Quasi-plastic deformation mechanisms and inverse Hall-Petch relationship in nanocrystalline boron carbide under compression

Grain boundaries(GBs)play a significant role in the deformation behaviors of nanocrystalline ceramics.Here,we investigate the compression behaviors of nanocrystalline boron carbide(nB_(4)C)with varying grain sizes using molecular dynamics simulations with a machine-learning force field.The results reveal quasi-plastic deformation mechanisms in nB_(4)C:GB sliding,intergranular amorphization and intragranular amorphization.GB sliding arises from the presence of soft GBs,leading to intergranular amorphization.Intragranular amorphization arises from the interaction between grains with unfavorable orientations and the softened amorphous GBs,and finally causes structural failure.Furthermore,nB_(4)C models with varying grain sizes from 4.07 nm to 10.86 nm display an inverse Hall-Petch relationship due to the GB sliding mechanism.A higher strain rate in nB_(4)C often leads to a higher yield strength,following a 2/3 power relationship.These deformation mechanisms are critical for the design of ceramics with superior mechanical properties.

Formation of nanocrystalline AZ31B Mg alloys via cryogenic rotary swaging

A bulk nanocrystalline AZ31B Mg alloy with extraordinarily high strength was prepared via cryogenic rotary swaging in this study.The obtained alloy shows finer grains,higher strength,and a negligible tension-compression yield asymmetry,compared with that prepared via room-temperature rotary swaging.Transmission electron microscopy investigations showed that at the initial stage,multiple twins,mostly tension twins,were activated and intersected with each other,thereby refining the coarse grains into a fine lamellar structure.Then,two types of nanoscale subgrains were generated with increasing swaging strain.The first type of nanoscale subgrain contained twin boundaries and low-angle grain boundaries.This type of subgrain appeared at the twin-twin intersections and was mainly driven by high local stress.The second type of nanoscale subgrain was formed within the twin lamellae.The boundaries of this type of subgrain did not contain twin boundaries and were transformed from massive dislocation arrays.Finally,randomly oriented nanograins were obtained via dynamic recrystallization,under the combined function of deformation heat and increased stored energy.Compared with room-temperature rotary swaging,cryogenic rotary swaging exhibits a slower grain refinement process but a remarkably enhanced grain refinement effect after the same five-pass swaging.

Light-stimulated adaptive artificial synapse based on nanocrystalline metal-oxide film

Artificial synapses utilizing spike signals are essential elements of new generation brain-inspired computers.In this paper,we realize light-stimulated adaptive artificial synapse based on nanocrystalline zinc oxide film.The artificial synapse photoconductivity shows spike-type signal response,long and short-term memory(LTM and STM),STM-to-LTM transition and paired-pulse facilitation.It is also retaining the memory of previous exposures and demonstrates spike-frequency adaptation properties.A way to implement neurons with synaptic depression,tonic excitation,and delayed accelerating types of response under the influence of repetitive light signals is discussed.The developed artificial synapse is able to become a key element of neuromorphic chips and neuromorphic sensorics systems.

Long-term corrosion behavior of HVOF sprayed FeCrSiBMn amorphous/nanocrystalline coating

A FeCrSiBMn amorphous/nanocrystalline coating with 700 μm in thickness and 0.65% in porosity, was prepared by high velocity oxygen fuel(HVOF) spraying process. The long-term corrosion behavior of the FeCrSiBMn coating was evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS) tests in a 3.5% NaCl solution with a hard chromium coating as a reference. The FeCrSiBMn coating exhibited higher corrosion potential and lower corrosion current density than the hard chromium coating. The pore resistance(Rp) and charge transfer resistance(Rct) of FeCrSiBMn coating were higher than those of the hard chromium coating. In addition, after immersion in the Na Cl solution for 28 d, only small pores in the FeCrSiBMn coating were observed. All the results indicated that the FeCrSiBMn coating held superior corrosion resistance to the hard chromium coating. This could be attributed to the dense structure, low porosity and amorphous/nanocrystalline phases of the FeCrSiBMn coating.

