an appreciable change on microstructure and mechanical properties of the material, making difficult the fabrication process of a casting.

A produção economicamente viável dos aços inoxidáveis duplex, pressupõe a utilização de sucatas e retornos de ligas contendo altos teores de elementos como Cr, Ni e Mo. O aproveitamento destes materiais pode entretanto, introduzir na composição química outros elementos não previstos pela norma do material sendo produzido. Este trabalho estudou a influência do Nb na microestrutura e nas propriedades mecânicas do aço inoxidável superduplex fundido SEW 410 W. Nr. 1.4517, bem como sobre as etapas de fabricação de um produto fundido. Os teores de Nb estudados foram 0%, 0,2%, 0,5% e 1,5% (% em peso). Foi dado ênfase às microestruturas e propriedades no estado bruto de fundição, após tratamento térmico de solubilização e finalmente, após envelhecimento das amostras solubilizadas. Foram utilizadas diversas técnicas de avaliação microestrutural: microscopia ótica, metalografia quantitativa, microscopia eletrônica de varredura e de transmissão, análise química de microregiões com microssonda eletrônica, ensaios magnéticos via ferritoscópio e ensaios dilatométricos. Os ensaios mecânicos realizados foram: dureza, ensaio de tração e ensaio Charpy. A análise dos resultados demonstrou que o Nb causou uma sensível alteração na microestrutura e nas propriedades mecânicas da liga, dificultando o processo de produção de uma peça fundida. / To produce duplex stainless steel in an economic way it is necessary to use scrap and process returns containing high Cr, Ni and Mo contents. This procedure can result in an unexpected alloy chemical composition with some elements not included in the material standard. This work studied the Nb influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast super duplex stainless steel SEW 410 W. Nr. 1.4517, as well as the influence over the fabrication process of a casting. The Nb contents studied were 0%, 0,2%, 0,5% and 1,5% (weight %). Emphasis was given to the microstructures and mechanical properties in as cast condition, after solution heat treatment and finally after aging of previous solution heat treated samples. Several microstructural analysis techniques were used: optical microscopy, quantitative metallography, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, chemical microanalysis using energy dispersive spectrometry, magnetic phase detection using feritscope and dilatometry. The mechanical testing realized were hardness testing, tension testing and Charpy impact testing. Results analysis demonstrated that Nb caused an appreciable change on microstructure and mechanical properties of the material, making difficult the fabrication process of a casting.

Bulk metallic glasses have interesting combination of physical, chemical, mechanical, and magnetic properties which make them attractive for a variety of applications. Consequently there has been a lot of interest in understanding the structure and properties of these materials. More varied applications can be sought if one understands the reasons for glass formation and the methods to control them. The glass-forming ability (GFA) of alloys can be substantially increased by a proper selection of alloying elements and the chemical composition of the alloy. High GFA will enable in obtaining large section thickness of amorphous alloys. Ability to produce glassy alloys in larger section thicknesses enables exploitation of these advanced materials for a variety of different applications. The technique of mechanical alloying (MA) is a powerful non-equilibrium processing technique and is known to produce glassy (or amorphous) alloys in several alloy systems. Metallic amorphous alloys have been produced by MA starting from either blended elemental metal powders or pre-alloyed powders. Subsequently, these amorphous alloy powders could be consolidated to full density in the temperature range between the glass transition and crystallization temperatures, where the amorphous phase has a very low viscosity. This Dissertation focuses on identifying the various Fe-based multicomponent alloy systems that can be amorphized using the MA technique, studying the GFA of alloys with emphasis on improving it, and also on analyzing the effect of extended milling time on the constitution of the amorphous alloy powder produced at earlier times. The Dissertation contains seven chapters, where the lead chapter deals with the background, history and introduction to bulk metallic glasses. The following four chapters are the published/to be published work, where the criterion for predicting glass formation, effect of Niobium addition on glass-forming ability (GFA), lattice contraction on amorphization, effect of Carbon addition on GFA, and observation of mechanical crystallization in Fe-based systems have been discussed. The subsequent chapter briefly mentions about the consolidation of amorphous powders and presents results of hot pressing and spark plasma sintering on one of the alloy systems. The final chapter summarizes the Dissertation and suggests some prospective research work that can be taken up in future. The Dissertation emphasizes the glass-forming ability, i.e., the ease with which amorphization can occur. In this work the milling time required for amorphization was the indicator/measure of GFA. Although the ultimate aim of this work was to consolidate the Fe-based amorphous alloy powders into bulk so as to undertake mechanical characterization, however, it was first necessary to study the glass forming aspect in the different alloy systems. By doing this a stage has been reached, where different options are available with respect to amorphous phase-forming compositions and the knowledge to improve glass-forming ability via the mechanical alloying technique. This will be ultimately useful in the powder compaction process into various shapes and sizes at optimum pressure and temperature. The study on mechanical crystallization indicates, or in a way defines, a limit to the process of amorphization, and it was also demonstrated that this phenomenon is more common in occurrence than and not as restricted as it was earlier reported to be.