Claims
- 1. A method of treating a metallurgical object containing metastable, crystalline, featureless regions adversely affecting toughness, comprising heating the object for transforming the regions at least sufficiently out of their metastable state to stabilize them and make them deformable, and deforming the object following the heating to improve toughness as compared to that achieved without the heating.
- 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, the heating being sufficient to provide at least a 10% improvement in toughness.
- 3. A method as claimed in claim 1, the heating being sufficient to provide at least a 20% improvement in toughness.
- 4. A method as claimed in claim 1, the heating being sufficient to provide at least a 30% improvement in toughness.
- 5. A method as claimed in claim 1, the object comprising an aluminum alloy.
- 6. A method as claimed in claim 5, the object comprising an aluminum alloy of the class referred to as non-heat treatable or dispersion hardened.
- 7. A method as claimed in claim 6, the object comprising bonded powder.
- 8. A method as claimed in claim 7, the object comprising a dispersion hardened, bonded powder.
- 9. A method as claimed in claim 8, the alloy consisting essentially of 4 to 12% iron, 1 to 8% rare earth metal, balance aluminum.
- 10. A method as claimed in claim 9, the alloy consisting essentially of 6 to 10% iron, 2 to 7% cerium, balance aluminum.
- 11. A method of treating metal particles containing metastable, crystalline, featureless regions which adversely affect toughness when the particles are bonded together to form a metallurgical object, comprising heating the particles for transforming the regions at least sufficiently out of their metastable state to stabilize the regions and make the regions deformable, to improve toughness in deformed metallurgical objects formed by bonding the particles together, as compared to that achieved without the heating, said method further comprising bonding the particles into an object, and deforming the object.
- 12. A method as claimed in claim 11, the heating being sufficient to provide at least a 10% improvement in toughness.
- 13. A method as claimed in claim 11, the heating being sufficient to provide at least a 20% improvement in toughness.
- 14. A method as claimed in claim 11, the heating being sufficient to provide at least a 30% improvement in toughness.
- 15. A method as claimed in claim 11, the particles comprising an aluminum alloy.
- 16. A method as claimed in claim 15, the particles comprising an aluminum alloy of the class referred to as non-heat treatable.
- 17. A method as claimed in claim 7, the particles comprising a non-heat treatable aluminum alloy of the class referred to as dispersion hardened.
- 18. A method as claimed in claim 17, the alloy consisting essentially of 4 to 12% iron, 1 to 8% rare earth metal, balance aluminum.
- 19. A method as claimed in claim 18, the alloy consisting essentially of 6 to 10% iron, 2 to 8% cerium, balance aluminum.
- 20. A method as claimed in claim 4, the improvement in toughness being coupled with a less than 10% decrease in yield strength.
- 21. A method as claimed in claim 14, the improvement in toughness being coupled with a less than 10% decrease in yield strength.
- 22. A method of processing a metallurgical object containing heat-affected featureless regions sufficiently stabilized and deformable, such that deformation of the object results in improved toughness as compared to that achieved in the case of an otherwise equal object containing featureless regions which have not been heat-affected, said method comprising deforming said metallurgical object.
- 23. A method as claimed in claim 22, the achieved improvement in toughness being at least a 10% improvement.
- 24. A method as claimed in claim 22, the achieved improvement in toughness being at least a 20% improvement.
- 25. A method as claimed in claim 22, the achieved improvement in toughness being at least a 30% improvement.
- 26. A method as claimed in claim 25, the improvement in toughness being coupled with a less than 10% decrease in yield strength.
- 27. A method as claimed in claim 22, the object comprising an aluminum alloy.
- 28. A method as claimed in claim 22, the object comprising bonded powder.
- 29. A method as claimed in claim 28, the object comprising a dispersion hardened, bonded powder.
- 30. A method as claimed in claim 29, the alloy consisting essentially of 4 to 12% iron, 1 to 8% rare earth metal, balance aluminum.
- 31. A method as claimed in claim 30, the alloy consisting essentially of 6 to 10% iron, 2 to 7% cerium, balance aluminum.
