In-Situ Study on the Tensile Deformation and Fracture Mechanism of a Bimodal-Structured Mg-Gd-Y Alloy.

The as-extruded (EX) Mg-Gd-Y alloy studied here exhibited a bimodal structure, composed of fine dynamic recrystallized (DRXed) grains with random orientations and longitudinal coarse hot-worked grains. The slip analysis showed the DRXed grains exhibited mainly basal slips, while the hot-worked grains exhibited mainly prismatic slips during the tensile deformation. The distribution of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) showed that there was strain partitioning between the fine and coarse grain regions. The hetero-deformation induced (HDI) hardening occurred between the two domains. It improves the strength and strain hardening capability of the alloy, leading to good strength-ductility synergy. Microcracks tended to nucleate at the DRXed grain boundaries, as well as at the interface between the two domains. The calculation of geometric compatibility parameter (m') indicated that strain incompatibility between the adjacent grains induced the crack nucleation. The toughening effect of the fine DRXed grains hindered the crack propagation. However, the major crack formed at the interface between the two domains propagated unstably, due to the high stress concentration and the large crack size, causing the final failure.

Effects of La Addition on the Microstructure, Thermal Conductivity and Mechanical Properties of Mg-3Al-0.3Mn Alloys.

The effects of La addition on the microstructure, thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of as-cast and as-extruded Mg-3Al-xLa-0.3Mn (x = 1, 3 and 5 wt.%) alloys were studied. The results showed that the thermal conductivity of the alloys increased with the addition of La element, which was due to the formation of the Al11La3 phases by consuming the solute Al and the added La element. The yield strength of the as-cast Mg-3Al-xLa-0.3Mn alloys increased with the increase in La concentration. The thermal conductivity of the as-extruded alloys was lower than that of as-cast counterparts owing to lots of defects generated in the process of hot extrusion deformation, particularly the grain boundaries. The anisotropy of thermal conductivity was discovered in the as-extruded alloys on account of the formation of texture. As the La content increases, the tensile strength and yield strength of the as-extruded alloys decreased gradually. In contrast, the elongation first increased and then decreased, resulting from the combined effect of the texture strengthening and second phase strengthening.

Fabrication and Mechanical Properties of Cr2AlC MAX Phase Coatings on TiBw/Ti6Al4V Composite Prepared by HiPIMS.

The high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) technique is widely used owing to the high degree of ionization and the ability to synthesize high-quality coatings with a dense structure and smooth morphology. However, limited efforts have been made in the deposition of MAX phase coatings through HiPIMS compared with direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS), and tailoring of the coatings' properties by process parameters such as pulse width and frequency is lacking. In this study, the Cr2AlC MAX phase coatings are deposited through HiPIMS on network structured TiBw/Ti6Al4V composite. A comparative study was made to investigate the effect of average power by varying frequency (1.2-1.6 kHz) and pulse width (20-60 µµs) on the deposition rate, microstructure, crystal orientation, and current waveforms of Cr2AlC MAX phase coatings. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize the deposited coatings. The influence of pulse width was more profound than the frequency in increasing the average power of HiPIMS. The XRD results showed that ex situ annealing converted amorphous Cr-Al-C coatings into polycrystalline Cr2AlC MAX phase. It was noticed that the deposition rate, gas temperature, and roughness of Cr2AlC coatings depend on the average power, and the deposition rate increased from 16.5 to 56.3 nm/min. Moreover, the Cr2AlC MAX phase coatings produced by HiPIMS exhibits the improved hardness and modulus of 19.7 GPa and 286 GPa, with excellent fracture toughness and wear resistance because of dense and column-free morphology as the main characteristic.

Ab initio predictions of structure and physical properties of the Zr2GaC and Hf2GaC MAX phases under pressure.

The electronic structure, structural stability, mechanical, phonon, and optical properties of Zr2GaC and Hf2GaC MAX phases have been investigated under high pressure using first-principles calculations. Formation enthalpy of competing phases, elastic constants, and phonon calculations revealed that both compounds are thermodynamically, mechanically, and dynamically stable under pressure. The compressibility of Zr2GaC is higher than that of Hf2GaC along the c-axis, and pressure enhanced the resistance to deformation. The electronic structure calculations reveal that M2GaC is metallic in nature, and the metallicity of Zr2GaC increased more than that of Hf2GaC at higher pressure. The mechanical properties, including elastic constants, elastic moduli, Vickers hardness, Poisson's ratio anisotropy index, and Debye temperature, are reported with fundamental insights. The elastic constants C11 and C33 increase rapidly compared with other elastic constants with an increase in pressure, and the elastic anisotropy of Hf2GaC is higher than that of the Zr2GaC. The optical properties revealed that Zr2GaC and Hf2GaC MAX phases are suitable for optoelectronic devices in the visible and UV regions and can also be used as a coating material for reducing solar heating at higher pressure up to 50 GPa.

