Sep, 2026
Conference Paper
Publications
Showing 33 results for Author: Dean T. Pierce
Jul, 2026
Journal
Influence of microstructure and temperature on impact toughness of H13 steel produced by binder jet additive manufacturing
Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing (BJAM) is a promising manufacturing pathway to produce H13 steel dies and tooling with complex geometries for applications in high pressure aluminum die casting, hot stamping, and injection molding. While fully dense H13 coupons produced using BJAM have been subjected to detailed microstructure characterization, properties which are critic…
Apr, 2026
Journal
Aluminum addition to AISI 52100 steel: Initial assessment on impact to mechanical properties and tribological performance and pathways for improvement
In the transportation industry, reducing component weight is an effective strategy to improve fuel efficiency and lower emissions. Martensitic AISI 52100 steel is commonly used in drivetrain bearing components due to its high strength and excellent tribological performance. To achieve lightweighting without sacrificing mechanical properties and tribological behavior, this…
Mar, 2026
Conference Paper
Impact of Hydrogen Combustion on the Oxidation-induced Degradation of Heavy-duty Diesel Engine Piston Materials
High temperature ferritic-martensitic steels are candidate materials for heavy-duty diesel engine pistons. The envisioned transition to hydrogen blended fuels is expected to alter the post-combustion atmosphere in the engines, primarily resulting in a higher water vapor content (> 20 vol%) and potentially higher exhaust gas temperatures. The oxidation resistance of existin…
Dec, 2025
Journal
Effect of post-weld heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of rotary inertia friction welded dissimilar 422-4140 martensitic steel piston joints☆
The study investigated how post‐weld heat treatment (PWHT) temperature affects the microstructure and localized deformation/fracture during bend testing of rotary inertia friction welds (RIFW) between AISI 422 stainless steel and AISI 4140 steel. RIFW produced a fully martensitic interface with approximately 550 HV hardness in both the thermo-mechanically affected (TMAZ) a…
Dec, 2025
Journal
Overcoming the Thermal Conductivity Versus Oxidation Resistance Barrier in High-Temperature Steels
Heat-resistant steels with high chromium additions (≥5 weight percent) are critical for many high temperature energy and manufacturing applications, including heat exchangers, pistons for engines, and dies for metal working and casting. However, while high chromium additions increase oxidation resistance at elevated temperatures, they also compromise thermal conductivity,…
Aug, 2025
Journal
A Review of Medium-Mn, Low-Density Steels for Transportation Applications
Low-density steels constitute a broad and complex alloy space (Fe–Mn–Al–C) suitable for a variety of applications. In particular, there has been growing interest in duplex (ferrite + austenite) or multiphase (+ martensite, carbides) low-density steels as a lightweight, advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) for vehicle applications, spurred by extensive decarbonization effort…
Aug, 2025
Journal
High temperature tensile properties of H13 tool steel fabricated via binder jet additive manufacturing
H13 is one of the most used steels for hot work tooling applications like die casting. Binder jet additive manufacturing (BJAM) offers a cost-effective solution to fabricate tools with performance enhancing features like internal cooling channels. While full densification of BJAM H13 has been demonstrated in the literature, the room and high temperature tensile properties…
Jan, 2025
Journal
Rotary Inertia Friction Welding of Dissimilar High- Strength 422 Martensitic Stainless Steel and 4140 Low Alloy Steel for Heavy-Duty Engine Piston Fabrication
AISI 422 martensitic stainless steel with superior high-temperature performance (oxidation resistance and strength) is under evaluation for replacing current heavy-duty piston crown materials, AISI 4140 martensitic steel and microalloyed steel (MAS) 38MnSiVS5, to fabricate a multi-material piston (Refs. 1, 2). This multi-material piston concept further improved power densi…
Dec, 2024
ORNL Report
Microstructural Characterization of Low Density Austenitic Age- Hardened Steel
Oct, 2024
Journal
Controlling microstructure and B2 ordering kinetics in Fe–Al system through additive manufacturing
Multi-material fabrication between steel and aluminum is challenging because of the formation of several intermetallic phases. Embrittling B2 ordered intermetallics form in the steel rich side and are stable till about 60% of Al dilution in steel. In this work by using multi-length scale characterization coupled with integrated computational process and thermokinetic model…
Aug, 2024
Journal
Evaluation of liquid metal embrittlement of F82H and 4340 steels in liquid lithium
To evaluate the liquid metal embrittlement (LME) susceptibility of F82H, a reduced activation ferritic-martensitic (RAFM) steel, a testing procedure using hollow cylindrical tensile specimens was used. Tensile tests are compared between specimens filled with argon and lithium at 200 °C. To validate the procedure, initial testing was performed on type 4340 steel, which is w…