The present invention relates to biaxially textured, composite, metallic substrate and articles made therefrom, and more particularly to such substrate and articles made by plastic deformation processes such as rolling and subsequently recrystallizing this alloyed composite materials to form long lengths of biaxially textured sheets, and more particularly to the use of said biaxially textured sheets as templates to grow biaxially textured, epitaxial metal/alloy/ceramic layers.
Ni—W alloy substrate is a promising choice due to its low cost and ease of forming cube texture among all the candidates of substrate materials used for YBCO coated conductors. So far long length of cube textured Ni5 at. % W substrate were successfully prepared and used widely as a substrate material for coated conductors. However, their ferromagnetism and low strength are still undesirable for extending YBCO coated conductors to a wider application. Ni alloy substrate with a W content higher than 9 at. % could ensure both required strength and acceptable magnetic properties for practical applications, but it seems too difficult to obtain a sharp cube texture in those alloys. The so called composite substrate with tri-layer structure could overcome these conflicts. J. Eickemyer (Acta Materialia, vol. 51, pp 4919-4927, 2003) has reported the fabrication of the composite substrate by inserting a high-strengthened Ni-12 at. % Cr alloy rod into a Ni-3 at. % W tube, followed by hot rolling, cold rolling as well as annealing. However, a mechanical bond between outer and inner layers is not enough strong to avoid the separation of tri-layers during the deformation. Moreover, the improvement of the mechanical and magnetic properties of the whole substrate can not still balance the drop of the quality of the cube texture in the outer layer of the composite substrate, which is possibly induced by the use of the hot rolling process. U.S. Pat. No. 6,180,570 has also reported a method of producing biaxial textured composite substrate by filling the metal tube with metal powder, followed by plastically deforming the powder-filled metal tube and recrystallization. However, only a portion of biaxial cube texture is formed in the annealed metal tapes.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a biaxially textured composite substrate for coated conductor applications and a method for preparing the same.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved method of preparing a reinforced metallic composite substrate for coated conductor applications.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved method of preparing a composite substrate with weak magnetism for coated conductor applications.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved method of preparing a composite substrate with high mechanical strength and reduced magnetization owing to the use of the Ni alloy with high W content in the inner layers of the composite substrate.
Further and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the description contained herein.
The invention relates to a method for preparing the composite substrate that can be used as substrate materials for coated conductors.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method of preparing a composite substrate including the steps of:
a) preparing the preformed composite ingot of a multilayer structure of the composite substrate, with outer layers being Ni—W alloys of low W content and inner layers being Ni—W alloys of high W content;
b) sintering the preformed composite ingot to form the metal alloy composite ingot via either powder metallurgy technique or sparking plasma sintering technique;
c) rolling the metal alloy composite ingot to form the cold-rolled composite substrate; and,
d) annealing the cold-rolled composite substrate to form the biaxially textured composite substrate with highly mechanical strength and reduced magnetization.
said structure of composite substrate is designed to have at least three layers, in which one or more inner layers of Ni—W alloys with 9 at. %-13 at. % W and two outer layers of Ni—W alloys with 3 at. %-9 at. % W are provided, with the content of W element gradually decreasing from the inner layers to the outer layers;
characterized in that
the preformed composite ingot is prepared by filling and compacting the Ni—W mixed powders into a mould layer by layer according to the structure of composite substrate;
in said mould, said preformed composite ingots are with the total thickness of 5-250 mm, the thickness of two outer layers being 2/9-⅔ of the total thickness.
The method claimed in the present invention can avoid inter-layers separation of the composite substrate during the heavy rolling process owing to a chemical bond and a gradient distribution of W element content in the cross section of the composite ingot.
The method of the present invention can obtain the composite substrate with sharp cube textures owing to the use of the Ni alloy with low W content in the outer layers of the composite substrate and the avoidance of a hot rolling process.
The method of the present invention can obtain the composite substrate with high mechanical strength and reduced magnetization owing to the use of the Ni alloy with high W content in the inner layers of the composite substrate.
In the drawings:
a shows a back scattering electron image (BSE) for the cross section of a Ni5W/Ni10W/Ni5W composite substrate;
A composite substrate article having at least three layers in which one or more inner layers (IL) of Ni—W alloys with 9 at. %-13 at. % W and two outer layers (OL) of Ni—W alloys with 3 at. %-9 at. % W are provided. The content of W element gradually decreases from the inner layers to the outer layers.
