Damping performance of SiC nanoparticles reinforced magnesium matrix composites processed by cyclic extrusion and compression

This work dealt with the damping performance and its underlying mechanism in SiC nanoparticles reinforced AZ91D composite(SiC_(np)/AZ91D)processed by cyclic extrusion and compression(CEC).It was found that the CEC process significantly affects the damping performance of the composite due to alterations in the density of dislocations and grain boundaries in the matrix alloy.Although there would be dynamic precipitation of the Mg17Al12 phase during processing which increases the phase interface and limits the mobility of dislocations and grain boundaries.The results also showed that the damping capacity of 1%SiC_(np)/AZ91D composite continuously decreases with adding CEC pass number and it consistently increases with rising the applied temperature.Considering the first derivative of the tanδ-T curve,the dominant damping mechanism based on test temperature can be divided into three regions.These three regions are as follows(i)dislocation vibration of the weak pinning points(≤T_(cr)),(ii)dislocation vibration of the strong pinning points(T_(cr)∼T_(V)),and(iii)grain boundary/interface sliding(≥T_(V))

Yielding and fracture behaviors of coarse-grain/ultrafine-grain heterogeneous-structured copper with transitional interface

Heterogeneous-structured Cu samples composed of coarse-grained(CG) and ultrafine-grained(UFG) domains with a transitional interface were fabricated by friction stir processing, in order to investigate the effect of interface constraint on the yielding and fracture behaviors. Tensile test revealed that the synergetic strengthening induced by elastic/plastic interaction between incompatible domains increases with increasing the area of constraint interface. The strain distribution near interface and the fracture morphology were characterized using digital image correlation technique and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Fracture dimples preferentially formed at the interface, possibly due to extremely high triaxial stress and strain accumulation near the interface. Surprisingly, the CG domain was fractured by pure shear instead of the expected voids growth caused by tensile stress.

Improvement of high-temperature strength of 6061 Al matrix composite reinforced by dual-phased nano-AlN and submicron-Al_(2)O_(3)particles

Nano-AlN and submicron-Al_(2)O_(3) particles were simultaneously utilized in a 6061 Al matrix composite to improve the high-temperature strength.According to the SEM and TEM characterization,nano-AlN and submicron-Al_(2)O_(3) particles are uniformly distributed in the Al matrix.Brinell hardness results indicate that different from the traditional 6061 Al matrix alloy,the aging kinetics of the composite is obviously accelerated by the reinforcement particles.The T6-treated composite exhibits excellent tensile properties at both room temperature and elevated temperature.Especially at 350℃,the T6-treated composite not only has a high yield strength of 121 MPa and ultimate tensile strength of 128 MPa,but also exhibits a large elongation of 11.6%.Different strengthening mechanisms of nano-AlN and submicron-Al_(2)O_(3) particles were also discussed in detail.

Development and prospects of degradable magnesium alloys for structural and functional applications in the fields of environment and energy

Magnesium and its alloys have such advantages with lightweight, high specific strength, good damping, high castability and machinability,which make them an attractive choice for applications where weight reduction is important, such as in the aerospace and automotive industries.However, their practical applications are still limited because of their poor corrosion resistance, low high temperature strength and ambient formability. Based on such their property shortcomings, recently degradable magnesium alloys were developed for broadening their potential applications. Considering the degradable Mg alloys for medical applications were well reviewed, the present review put an emphasis on such degradable magnesium alloys for structural and functional applications, especially the applications in the environmental and energy fields. Their applications as fracture ball in fossil energy, sacrificial anode, washing ball, and as battery anodes, transient electronics, were summarized. The roles of alloying elements in magnesium and the design concept of such degradable magnesium alloys were discussed. The existing challenges for extending their future applications are explored.

Enhancing the strain hardening and ductility of Mg-Y alloy by introducing stacking faults

Due to the insufficient slip systems,Mg and its alloys exhibit poor ductility during plastic deformation at room temperature.To solve this problem,alloying is considered as a most effective method to improve the ductility of Mg alloys,which attracts wide attentions of industries.However,it is still a challenge to understand the ductilization mechanism,because of the complicated alloying elements and their interactions with Mg matrix.In this work,pure Mg and Mg-Y alloys were comparatively studied to investigate the effect of Y addition on microstructure evolution and mechanical properties.A huge increase of uniform elongation,from 5.3%to 20.7%,was achieved via only 3 wt%addition of yttrium.TEM results revealed that the only activated slip system in pure Mg was basalslip,led to its poor ductility at room temperature.In contrast,a large number of stacking faults and non-basal dislocations with<c>component were observed in the deformed Mg-Y alloy,which was proposed as the main reason for significant improvement of strain hardening and ductility.High resolution TEM indicated that most of the stacking faults were II and 12 intrinsic faults,which played a critical role in improving the ductility of Mg-Y alloy.Addition of Y into Mg alloy decreased the stacking fault energy,which induced high density stacking faults in the grain interior.

