Summary of Research Project Results under JSPS FY2001 "Research for the Future Program"

　Materials technology has been developed to realize better performance and higher quality. However, recent social circumstances brought about a new mission to materials science, namely harmony with our environment. In the field of structural materials, this clearly requests us to find a new process which produces materials, so called ecomaterials with high strength, in order to reduce energy loss. In this research project, materials with high strength are developed for structural ecomaterials by refining the grain size, the powder grain and so on. Groups of such materials are as follows: (1) Metal and alloys with high strength at low temperature by side extrusion process under hydrostatic pressure. (2) Ceramics with high strength and high reliability at high temperature by processes to control the reaction rate and microstructure in the fabrication of non-oxide ceramics. (3) Intermetallics with high strength at high temperature by processes to control the anisotropic microstructure of TiAl intermetallic compound. (4) The materials with low friction and low wear are produced by using surface treatment processes.
　In the side extrusion process under hydrostatic pressure, the processes were repeated up to 10 passes using the carbon steels. For an example, for the ultra low carbon steel, an ultrafine grained steel with a tensile strength of over 1000MPa was developed with a grain size of 0.5μm x 0.2μm after 10 passes. The cold formability of the carbon steels was very good, and by the heat treatment, the uniform elongation became longer. In the process to control the reaction rate and microstructure in the fabrication of non-oxide ceramics, an unusual morphology of hollow balls of 200 to 500nm with a great deal of nano α-sialon particles of around 10 to 30nm was discovered. By using the nano α-sialon particles, the α-sialon with higher strength was developed. In the processes to control the anisotropic microstructure of TiAl intermetallic compound, TiAl sheet with high oriented lamella was developed and the creep strength increased.

1.Research Institution		Yokohama National University

2.Research Area		Physical and Engineering Sciences

3.Research Field		Next‐generation Process Technologies

4.Term of Project		FY 1997 ～ FY 2001

5.Project Number		97P00402

6.Title of Project		Mesoscopic Process for the Development of Structural Ecomaterials

Name	Institution,Department	Title of Position
Akira, Azushima	Yokohama National University, Graduate School of Engineering	Professor

Names	Institution,Department	Title of Position
Katsutoshi, Komeya	Yokohama National University, Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences	Professor
Hiroshi, Fukutomi	Yokohama National University, Graduate School of Engineering	Professor

Summary of Research Project Results under JSPS FY2001"Research for the Future Program"

Summary of Research Project Results under JSPS FY2001
"Research for the Future Program"