A method for preparing a composite substrate including the steps of:
a) designing the structure of composite substrate, as shown in
b) filling and compacting Ni—W mixed powders into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of OL/IL1/IL2/( . . . )/ILn−1/ILn/ILn−1/( . . . )IL2/IL1/OL to form the preformed composite ingot with the total thickness of 5-250 mm, the thickness of the outer layer being 2/9-⅔ of the total thickness, the thickness of each inner layer being same;
c) sintering the preformed composite ingot in a flowing gas included H2 in the range of 900° C. to 1350° C. for 5-10 h using powder metallurgy technique or in the range of 800° C. to 1100° C. for 20-60 minutes using sparking plasma sintering technique in vacuum;
d) rolling a metal alloy preformed composite ingot to form cold-rolled composite substrate to a thickness of 60-200 μm with per pass reduction of 5-20% and a total reduction of more than 90%; and,
e) either annealing the cold-rolled composite substrate in a flowing gas included H2 at the temperatures in the range of 600° C. to 800° C. for 15-120 minutes, followed by annealing at the temperatures in the range of 900° C. to 1350° C. for 30-180 minutes or only annealing at the temperatures in the range of 900° C. to 1350° C. for 30-180 minutes to form biaxially textured composite substrate with high mechanical strength and reduced magnetization.
a shows a back scattering electron image of the cross section of a composite substrate with three layers. A good connectivity and a clear boundary between the inner layer and the outer layer can be observed. The key of the process is to press multilayer powder together and to sinter it as a chemically joined alloy ingot with a metallurgy bond, thus avoiding inter-layers separation of composite substrate during the heavy rolling process.
The yield strength values of the composite substrate are showed in table 1 and 2. As shown in table 1 and 2, the mechanical strength is dramatically increased when compared to that of pure Ni and Ni5W substrate. The peak yield strength reaches 405 Mpa, being that of pure Ni and Ni5W substrate by a factor of about 10.1 and 2.7. The Ni—W alloys with high W content and strong strength are used as inner layers, thus leading to the increase of the mechanical strength of the whole composite substrate.
Examples from I to V are the composite substrate with tree layers which have been disclosed at early time in the Chinese patent application 200610080877.1.
Milling B powder (Ni-5 at. % W) and A powder (Ni-10 at. % W), respectively; filling and compacting A powder and B powder into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of B-A-B to form the preformed composite ingot; putting this mould into a spark plasma sintering equipment (SPS-3.20-MV type equipment, made in Japan) and keeping it to be sintered at 850° C. for 60 min in vacuum; cold-rolling the sintered composite ingot to a 100 μm of the thickness with a deformation of 5-13% per reduction and the total reduction being larger than 95%; annealing the cold-rolled substrate at 700° C. for 30 min in a mixture of Ar and H2 protected atmosphere, followed by the second step annealing at temperature of 1100° C. for 60 min, obtaining the final Ni alloy composite substrate.
Milling B powder (Ni-7 at. % W) and A powder (Ni-10 at. % W), respectively; filling and compacting A powder and B powder into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of B-A-B to form the preformed composite ingot; compacting it by a traditional powder metallurgy cold isostatic press with a pressure in the range of 150 Mpa, sintering the composite ingot homogeneously at 1000° C. for 5 h in a mixture of Ar and H2 protected atmosphere; cold-rolling the sintered composite ingot to 200 μm of the thickness with a per-reduction of 5-20%, and the total reduction being larger than 95%; annealing the cold-rolled substrate at 1000° C. for 2 h, obtained the final Ni based alloys composite substrate.
Milling B powder (Ni-3 at. % W) and A powder (Ni-9.3 at. % W), respectively; filling and compacting A powder and B powder into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of B-A-B to form the preformed composite ingot; compacting it by a traditional powder metallurgy cold isostatic press with a pressure in the range of 300 Mpa, sintering the composite ingot homogeneously at 1200° C. for 8 h in a mixture of Ar and H2 protected atmosphere; cold-rolling the sintered composite ingot to a 180 μm of the thickness with a per-reduction of 5-20%, and the total reduction being larger than 95%; annealing the cold-rolled substrate at 1200° C. for 0.5 h in vacuum (10−6 Pa), obtained the final Ni based alloys composite substrate.
Milling B powder (Ni-5 at. % W) and A powder (Ni-12 at. % W), respectively; filling and compacting A powder and B powder into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of B-A-B to form the preformed composite ingot; compacting it by a traditional powder metallurgy cold isostatic press with a pressure in the range of 200 Mpa, sintering the composite ingot homogeneously at 1300° C. for 10 h in a mixture of Ar and H2 protected atmosphere; cold-rolling the sintered composite ingot to a 60 μm of the thickness with a per-reduction of 5-20%, and the total reduction being larger than 95%; annealing the cold-rolled substrate at 700° C. for 60 min, followed by annealing at 1000 C for 30 min, obtained the final Ni based alloys composite substrate.
