An insight into Mg alloying effects on Cu thin films:microstructural evolution and mechanical behavior

How to design ultra-strong,light-weight Cu alloys is a long-term pursuit in materials community,which is technically superior and cost-effective for their promising energy-saving applications.In this work,we prepared Cu-Mg alloyed thin films to study light element Mg alloying effects on the microstructure,hardness and strain rate sensitivity(SRS) of nanocrystalline Cu thin films.In the studied Mg concentrationrange spanning from 0 at.% to 16.8 at.%,both the grain size and the twin spacing decrease monotonously with increasing Mg composition while Cu-2.8 at.% Mg sample has the highest twin fraction of ~75%.A combined strengthening model was employed to quantify the Mg concentration-dependent hardness of nanotwinned(NT) Cu-Mg thin films,in which the grain/twin boundary facilitates strengthening while the solute Mg atoms induce softening.Both the constant rate of loading tests and the nanoindentation creep tests uncover that compared with pure Cu samples,the NT Cu-Mg thin films manifest much lower SRS,particularly in the creep tests,owing to the activation of dynamic strain aging effects.

Carbon fluxes and species diversity in grazed and fenced typical steppe grassland of Inner Mongolia, China

Aim Grasslands are dominant vegetation of China,support outstanding biodiversity and sequester bulk amount of atmospheric CO_(2).These grasslands are highly degraded and fragmented due to remarkable anthropogenic and grazing loads.Chinese Government has made great attempt to restore by grazing exclusion.The relations of carbon fluxes with species composition and diversity in the communities sensitive to grazing by large herbivores are needed to be analysed under the global climate change scenario.The objective of present study was to comprehend the effects of grazing and fencing on the ecosystem structure and function of the typical steppe grassland.Methods To meet the objectives,overgrazed and fenced(since year 2001)sys-tems were selected in typical steppe grassland at the Duolun Restoration Ecology Research Station,Inner Mogolia,China.Within each system,three dominant communities with three replicates were selected.In each replicate community,three 1×1 m plots,were randomly located.Each plot was divided into four 50×50 cm quadrats.A total of 216,50×50 cm quadrats were sampled.From each quadrat,number of individuals and above-ground herbaceous biomass for each species,soil respiration(SR),ecosystem respira-tion(ER),net(NEE)as well as gross(GEE)ecosystem CO_(2) exchanges were recorded in June 2015.Data were well analysed using statistical software.Canonical correspondence analysis showed dif-ferential responses of communities to the structure and function of the typical steppe grassland.Important Findings Across the communities,fencing reduced the soil tempera-ture by 12%and at the same time increased the soil moisture by 44.30%,thus,increased the species richness by 28%,evenness by 21%,above-ground biomass by 19%and plant carbon by 20%.Interestingly,fencing increased NEE by 128%,GEE by 77%,SR by 65%and ER by 39%.Under fencing,species composition partially governed the CO_(2) exchange processes.Conclusions Fencing reduces soil temperature and thereby improves species diversity and more efficient CO_(2) sequestration and long-term and in-depth study is desirable for a better understanding of the relation-ship between species diversity and ecosystem carbon uptake.