Topic Review
Lithium Production and Recovery Methods
The first step of hydrometallurgical treatment is leaching, which is an effective method capable of transferring over 99% of the present metals to the leach solutions. Extraction of metals after leaching can be conducted using various methods, with precipitation being the most commonly used. The precipitation of other metals can result in the co-precipitation of lithium, causing total lithium losses up to 30%. To prevent such losses, solvent extraction methods are used to selectively remove elements, such as Co, Ni, Al, and Mn. Solvent extraction (SX) is highly effective, reducing the losses to 3% per extraction stage and reducing overall lithium losses to 15%. After the refining, lithium is precipitated as lithium carbonate. High lithium carbonate solubility (1.5 g/L) and high liquid to solid leaching ratios require costly and avoidable operations to be implemented in order to enhance lithium concentration. Therefore, it is suggested that more studies should focus on multistage leaching with lower L/S ratios.
  • 599
  • 14 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Lithium-ion Battery (LIB) Recycling
The search for global CO2 net zero requires adapting transport vehicles to an electrification system for electric vehicles. In addition, the consumption of electric devices, and consequently batteries, has risen over the years. In order to achieve a circular economy, the spent batteries must be recycled. 
  • 364
  • 06 May 2023
Topic Review
Low-Carbon Ti-Mo Microalloyed Hot Rolled Steels
Low-carbon Ti-Mo microalloyed steels represent a new generation of high strength steels for automobile sheet. Excellent indicators of difficult-to-combine technological, strength, and other service properties are achieved due to the superposition of a dispersed ferrite matrix and a bulk system of nanoscale carbide precipitates.
  • 571
  • 29 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing of Metal
Material extrusion additive manufacturing of metal (metal MEX), which is one of the 3D printing processes, has gained more interests because of its simplicity and economics. Metal MEX process is similar to the conventional metal injection moulding (MIM) process, consisting of feedstock preparation of metal powder and polymer binders, layer-by-layer 3D printing (metal MEX) or injection (MIM) to create green parts, debinding to remove the binders and sintering to create the consolidated metallic parts.
  • 3.5K
  • 02 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Mechanisms of Hydrogen Embrittlement
Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is a broadly recognized phenomenon in metallic materials. If not well understood and managed, HE may lead to catastrophic environmental failures in vessels containing hydrogen, such as pipelines and storage tanks. HE can affect the mechanical properties of materials such as ductility, toughness, and strength, mainly through the interaction between metal defects and hydrogen. Various phenomena such as hydrogen adsorption, hydrogen diffusion, and hydrogen interactions with intrinsic trapping sites like dislocations, voids, grain boundaries, and oxide/matrix interfaces are involved in this process.
  • 441
  • 05 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Metallurgical Coke Structures
The structure of coke affects its reactivity and strength, which directly influences its performance in the blast furnace.
  • 1.9K
  • 11 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Metallurgy/Weldability of High-Strength Cold-Resistant and Cryogenic Steels
Thermomechanical Controlled Processing (TMCP), the initial microstructure and mechanical properties of rolled products made of high-strength steels, have a significant influence on the properties and reliability of welded structures for low temperature and cryogenic service.
  • 925
  • 13 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Mg-Zn-{Y, Ce} Alloys: Thermodynamic Modeling and Mechanical Properties
Magnesium alloys are a strong candidate for various applications in automobile and aerospace industries due to their low density and specific strength. Micro-alloying magnesium with zinc, yttrium, and cerium enhances mechanical properties of magnesium through grain refinement and precipitation hardening. 
  • 920
  • 31 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Nanojoining
Nanojoining is the process of joining two or more surfaces together using nanomaterials as the primary building blocks. This includes, but is not limited to, nanosoldering, nanobrazing, nanowelding, nanoscale diffusion bonding, and additive manufacturing. Note that, like with conventional soldering and brazing, only the filler metal undergoes melting, not the base material. Nanomaterials are materials in which at least one dimension 100 nm or less and include 0-D (e.g. nanoparticles, 1-D (e.g. nanowires and nanorods), 2-D (e.g. graphene), and 3-D (e.g. nanofoam) materials. Nanomaterials exhibit several notable properties that allow joining to occur at temperatures lower than the melting temperature of their bulk counterpart. For example, the melting temperature of Ag is 961.78 °C, but Ag nanomaterials begin to melt at a much lower temperature that is dependent depending on the size and shape. These properties include high surface area to volume ratio, the Gibbs-Thompson effect, and high surface energy. The low joining temperature of nanomaterials has been exploited numerous times for flexible electronics, printable electronics, and soldering applications; only within the last two decades have they been explored for high-temperature joining applications (>450 °C).
  • 1.8K
  • 07 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Ni-Base Superalloys
Ni-base superalloys are materials largely used in aero-space and energy production sectors, in particular for manufacturing engine parts (e.g. blades, rotors, turbine disks etc.) of aircrafts and aerospace vehicles and parts of power plants (e.g. extraction of oil and gas, nuclear reactors, etc.). At high temperature they exhibit an exceptional combination of high mechanical strength and excellent corrosion resistance. Ni-base superalloys are considered materials of strategic importance and a lot of metallurgical research has been devoted for optimizing their microstructure and improving mechanical properties so that they can operate at ever higher temperature in conditions of safety and reliability. Ni-base superalloys are strengthened by the precipitation of the ordered γ' phase, L12 Ni3(Al,Ti), crystallographically coherent to the f.c.c. γ matrix and their unique mechanical properties at high temperature result from the great microstructure stability. The volume fraction of γ' phase varies from 25% to 50% in polycrystalline superalloys and reaches about 70% in the most modern single crystal superalloys used for the first stage of aeronautical turbine blades. In order to reduce as much as possible the strain misfit between coherent γ and γ' phases (less than 0.4%) they are designed by an accurate tailoring of the chemical composition and a strict control of the process parameters; the resulting interface energy (20-30 mJ/m2) guarantees an excellent stability of the microstructure at high temperature. Other phases such as carbides, borides, γ'', η, δ, σ, µ and Laves phases may be also present with various effects on the mechanical properties; for instance, the topological closed-packed (TCP) σ, µ and Laves phases are undesirable because reduce the ductility.  In spite of the fact that Ni-base superalloys cost from 3 to 5 times the Fe-base ones, their use is expanding especially in gas turbine components for the production of energy because higher temperature of the thermal cycle guarantees greater efficiency and reduction of polluting emission. The demand of Ni-base superalloys is expected to expand also for the energy production through conventional steam turbine plants for achieving super-critical conditions with a predicted increase of efficiency to ~ 60% and reduction of CO2 to about 0.7 ton/kWatth while current sub-critical power plants have an efficiency of ~ 35% and produce 1.2 ton/kWatth of CO2. Of course, higher operating temperature involves more severe degradation of mechanical properties owing to these factors: (i) microstructure evolution including formation of undesired phases, coalescence of γ' precipitates, degeneration of carbides due to fatigue and creep exposure etc.; ii) the formation of cracks. Three topics of great industrial relevance will be discussed hereinafter: (i) microstructural stability; (ii) manufacturing parts of complex geometry; (iii) welding of superalloys. 
  • 901
  • 16 Feb 2022
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