Thermal stability and precipitate microstructures of Al−Si−Mg−Er alloy

The effect of Er on the microhardness and precipitation behavior of the heat-treated Al−Si−Mg alloy was investigated by microhardness tester and TEM.As a comparison,the influence of natural aging was also studied.It is shown that the thermal stability of the over-aged Al−Si−Mg−Er alloy is highly related to the average size of the precipitates.The average size ofβ''precipitates in Al−Si−Mg−Er alloy is smaller than that in Al−Si−Mg alloy,and the distribution is more localized under condition of without introducing natural aging.However,when natural aging is introduced before artificial aging,the Al−Si−Mg−Er alloy has similar average size and distribution of precipitates with the Al−Si−Mg alloy,resulting in similar mechanical properties.The effect of Er on the precipitation kinetics in the alloy was also discussed in detail to explain these phenomena.

Complex Precipitation Sequences of Al-Cu-Li-(Mg)Alloys Characterized in Relation to Thermal Ageing Processes

The A1-Cu-Li-（Mg） alloy is a high-performance lightweight material strengthened by complex coexisting precipitates that form in the alloy upon thermal ageing. Using high-resolution （scanning） transmission electron microscopy in association with first-principles energy calculations, we systematically studied the complex coexisting precipitates in the alloys and correlated their precipitation sequences with thermal ageing processes applied. The principal results are the following： （1） eight types of precipitates can be observed in the alloy; （2） of these precipitates, the Tl-phase is most stable. The S-phase precipitates with segregated Li atoms at their interfacial edges are unexpectedly more stable than the a-phase; （3） the Tl-phase has a characteristic precursor that plays the key role in its nucleation and growth.

Revisiting the Hierarchical Microstructures of an Al-Zn-Mg Alloy Fabricated by Pre-deformation and Aging

Pre-deformation before aging has been demonstrated to have a positive effect on the mechanical strength of the 7N01 alloy in our previous study,which is rather different from the general negative effects of pre-deformation on high-strength 7XXX aluminum alloys.In order to explain the strengthening mechanism relating to the positive effect,in the present study,the microstructure of the aged 7N01 alloy with different degrees of pre-deformation was investigated in detail using advanced electron microscopy techniques.Our results show that,without pre-deformation,the aged alloy is strengthened mainly by the η′type of hardening precipitates.In contrast,with pre-deformation,the aged alloy is strengthened by the hierarchical microstructure consisting of the GP-η′type of precipitates formed inside sub-grains,the ηp type of precipitates formed at small-angle boundaries,and the dislocation introduced by pre-deformation(residual work-hardening effect).By visualizing the distribution of theηp precipitates through three-dimensional electron tomography,the 3 D microstructures of dislocation cells are clearly revealed.Proper combinations of ηp precipitates,GP-η′precipitates and residual dislocations in the alloy are responsible for the positive effect of pre-deformation on its mechanical properties.

Synergistic Effect of Alloying Atoms on Intrinsic Stacking-Fault Energy in Austenitic Steels

Intrinsic stacking-fault energy is a critical parameter influencing the various mechanical performances of aus- tenitic steels with high Mn concentrations. However, quantitative calculations of the stacking-fault energy （SFE） of the face-centered cubic （fcc） Fe, including the changes in concentrations and geometrical distribution of alloying atoms, cannot be obtained by using previous computation models. On the basis of the interaction energy model, we evaluated the effects of a single alloying atom （i.e., Mn, A1, Si, C and N）, as well as its aggregates, including the Mn-X dimer and Mn2-X trimer （X = A1, Si, C and N） on the SFE of the fcc Fe via first-principle calculations. Given low concentrations （〈10 wt%） of alloying atoms, dimers and trimers, theoretical calculations reveal the following： （1） Alloying atom Mn causes a decrease in the SFE, whereas A1, Si, C and N significantly increase the SFE; （2） combination with other alloying atoms to form the Mn-X dimer （X = A1, Si, C and N） exerts an effect on SFE that, to a certain extent, is close to that of the corresponding single X atom; （3） the interaction between Mnz-X and the stacking fault is stronger than that of the corresponding single X atom, inducing a significant increase in the SFE of fcc Fe. The theoretical results we obtained demonstrate that the increase in SFE in high-Mn steel originates from the synergistic effect of Mn and other trace alloy atoms.

