Degree Type

Thesis

Date of Award

2006

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Materials Science and Engineering

First Advisor

Alan Russell

Second Advisor

Karl A. Gschneidner, Jr.

Abstract

Intermetallic compounds are a class of materials that are often characterized by low density, good oxidation resistance, attractive high temperature mechanical properties, as well as good electrical and magnetic properties. However, few practical uses have emerged due to the inherent brittleness of these materials at room temperature, making them difficult to fabricate. Often the ductility of intermetallics can be increased by making them off-stoichiometry or by doping them with third element additions. However, a subset of binary B2 intermetallics consisting of one rare earth metal and one non-rare earth metal have been discovered to exhibit extensive ductility without the need for such special conditions. Two of these compounds, YMg and CeMg, were characterized in this study. Mechanical properties were examined by performing tensile, compression, and microhardness tests. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was utilized to analyze these samples. The oxidation properties of both compounds were also studied. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) was employed to obtain oxidation curves that were then fit to kinetic rate laws. Finally, the oxidation behaviors of YMg and CeMg were analyzed using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine the reaction progression of the oxidation process.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-14245

Publisher

Digital Repository @ Iowa State University, http://lib.dr.iastate.edu

Copyright Owner

Brad David Stumphy

Language

en

Proquest ID

AAI1439904

File Format

application/pdf

File Size

77 pages

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