Date of Last Revision

2023-05-02 23:43:17

Major

Corrosion Engineering - Cooperative Education

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Date of Expected Graduation

Spring 2017

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to investigate thermal stability of high energy ball milled Al-5at.%Ni and Al-5at.%V alloys. Characterization was done by analyzing grain size and solid solubility. Samples were created using high energy ball milling, cold compaction to 3 GPa, and sintering from 100 °C to 500 °C at 100 °C increments, as well 450 °C and 614 °C. Microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion properties were determined using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, hardness testing, and cyclic potentiodynamic polarization. Vickers hardness of Al-5at.%Ni decreased with increasing temperature. For Al-at.%V, hardness increased with sintering temperature up to 300 °C before decreasing higher sintering temperatures. As sintering temperature increased, solid solubility of both alloying elements decreased, and grain size of both alloys increased. Corrosion testing was not conclusive due to limited repetition, but trended towards lower pitting potentials with lower hardness values and higher sintering temperatures. These findings follow previous research of Al-Cr alloys, and will be useful in future work to identify the optimal sintering temperature to create high strength, corrosion resistant aluminum alloys.

Research Sponsor

Dr. Rajeev Gupta

First Reader

Dr. Scott Lillard

Second Reader

Dr. Qixin Zhou

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