Structural Stability, Electronic, Mechanical, Phonon, and Thermodynamic Properties of the M2GaC (M = Zr, Hf) MAX Phase: An ab Initio Calculation.

The novel ternary carbides and nitrides, known as MAX phase materials with remarkable combined metallic and ceramic properties, offer various engineering and technological applications. Using ab initio calculations based on generalized gradient approximation (GGA), local density approximation (LDA), and the quasiharmonic Debye model; the electronic, structural, elastic, mechanical, and thermodynamic properties of the M2GaC (M = Zr, Hf) MAX phase were investigated. The optimized lattice parameters give the first reference to the upcoming theocratical and experimental studies, while the calculated elastic constants are in excellent agreement with the available data. Moreover, obtained elastic constants revealed that both the Zr2GaC and Hf2GaC MAX phases are brittle. The band structure and density of states analysis showed that these MAX phases are electrical conductors, having strong directional bonding between M-C (M = Zr, Hf) atoms due to M-d and C-p hybridization. Formation and cohesive energies, and phonon calculations showed that Zr2GaC and Hf2GaC MAX phases' compounds are thermodynamically and dynamically stable and can be synthesized experimentally. Finally, the effect of temperature and pressure on volume, heat capacity, Debye temperature, Grüneisen parameter, and thermal expansion coefficient of M2GaC (M = Zr, Hf) are evaluated using the quasiharmonic Debye model from the nonequilibrium Gibbs function in the temperature and pressure range 0-1600 K and 0-50 GPa respectively.

Photoelectrocatalytic properties of nitrogen doped TiO2/Ti photoelectrode prepared by plasma based ion implantation under visible light.

Nitrogen doped TiO(2)/Ti photoelectrodes were prepared by a sequence of anodization and plasma based ion implantation (PBII). The properties of this photoelectrode were characterized by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS), Ultra violet/visible light diffuse reflectance spectra (UV/vis/DRS), surface photovoltage (SPV), etc. Photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) performance of N-doped TiO(2)/Ti photoelectrode was tested under visible light irradiation. Their photocatalytic activity was evaluated by degradation of Rhodamine B (Rh.B). The results of XPS showed that nitrogen element was in form of three species, i.e. beta-N, molecular gamma-N and O-Ti-N, which existed in the lattices of TiO(2) and gaps between molecules. The results of UV/vis/DRS spectra and SPV revealed that proper doping of nitrogen could expand the response of photoelectrodes towards visible light and diminish the recombination of photo-generated holes and electrons, respectively. The photoelectrocatalytic activity of N-doped TiO(2)/Ti photoelectrodes was superior to those of undoped one under visible light region irradiation.

A study of nano-mechanical properties and nano-scratch behavior of boron carbonitride films.

Boron carbonitride (BCN) films were deposited by d.c. unbalanced magnetron sputter deposition where a substrate bias ranging from -50 V to -300 V was applied to the sample. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to confirm the composition and bonding structure of the BCN films. Surface morphology and roughness were analyzed by atomic force microscopy. The nano-mechanical properties and nano-scratch behavior of the prepared films were determined by a nano-indentation system equipped with continuous stiffness measurement and lateral-force measurement attachments. The results indicate that there is little change in the content of B, C, and N. The films deposited are compounds with hybridized B-C-N bonds and the disordered degree of the structure increases with increasing the substrate bias. The substrate biasing can enhance the nanohardness, elastic modulus, nano-scratch resistance, and cohesion strength of the deposited films. During the nano-scratch test, plastic deformation and ploughing wear appears for the BCN films deposited at lower bias. Elastic deformation becomes the dominant deformation mechanism for the films deposited at higher bias. The coefficient of friction between the deposited BCN films and the diamond tip depends on the loading critical load. The increasing of the substrate bias leads to the improvement of the critical load and the elastic deformation proportion.