Elastic Properties and Stacking Fault Energies of Borides, Carbides and Nitrides from First-Principles Calculations

Owing to the excellent elastic properties and chemical stability,binary metal or light element borides,carbides and nitrides have been extensively applied as hard and low-compressible materials.Researchers are searching for harder materials all the time.Recently,the successful fabrication of nano-twinned cubic BN(Tian et al.Nature 493:385–388,2013)and diamond(Huang et al.Nature 510:250–253,2014)exhibiting superior properties than their twin-free counterparts allows an efficient way to be harder.From this point of view,the borides,carbides and nitrides may be stronger by introducing twins,whose formation tendency can be measured using stacking fault energies(SFEs).The lower the SFEs,the easier the formation of twins.In the present study,by means of first-principles calculations,we first calculated the fundamental elastic constants of forty-two borides,seventeen carbides and thirty-one nitrides,and their moduli,elastic anisotropy factors and bonding characters were accordingly derived.Then,the SFEs of the{111}<112>glide system of twenty-seven compounds with the space group F43 m or Fm3m were calculated.Based on the obtained elastic properties and SFEs,we find that(1)light element compounds usually exhibit superior elastic properties over the metal borides,carbides or nitrides;(2)the 5 d transitionmetal compounds(ReB2,WB,OsC,RuC,WC,OsN2,TaN and WN)possess comparable bulk modulus(B)with that of cBN(B=363 GPa);(3)twins may form in ZrB,HfN,PtN,VN and ZrN,since their SFEs are lower or slightly higher than that of diamond(SFE=277 mJ/m^2).Our work can be used as a valuable database to compare these compounds.

Quantitative Electron Tomography for Accurate Measurement of Precipitates Microstructure Parameters in Al–Cu–Li Alloys

Mechanical theories show that properties of alloys are strongly dependent on the morphological parameters oftheir strengthening precipitates.However,accurate measurement of precipitates microstructure parameters is still a challenging task.In this article,we develop a quantitative electron tomography method by combining computer vision technology to accurately characterize the three-dimensional microstructure parameters,such as volume fractions,sizes and distributions,of the T_(1) and δ’/θ’/δ’ precipitates in Al-Cu-Li(-Mg) alloys.Since they have extremely large aspect-ratios in shape and large numbers in density upon formation in the Al matrix,these thin plate-like precipitates are difficult to be characterized quantitatively without the assistance of computer vision technology.It is shown that the property difference between two peak-aged states of the alloy can be well explained with the quantitative precipitate parameters correctly measured.Using these correct precipitate data,we also tested the validity of current mechanical models for projecting the contribution of precipitates to the strengths of the alloy,demonstrating that quantitative relations between strength and micro structure parameters still need to be refined.

Application of the Peierls–Nabarro Model to Symmetric Tilt Low-Angle Grain Boundary with Full Dislocation in Pure Magnesium

Three types of symmetric （1120） tilt low-angle grain boundaries （LAGBs） with array of basal, prismatic, and pyramidal edge full 〈a〉 dislocations in pure Mg have been studied by using the improved Peierls-Nabarro model in combination with the generalized stacking fault energy curve. The results show that with decreasing distance between the dislocations in all the three types of tilt LAGBs, the stress and strain fields are gradually suppressed. The reduction extent of the stress and strain fields decreases from the prismatic to basal to pyramidal dislocations. The variation of dislocation line energy （DLE） for all tilt LAGBs is divided into three stages： DLE changes slightly and linearly when the distance is larger than 300 A, - 10%; DLE declines exponentially and quickly when the distance goes from 300 to 100 A, ,- 70%; and finally, the descent speed lowers when the distance is smaller than 100 A and the dislocation core energy is nearly half of the DLE. The grain boundary energy （GBE） decreases when the tilt angle of LAGB increases from1 ° to 2° for all cases. The tilt LAGB consists of pyramidal dislocations always has the largest GBE, while that with array of prismatic dislo- cations has the smallest one in the whole range. The Peierls stress of dislocation in tilt LAGB is nearly unchanged, the same as that of single dislocation. This work is useful for further study of dissociated dislocation, solute segregation, precipitate nucleation in tilt LAGB and its interaction with single dislocations.