Testing and evaluation for fatigue crack propagation of Ti-6Al-4V/ELI and 7050-T7452 alloys at high temperatures

This paper seeks to evaluate crack propagation properties and residual lives of metallic alloys subjected to fatigue loading at room and high temperatures. Fatigue crack growth tests were performed on Ti-6Al-4V/ELI and 7050-T7452 subjected to constant-amplitude and actual randomspectra loading at room temperature of about 25 ℃ and at high temperatures of 250 ℃ and 150 ℃ to determine their crack growth properties and residual lives. The damage mode and mechanisms at high temperature were compared with those at room temperature on the basis of the results of fractographic analysis. Temperature-dependent residual lives under actual random-spectra load history were evaluated based on a modified accumulation damage rule accounting for the load interaction.Good correlation was achieved between the predictions and actual experiments, demonstrating the practical and effective use of the proposed method.     

Yield anisotropy and tension/compression asymmetry of a Ni3Al based intermetallic alloy

In order to investigate the yielding behavior of the newly developed Ni 3 Al-based intermetallic alloy IC10, yield stresses have been measured in tension and compression with different orientations. The specimens were cut from a sheet with different angles inclined from the solidification direction. The inclined angles were taken to be 0 , 22.5 , 45 , 67.5 and 90 . All experiments were conducted at room temperature except for orientation 0 , whose deformation temperatures ranged from 298 to 1273 K. Experimental results show that the yield strength of alloy IC10 has the anomalous behavior which has been observed for other Ll 2 -long-range ordered intermetallic alloys, but it is less pronounced. The abnormalities show the following characteristics: (i) the yield strength increases as the temperature is raised below the peak temperature, (ii) yield strength anisotropy, (iii) tension/compression asymmetry. Compared to Ni 3 Al single crystals, the polycrystalline exhibits some different yielding behaviors which may be due to the high volume fraction of c phase.     

SCC investigation of low alloy ultra-high strength steel 30CrMnSiNi2A in 3.5wt%NaCl solution by slow strain rate technique

To evaluate stress corrosion cracking(SCC) mechanism of low alloy ultra-high strength steel 30CrMnSiNi2 A in environment containing NaCl, SCC behavior of the steel in 3.5wt% NaCl solution is investigated by slow strain rate technique(SSRT) with various strain rates and applied potentials, surface analysis technique, and electrochemical measurements. SCC susceptibility of the steel increases rapidly with strain rate decreasing from 1 · 10 5s 1to 5 · 10 7s 1, and becomes stable when strain rate is lower than 5 · 10 7s 1. SCC propagation of the steel in the solution at open circuit potential(OCP) needs sufficient hydrogen which is supplied at a certain strain rate.Fracture surface at OCP has similar characteristics with that at cathodic polarization 1000 mVSCE, which presents characteristic fractography of hydrogen induced cracking(HIC).All of these indicate that SCC behavior of the steel in the solution at OCP is mainly controlled by HIC rather than anodic dissolution(AD).     

Effects of different aging treatments on microstructures and mechanical properties of Al-Cu-Li alloy joints welded by electron beam welding

Post-weld single aging treatment(solution treatment at 510 ℃ for 1 h, water quenching,and aging at 155 ℃ for 16 h) and post-weld double aging treatment(solution treatment at 510 ℃ for 1 h, water quenching, aging at 155 ℃ for 16 h, and aging at 130 ℃ for 12 h) are carried out on Al-Cu-Li alloy joints by electron beam welding(EBW) respectively. The effects of aging treatments on microstructures and mechanical properties of welded joints are investigated. Results show that the mechanical properties of welded joints are obviously improved after both aging treatments. The strength coefficient of joints is increased from 0.64 in an as-welded condition(AW) to 0.90 after post-weld double aging treatment. Microstructure analysis shows that the precipitates of the fusion zone within grains and grain boundaries are less in the AW condition. After post-weld heat treatment(PWHT), a lot of fine needle-like phases T_1(Al_2 Cu Li) precipitate in grain boundaries of the fusion zone, and more horseshoe-shaped β' (Al_3 Zr) particles precipitate within grains. In addition,grains of the fusion zone are refined after post-weld double aging treatment, which leads to an effect of grain refinement strengthening. Consequently, the mechanical properties of welded joints are greatly improved.     

