[en] In this paper the results are reported of a study dealing with diffusion bonding of silicon carbide and silicon nitride (both reaction-bonded and hot-pressed) to austenitic stainless steel (type AISI 316). Experiments were carried out in high vacuum (in the range of 10^-3-10^-4 Pa) and in an inert gas atmosphere (95 vol% Ar, 5 vol% H₂), at temperatures between 1000 and 1300deg C and at various pressures. It was found that under specific conditions the steel could be bonded to both grades of silicon nitride. It was not possible, however, to produce an acceptable bond between steel and silicon carbide. The bonded combinations were tested mechanically by means of shear strength testing. It was found that the higher the process temperature or the longer the process time the stronger the bond. (orig.)

[en] The martensitic transformation during gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding of steel 42CrMo4 has been studied using the acoustic emission (AE) monitoring technique. Welds were produced under static conditions (spot welding) and under stationary conditions (travelling arc welding). After spot welding, the root mean square (RMS) value of the continuous acoustic emission was measured, revealing a peak that reflects the evolution of martensite formation during cooling of the spot weld. The RMS value was also measured during travelling arc welding at different heat inputs and corrected for the noise of the welding process to obtain the RMS value due to martensite formation. After welding, optical metallography was carried out to quantify the amount of martensite formed during cooling of the weld. An analysis of the results shows that the squared RMS value is proportional to the volume rate of martensite formation during welding, which is consistent with theory and in good agreement with the results obtained in the case of spot welding. The obtained results suggest that AE can be applied as a real time monitoring technique for the detection of martensite formation during steel welding. (author)

[en] Acoustic emission (AE) signals generated during bainite and martensite formation in steel C45 have been measured, and the AE energy has been correlated with the strain energy accompanying both displacive transformations. The gas tungsten arc welding process was used to vary the volume transformation rates of bainite and martensite formation. The root mean square (rms) voltage U_rms of the continuous AE signals was measured during travelling arc welding and after spot welding. Depending on the cooling rate and the mean austenite grain size, martensite or bainite is formed in the weld. After spot welding with moderate arc currents, only martensite was formed during cooling, which was reflected by a peak in the U_rms data: the martensite peak. An analysis of the results shows that the AE energy produced during the transformation (∫ U-bar2_m dt) is proportional to the volume V_m of martensite in the spot weld, with proportionality factor k_m. During travelling arc welding, bainite and martensite formation occur simultaneously and both displacive transformations contribute to the measured AE power at each moment. The AE power due to bainite formation (U-bar2_b) was calculated using the obtained proportionality factor k_m and was found to be proportional to the volume rate of bainite formation dV_b/dt with proportionality factor k_b. (author)