Uniting tensile ductility with ultrahigh strength via composition undulation.

Metals with nanocrystalline grains have ultrahigh strengths approaching two gigapascals. However, such extreme grain-boundary strengthening results in the loss of almost all tensile ductility, even when the metal has a face-centred-cubic structure-the most ductile of all crystal structures1-3. Here we demonstrate that nanocrystalline nickel-cobalt solid solutions, although still a face-centred-cubic single phase, show tensile strengths of about 2.3 gigapascals with a respectable ductility of about 16 per cent elongation to failure. This unusual combination of tensile strength and ductility is achieved by compositional undulation in a highly concentrated solid solution. The undulation renders the stacking fault energy and the lattice strains spatially varying over length scales in the range of one to ten nanometres, such that the motion of dislocations is thus significantly affected. The motion of dislocations becomes sluggish, promoting their interaction, interlocking and accumulation, despite the severely limited space inside the nanocrystalline grains. As a result, the flow stress is increased, and the dislocation storage is promoted at the same time, which increases the strain hardening and hence the ductility. Meanwhile, the segment detrapping along the dislocation line entails a small activation volume and hence an increased strain-rate sensitivity, which also stabilizes the tensile flow. As such, an undulating landscape resisting dislocation propagation provides a strengthening mechanism that preserves tensile ductility at high flow stresses.

Heat-resistant super-dispersed oxide strengthened aluminium alloys.

Oxided-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) alloys are promising high-strength materials used in extreme environments such as high-temperature and radiation tolerance applications. Until now, ODS alloys have been developed for reducible metals by chemical processing methods, but there are no commercially available ODS alloys for unreducible metals, namely, Al, Mg, Ti, Zr and so on, owing to the challenge of uniformly dispersing oxide particles in these alloys by traditional techniques. Here we present a strategy to achieve ODS Al alloys containing highly dispersive 5 nm MgO nanoparticles by powder metallurgy, using nanoparticles that have in situ-grown graphene-like coatings and hence largely reduced surface energy. Notably, the densely dispersed MgO nanoparticles, which have a fully coherent relationship with an Al matrix, show effective suppression of interfacial vacancy diffusion, thus leading to unprecedented strength (~200 MPa) and creep resistance at temperatures as high as 500 °C. Our processing approach should enable the dispersion of ultrafine nanoparticles in a wide range of alloys for high-temperature-related applications.

Synergy of multiple precipitate/matrix interface structures for a heat resistant high-strength Al alloy.

High strength aluminum alloys are widely used but their strength is reduced as nano-precipitates coarsen rapidly in medium and high temperatures, which greatly limits their application. Single solute segregation layers at precipitate/matrix interfaces are not satisfactory in stabilizing precipitates. Here we obtain multiple interface structures in an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag-Si-Sc alloy including Sc segregation layers, C and L phases as well as a newly discovered χ-AgMg phase, which partially cover the θ' precipitates. By atomic resolution characterizations and ab initio calculations, such interface structures have been confirmed to synergistically retard coarsening of precipitates. Therefore, the designed alloy shows the good combination of heat resistance and strength among all series of Al alloys, with 97% yield strength retained after thermal exposure, which is as high as 400 MPa. This concept of covering precipitates with multiple interface phases and segregation layers provides an effective strategy for designing other heat resistant materials.

Revealing the room temperature superplasticity in bulk recrystallized molybdenum.

Body-centered cubic refractory metallic materials exhibit excellent high-temperature strength, but often suffer from brittle intergranular fracture due to the recrystallization-induced enrichment of trace elements at grain boundaries (GBs). Here, we report a fully-recrystallized pure molybdenum (Mo) material with room temperature (RT) superplasticity, fabricated by a facile method of powder metallurgy, Y-type hot rolling and annealing. By engineering the ultralow concentration of O at GBs, the inherent GB brittleness of Mo can be largely eliminated, which, in conjunction with high fractions of soft texture and low angle GBs, enables a significant development of ordered dislocation networks and the effective dislocation transmission across low angle GBs. Synergy of these factors greatly suppress the brittle intergranular fracture of Mo, contributing to an enhanced deformability of 108.7% at RT. These findings should have general implication for fabricating a broad class of refractory metals and alloys toward harsh applications.

