Low-Temperature Nitriding by Means of SMAT

The microstructure in the surface layer of iron and steel samples can be refined at the nanometer scale by means of a surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) that generates repetitive severe plastic deformation to the surface layer. The subsequent nitriding kinetics of the as-treated samples with the nanostructured surface layer is greatly enhanced so that the nitriding temperatures can be reduce to 300 - 400 °C regions. This enhanced processing method demonstrates both the technological significance of nanomaterials in advancing the traditional processing techniques, and provides a new approach for selective surface reactions in solids. This article reviews the present state of the art in this field. The microstructure and properties of SMAT samples nitrided will be summarized. Further considerations of the development and applications of this new technique will also be presented.

High-Capacity Spinel Cathode for Future Li-Ion Batteries Through Domain Engineering

Spinel cathode is one of promising candidatesfor high-performance lithium-ion batteries due toits high voltage and hence high energy.This kind ofmaterial has excellent rate performance with 3D lith-ium diffusion pathway and it is inexpensive,stableand environmentally friendly.AlthoughLi Mn1.5Ni0.5O4suffers from its limited capacity

Delayed plasticity during spherical nanoindentation of an iron-chromium-aluminum alloy:Effect of ferric ion irradiation

Spherical nanoindentation of an iron-chromium-aluminum alloy was conducted to study the effect of ferric-ion(Fe 3+)irradiation on the time-dependent plasticity behavior in the surface layers of this alloy.It was observed that the initiation of plasticity by the appearance of displacement burst or“pop-in”event occurred after a period of waiting time in the apparent elastic regime and that Fe^(3+)irradiation at 360°C and up to∼0.5 displacements per atom could make it happen under the lower applied loads but with a reduced magnitude.Through the experimental data,an activation volume and activation energy were extracted for the delayed plasticity.The results show that Fe^(3+)-irradiation significantly reduced its acti-vation volume from∼3.05 b 3 to∼1.75 b 3(where b=Burgers vector),but slightly increased its activation energy from∼0.65 to∼0.71 eV.On the other hand,high-resolution scanning transmission electron mi-croscopy observations reveal that the irradiation at the elevated temperature created interstitial atom pair onto the(100)habit plane that can serve as the nucleation site of a100dislocation loop while elim-inating the pre-existing dislocations.Consequently,it is indicated that heterogeneous nucleation of the dislocation loop was predominant in the delayed plasticity initiation of this alloy and that the nucleation of the interstitial-type dislocation loop was involved due to Fe^(3+)-irradiation.

Hardness-thermal stability synergy in nanograined Ni and Ni alloys:Superposition of nanotwin and low-energy columnar boundary

Refining grains into nanoscale can significantly strengthen and harden metallic materials;however,nanograined metals generally exhibit low thermal stability,hindering their practical applications.In this work,we exploit the superposition of the contribution of nanotwins,low-angle grain boundaries,and microalloying to tailor superior combinations of high hardness and good thermal stability in Ni and Ni alloys.For the nanotwinned Ni having a twin thickness of∼2.9 nm and grain size of 28 nm,it exhibits a hardness over 8.0 GPa and an onset coarsening temperature of 623 K,both of which are well above those of nanograined Ni.Re/Mo microalloying can further improve the onset coarsening temperature to 773 K without comprising hardness.Our analyses reveal that high hardness is achieved via strengthen-ing offered by extremely fine nanotwins.Meanwhile,the superior thermal stability is mainly ascribed to the low driving force for grain growth induced by the low-angle columnar boundary architecture and to the additional pinning effect on the migration of twin/columnar boundaries provided by minor Re/Mo solutes.The present work not only reveals a family of nanotwinned metals possessing the combination of ultra-high hardness and high thermal stability but also provides a strategy for tailoring properties of metallic materials by pairing low-angle grain boundaries and twin boundaries.

The combined effects of grain and sample sizes on the mechanical properties and fracture modes of gold microwires

Hall-Petch relation was widely applied to evaluate the grain size effect on mechanical properties of metallic material. However, the sample size effect on the Hall-Petch relation was always ignored. In the present study, the mechanical test and microstructure observation were performed to investigate the combined effects of grain and sample sizes on the deformation behaviors of gold microwires. The polycrystalline gold microwires with diameter of 16 ?m were annealed at temperatures from 100°C to 600°C, leading to different ratios(t/d) of wire diameter(t) to grain size(d) from 0.9 to 16.7. When the t/d was lower than 10, the yield stress dropped fast and deviated from the Hall-Petch relation. The free-surface grains played key role in the yield stress softening, and the volume fraction of free-surface grains increased with the t/d decreasing. Furthermore, the effects of t/d on work-hardening behaviors and fracture modes were also studied. With t/d value decreasing from 17 to 3.4, the samples exhibited necking fracture and the dislocation pile-ups induced work-hardening stage was gradually activated.With the t/d value further decreasing(t/d < 3.4), the fracture mode turned into shear failure, and the work-hardening capability lost. As the gold microwire for wire bonding is commonly applied in the packaging of integrated circuit chips, and the fabrication of microwire suffers multi-pass cold-drawing and annealing treatments to control the grain size. The present study could provide instructive suggestion for gold microwire fabrication and bonding processes.

Universality of quenching-partitioning-tempering local equilibrium model

1.Introduction As typical 3rd generation advanced high strength steels(AHSSs),quenching and partitioning(Q&P)steel has attracted lots of attention for excellent performance in strength-ductility[1–5].With absorbing carbon partitioning as the core idea of Q&P process,quenching-partitioning-tempering(Q-P-T)process was proposed with emphasis on precipitation strengthening for better combination of strength and ductility[6–10].