Exploring Ultrahigh Magnetic Field Processing of Materials for Developing Customized Microstructures and Enhanced Performance
Thermodynamic calculations based on Gibbs free energy in the magnetization-magnetic intensity-temperature (M-H-T) magnetic equation of state space demonstrate that significantly different phase equilibria may result for those material systems where the product and parent phases exhibit different magnetization responses. These calculations show that the Gibbs free energy is changed by a factor equal to -MdH, where M and H are the magnetization and applied field strength, respectively. Magnetic field processing is directly applicable to a multitude of alloys and compounds for dramatically influencing phase stability and phase transformations. This ability to selectively control microstructural stability and alter transformation kinetics through appropriate selection of the magnetic field strength promises to provide a very robust mechanism for developing and tailoring enhanced microstructures (and even nanostructures through accelerated kinetics) with superior properties for a broad spectrum of material applications. For this Industrial Materials for the Future (IMF) Advanced Materials for the Future project, ferrous alloys were studied initially since this alloy family exhibits ferromagnetism over part of its temperature range of stability and therefore would demonstrate the maximum impact of this novel processing mechanism. Additionally, with these ferrous alloys, the high-temperature parent phase, austenite, exhibits a significantly different magnetization response from the potential product phases, ferrite plus carbide or martensite; and therefore, the solid-state transformation behavior of these alloys will be dramatically influenced by the presence of ultrahigh magnetic fields. Finally, a thermodynamic calculation capability (within ThermoCalc for example) was developed during this project to enable parametric studies to be performed to predict the magnitude of the influence of magnetic processing variables on the phase stability (phase diagrams) in ferromagnetic materials of relevance to the Industries of the Future (IOF).
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 838516
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-2005/79; TRN: US200802%%1207
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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