High-Throughput Evaluation of Nanophase Separation Sintering for Alloy Design

Author(s):

Philip E. Goins and Heather A. Murdoch

Abstract:

Many promising materials from a theoretical performance perspective are designed without a pathway for scalable production in mind, which leaves any actual gains unrealizable. To avoid this pitfall, cost-saving and force-multiplying tools to identify scalable materials before extensive and expensive laboratory testing can and should be developed. In this work, we have developed a tool to rapidly screen alloys as candidates for a recently developed nanophase sintering approach, which enables pressure-free, near-net-shape full consolidation of materials that would normally require much higher, often prohibitive, processing temperatures, while preserving desirous microstructure and properties. This tool, built using Python and the Thermo-Calc Software Development Kit, can be used to rapidly down-select and optimize alloy compositions that are amenable to this state-of-the-art approach; thus, significantly reducing the risk of poor processing in select alloy systems using thermodynamic and kinetic considerations. This package is designed to be easily integrated into any alloy design program that seeks to down-select or optimize alloy composition for a given application.