α″phase-assisted nucleation to obtain ultrafineαprecipitates for designing high-strength near-βtitanium alloys

The diffusion-multiple method was used to determine the composition of Ti−6Al−4V−xMo−yZr alloy(0.45<x<12,0.5<y<14,wt.%),which can obtain an ultrafine α phase.Results show that Ti−6Al−4V−5Mo−7Zr alloy can obtain an ultrafineαphase by using the α″phase assisted nucleation.The bimodal microstructure obtained with the heat-treatment process can confer the alloy with a good balance between the strength and plasticity.The deformation mechanism is the dislocation slip and the{1101}twinning in the primary α phase.The strengthening mechanism is α/β interface strengthening.The interface of(0001)α/(110)β has a platform−step structure,whereas(1120)α/(111)βinterface is flat with no steps.

Effect of Fe content on microstructures and properties of Ti6Al4V alloy with combinatorial approach

A combinatorial approach was applied to investigating the influence of Fe content on the microstructures and properties of Ti6Al4V alloy.A diffusion couple was manufactured with Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al4V20Fe alloys and annealed at 1000°C for 600 h to obtain a wide range of compositions.By combining electron probe micro-analysis(EPMA),scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and nanoindentation,the relationships between composition and microstructure as well as hardness were determined.It is found that after aging the Ti6Al4V5Fe sample contains reasonable(about 55%)volume fraction of fineαphase and shows the peak hardness among the Ti6Al4VxFe alloys.Therefore,it is a promising candidate for the development of titanium alloys.HAADF-STEM and XRD reveal that after quenching from the singleβphase field,the metastableα''lamellae form in the Ti6Al4V5Fe alloy,and on subsequent isothermal aging,theα''lamellae become coarse and act as precursors/preferential nucleation sites for the stableαphase.

New high-strength Ti–Al–V–Mo alloy: from high-throughput composition design to mechanical properties

The high-throughput diffusion-multiple technique and thermodynamics databases were used to design new high-strength Ti alloys. The composition–microstructure–property relationships of the Ti64–xMo alloys were obtained. The phase fraction and composition of the α and β phases of the Ti64–xMo alloys were calculated using the Thermo-Calc software. After aging at 600℃, the Ti64–6 Mo alloy precipitated ultrafine α phases. This phenomenon was explained on the basis of the pseudo-spinodal mechanism by calculating the Gibbs energy curves of the α and β phases of the Ti64–xMo alloys at 600℃. Bulk forged Ti64–6 Mo alloy exhibited high strength and moderate plasticity after α/β-phase-field solution treatment plus aging. The tensile properties of the alloy were determined by the size and morphology of the primary and secondary α phases and by the β grain size.

Erratum to: New high-strength Ti–Al–V–Mo alloy: from high-throughput composition design to mechanical properties

Erratum to:International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Volume 26, Number 9, September 2019, Page 1151https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-019-1854-1The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The presentation of Fig. 11 was incorrect. The correct version is given below:

Integrating machine learning and CALPHAD method for exploring low-modulus near-β-Ti alloys

Traditional theoretical and empirical calculation methods can guide the design of β-and metastable β-alloys for bio-titanium. However, it is still difficult to obtain novel near-β-Ti alloys with low modulus. This study developed a method that combines machine learning with calculation of phase diagrams(CALPHAD) to facilitate the design of near-β-Ti alloys. An elastic modulus database of Ti–Nb–Zr–Mo–Ta–Sn system was constructed first, and then three features(the electron to atom ratio, mean absolute deviation of atom mass, and mean electronegativity) were selected as the key factors of modulus by performing a three-step feature selection. With these features, a highly accurate model was built for predicting the modulus of near-β-Ti alloys. To further ensure the accuracy of modulus prediction, machine learning with the elastic constants calculated was leveraged by CALPHAD database. The root mean square error of the well-trained model can be as low as 6.75 GPa. Guided by the prediction of machine learning and CALPHAD, three novel near-β-Ti alloys with elastic modulus below 50 GPa were successfully designed in this study. The best candidate alloy(Ti–26Nb–4Zr–4Sn–1Mo–Ta) exhibits an ultra-low modulus(36.6 GPa) after cold rolling with a thickness reduction of 20%. Our method can greatly save time and resources in the development of novel Ti alloys, and experimental verifications have demonstrated the reliability of this method.

MicroRNA expression profile in chronic nonbacterial prostatitis revealed by next-generation small RNA sequencing

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are con sidered to be involved in the pathogenic in itiatio n and progress! on of chronic non bacterial prostatitis (CNP);however, the comprehensive expression profile of dysregulated miRNAs, relevant signaling pathways, and core machineries in CNP have not been fully elucidated. In the current research, CNP rat models were established through the intraprostatic injection of carrageenan into the prostate. Then, next?generation sequencing was performed to explore the miRNA expression profile in CNP. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto En cyclopedia of Genes and Geno mes (KEGG) bioinformatical an a lyses were conducted to reveal the enriched biological processes, molecular functions, and cellular components and signaling pathways. As a result, 1224, 1039, and 1029 known miRNAs were annotated in prostate tissues from the blank control (BC), normal saline injection (NS), and carrageenan injection (CAR) groups (n = 3 for each group), respectively. Among them, 84 miRNAs (CAR vs BC) and 70 miRNAs (CAR vs NS) with significantly different expression levels were identified. Compared with previously reported miRNAs with altered expression in various inflammatory diseases, the majority of deregulated miRNAs in CNP, such as miR-146b-5p, miR?155-5p, miR-150-5p, and miR-139-5p, showed similar expression patter ns. Moreover, bioinformatics analyses have en riched mitoge reactivated protei n kinase (MAPK), cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), endocytosis, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and forkhead box 0 (FoxO) signaling pathways. These pathways were all invoIved in immune response, which indicates the critical regulatory role of the immune system in CNP initiati on and progression. Our inv estigatio n has presented a global view of the d iff ere ntially expressed miRNAs and potential regulatory networks containing their target genes, which may be helpful for identifying the novel mechanisms of miRNAs in immune regulation and effective target-specific theragnosis for CNP.

Pseudo-spinodal mechanism approach to designing a near-βhigh-strength titanium alloy through high-throughput technique

The main reason for the high strength in near-βtitanium alloys is the ultrafine precipitation of the acicular secondary a phase in theβmatrix.The purpose of this study is to use the pseudo-spinodal mechanism to obtain the ultrafine a phase for the design of a new high-strength near-γtitanium alloy.Thermodynamic calculations and TC21-(TC21+15 Mo)diffusion couple composition gradient experiments were used to demonstrate that TC21+3 Mo alloy can undergo a pseudo-spinodal decomposition to obtain the ultrafine a phase,resulting in a high-strength alloy.By adjusting the heat treatment process to obtain a bimodal microstructure,the alloy exhibits a good balance between ultimate tensile strength(1351 MPa)and plasticity(8.5%strain).Thus,it was demonstrated that the pseudospinodal mechanism combined with a high-throughput diffusion couple technique is an effective method for designing high-strength titanium alloys.