Study of the interaction of interstitial oxygen with the metallic matrix in Nb - 0.3%wt.Ti alloys

Author(s)

Terlize Cristina Niemeyer

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC/BT)
• Defense date: 2003-07-02

Examining board members

Carlos Roberto Grandini; Antônio Tallarico Vicente Adorno; Odila Florêncio

• Advisor: Carlos Roberto Grandini

Abstract

The mechanical properties of metals with body centered cubic (BCC) crystalline structure such as Nb and its alloys are modified of sufficiently significant form with the addition of heavy interstitial elements. These interstitial elements (oxygen, for example) present in the metallic matrix occupy octahedral sites and constitute an elastic dipole of tetragonal symmetry, being able to produce an elastic relaxation. The used samples were polycrystals of the Nb-Ti alloy, having 0.3 % in weight of Ti. The an elastic spectroscopy measurements were taken using an inverted torsion pendulum, operating with frequency of the order of hertz, in a temperature range between 300 and 700 K, with heating rate of 1 K/min. This dissertation shows thermally activated relaxation structures observed in samples of the Nb - 0.3wt.%Ti alloy, having different concentrations of oxygen in solid solution. These relaxation structures were attributed to stress induced ordering of interstitial atoms around the metallic matrix atoms. Such structures were analyzed and were found the following relaxation processes: Nb-O, Ti-O, Nb-N and Nb-C. The results had also shown a direct relation between the intensities of the relaxation structures and the concentration of interstitial elements in the samples. (AU)