Due to their applicability for manufacturing dense, hard and stable coatings, Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) techniques, such as High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS), are currently used to deposit transition metal nitrides for tribological applications. Cr-Al-N is one of the most promising ceramic coating systems owing to its remarkable mechanical and tribological properties along with excellent corrosion resistance and high-temperature stability. This work explores the possibility of further improving Cr-Al-N coatings by modulation of its microstructure. Multilayer-like Cr1−xAlxN single films were manufactured using the angular oscillation of the substrate surface during HiPIMS. The sputtering process was accomplished using pulse frequencies ranging from 200 to 500 Hz and the resulting films were evaluated with respect to their hardness, Young’s modulus, residual stresses, deposition rate, crystallite size, crystallographic texture, coating morphology, chemical composition, and surface roughness. The multilayer-like structure, with periodicities ranging from 250 to 550 nm, were found associated with misorientation gradients and small-angle grain boundaries along the columnar grains, rather than mesoscopic chemical modulation of the microstructure. This minute modification of microstructure along with associated compressive residual stresses are concluded to explain the increased hardness ranging from 25 to 30 GPa, which is at least 20% over that expected for a film of the same chemical composition grown by a conventional PVD processing route.

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In this work, the casting process under mechanical agitation in the semi-solid state was investigated for the production of ZK60 magnesium alloy modified with the addition of 2.5% wt ofmischmetal. The results show that this process enables the production of ingots with homogeneous chemical composition and free of shrinkage, inner defects and internal oxidation. The as-cast microstructure consists of an α-Mg matrix with globular grains reinforced by a grid of distinct intermetallics of Mg-Zn, Mg-Zn-RE and Mg-RE type along the grain boundaries. The yield strength at room temperature undergoes more than 50% increase during direct T5 aging, thus reaching 170 MPa. At 300°C, however, the dispersion of nanometric precipitates does not modify the hot deformation behavior of the aged alloy, which undergoes dynamic recrystallization in a similar manner to the as-cast alloy. DRX at 300°C is fastest for the alloy solution-treated at 500°C.

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Rare earth elements reportedly improve high temperature strength and creep resistance of Mg alloys. In the present work, ZK60 Mg alloys containing different amounts (0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 wt.%) of rare earth additions were prepared by thixocasting and submitted to solution and ageing heat treatments (T4, T5 and T6). The as-cast and heat treated microstructures were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and hardness was evaluated as a function of heat treatment parameters. In the as-cast state, the alloys are formed by globular α-Mg grains reinforced by a network of composite Mg-Zn-RE precipitates with either smooth or lamellar/acicular morphologies. Solution of the smooth precipitates took place in alloys containing 0.5 and 1.5wt.%RE for T4-500 °C but no precipitates were dissolved with T4-380 °C. The optimum temperature for T5 and T6 was identified as 175 °C, while T6-500 °C led to the highest hardness, followed by T5 and T6-380 °C, respectively.

The effect of a travel speed of 200 mm/min as well as a tool rotational speed of 1200 rpm on butt joint quality of friction stir welding (FSW) ZK60 magnesium casting alloy containing 1.5 wt.% rare earths (ZK60-1.5RE) was investigated to determine microstructure and residual stresses. FSW results in the generation of heterogeneous metallurgical structures consisting of the base material (BM), stirred zone (SZ) and thermo-mechanical affected zone (TMAZ). The stirring action also produced a non-uniform distribution and segregation of intermetalics. The transversal distribution of the longitudinal welding stresses exhibits a "M-like" shape with mostly tensile stresses under the shoulder region and only one compressive stress peak in the advancing side of the SZ and TMAZ. It could be demonstrated that FSW of ZK60-1.5RE alloy was successful in the welding conditions applied during the present work.

Solution treatments (T4) at 380 °C for 16 h and 500 °C for 8 h were performed for ZK60 magnesium alloys modified with addition of 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 wt% of mischmetal (combination of rare-earth (RE) elements). The compression behaviour was investigated at room temperature and at 300 °C correlated with the microstructure and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data. The as-cast microstructure is formed by a-Mg matrix with globular grains reinforced by a semi continuous network of Mg-Zn, Mg-Zn-RE and Mg-RE intermetallic particles. Solution-treated alloys show lower yield strengths due to partial dissolution of precipitates. Work hardening was not observed for the alloys compressed at 300°C with the compression speed of 10-3 s-1, whereas it was observed for the compression speed of 10-2 s-1 for the all as-cast, ZK60-1.5RE-T4 at 380 °C and ZK60-1.5RE-T4 at 380 °C.

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