Effect of Y content and equal channel angular pressing on the microstructure, texture and mechanical property of extruded Mg-Y alloys

The microstructure, texture and mechanical property evolution of the extruded Mg-x Y(x = 1, 5 wt.%) alloys during equal channel angular pressing(ECAP) were systematically investigated using an optical microscope, electron backscatter diffraction(EBSD) and uniaxial tensile test. The Mg-Y alloys exhibited a weakened basal texture before the ECAP, and the texture was further weakened with the max basal poles dispersed along ~45° between the extrusion direction and the transverse direction after the ECAP. The Mg-5 Y alloys always exhibited a finer grain size comparing to that of Mg-1 Y for the same ECAP process. With a proper ECAP process, both the strength and elongation of Mg-5 Y alloy could be improved simultaneously after the ECAP, i.e., the yield strength(273.9 ± 1.2 MPa), ultimate strength(306.4 ± 3.0 MPa),and elongation(23.9 ± 1.0%) were increased by 10%, 6%, and 72%, respectively, comparing to that before the ECAP. This was considered to be arose from the combined effects of grain refinement, significant improved microstructure homogeneity and solid solution hardening.In addition, it was found that Mg-Y alloy with better comprehensive properties could be obtained by the decreasing-temperature ECAP processes. The yield strength-grain size relationship could be well described by the Hall-Petch relation for all the ECAPed Mg-Y alloys,which was consistent with that the texture changes did not significantly affect the average Schmid factors of basal, prismatic and pyramidal slips for both Mg-Y alloys.

Effects of Y content and temperature on the damping capacity of extruded Mg-Y sheets

The damping behavior of extruded Mg-xY(x=0.5,1.0,3.0 wt.%)sheets were investigated in detail concerning the effects of Y addition and temperature,and the relationship between damping capacity and yield strength was discussed.At room temperature(RT),with Y content increasing from 0.5%to 3.0%,the damping capacity(Q-1)significantly decreased from 0.037 to 0.015.For all the studied sheets,the relationship between strain amplitude and Q-1 fitted well with the Granato and Liicke(G-L)dislocation damping model.With temperature increased,the G-L plots deviated from linearity indicating that the dislocation damping was not the only dominate mechanism,and the grain boundary sliding(GBS)could contribute to damping capacity.Consequently,the Q-1 increased remarkably above the critical temperature,and the critical temperature increased significantly from 50℃ to 290℃ with increasing Y contents from 0 to 3.0wt.%.This result implied that the segregation of Y solutes at grain boundary could depress the GBS,which was consistent with the recent finding of segregation tendency for rare-earth solutes.The extruded Mg-IY sheet exhibited slightly higher yield strength(Rp0.2)and Q-1 comparing with high-damping Mg-0.6Zr at RT.At an elevated temperature of 325℃,the Mg-IY sheet had similar Q-1 but over 3 times larger Rp0.2 than that of the pure Mg.The present study indicated that the extruded Mg-Y based alloys exhibited promising potential for developing high-performance damping alloys,especially for the elevated-temperature application.

Hardening after annealing in nanostructured 316L stainless steel

In this work,coarse-grained 316 L stainless steels were cold rolled with a thickness reduction of^83%(CR 83%).After annealing,the behaviors of the nanostructured stainless steel samples were systematically investigated in the temperatures range of 200C–650C.It was found that with increasing annealing temperature the volume fraction of theα0-martensite first increased to reach a maximum value at 400C,then the volume fraction decreased with further increases of the annealing temperature.The yield strength was increased from 1400 MPa to 1720 MPa after annealing;this strong hardening effect in cold rolled 316 L stainless steel was mainly attributed to the increase of the volume fraction ofα0-martensite.