- 32. A deformed metallurgical object containing heat-affected featureless regions sufficiently stabilized and deformable, such that the object has improved toughness as compared to that achieved in the case of an otherwise equal object containing featureless regions which have not been heat-affected.
- 33. An object as claimed in claim 32, the improvement in toughness being at least a 10% improvement.
- 34. An object as claimed in claim 32, the improvement in toughness being at least a 20% improvement.
- 35. An object as claimed in claim 32, the improvement in toughness being at least a 30% improvement.
- 36. An object as claimed in claim 35, the improvement in toughness being coupled with a less than 10% decrease in yield strength.
- 37. An object as claimed in claim 32, the object comprising an aluminum alloy.
- 38. An object as claimed in claim 32, the object comprising bonded powder.
- 39. An object as claimed in claim 38, the object comprising a dispersion hardened, bonded powder.
- 40. An object as claimed in claim 39, the alloy consisting essentially of 4 to 12% iron, 1 to 8% rare earth metal, balance aluminum.
- 41. An object as claimed in claim 40, the alloy consisting essentially of 6 to 10% iron, 2 to 7% cerium, balance aluminum.
- 42. A method of using metal particles containing heat-affected featureless regions sufficiently stabilized and deformable, such that deformation of an object formed by bonding the particles together results in improved toughness as compared to that achieved in the case of an otherwise equal object formed from particles containing featureless regions which have not been heat-affected, comprising bonding the particles to form an object and deforming the object.
- 43. A method as claimed in claim 42, the achieved improvement in toughness being at least a 10% improvement.
- 44. A method as claimed in claim 42, the achieved improvement in toughness being at least a 20% improvement.
- 45. A method as claimed in claim 42, the achieved improvement in toughness being at least a 30% improvement.
- 46. A method as claimed in claim 45, the improvement in toughness being coupled with a less than 10% decrease in yield strength.
- 47. A method as claimed in claim 42, the particles comprising an aluminum alloy.
- 48. A method as claimed in claim 47, the alloy comprising a dispersion hardened alloy.
- 49. A method as claimed in claim 48, the alloy consisting essentially of 4 to 12% iron, 1 to 8% rare earth metal, balance aluminum.
- 50. A method as claimed in claim 49, the alloy consisting essentially of 6 to 10% iron, 2 to 7% cerium, balance aluminum.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 860,546 filed May 7, 1986, abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 735,567 filed May 17, 1985, abandoned.
Mettalurgical objects produced from rapidly cooled metal have been burdened by low toughness. the cause of this low toughness was not known.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for toughening metallurgical objects produced from rapidly cooled metal components.
We have discovered that metastable, featureless regions in rapidly cooled metal adversely affect toughness.
We achieve this as well as other objects which will become apparent from the discussion that follows, according to the present invention, by providing: a method of treating a metallurgical object containing metastable featureless regions adversely affecting fracture toughness, comprising heating the object for transforming the regions at least sufficiently out of their metastable state to improve fracture toughness; and, a method of treating metal particles containing metastable featureless regions which adversely affect fracture toughness when the particles are bonded together to form a metallurgical object, comprising heating the particles for transferring the regions at least sufficiently out of their metastable state to improve fracture toughness in metallurgical objects formed by bonding the particles together.
US Referenced Citations (2)
| Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
|
4347076 |
Ray et al. |
Aug 1982 |
|
|
4379719 |
Hildeman et al. |
Apr 1983 |
|
Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
| Entry |
| Jones, H., "Observations on a Structural Transaction in Aluminium Alloys Hardened by Rapid Solidification", Mater. Sci. Eng, 5 (1970), pp. 1-18. |
| Chu et al., "Microstructural Evolution Having Solidification of Al-Fe-Ce Powder", Proc. 43rd Annual Meeting of Electron Microscopy Society of Amer.COPYRGT. 1985, San Francisco Press, pp. 32-33. |
| Staley, J. T., "Microstructure and Toughness of High Strength Aluminum Alloys", Properties Related to Fracture Toughness, ASTM STP605, p. 1976, pp. 71-103. |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
860546 |
May 1986 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
735567 |
May 1985 |
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Patent Grant
4927469
