| The present research addresses the fundamental synergism between thermal spray synthesis, microstructural evolution and mechanical behavior of Ni, Inconel 718 and Fe based 316-stainless steel nanocrystalline materials. Nanocrystalline Ni powders produced by mechanical milling in liquid nitrogen were investigated under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. Significant grain growth occurred in the case of cryomilled Ni powders even when annealing at lower temperatures (equivalent to about 0.17 Tm), indicating the poor thermal stability of these powders. The activation energy for grain growth was calculated to be 146.2 kJ/mol. The values of the time exponent, n, were very close to 4.0, implying that grain growth was controlled by grain boundary diffusion mechanism. The grain growth behavior of the nanocrystalline Ni powders under non-isothermal annealing conditions showed good correspondence between the experimental results and the theoretical simulation. The grain growth behavior of the milled Inconel 718 powders and coatings, under isothermal annealing indicated that the nanocrystalline powders and coatings exhibited thermal stability against grain growth up to 1073 K (0.67Tm). The average grain sizes of methanol milled powders after annealing at 1273 K for 1 hr, cryomilled powders, HVOF coating of the methanol milled powders and HVOF coatings of the cryomilled Inconel 718 powders were 91, 84, 137 and 102 nm, respectively. In the present study, Zener pinning of nanoscale oxides of (Cr,Fe) contributed to the stability against grain growth during thermal annealing of the nanocrystalline Inconel 718 powders and coatings. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