In situ thermomechanical processing to avoid grain boundary precipitation and strength-ductility loss of age hardening alloys

To avoid grain boundary(GB) precipitation during aging, a new strategy of in situ thermomechanical processing for age hardening alloys was proposed. Specifically, high-density nanoscale precipitates were introduced into ultrafine grain(UFG) interiors of 7075 Al alloy by equal-channel-angular(ECAP) processing at 250 ℃ for 8 passes, thus avoiding GB precipitation. Tensile test results indicated that the UFG 7075 Al alloy exhibits superior mechanical properties(yield strength of 350 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 500 MPa, uniform elongation of 18% and tensile ductility of 19%) compared with the UFG 1050 Al counterpart(yield strength of 170 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 180 MPa, uniform elongation of 2.5% and tensile ductility of 7%). Fracture surface morphology studies revealed numerous homogeneous micro shear bands in necking shrinkage areas of both UFG 7075 Al and 1050 Al alloys, which are controlled by cooperative GB sliding. Moreover, the introduction of nanoscale precipitates in UFG 7075 Al matrix weakened the tendency of shear fracture, resulting in a higher tensile ductility and more homogeneous deformation. Different from the GB precipitation during postmortem aging, in situ thermomechanical treatment dynamically formed GBs after precipitation, thus avoiding precipitation on GBs.

Formation mechanism of co-axial grain boundaries in a Mg alloy

Due to the insufficient slip systems in hexagonal close-packed structure,twinning is frequently activated to support stable plastic deformation of Mg alloy.In this work,we found four typical twin-like interfaces with misorientations of 102°,109°,142°and 149°,respectively,which had not only a shared[1120]zone axis of neighboring grains,but also overlapped diffraction spots similar to twins.However,highresolution transmission electron microscope(HRTEM)analysis revealed that the interfaces in real space deviated from the supposed twinning planes in reciprocal space,i.e.their overlapped diffraction spots.We clarified that the incoherent interfaces were co-axial grain boundaries(CGBs).Additionally,a special angle ofθ,close to 90°,between the interface and one side of basal plane,was frequently formed in CGBs.We proposed that interaction of multiple twinning contributes to the formation of CGBs,and theθis formed due to alternative tensile and compression twinning under a uniaxial loading.

A low-to-high friction transition in gradient nano-grained Cu and Cu–Ag alloys

A unique low-to-high friction transition is observed during unlubricated sliding in metals with a gradient nano-grained(GNG)surface layer.After persisting in the low-friction state(0.2–0.4)for tens of thousands of cycles,the coefficients of friction in the GNG copper(Cu)and copper-silver(Cu–5Ag)alloy start to increase,eventually reaching a high level(0.6–0.8).By monitoring the worn surface morphology evolution,wear-induced damage accumulation,and worn subsurface structure evolution during sliding,we found that the low-to-high friction transition is strongly correlated with distinct microstructural instabilities induced by vertical plastic deformation and wear-off of the stable nanograins in the subsurface layer.A very low wear loss of the GNG samples was achieved compared with the coarse-grained sample,especially during the low friction stage.Our results suggest that it is possible to postpone the initiation of low-to-high friction transitions and enhance the wear resistance in GNG metals by increasing the GNG structural stability against grain coarsening under high loading.

Hierarchical grain size and nanotwin gradient microstructure for improved mechanical properties of a non-equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy

This study explored a multi-mechanism approach to improving the mechanical properties of a Co CrFe Mn Ni high-entropy alloy through non-equiatomic alloy design and processing.The alloy design ensures a single-phase face-centered cubic structure while lowering the stacking fault energy to encourage the formation of deformation twins and stacking faults by altering the equiatomic composition of the alloy.The processing strategy applied helped create a hierarchical grain size gradient microstructure with a high nanotwins population.This was achieved by means of rotationally accelerated shot peening(RASP).The non-equiatomic Co Cr Fe Mn Ni high-entropy alloy achieved a yield strength of 750 MPa,a tensile strength of 1050 MPa,and tensile uniform elongation of 27.5%.The toughness of the alloy was 2.53×10^(10)k J/m^(3),which is about 2 times that of the same alloy without the RASP treatment.The strength increase is attributed to the effects of grain boundary strengthening,dislocation strengthening,twin strengthening,and hetero-deformation strengthening associated with the heterogeneous microstructure of the alloy.The concurrent occurrence of the multiple deformation mechanisms,i.e.,dislocation deformation,twining deformation and microband deformation,contributes to achieving a suitable strain hardening of the alloy that helps to prevent early necking and to assure steady plastic deformation for high toughness.

