Field Emission Gun Scanning Electron Microscopy with Electron Back Scatter Diffraction for Texture, Formability and Fatigue Studies of Advanced Materials

  • Zhai, Tongguang (PI)
  • Man, Chi Sing (CoI)
  • Morris, James (CoI)

Grants and Contracts Details

Description

ABSTRACT This proposal seeks to build the foundation for an intrinsic long-tenn improvement in the materials research capabilities at the University of Kentucky through the acquisition of an advanced Field Emission Gun Scanning Electron Microscope (FEGSEM) with Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) and Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy (EDS) equipped with the necessary attachments to support macro- and micro-texture, nano-scale imaging and composition analysis experiments. The FEGSEM-EBSD-EDS will support both ongoing and future materials research that is of interest to the Department of Defense. Furthennore, it will enhance materials science education at the University of Kentucky while stimulating new areas of research that are of interest to the DOD. Current DOD-funded research projects at the University of Kentucky that will immediately benefit from the new instrumentation include: (1) Residual Stress, Macro- and Micro-Texture, and High-Cycle Fatigue in Surface Enhanced Titanium Alloys; (2) Prediction of Texture and Fonnability of Continuous Cast AA 5000 and 2000 Series Aluminum Alloy Sheets and Their Quality Improvement. The first project is supported by the Directorate of Mathematics and Space Sciences at AFOSR, the main objectives of which are: (i) to develop an ultrasound technique for nondestructive inspection of the profile of residual stress induced by the surface-enhancement technique of low plasticity burnishing; (ii) to understand the changes of microstructure and texture due to surface-enhancement treatments and their effects on the high cycle fatigue properties of Ti alloys. The second project is sponsored by the Directorate of Aerospace and Materials Sciences at AFOSR and has Commonwealth Aluminum Concast, Inc., as industrial partner. Its main goal is to develop continuous cast 2000 series aluminum alloys and quantitatively predict crystallographic texture and fonnability of these alloys for possible aerospace applications. The proposed FEGSEM-EBSD-EDS will allow the PIs to conduct experiments in house that will complement ongoing theoretical and computational efforts.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date5/1/052/28/07

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