Phase evolution of plasma sprayed Al_2O_3-13%TiO_2 coatings derived from nanocrystalline powders

Commercial nanosized alumina and titania particles were selected as raw materials to prepare the blended slurry with composition of A1203-13%TiO2 （mass fraction）, which were reconstituted into micrometer-sized granules by spray drying, subsequently sintering at different temperatures to form nanostructured feedstock for thermal spraying, and then A1203-13%TiO2 nanocoatings were deposited by plasma spraying. The evolution of morphology, microstructure, and phase transformation of the agglomerated powder and as-sprayed coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The results show that A1203 retains the same a phase as the raw material during sintering, while TiO2 changes from anatase to futile. During plasma spraying, some a-A1203 phases solidify to form metastable y-A1203, and the volume fraction of a-A1203 decreases as CPSP increases. However, peaks of the TiO2 phase are not observed from the as-sprayed coatings except for the coatings sprayed at the lower CPSP. As the CPSP increases, nanostructured TiO2 is dissolved easily in y-A1203 or z-A1203＇TiO2 phase. After heat treatment, y-A1203 in the coatings transforms to a-A1203, and rutile is precipitated.

Thermal stability of electrodeposited nanocrystalline nickel assisted by flexible friction

Nanocrystalline nickel coating was prepared by flexible friction assisted electrodeposition technology in an additive-free Watts bath.The coating consists of massive equiaxial crystals with an average grain size of about 24 nm and exhibits a（111） preferred orientation.The differential scanning calorimetry（DSC） analysis of nanocrystalline nickel demonstrates that the peak temperature of rapid grain growth is about 285.4 °C,and the peak temperature of grain growth towards equilibrium is around 431.5 °C.The isochronous annealing results reveal that abnormal grain growth behavior is not observed in nanocrystalline nickel without sulfur-containing.The thermal stability of the deposition was improved due to its initial microstructure of the as-deposited nickel and a certain amount of annealing nano-twins with low-energy,which reduces the driving force for grain growth.Consequently,the coating shows a low residual tensile stress of about 50 MPa and a high microhardness of HV 400 at the annealing temperature of 450 °C.

Fabrication and characterization of electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni-Fe alloys for NiFe_2O_4 spinel coatings

Nanocrystalline Ni-Fe FCC alloy coatings with Fe content of 1.3%-39%（mass fraction） were fabricated on the nickel substrates using a DC electrodeposition technique. The crystal structure, lattice strain, grain size and lattice constant of the Ni-Fe alloy coatings were studied by X-ray diffraction technique. The chemical composition and surface morphology of the FCC Ni-Fe alloy coatings were investigated with the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy（EDS） and atomic force microscopy（AFM）. The results show that the Fe content of the Ni-Fe alloy coatings has a great influence on the preferred orientation, grain size, lattice constant and lattice strain. FCC Ni-Fe alloy coatings exhibit preferred orientations of（200） or（200）（111）. With an increase of Fe content, the preferred growth orientation of（200） plane is weakened gradually, while the preferred growth orientation of（111） increases. An increase of the Fe content in the range of 1.3%-25%（mass fraction） results in a significant grain refinement of the coatings. Increasing the Fe content beyond 25% does not decrease the grain size of FCC Ni-Fe alloys further. The lattice strain increases with increasing the Fe content in the FCC Ni-Fe alloys. Since the alloys with Fe content not less than 25% has similar grain size（~11 nm）, the increase in the lattice strain with the increase of Fe content cannot be attributed to the change in the grain size.

EFFECT OF GRID BIAS ON DEPOSITION OF NANOCRYSTALLINE DIAMOND FILMS

A positive grid bias and a negative substrate bias voltages are applied to the self-made hot filament chemical vapor deposited （HFCVD） system. The high quality nanocrystalline diamond （NCD） film is successfully deposited by double bias voltage nucleation and grid bias voltage growth. The Micro-Raman XRD SEM and AFM are used to investigate the diamond grain size, microstructure, surface morphology, and nucleation density. Results show that the obtained NCD has grain size of about 20 nm. The effect of grid bias voltage on the nucleation and the diamond growth is studied. Experimental results and theoretical analysis show that the positive grid bias increases the plasma density near the hot filaments, enhances the diamond nucleation, keeps the nanometer size of the diamond grains, and improves the quality of diamond film.