Role of yttrium content in twinning behavior of extruded Mg−Y sheets under tension/compression

The influence of Y content on the grain-scale twinning behavior in extruded Mg−xY(x=0.5,1,5,wt.%)sheets under uniaxial tension and compression along the extruded direction was statistically investigated.An automatic twin variant analysis was employed,based on large data sets obtained by electron backscatter diffraction(EBSD),including 2691 grains with 977 twins.The{1012}tension twinning(TTW)dominance and prevailing anomalous twinning behavior(Schmid factor(m)<0)under both tension and compression were found.The anomalous twinning behavior was more pronounced as Y content increased under tensile loading,indicating a promoted stochasticity of twin variant selection for more concentrated Mg−Y alloys.However,the trend for the Y-content dependent anomalous twinning behavior was opposite in compression.The fractions of the anomalous TTWs were found to be well correlated with the maximum Schmid factor(m_(max))values of basal slip and prismatic slip in the corresponding parent grains for compression and tension,respectively,indicating that twinning and dislocation slip might be closely related in the present Mg−Y alloys.

Unexpected high-temperature brittleness of a Mg-Gd-Y-Ag alloy

Rare earth(RE)can produce excellent precipitation hardening in Mg alloys.However,when forming a solid solution,it also deteriorates formability,a problem that can usually be overcome by raising deformation temperature.Here we report an unexpected observation of high temperature brittleness in a Mg-Gd-Y-Ag alloy.As the temperature reached 500℃,the formability decreased drastically,leading to severe intergranular fracture under only 0.5% strain.This was caused by failure of grain boundaries,which are weakened by segregated interfacial compounds.

Enhanced mechanical properties of a carbon and nitrogen co-doped interstitial high-entropy alloy via tuning ultrafine-grained microstructures

C-N co-doped interstitial high entropy alloy(iHEA)was reported to have high strength and ductility.However,iHEA with fully recrystallized ultrafine grains(UFGs)and underlying thermally activated pro-cesses associated with dislocation slip,twinning,and solute drag have not been reported yet.In this work,a C-N co-doped iHEA with nominal composition Fe_(48.5)Mn_(30)Co_(10)Cr_(10)C_(0.5)N_(1.0)(at.%)was prepared,and the microstructures were tuned by cold-rolling and annealing treatments to improve mechanical properties.Upon cold-rolling with a strain of 1.74,the main microstructures in the iHEA are composed of nano-grains,nano-twins,HCP laminates,and high density of dislocations,leading to ultrahigh hardness of 466.7 HV and tensile strength of 1730 MPa at the expense of ductility(2.44%).Both the nanostructures and the high hardness of the iHEA can be maintained up to an annealing temperature of 600℃(462.5 HV).After annealing at 650℃ for 1 h,the UFG microstructures are obtained in the iHEA,containing re-crystallized grains with an average grain size of 0.91μm and nanoprecipitates with an average diameter of 90.8 nm.The combined strengthening and hardening effects of UFGs,nanoprecipitates,twinning,and solutes contribute to high strain hardening(n=0.81),gigapascal yield strength(984 MPa),and good duc-tility(20%).The C-N co-doping leads to a strong drag effect on dislocation slip,resulting in a nano-scale mean free path of dislocation slip λ(1.44 nm)and much small apparent activation volume V^(∗)(15.8 b^(3))of the UFG iHEA.

High Strength and Ductility of a MgAg/MgGdYAg/MgAg Sandwiched Plate Produced by High-Pressure Torsion

Due to their unique precipitation behavior,magnesium-rare earth(Mg-RE)alloys exhibit excellent strength and high thermal stability.However,owing to the negative blocking effect of precipitation on dislocation slipping,the plasticity and ductility of Mg-RE alloys become deteriorate after aging treatment.In this work,a novel strategy to improve the combination of strength and ductility by designing a laminate heterostructured Mg alloy is proposed.High-pressure torsion(HPT)processing is employed to fabricate a clean and well-bonded interface between MgGdYAg and MgAg alloys.The two alloys have huge differences in precipitation hardening,and ductility is improved due to two facts.For one thing,the density of the second phases in the MgAg alloy is much lower than that of MgGdYAg alloy;for another,the non-basal〈c+a〉slipping is continuously activated during deformation.Through this mechanism,the uniform elongation of the heterostructured MgAg/MgGdYAg/MgAg alloy is improved to 7.1%.