Effects of atom probe analysis parameters on composition measurement of precipitates in an Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy.

Defining analysis parameter space for reliable composition measurement of materials is of significance for atom probe tomography applications. This research carefully explores the influence of specimen temperature and ultraviolet laser energy on measured compositions of precipitates and the matrix in an Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy with atom probe tomography using voltage pulsing and laser pulsing. Low specimen temperature and high laser energy are beneficial to reduce background noise and improve mass resolution. Under both voltage pulsing and laser pulsing, the detected compositions and Mg/Si ratios of precipitates are highly sensitive to specimen temperature in the range of 20 - 80 K. In contrast, at a fixed temperature of 20 K, laser energy variation from 40 to 80 pJ provides consistent measurements in composition and Mg/Si ratio of precipitates. Related field-induced preferential evaporation and surface migration of certain elements have been discussed.

Designing against phase and property heterogeneities in additively manufactured titanium alloys.

Additive manufacturing (AM) creates digitally designed parts by successive addition of material. However, owing to intrinsic thermal cycling, metallic parts produced by AM almost inevitably suffer from spatially dependent heterogeneities in phases and mechanical properties, which may cause unpredictable service failures. Here, we demonstrate a synergistic alloy design approach to overcome this issue in titanium alloys manufactured by laser powder bed fusion. The key to our approach is in-situ alloying of Ti-6Al-4V (in weight per cent) with combined additions of pure titanium powders and iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles. This not only enables in-situ elimination of phase heterogeneity through diluting V concentration whilst introducing small amounts of Fe, but also compensates for the strength loss via oxygen solute strengthening. Our alloys achieve spatially uniform microstructures and mechanical properties which are superior to those of Ti-6Al-4V. This study may help to guide the design of other alloys, which not only overcomes the challenge inherent to the AM processes, but also takes advantage of the alloy design opportunities offered by AM.

A nanodispersion-in-nanograins strategy for ultra-strong, ductile and stable metal nanocomposites.

Nanograined metals have the merit of high strength, but usually suffer from low work hardening capacity and poor thermal stability, causing premature failure and limiting their practical utilities. Here we report a "nanodispersion-in-nanograins" strategy to simultaneously strengthen and stabilize nanocrystalline metals such as copper and nickel. Our strategy relies on a uniform dispersion of extremely fine sized carbon nanoparticles (2.6 ± 1.2 nm) inside nanograins. The intragranular dispersion of nanoparticles not only elevates the strength of already-strong nanograins by 35%, but also activates multiple hardening mechanisms via dislocation-nanoparticle interactions, leading to improved work hardening and large tensile ductility. In addition, these finely dispersed nanoparticles result in substantially enhanced thermal stability and electrical conductivity in metal nanocomposites. Our results demonstrate the concurrent improvement of several mutually exclusive properties in metals including strength-ductility, strength-thermal stability, and strength-electrical conductivity, and thus represent a promising route to engineering high-performance nanostructured materials.

Rapid collagen-directed mineralization of calcium fluoride nanocrystals with periodically patterned nanostructures.

Collagen fibrils present periodic structures, which provide space for intrafibrillar growth of oriented hydroxyapatite nanocrystals in bone and contribute to the good mechanical properties of bone. However, there are not many reports focused on bioprocess-inspired synthesis of non-native inorganic materials inside collagen fibrils and detailed forming processes of crystals inside collagen fibrils remain poorly understood. Herein, the rapid intrafibrillar mineralization of calcium fluoride nanocrystals with a periodically patterned nanostructure is demonstrated. The negatively charged calcium fluoride precursor phase infiltrates collagen fibrils through the gap zones creating an intricate periodic mineralization pattern. Later, the nanocrystals initially filling the gap zones only expand gradually into the remaining space within the collagen fibrils. Mineralized tendons with organized calcium fluoride nanocrystals acquire mechanical properties (indentation elastic modulus ∼25.1 GPa and hardness ∼1.5 GPa) comparable or even superior to those of native human dentin and lamellar bone. Understanding the mineral growth processes in collagen may facilitate the development of tissue engineering and repairing.

