RESUMO
Magnesium is a light metal, with a density two-thirds that of aluminium, is abundant on Earth and is biocompatible; it thus has the potential to improve energy efficiency and system performance in aerospace, automobile, defence, mobile electronics and biomedical applications. However, conventional synthesis and processing methods (alloying and thermomechanical processing) have reached certain limits in further improving the properties of magnesium and other metals. Ceramic particles have been introduced into metal matrices to improve the strength of the metals, but unfortunately, ceramic microparticles severely degrade the plasticity and machinability of metals, and nanoparticles, although they have the potential to improve strength while maintaining or even improving the plasticity of metals, are difficult to disperse uniformly in metal matrices. Here we show that a dense uniform dispersion of silicon carbide nanoparticles (14 per cent by volume) in magnesium can be achieved through a nanoparticle self-stabilization mechanism in molten metal. An enhancement of strength, stiffness, plasticity and high-temperature stability is simultaneously achieved, delivering a higher specific yield strength and higher specific modulus than almost all structural metals.
RESUMO
Nanocrystalline metals have presented intriguing possibilities for use in radiation environments due to their high grain boundary volume, serving as enhanced irradiation-induced defect sinks. Their promise has been lessened due to the propensity for nanocrystalline metals to suffer deleterious grain growth from combinations of irradiation and/or elevated homologous temperature. While approaches for stabilizing such materials against grain growth are the subject of current research, there is still a lack of central knowledge on the irradiation-grain boundary interactions in pure metals despite many studies on the same. Due to the breadth of available reports, we have critically reviewed studies on irradiation and thermal stability in pure, nanocrystalline copper (Cu) as a model FCC material, and on a few dilute Cu-based alloys. Our study has shown that, viewed collectively, there are large differences in interpretation of irradiation-grain boundary interactions, primarily due to a wide range of irradiation environments and variability in materials processing. We discuss the sources of these differences and analyses herein. Then, with the goal of gaining a more overarching mechanistic understanding of grain size stability in pure materials under irradiation, we provide several key recommendations for making meaningful evaluations across materials with different processing and under variable irradiation conditions.
RESUMO
Deformation processing of immiscible systems is observed to disrupt thermodynamic equilibrium, often resulting in nonequilibrium microstructures. The microstructural changes including nanostructuring, hierarchical distribution of phases, localized solute supersaturation, and oxygen ingress result from high-strain extended deformation, causing a significant change in mechanical properties. Because of the dynamic evolution of the material under large strain shear load, a detailed understanding of the transformation pathway has not been established. Additionally, the influence of these microstructural changes on mechanical properties is also not well characterized. Here, an immiscible Cu-4 at. % Nb alloy is subjected to a high-strain shear deformation (â¼200); the deformation-induced changes in the morphology, crystal structure, and composition of Cu and Nb phases as a function of total strain are characterized using transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. Furthermore, a multimodal experiment-guided computational approach is used to depict the initiation of deformation by an increase in misorientation boundaries by crystal plasticity-based grain misorientation modeling (strain â¼0.6). Then, co-deformation and nanolamination of Cu and Nb are envisaged by a finite element method-based computational fluid dynamic model with strain ranging from 10 to 200. Finally, the experimentally observed amorphization of the severely sheared supersaturated Cu-Nb-O phase was validated using the first principle-based simulation using density functional theory while highlighting the influence of oxygen ingress during deformation. Furthermore, the nanocrystalline microstructure shows a >2-fold increase in hardness and compressive yield strength of the alloy, elucidating the potential of deformation processing to obtain high-strength low-alloyed metals. Our approach presents a step-by-step evolution of a microstructure in an immiscible alloy undergoing severe shear deformation, which is broadly applicable to materials processing based on friction stir, extrusion, rolling, and surface shear deformation under wear and can be directly applied to understanding material behavior during these processes.
RESUMO
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are carried out to investigate the effects of the type and spacing of FCC/BCC interfaces on the deformation and spall behavior. The simulations are carried out using model Cu/Ta multilayers with six different types of interfaces. The results suggest that interface type can significantly affect the structure and intensity of the incoming shock wave, change the activated slip systems, alter dislocation slip and twinning behavior, affect where and how voids are nucleated during spallation and the resulting spall strength. Moreover, the above aspects are significantly affected by the interface spacing. A transition from homogeneous to heterogeneous dislocation nucleation occurs as the interface spacing is decreased to 6 nm. Depending on interface type and spacing, damage (voids) nucleation and spall failure is observed to occur not only at the Cu/Ta interfaces, but also in the weaker Cu layer interior, or even in the stronger Ta layer interior, although different mechanisms underlie each of these three distinct failure modes. These findings point to the fact that, depending on the combination of interface type and spacing, interfaces can lead to both strengthening and weakening of the Cu/Ta multilayered microstructures.
RESUMO
Diffusion of Si atom and vacancy in the A2-phase of α-Fe-Si alloys in the ferromagnetic state, with and without magnetic order and in various temperature ranges, are studied using AKSOME, an on-lattice self-learning KMC code. Diffusion of the Si atom and the vacancy are studied in the dilute limit and up to 12 at.% Si, respectively, in the temperature range 350-700 K. Local Si neighborhood dependent activation energies for vacancy hops were calculated on-the-fly using a broken-bond model based on pairwise interaction. The migration barrier and prefactor for the Si diffusion in the dilute limit were obtained and found to agree with published data within the limits of uncertainty. Simulations results show that the prefactor and the migration barrier for the Si diffusion are approximately an order of magnitude higher, and a tenth of an electron-volt higher, respectively, in the magnetic disordered state than in the fully ordered state. However, the net result is that magnetic disorder does not have a significant effect on Si diffusivity within the range of parameters studied in this work. Nevertheless, with increasing temperature, the magnetic disorder increases and its effect on the Si diffusivity also increases. In the case of vacancy diffusion, with increasing Si concentration, its diffusion prefactor decreases while the migration barrier more or less remained constant and the effect of magnetic disorder increases with Si concentration. Important vacancy-Si/Fe atom exchange processes and their activation barriers were identified, and the effect of energetics on ordered phase formation in Fe-Si alloys are discussed.
RESUMO
The formation of voids in an irradiated material significantly degrades its physical and mechanical properties. Void nucleation and growth involve discrete atomic-scale processes that, unfortunately, are not yet well understood due to the lack of direct experimental examination. Here we report an in-situ atomic-scale observation of the nucleation and growth of voids in hexagonal close-packed magnesium under electron irradiation. The voids are found to first grow into a plate-like shape, followed by a gradual transition to a nearly equiaxial geometry. Using atomistic simulations, we show that the initial growth in length is controlled by slow nucleation kinetics of vacancy layers on basal facets and anisotropic vacancy diffusivity. The subsequent thickness growth is driven by thermodynamics to reduce surface energy. These experiments represent unprecedented resolution and characterization of void nucleation and growth under irradiation, and might help with understanding the irradiation damage of other hexagonal close-packed materials.