Texture development and tensile properties of Mg?Yb binary alloys during hot extrusion and subsequent annealing

Ytterbium(Yb)containing magnesium alloys have aroused extensive interest due to their excellent mechanical properties after thermomechanical processing and heat treatment.Unfortunately,the sole effect of Yb addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of pure Mg matrix remains uncertain to date.In this work,the effects of Yb concentration on the texture development and tensile properties of pure Mg matrix during hot extrusion and the subsequent annealing were systematically investigated.The results revealed that the constitutional supercooling induced by Yb addition refined the as-cast microstructure but exerted a negligible effect on the original columnar grain morphology.When extruded at 300°C,the dynamic recrystallization(DRX)process was considerably retarded.The in-grain misorientation axes(IGMA)analysis combined with TEM observation indicated that non-basal slips operated with increasing Yb concentration.Specifically,the prismaticslip should be robustly activated in Mg-1.0 Yb extrudate,promoting the formation of the texture with{10?10}plane normal to the extrusion direction(ED),while for the Mg?2.0 Yb counterpart,the increased activity of pyramidal<c+a>slip and the relaxation of basal/<c+a>dislocations generated an ED-tilted texture component.The preferential grain growth dominated the subsequent annealing texture development at 400°C when a comparable grain size was achieved.An obvious ED-tilted texture intensity with the peak around<12 13>was observed in Mg-2.0 Yb alloy,which was primarily caused by grains with the basal orientation vanished and with the non-basal orientations intensified due to a higher concentration of Yb solute.Favored by the grain refinement,the Mg-2.0 Yb extrudate exhibited a high tensile yield strength of 304±3.5 MPa,while the subsequently annealed counterpart presented a favorable elongation to failure of 14.8±1.2%,which mainly due to the homogeneous grain structure,weak ED-tilted texture,and dissolution of coarse phases after high-temperature annealing.

A Linear Theory for Wave Scattering by Double Slotted Barriers in Weak Steady Currents

Recent experimental results have shown that the presence of a steady current can significantly reduce the energy of transmitted waves. In this paper, a theory is developed to study the wave scattering by single or double vertical slotted barriers in the presence of a weak uniform current. The quasi-linear theory is based on an eigenfunction expansion method. Comparisons between theory and existing experimental results for both single slotted barrier and double slotted barriers show satisfactory agreements. In consideration of wave propagation in a weak current it is found that the friction factor used to characterize the head loss at the slotted barrier depends on both the geometry of the slotted barrier and the strength of the steady current.

Advancing knowledge of plasma spraying coatings for Li||Sb-Sn liquid metal batteries by X-ray micro-CT

The performance of Li||Sb-Sn liquid metal batteries(LMBs) is hindered by the corrosion of the Sb-Sn cathode on its current collector. Herein, a uniform, dense, and low-oxidized W coating was prepared by plasma spraying, which can effectively resist the corrosion of the cathode and improve the cycle stability of the Li||Sb-Sn LMBs. For the first time, micro-CT nondestructive inspection is applied in the field of LMBs. The corrosion micromorphology and composition evolution of the SS304 matrix and Sb-Sn cathode with or without the plasma-sprayed W coating is obtained without disassembling the battery, which proves that the W coating can effectively protect the SS304 matrix. Our autonomous new LMB device for nondestructive inspection is universal and can be applied to different LMBs systems for advancing knowledge of corrosion mechanism and protection. This work guarantees the ability to directly visualize the inner critical positions in three dimensions and fills the knowledge gap in the field of LMB detection technology.

A DNA G-quadruplex converts SOD1 into fibrillar aggregates

Nucleic acids with G4 elements play a role in the formation of aggregates involved in intracellular phase transitions.Our previous studies suggest that different forms of DNA could act as an accelerating template in Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase(SOD1)aggregation.Here,we examined the regulation of fo rmation and cytotoxicity of the SOD1 aggregates by single-stranded 12-merdeoxynucleotide oligomers(dN)_(12)(N=A,T,G,C;ssDNAs)under acidic conditions.The ssDNAs can be divided into two groups based on their roles in SOD1 binding,exposure of hydrophobic clusters in SOD1,accelerated formation,morphology and cytotoxicity of SOD1 aggregates.G-quadruplexes convert SOD1 into fibrillar aggregates as a template,a fact which was observed for the first time in the nucleic acid regulation of protein aggregation.Moreover,the fibrillar or fibril-like SOD1 species with a G-quadruplex provided by(dG)_(12)were less toxic than the amorphous species with(dN)_(12)(N=A,T).This study not only indicates that both morphology and cytotoxicity of protein aggregates can be regulated by the protein-bound DNAs,but also help us understand roles of nucleic aid G-quadruplexes in the formation of aggregates and membrane less organelles involved in intracellular phase transitions.