Atom Probe Tomography Analysis of TiCx Powders Synthesized by SHS in Al/Fe/Cu-Ti-C Systems.

The stoichiometry of titanium carbide (TiCx) particles is important in determining particle properties. Spherical TiCx powders with particle sizes of 1-5 µm were produced by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) in 30 wt.% Al-, 30 wt.% Cu-, and 30 wt.% Fe-Ti-C systems, respectively. To measure the compositions of the carbide powders, atom probe tomography (APT) tip specimens were carefully prepared by using a focus ion-beam milling method. APT analysis revealed that the TiCx particles formed in Al-, Cu-, and Fe-Ti-C systems are highly substoichiometric. The results are consistent with observations of the TiCx particles with a high content of oxygen and a certain amount of secondary metallic elements (Al, Cu, and Fe).

Genome Analysis of Rhodococcus Sp. DSSKP-R-001: A Highly Effective ß-Estradiol-Degrading Bacterium.

We screened bacteria that use E2 as its sole source of carbon and energy for growth and identified them as Rhodococcus, and we named them DSSKP-R-001. For a better understanding of the metabolic potential of the strain, whole genome sequencing of Rhodococcus DSSKP-R-001 and annotation of the functional genes were performed. The genomic sketches included a predicted protein-coding gene of approximately 5.4 Mbp with G + C content of 68.72% and 5180. The genome of Rhodococcus strain DSSKP-R-001 consists of three replicons: one chromosome and two plasmids of 5.2, 0.09, and 0.09, respectively. The results showed that there were ten steroid-degrading enzymes distributed in the whole genome of the strain. The existence and expression of estradiol-degrading enzymes were verified by PCR and RTPCR. Finally, comparative genomics was used to compare multiple strains of Rhodococcus. It was found that Rhodococcus DSSKP-R-001 had the highest similarity to Rhodococcus sp. P14 and there were 2070 core genes shared with Rhodococcus sp. P14, Rhodococcus jostii RHA1, Rhodococcus opacus B4, and Rhodococcus equi 103S, showing evolutionary homology. In summary, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the role of Rhodococcus DSSKP-R-001 in estradiol-efficient degradation of these assays for Rhodococcus. DSSKP-R-001 in bioremediation and evolution within Rhodococcus has important meaning.

Ultrastrong nanocrystalline steel with exceptional thermal stability and radiation tolerance.

Nanocrystalline (NC) metals are stronger and more radiation-tolerant than their coarse-grained (CG) counterparts, but they often suffer from poor thermal stability as nanograins coarsen significantly when heated to 0.3 to 0.5 of their melting temperature (Tm). Here, we report an NC austenitic stainless steel (NC-SS) containing 1 at% lanthanum with an average grain size of 45 nm and an ultrahigh yield strength of ~2.5 GPa that exhibits exceptional thermal stability up to 1000 °C (0.75 Tm). In-situ irradiation to 40 dpa at 450 °C and ex-situ irradiation to 108 dpa at 600 °C produce neither significant grain growth nor void swelling, in contrast to significant void swelling of CG-SS at similar doses. This thermal stability is due to segregation of elemental lanthanum and (La, O, Si)-rich nanoprecipitates at grain boundaries. Microstructure dependent cluster dynamics show grain boundary sinks effectively reduce steady-state vacancy concentrations to suppress void swelling upon irradiation.

Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of nano-TiCx particles with different shapes by using carbon nano-tube as C source.

With using the carbon nano-tube (CNT) of high chemical activity, nano-TiCx particles with different growth shapes were synthesized through the self-propagating high temperature in the 80 wt.% metal (Cu, Al, and Fe)-Ti-CNT systems. The growth shapes of the TiCx particles are mainly octahedron in the Cu- and Al-Ti-CNT systems, while mainly cube- and sphere-like in the Fe-Ti-CNT system.