The research results were published in the Journal of Materials Processing Technology.
According to the scientists, they’ve managed to obtain a high-strength material from iron, which, despite processing, retains high welding properties and can form strong joints. This will allow using welding instead of bolted joints in car, plane and rocket construction, thus making metal structures lighter.
According to experts, to obtain a high-strength material, extra elements should be added to the metal’s chemical makeup. However, this significantly impairs the material’s ability to be welded.
NUST MISiS researchers have found a way to achieve a high strength of iron through its nanostructuring by deformation: grinding its internal structure by equal channel angular pressing. This way, the researchers have managed to increase the metal’s strength while maintaining its weldability.
“After welding, nanostructured ARMCO-iron’s mechanical properties are higher than those of traditionally obtained iron. This allows us to obtain structural elements with optimal performance since the resulting structure is lighter because of the material’s greater strength,” Post-doctoral fellow Jairo Muñoz explained.
Scientists believe that this study breaks new ground in studying nanostructured materials since the problem of nanostructured materials’ weldability is still in its infancy.
“Studying the technological properties of nanostructured metals, such as weldability, will allow us, first, to determine unambiguously the area of application for these materials, and second, to expand this area significantly. We believe this study will attract the attention of a number of research groups abroad. This will make it possible to achieve new and even more promising results in this area,” according to Alexander Komissarov, Head of NUST MISiS' Laboratory of Hybrid Nanostructured Materials.
NUST MISiS scientists added that the research team involves experts working in laboratories throughout the world.
The researchers want to continue working in this area using other welding technologies, various materials and nanostructured metal production methods.