Unlocking wear resistance in an ultrastrong dual-phase highentropy alloy by interface-constrained deformation of brittle Laves phases

The pronounced brittleness of hard Laves phase intermetallics is detrimental to their tribological properties at room temperature.In this study,we utilized a heterogeneous structure to engineer an ultrastrong dual-phase(Laves+B2)AlCoFeNiNb high-entropy alloy that exhibits a low wear rate(3.82×10-6 mm3/(N·m))at room temperature.This wear resistance in the ball-on-disc sliding friction test with the counterpart of Al2O3 balls stems from the activated deformation ability in the ultrafine Laves lamellae under heterogeneous interface constraints.Furthermore,as tribological stress intensifies,the surface deformation mechanism transitions from dislocation slip on the basal and pyramidal planes to a unique combination of local shear and grain rotation within the Laves phase.Our study illuminates fresh perspectives for mitigating the embrittling effect of Laves phase intermetallics under tribological loading and for the development of wear-resistant materials.

Strengthening and ductilization of laminate dual-phase steels with high martensite content

The steels with excellent strength and ductility are expected to be achieved by tailoring the microstructural features.In this work,laminate dual-phase(DP)steels with high martensite content(laminate HMDP steels)were produced by a combination of warm rolling and intercritical annealing.Influence of rolling strain and annealing temperature on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of laminate HMDP steels were systematically studied.The strength of HMDP steels was significantly improved to~1.6 GPa associated with a high uniform elongation of 7%,as long as the laminate structure is maintained.The strengthening and ductilizing mechanisms of laminate HMDP steels are discussed based on the influence of laminate structure and the high martensite content,which promote the development of internal stresses and can be correlated to the Bauschinger effect as measured by the cyclic loadingunloading-reloading experiments.Detailed transmission electron microscopy(TEM)observation was applied to characterize the dislocation structure in the deformed ferrite.

Thermo-kinetic connectivity by integrating thermo-kinetic correlation and generalized stability

Designing structured materials with optimized mechanical properties generally focuses on engineering microstructures,which are closely determined by the processing routes,such as phase transformations(PTs)and plastic deformations(PDs).Both PTs and PDs follow inherent trade-off relation between thermodynamic driving force ΔG and kinetic energy barrier Q,i.e.,so-called thermo-kinetic correlation.By analyzing nucleation and growth and proposing a conception of negative driving force integrating strain energy,interface energy and any kind of energy that equivalently inhibits the PT itself,ΔG^(S),unified expressions for the thermo-kinetic correlation and generalized stability(GS)were derived for three kinds of PTs,i.e.,diffusive PTs with simultaneously decreasedΔG and increased Q,diffusive PTs with simultaneously increasedΔG and decreased Q,and displacive PTs with simultaneously increased ΔG and decreased Q.This leads to so-called thermo-kinetic connectivity by integrating the thermo-kinetic correlation and the GS,where,by application in typical PTs,it was clearly shown,a criterion of high ΔG-high GS can be predicted by modulating chemical driving force,negative driving force and kinetic energy barrier for diffusion or nucleation.Following thermo-kinetic connectivity,analogous procedure for dislocation evolution upon PDs was performed,and materials design in terms of the highΔG-high GS criterion was discussed and prospected.

Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of Mg-9.8Gd-2.7Y-0.4Zr alloy produced by repetitive upsetting

A newly developed severe plastic deformation （SPD） technique, i.e. repetitive upsetting （RU）, is employed to improve the strength and ductility of a Mg-Gd-Y-Zr alloy. During the RU processing, dynamic recrystallization occurs in the Mg alloy, which leads to a significant grain refinement from 11.2 p.m to 2.8 μm. The yield strength （YS）, ultimate tensile strength （UTS） and elongation increase simultaneously with increasing RU passes. The microstructural evolution is affected by processing temperatures. Dynamic recrystallization prevails at low temperatures, while dynamic recovery is the main effect factor at high temperatures. Texture characteristics gradually become random during multiple passes of RU processing, which reduces the tension-compression asymmetry of the Mg-Gd-Y-Zr alloy. 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science ＆ Technology.