Interrelation of thermal and microstructural solidification parameters and corrosion/tribocorrosion behavior of alloys for tribological, biomedical and solder applications

Abstract

A careful study, permitting correlations between microstructural parameters and mechanical, wear, corrosion and tribocorrosion behavior of metallic alloys to be established, is fundamental in the pre-programming of final properties of as-cast components. A number of alloys systems can be identified havíng alloys with significant potential for biomedical, tribological and solders applications. However, there is a lack of systematic studies in the literature on the evolution of solidification microstructures under transient heat flow conditions and on correlations between the scale of parametric features of these microstructuresand application properties such as mechanical, wear and corrosion resistances. The present study aims to develop a detailed analysis of the microstructural evolution (through thermal analysis, optical and scanning microscopy characterization) of different compositions of Zn-Mg alloys (compositions on both sides of the phase diagram), AI-Bi-(Sn); AI-Sn-(Cu;Si) alloys and eutectic Sn-Cu and Sn-Mg solder alloys directionally solidified under transient conditions. The study also aims to establish growth laws correlating quantitative parameters of the microstructure and solidification thermal parameters. Furthermore, representative specimens of each alloy examined having different microstructural scales will be subjected to corrosion and tribocorrosion tests with a view to determining correlations between microstructure and the corresponding corrosion and tribocorrosion behavior. (AU)