Radical recombination in a hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet nozzle

To reveal the radical recombination process in the scramjet nozzle flow and study the effects of various factors of the recombination, weighted essentially non-oscillatory(WENO)schemes are applied to solve the decoupled two-dimensional Euler equations with chemical reactions to simulate the hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet nozzle flow. The accuracy of the numerical method is verified with the measurements obtained by a shock tunnel experiment. The overall model length is nearly 0.5 m, with inlet static temperatures ranging from 2000 K to 3000 K, inlet static pressures ranging from 75 k Pa to 175 k Pa, and inlet Mach numbers of 2.0 ± 0.4 are involved.The fraction Damkohler number is defined as functions of static temperature and pressure to analyze the radical recombination progresses. Preliminary results indicate that the energy releasing process depends on different chemical reaction processes and species group contributions. In hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet nozzle flow, reactions with H have the greatest contribution during the chemical equilibrium shift. The contrast and analysis of the simulation results show that the radical recombination processes influenced by inflow conditions and nozzle scales are consistent with Damkohler numbers and potential dissociation energy release. The increase of inlet static temperature improves both of them, thus making the chemical non-equilibrium effects on the nozzle performance more significant. While the increase of inlet static pressure improves the former one and reduces the latter, it exerts little influence on the chemical non-equilibrium effects.     

Fatigue crack propagation of new aluminum lithium alloy bonded with titanium alloy strap

A new type of aluminum lithium alloy (Al-Li alloy) Al-Li-S-4 was investigated by test in this paper. Alloy plate of 400 mm · 140 mm · 6 mm with single edge notch was made into samples bonded with Ti-6Al-4V alloy (Ti alloy) strap by FM 94 film adhesive after the surface was treated. Fatigue crack growth of samples was investigated under cyclic loading with stress ratio (R) of 0.1 and load amplitude constant. The results show that Al-Li alloy plate bonded with Ti alloy strap could retard fatigue crack propagation. Retardation effect is related with width and thickness of strap. Flaws have an observable effect on crack propagation direction.     

Tribological evaluation of surface modified H13 tool steel in warm forming of Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy sheet

The H13 hot-working tool steel is widely used as die material in the warm forming of Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy sheet. However, under the heating condition, severe friction and lubricating conditions between the H13 tools and Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy sheet would cause difficulty in guaranteeing forming quality. Surface modification may be used to control the level of friction force, reduce the friction wear and extend the service life of dies. In this paper, four surface modification methods(chromium plating, TiAlN coating, surface polishing and nitriding treatment)were applied to the H13 surfaces. Taking the coefficient of friction(CoF) and the wear degree as evaluation indicators, the high-temperature tribological behavior of the surface modified H13 steel was experimentally investigated under different tribological conditions. The results of this study indicate that the tribological properties of the TiAlN coating under dry friction condition are better than the others for a wide range of temperature(from room temperature to 500 C), while there is little difference of tribological properties between different surface modifications under graphite lubricated condition, and the variation law of CoF with temperature under graphite lubricated is opposite to that under the dry friction.     

Low-frequency unsteadiness of vortex wakes over slender bodies at high angle of attack

A type of flow unsteadiness with low frequencies and large amplitude was investigated experimentally for vortex wakes around an ogive-tangent cylinder. The experiments were carried out at angles of attack of 60–80 and subcritical Reynolds numbers of 0.6–1.8×105. The reduced frequencies of the unsteadiness are between 0.038 and 0.072, much less than the frequency of Karman vortex shedding. The unsteady flow induces large fluctuations of sectional side forces. The results of pressure measurements and particle image velocimetry indicate that the flow unsteadiness comes from periodic oscillation of the vortex wakes over the slender body. The time-averaged vortex patterns over the slender body are asymmetric, whose orientation is dependent on azimuthal locations of tip perturbations. Therefore, the vortex oscillation is a type of unsteady oscillation around a time-averaged asymmetric vortex structure.     

