Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Medium Entropy Alloy

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are metals that can return to their original shape following thermal input. They are commonly used as functional materials in sensors, actuators, clamping fixtures and release mechanisms across industries. SMAs can suffer from dimensional/thermal instability, creep, and/or low hardness, resulting in alloys with little to no work output in the long term. To combat these deficiencies, NASA has developed a process of incorporating nanoparticles of refractory materials (i.e., carbide, oxide, and nitride materials with high temperature resistance) into the alloys. Using various processing methods, the nanoparticles can be effectively mixed and dispersed into the metal alloys as shown in the figure below. In these processes the SMA and refractory material powder is mixed and the refractory nanoparticles incorporated through extrusions, melting, or directly used in additive manufacturing to create parts for applications across the aerospace, automotive, marine, or biomedical sectors. The nanoparticle dispersion is a controllable method to strengthen the SMAs, increasing the hardness of the alloys, reducing the impact of creep, and improving the overall dimensional and thermal stability of the alloys. The related patent is now available to license. Please note that NASA does not manufacture products itself for commercial sale.

NASA's new Ni-based superalloy uses a powder metallurgy (PM) composition that inhibits the deleterious gamma-prime to gamma-phase transformation along stacking faults during high temperature creep deformation. Ni-base superalloys have excellent high temperature properties, mostly due to the presence of coherent precipitates. At higher temperatures, these precipitates are defeated by the diffusional shear dislocations producing intrinsic and extrinsic faults. Recent studies have found that, during deformation of turbine disk alloys at high temperature, Co, Cr, and Mo segregate to these faults (removing Ni and Al) inside the strengthening precipitates of these alloys. This represents a local phase transformation from the strengthening precipitate to the weaker matrix phase. Therefore, this elemental segregation significantly weakens the ability of a precipitate to withstand further deformation, producing faster strain rates in the alloy at higher temperatures. This invention presents a solution to prevent this type of segregation along these two faults to improve the creep properties of turbine disks and similar Ni-based alloys. By alloying a specific amount of eta phase formers (Ti, Ta, Nb, and Hf), the phase transformation to can be eliminated along 2-layer extrinsic stacking faults (SESFs) in precipitates without precipitating bulk eta phase. Also, by adding a certain amount of D019 formers (Mo and W), the phase transformation to can be mitigated along 1-layer intrinsic stacking faults (SISFs) without producing bulk sigma phase. This alloy composition incorporates both strengthening methods for use in jet turbine disks, though the composition has applications in other high-stress and/or high-temperature environments as are found in power plants, space launch systems, and other critical structural applications.

Aimed at structural applications up to 2700°F, NASA's patented technologies start with two types of high-strength SiC fibers that significantly enhance the thermo-structural performance of the commercially available boron-doped and sintered small-diameter “Sylramic” SiC fiber. These enhancement processes can be done on single fibers, multi-fiber tows, or component-shaped architectural preforms without any loss in fiber strength. The processes not only enhance every fiber in the preforms and relieve their weaving stresses, but also allow the preforms to be made into more shapes. Environmental resistance is also enhanced during processing by the production of a protective in-situ grown boron-nitride (iBN) coating on the fibers. Thus the two types of converted fibers are called “Sylramic-iBN” and “Super Sylramic-iBN”. For high CMC toughness, two separate chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) steps are used, one to apply a boron nitride coating on the fibers of the preform and the other to form the SiC-based matrix. The preforms are then heat treated not only to densify and shrink the CVI BN coating away from the SiC matrix (outside debonding), but also to increase its creep resistance, temperature capability, and thermal conductivity. One crucial advantage in this suite of technologies lies in its unprecedented customizability. The SiC/SiC CMC can be tailored to specific conditions by down-selecting the optimum fiber, fiber coating, fiber architecture, and matrix materials and processes. In any formulation, though, the NASA-processed SiC fibers display high tensile strength and the best creep-rupture resistance of any commercial SiC fiber, with strength retention to over 2700°F.

Oxide coatings have been used in thermal and environmental barrier layers for coatings for hot section turbine applications, among other uses. With the PS-PVD method, Glenn researchers observed the formation of a minority phase of a metastable oxide (zirconium oxide) that is usually found only in a vapor state. They found that the high temperatures and fast deposition process of the PS-PVD system incorporated nonequilibrium phases in the coating and retained them at room temperature as well as at high temperature in the absence of oxygen. The material is vaporized and condensed on the surface via a rapid quenching, essentially &#34trapping&#34 this phase in the deposited coating. The coating microstructure and composition can also be manipulated by changing the processing parameters, allowing the thickness of the coating to be tailored to a given application. Since this metastable phase is conductive, this coating can be used as (for example) an extremely sensitive (thermal or temperature) sensor. It also has very good durability and erosion resistance, making it useful as a protective and conductive coating for electronics and microelectronics. This is an early-stage technology requiring additional development, and Glenn welcomes co-development opportunities.

For extremely high-temperature sealing applications, Glenn researchers have devised novel methods for fabricating single-crystal preloaders. NASA's high-temperature preloaders consist of investment cast or machined parts that are fabricated in various configurations from single crystal superalloys. Machined preloaders include a variety of spring configurations, compressed axially or radially, fabricated from single crystal slabs. Before machining, the slabs are carefully oriented in a special goniometer using x-diffraction techniques. This helps to maintain proper crystal orientation relative to the machined part and the applied loads. For more complex geometry components which cannot be easily and economically machined, an investment casting approach would be used. Complex preloader geometries include wire coil springs of various configurations. These single crystal preloaders would be designed with the appropriate stiffness for the intended thermal barrier/seal application and placed underneath, or integrated within, the seal/barrier. At extrememly high temperature, the preload device keeps the seal/barrier mated against the opposing surface as the gap between the two surfaces changes, maintaining contact between surfaces and preventing convective heat transfer.