Alloy 5454 is an Al-Mg-Mn-Cr solid solution alloy with relatively high strength used for handling chemicals at elevated temperatures in the chemical and process industries. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and fabrication characteristics of this 5xxx series alloy.

The control of the solidification process of cast iron requires understanding and control of the thermodynamics of the liquid and solid phases and of the kinetics of their solidification, including nucleation and growth. This article addresses issues that allow for the determination of probability of formation and relative stability of various phases. These include the influence of temperature and composition on solubility of various elements in iron-base alloys; calculation of solubility lines, relevant to the construction of phase diagrams; and calculation of activity of various components. It discusses the role of alloying elements in terms of their influence on the activity of carbon, which provides information on the stability of the main carbon-rich phases of iron-carbon alloys, that is, graphite and cementite. The article reviews the carbon solubility in multicomponent systems, along with saturation degree and carbon equivalent.

This article provides a detailed discussion on the heat treatment processes for titanium and titanium alloys. These processes are age hardening, solution treatment, aging, and annealing. The article illustrates the characteristics of equilibrium phase diagrams that are important for understanding the heat treatment of titanium alloys. It explains the types of metastable phases encountered in titanium alloys. The article also provides information on the equilibrium phase relationships and properties of titanium alloys.

This article describes the effects of alloying and heat treatment on the metastable transition precipitates that occur in age hardenable aluminum alloys. Early precipitation stages are less well understood than later ones. This article details the aging sequence and characteristics of precipitates that occur in the natural aging and artificial aging of Al-Mg-Si-(Cu) alloys, Al-Mg-Cu alloys, microalloyed Al-Mg-Cu-(Ag, Si) alloys, aluminum-lithium-base alloys, and Al-Zn-Mg-(Cu) alloys. Crystal structure, composition, dimensions, and aging conditions of precipitates are detailed. Effects of reversion, duplex annealing, and retrogression and re-aging are included.

In some phase diagrams, the appearance of several reactions is the result of the presence of intermediate phases. These are phases whose chemical compositions are intermediate between two pure metals, and whose crystalline structures are different from those of the pure metals. This article describes the order-disorder transformation that typically occurs on cooling from a disordered solid solution to an ordered phase. It provides a table that lists selected superlattice structures and alloy phases that order according to each superlattice. The article informs that spinodal decomposition has been particularly useful in the production of permanent magnet materials, because the morphologies favor high magnetic coercivities. It also describes the theory of spinodal decomposition with a simple binary phase diagram.

This article begins with the one-component, or unary, diagram for magnesium. The diagram shows what phases are present as a function of the temperature and pressure. When two metals are mixed in the liquid state to produce a solution, the resulting alloy is called a binary alloy. The article describes the various types of solid solutions such as interstitial solid solutions and substitutional solid solutions. Free energy is important because it determines whether or not a phase transformation is thermodynamically possible. The article discusses the thermodynamics of phase transformations and free energy, as well as kinetics of phase transformations. It concludes with a description of solid-state phase transformations that occur when one or more parent phases, usually on cooling, produces a phase or phases.

This article begins with a schematic illustration of a eutectic system in which the two components of the system have the same crystal structure. Eutectic systems form when alloying additions cause a lowering of the liquidus lines from both melting points of the pure elements. The article describes the aluminum-silicon eutectic system and the lead-tin eutectic system. It discusses eutectic morphologies in terms of lamellar and fibrous eutectics, regular and irregular eutectics, and the interpretation of eutectic microstructures. The article examines the solidification of a binary alloy of exactly eutectic composition. It concludes with a discussion on terminal solid solutions.

This article provides information on the metallurgy of austenitic stainless steels, and the formation of their intermediate phases (Sigma, Chi, and Laves). It discusses sensitization, a major problem associated with the austenitics, and solutions to avoid the problem. The article describes heat treatments applied to austenitic stainless steels, namely, soaking for homogenization and preparation for hot working; annealing to remove the effects of cold work and to put alloying elements into solid solution; and stress relieving. It provides information on the stabilizing anneal process, which is conducted on stabilized alloys, and discusses the metallurgical characteristics of austenitic stainless steels that may affect the selection of a stress-relieving treatment and prevention of stress corrosion by stress relieving. The article also discusses the heat treatments applied to duplex stainless steels, which involve soaking and annealing, achieving the austenite-ferrite balance, precipitation of intermetallics, and alpha prime precipitation.

Corrosion problems and materials selection for emissions control equipment can be difficult because of varied corrosive compounds present and the severe environments encountered. This article discusses the selection of materials for construction of flue gas desulfurization systems. It addresses the problems associated with materials for incinerator off-gas treatment equipment. The off-gases can be classified according to their corrosiveness as: industrial chemical, hospital, municipal solid, and sewage sludge. The article provides information on the selection of materials for the three most common types of dust collection equipment used in bulk solids processing, namely, fabric filters, electrostatic precipitators, and wet scrubbers. It also discusses a wide variety of corrosion problems encountered in chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Precipitation reactions occur in many different alloy systems when one phase transforms into a mixed-phase system as a result of cooling from high temperatures. This article discusses the homogenous and heterogeneous nucleation and growth of coherent and semicoherent precipitates. It describes two precipitation modes, namely, general or continuous precipitation and cellular or discontinuous precipitation. The article also provides information on the precipitation sequences in aluminum alloys.

This article provides information on four different length scales at which surface morphology can be viewed: macro, meso, micro and nanoscale. Elementary thermodynamics demonstrates that a liquid cannot solidify unless some undercooling below the equilibrium (melting) temperature occurs. The article details five types of solidification undercooling, namely, kinetic, thermal, constitutional (solutal), curvature, and pressure undercooling. It explains the types of nucleation which occur in the melt during solidification. The effects of local instabilities at the solid/liquid interface during growth are illustrated. The article also describes the solidification structures of pure metals, solid solutions, eutectics, peritectics, and monotectics.

This article provides an overview of the metallurgical effects on corrosion of different series of aluminum alloys (1xxx, 2xxx, 3xxx, 4xxx, 5xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx) that are classified into two categories. The first category includes the effects from insoluble, intermetallic constituent particles generally formed from trace impurity elements that play a predominant role in pitting corrosion. The second category comprises the effects from precipitation of secondary phases and effects from solute remaining in solid solution on corrosion of aluminum.

This article describes the fatigue mechanism and behavior of environmentally induced fatigue and cyclic fatigue. It discusses three basic strength test methods, namely, static, dynamic, and cyclic, along with their analytical relations for determining the fatigue parameters and behavior of ceramics and glasses. The article explains the double torsion and double-cantilever beam fracture mechanics methods, which employ test specimens with relatively large, induced cracks. Crack growth data are typically determined directly by the observation of the crack or by devices that monitor test specimen compliance, such as clip gages and strain gages.

Catastrophic failure best typifies the characteristic behavior of brittle solids in the presence of cracks or crack-like flaws under ambient conditions. This article provides a description of the concepts of fracture mechanics of brittle solids and focuses on the various testing methods developed to characterize the fracture behavior of brittle solids with examples. These include the fracture toughness test method and R-curve test method at ambient and elevated temperatures. The article also includes information on the evaluation of fracture-toughness test results and the behavior of R-curve.