Parametric analyses for synthetic jet control on separation and stall over rotor airfoil

Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the effects of synthetic jet control on separation and stall over rotor airfoils. The preconditioned and unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations coupled with a k x shear stream transport turbulence model are employed to accomplish the flowfield simulation of rotor airfoils under jet control. Additionally,a velocity boundary condition modeled by a sinusoidal function is developed to fulfill the perturbation effect of periodic jets. The validity of the present CFD procedure is evaluated by the simulated results of an isolated synthetic jet and the jet control case for airfoil NACA0015. Then, parametric analyses are conducted specifically for an OA213 rotor airfoil to investigate the effects of jet parameters(forcing frequency, jet location and momentum coefficient, jet direction, and distribution of jet arrays) on the control effect of the aerodynamic characteristics of a rotor airfoil. Preliminary results indicate that the efficiency of jet control can be improved with specific frequencies(the best lift-drag ratio at F+= 2.0) and jet angles(40 or 75) when the jets are located near the separation point of the rotor airfoil. Furthermore, as a result of a suitable combination of jet arrays, the lift coefficient of the airfoil can be improved by nearly 100%, and the corresponding drag coefficient decreased by26.5% in comparison with the single point control case.     

Brazing of C/C composite and Ti-6Al-4V with graphene strengthened AgCuTi filler: Effects of graphene on wettability,microstructure and mechanical properties

Graphene nanosheets(GNSs) strengthened AgCuTi composite filler(AgCuTi_G) was used to braze C/C composite and Ti-6Al-4V. The effects of GNSs on the wettability of AgCuTi_G filler on the C/C composite surface and the interfacial microstructure and mechanical properties of brazed joints were investigated. The results indicate that the addition of GNSs reduced the wettability of AgCuTi_G. The interfacial microstructure of brazed joints evolved with the addition of GNSs, where Ti_3Cu_4 and TiCu_4 were converted to TiCu and the thickness of the reaction layer adjacent to the base material decreased. The maximum shear strength of joints brazed at 0.3 wt% GNSs was 23.3 MPa(880℃/10 min). Further adding GNSs deteriorated the shear strength of the joints. Fracture of the joints occurred in the C/C composite substrate and the TiC layer adjacent to C/C composite.     

Ignition enhancement of ethylene/air by NOx addition

Recently, non-equilibrium plasma assisted combustion (PAC) has been found to be promising in reducing the ignition delay time in hypersonic propulsion system. NO x produced by non-equilibrium plasma can react with intermediates during the fuel oxidation process and thereby has influence on the combustion process. In this study, the effects of NO x addition on the ignition process of both the homogeneous ethylene/air mixtures and the non-premixed diffusion layer are examined numerically. The detailed chemistry for ethylene oxidization together with the NO x sub-mechanism is included in the simulation. Reaction path analysis and sensitivity analysis are conducted to give a mechanistic interpretation for the ignition enhancement by NO x addition. It is found that for both the homogenous and non-premixed ignition processes at normal and elevated pressures, NO 2 addition has little influence on the ignition delay time while NO addition can significantly promote the ignition process. The ignition enhancement is found to be caused by the promotion in hydroxyl radical production which quickly oxidizes ethylene. The promotion in hydroxyl radical production by NO addition is achieved in two ways:one is the direct production of OH through the reaction HO2+NO = NO2+OH, and the other is the indirect production of OH through the reactions NO+O2=NO2+O and C2H4+O = C2H3+OH. Moreover, it is found that similar to the homogeneous ignition process, the acceleration of the diffusion layer ignition is also controlled by the reaction HO2+NO = NO2+OH.     