Milling B powder (Ni-7 at. % W) and A powder (Ni-10 at. % W), respectively; filling and compacting A powder and B powder into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of B-A-B to form the preformed composite ingot; using SPS technique, putting the mould into a spark plasma sintering equipment (named SPS-3.20-MV type SPS equipment, made in Japan) keeping it to be sintered at 1000° C. for 20 min with pressing in vacuum; cold-rolling the sintered composite ingot to a 150 μm of the thickness with a per-reduction of 8-18% and the total reduction being larger than 95%; annealing the cold-rolled substrate at 1300° C. for 1 h, obtaining the final Ni based alloys composite substrate.
Examples hereafter from VI to X will report on the composite substrate with three or more than three layers and the outer layer of the composite substrate have a larger range of the W content from 3 at. %-9 at. %. Meanwhile the strength and magnetism of the composite substrate have been further improved.
Filling and compacting the Ni—W mixed powders into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of Ni3W/Ni9W/Ni3W to form a preformed composite ingot with the total thickness of 40 mm, the thickness of the outer layer being ⅓ of the total thickness, the thickness of each inter layer being same; compacting and sintering preformed composite ingot using a sparking plasma sintering technique at a temperature of 800° C. for 60 minutes; rolling a metal alloy composite ingot to form cold-rolled composite substrate and annealing cold-rolled composite substrate at a temperature of 1200° C. for 30 minutes in a vacuum of 10−6 Pa. A biaxially textured composite substrate with high mechanical strength and reduced magnetization is obtained.
Filling and compacting the Ni—W mixed powders into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of Ni9W/Ni13W/Ni9W to form preformed composite ingot with the total thickness of 10 mm, the thickness of the outer layer being ⅓ of the total thickness, the thickness of each inter layer being same; compacting and sintering preformed composite ingot using powder metallurgy technique at a temperature of 1350° C. for 5 hours; rolling a metal alloy composite ingot to form cold-rolled composite substrate and annealing cold-rolled composite substrate at a 700° C. for 90 minutes, followed by annealing at a temperature of 1300° C. for 90 minutes in flowing 4% H2 in Ar. A biaxially textured composite substrate with high mechanical strength and reduced magnetization is obtained.
Filling and compacting the Ni—W mixed powders into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of Ni3W/Ni9W/Ni13W/Ni9W/Ni3W to form preformed composite ingot with the total thickness of 20 mm, the thickness of the outer layer being ⅖ of the total thickness, the thickness of each inter layer being same; compacting and sintering preformed composite ingot using powder metallurgy technique at a temperature of 1200° C. for 8 hours; rolling a metal alloy composite ingot to form cold-rolled composite substrate and annealing cold-rolled composite substrate at a temperature of 700° C. for 20 minutes, followed by annealing at a temperature of 1200° C. for 180 minutes in flowing 4% H2 in Ar. A biaxially textured composite substrate with high mechanical strength and reduced magnetization is obtained.
Filling and compacting the Ni—W mixed powders into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of Ni5W/Ni7W/Ni10W/Ni13W/Ni10W/Ni7W/Ni5W to form preformed composite ingot with the total thickness of 30 mm, the thickness of the outer layer being 2/7 of the total thickness, the thickness of each inter layer being same; compacting and sintering preformed composite ingot using sparking plasma sintering technique at a temperature of 110° C. for 20 minutes; rolling a metal alloy preformed composite ingot to form cold-rolled composite substrate and annealing cold-rolled composite substrate at a temperature of 1350° C. for 120 minutes in flowing 4% H2 in Ar. A biaxially textured composite substrate with high mechanical strength and reduced magnetization is obtained.
Filling and compacting the Ni—W mixed powders into a mould layer by layer according to the sequence of Ni7W/Ni10W/Ni13W/Ni10W/Ni7W to form preformed composite ingot with the total thickness of 30 mm, the thickness of the outer layer being ⅖ of the total thickness, the thickness of each inter layer being same; compacting and sintering preformed composite ingot using powder metallurgy technique at a temperature of 1300° C. for 6 hours; rolling a metal alloy preformed composite ingot to form cold-rolled composite substrate and annealing cold-rolled composite substrate at a 700° C. for 90 minutes, followed by annealing at a temperature of 1300° C. for 120 minutes in flowing 4% H2 in Ar. A biaxially textured composite substrate with high mechanical strength and reduced magnetization is obtained.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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200610080877.1 | May 2006 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/608,072 filed on Dec. 7, 2006, now allowed, which claims the priority benefits of Chinese application No. 200610080877.1 filed on May 19, 2006. The contents of the above identified prior applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11608072 | Dec 2006 | US |
Child | 12479462 | US |