激光冲击强化对钛合金高温微动疲劳寿命的影响

为了解高温工作环境下激光冲击强化工艺(LSP)对钛合金材料微动疲劳寿命的影响,开展了强化前后TC11钛合金在室温、300°C和500°C下的微动疲劳试验并测试了试验件表层的残余应力及硬度。结果表明:随着温度的升高,激光冲击强化对TC11钛合金微动疲劳寿命的提高倍数逐渐减小。在轴向载荷为400MPa,法向载荷为65.5MPa时,经激光冲击强化后TC11钛合金试验件在室温、300°C和500°C下的微动疲劳寿命分别为强化前的5.5倍、3.5倍和1.7倍;强化后试验件表层的残余应力会在高温下发生松弛,且松弛程度会随温度的升高而增大,这是激光冲击强化效果随温度升高而逐渐弱化的主要原因。     

Springback prediction of thick-walled high-strength titanium tube bending

Significant springback occurs after tube rotary-draw-bending （RDB）, especially for a high-strength Ti-3A1-2.5V tube （HSTT） due to its high ratio of yield strength to Young＇s modulus. The combination scheme of explicit and implicit is preferred to predict the springback. This simulation strategy includes several numerical parameters, such as element type, number of elements through thickness （NEL）, element size, etc. However, the influences of these parameters on spring- back prediction accuracy are not fully understood. Thus, taking the geometrical specification 9.525 mm × 0.508 mm ofa HSTT as the objective, the effects of numerical parameters on prediction accuracy and computation efficiency of springback simulation of HSTT RDB are investigated. The simulated springback results are compared with experimental ones. The main results are： （1） solid and continuum-shell elements predict the experimental results well; （2） for C3DSR elements, NEL of at least 3 is required to obtain reliable results and a relative error of 29% can occur as NEL is varied in the range of 1-3; （3） specifying damping factor typically works well in Abaqus/Emplicit simulation of springback and the springback results are sensitive to the magnitude of damping factor. In addition, the explanations of the effect rules are given and a guideline is added.     

Effect of stress ratio on HCF and VHCF properties at temperatures of 20 °C and 700 °C for nickel-based wrought superalloy GH3617M

This paper attempts to investigate the effects of stress ratio and high temperature on the HCF(high-cycle-fatigue) and VHCF(very-high-cycle-fatigue) behaviors of nickel-based wrought superalloy GH3617 M. Fatigue tests over the full HCF and VHCF regimes were conducted on superalloy GH3617 M subjected to constant-amplitude loading at five stress ratios of -1, -0.5, 0,0.4, and 0.8 in environments of 20 °C and 700 °C temperatures. From experimental observation and fractographic analysis, fatigue mechanisms were deduced to reveal the synergistic interaction between high temperature and stress ratio on the HCF and VHCF behaviors of superalloy GH3617 M. A phenomenological model was crafted from available fatigue design knowledge to evaluate the synergistic interaction, and a good correlation between predictions and experiments has been achieved.     

Effect of dilution holes on the performance of a triple swirler combustor

A triple swirler combustor is considered to be a promising solution for future high temperature rise combustors. The present paper aims to study dilution holes including primary dilution holes and secondary dilution holes on the performance of a triple swirler combustor. Experimental investigations are conducted at different inlet airflow velocities(40–70 m/s) and combustor overall fuel–air ratio with fixed inlet airflow temperature(473 K) and atmospheric pressure. The experimental results show that the ignition is very difficult with specific performance of high ignition fuel–air ratio when the primary dilution holes are located 0.6H(where H is the liner dome height)downstream the dome, while the other four cases have almost the same ignition performance. The position of primary dilution holes has an effect on lean blowout stability and has a large influence on combustion efficiency. The combustion efficiency is the highest when the primary dilution holes are placed 0.9H downstream the dome among the five different locations.For the secondary dilution holes, the pattern factor of Design A is better than that of Design B.     

Progress in helicopter infrared signature suppression

Due to their low-attitude and relatively low-speed fight profiles, helicopters are subjected to serious threats from radio, infrared(IR), visual, and aural detection and tracking. Among these threats, infrared detection and tracking are regarded as more crucial for the survivability of helicopters. In order to meet the requirements of infrared stealth, several different types of infrared suppressor(IRS) for helicopters have been developed. This paper reviews contemporary developments in this discipline, with particular emphasis on infrared signature suppression, advances in mixer-ejectors and prediction for helicopters. In addition, several remaining challenges, such as advanced IRS, emissivity optimization technique, helicopter infrared characterization, etc., are proposed, as an initial guide and stimulation for future research. In the future, the comprehensive infrared suppression in the 3–5 lm and 8–14 lm bands will doubtfully become the emphasis of helicopter stealth. Multidisciplinary optimization of a complete infrared suppression system deserves further investigation.     

An approach for parameter estimation of combined CPPM and LFM radar signal

In this paper, the problem of parameter estimation of the combined radar signal adopting chaotic pulse position modulation (CPPM) and linear frequency modulation (LFM), which can be widely used in electronic countermeasures, is addressed. An approach is proposed to estimate the initial frequency and chirp rate of the combined signal by exploiting the second-order cyclostationarity of the intra-pulse signal. In addition, under the condition of the equal pulse width, the pulse repetition interval (PRI) of the combined signal is predicted using the low-order Volterra adaptive filter. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed cyclic autocorrelation Hough transform (CHT) algorithm is theoretically tolerant to additive white Gaussian noise. When the value of signal noise to ratio (SNR) is less than 4 dB, it can still estimate the intra-pulse parameters well. When SNR = 3 dB, a good prediction of the PRI sequence can be achieved by the Volterra adaptive filter algorithm, even only 100 training samples.     

Influences of pre-torsion deformation on microstructure and mechanical properties of pure titanium subjected to subsequent tension deformation

A series of experimental studies was carried out to investigate the influences of pre-torsion on microstructure evolution, mechanical properties, and fracture appearance of pure titanium subjected to subsequent tension deformation. An introduction of pre-torsion strain can improve the materials’ mechanical properties through micro hardness evaluation. That is, the micro hardness of tensile samples with pre-torsion deformation is much higher than that of samples processed by single torsion or tension. It can be seen from the microstructure that pre-torsion deformation can be used to refine grains better and control grains’ morphology by combining subsequent tension. The results indicate that the grains are refined most evidently for tensile samples with 2 turn pre-torsion deformation. Moreover, fracture analysis indicates that tensile samples with pre-torsion strain can present good comprehensive performance. In conclusion, pre-torsion deformation plays an important role in improving comprehensive performance and controlling microstructure evolution on pure titanium subjected to later tension deformation.     

Infrared radiation signature of exhaust plume from solid propellants with different energy characteristics

The infrared radiation signature of the plume from solid propellants with different energy characteristics is not the same. Three kinds of double-base propellants of different energy characteristics are chosen to measure the infrared spectral radiance from 1000 cm 1 to 4500 cm 1 of their plumes. The radiative spectrum is obtained in the tests. The experimental results indicate that the infrared radiation of the plume is determined by the energy characteristics of the propellant. The radiative transfer calculation models of the exhaust plume for the solid propellants are established. By including the chemical reaction source term and the radiation source term into the energy equation, the plume field and the radiative transfer are solved in a coupled way. The calculated results are consistent with the experimental data, so the reliability of the models is confirmed. The temperature distribution and the extent of the afterburning of the plume are distinct for the propellants of different energy characteristics, therefore the plume radiation varies for different propellants. The temperature of the fluid cell in the plume will increase or decrease to some extent by the influence of the radiation term.     

Investigations on damage resistance of carbon fiber composite panels toughened using veils

This research focused on how to improve damage resistance of carbon fiber laminates. It was carried out at Cranfield University Composites Centre, Milton Keynes, UK as an MSc by research thesis project. A series of low-cost composite laminates, with or without novel veils provided by Tenax, was manufactured using current aircraft carbon fiber preforms via vacuum infusion (VI) molding in this research. All the investigations on damage resistance of these panels were carried out according to the British Standard (BS ISO 18353:2009). Initial damage was induced using a falling weight apparatus mounting a 16 mm hemispherical tip. C-scan and Micrograph were employed to reveal damage characteristics. Finally, both compression after impact (CAI) and plain compression strength were experimented. The behaviors of these panels, including damage size, damage construction, residual compression strength, and compression strength reduction, were utilized to investigate how and to what extent the veils affected the damage resistance. The results show that using veils is an efficient method of improving the damage resistance of the laminates studied. Maximum 32% increase in residual compression strength is achieved via veils accompanying with 7% increase in cost.