Experimental study of amorphous and nanocrystalline Fe-based alloy

The mechanical alloying of FeNiPB(Cu, Nb) mixed powders was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transition electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). The results show that the FeNiPB(Cu, Nb) mixed powders alloy after milling for 20 h, as the milling time increases to 80h, Fe and Ni atoms are in an amorphous environment, the morphology of FeNiPB(Cu, Nb) mixed powders appears as cotton fiber and its electron diffraction pattern shows a typically diffuse amorphous halo. So FeNiPB(Cu, Nb) mixed powders transform to amorphous state under this condition. After the FeNiPB(Cu, Nb) amorphous alloy was heated at 520℃ for 1 h, the nanocrystalline FeNiPB(Cu, Nb) was produced. So, the Fe-based nanocrystalline alloy can be prepared by partially crystallizing the FeNiPB(Cu, Nb) amorphous alloy.

Microstructure and properties of nanocrystalline nickel coatings prepared by pulse jet electrodeposition

The fabrication of nanocrystalline nickel coatings was conducted by pulse jet electrodeposition on the substrate of 45# carbon steel.The effects of average current density on the surface morphology,microstructure,average grain size and microhardness of nickel coatings were investigated by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),X-ray diffractometry(XRD)and microhardness measurement.In addition,the corrosion resistances of coating and substrate were compared.It is revealed that the nickel coatings prepared by pulse jet electrodeposition exhibit a fine-grained structure with a smooth surface and a high density,although some pores and defects are still present in coatings.With the increase of average current density,the average grain size of nickel coatings is reduced at first and then increased.The coating with the optimum compactness,the smallest average grain size(13.7 nm)and the highest microhardness are obtained at current density of 39.8 A/dm2.The corrosion resistance is obviously increased for the coatings prepared by pulse jet electrodeposition;however,the corrosion rate is increased after a certain period due to the penetration of the corrosive media.

Microstructure and tribocorrosion performance of nanocrystalline TiN graded coating on biomedical titanium alloy

A nanocrystalline TiN graded coating was prepared on Ti6Al4V alloy by DC reactive magnetron sputtering method. The microstructure and mechanic properties of the coating were investigated. The electrochemical corrosion and tribocorrosion of the coated specimens in physiological environment were compared with those of Ti6Al4V substrate. The results show that the gradient distribution of nanocrystalline TiN is favorable for releasing the inner stress in the coating, which increases adhesion strength to 90 N. The compact structure and refined-grains of the coating result in the surface nanohardness of 28.5 GPa. The corrosion protection efficiency of the nanocrystalline TiN coating reaches 96.6%. The tribocorrosion resistance of the coating increases by 100 times in comparison with that of Ti6Al4V substrate. The high chemical stability and H3/E2 ratio (where H is hardness, and E is elastic modulus) of the nanocrystalline TiN coating are responsible for good corrosion and wear resistances.

Deformation nanomechanics and dislocation quantification at the atomic scale in nanocrystalline magnesium

Classical molecular dynamics(MD)simulation method is employed to study the uniaxial tensile deformation of nanocrystalline magnesium(Mg)of varying grain size levels.The mean grain size of the sample is varied from 6.4 nm to 45 nm,with each sample containing about 43 million atoms in the modeling system.The deformation nanomechanics reveals two distinct deformation mechanisms.For larger grain-sized samples,dislocation dominated deformation is observed while,in smaller grain-sized samples,grain boundary-based mechanisms such as grain boundary sliding,grain boundary rotation are observed.The transition of normal and inverse Hall-Petch relation occurs at around lOnm.Dislocation density quantification shows that the dislocation density in the sample drastically reduces with decreasing grain size.Elastic modulus of nanocrystalline Mg with mean grain size above 20 nm remains comparable to that of the coarse-grained polycrystalline bulk,followed by a rapid reduction below that grain size.The present work reveals the nanomechanics of nanocrystalline Mg,facilitating the design and development of Mg-based nanostructured alloys with superior mechanical properties.

Sintering of WC-Co powder with nanocrystalline WC by spark plasma sintering

A 92WC-8Co powder mixture with 33 nm WC grains was prepared by strengthening ball milling and was then sintered by spark plasma sintering （SPS） at 1000-1200℃ for 5-18 rain under 10-25 kN, respectively. Movement of the position of low punch shown shrinkage of the sintered body began above 800℃. The shrinkage slowly rose as the temperature rose from 800 to 1000℃ and then quickly rose at above 1000℃ and then gradually rose at above 1150℃. The densities of the samples increased with an increase in sintering temperature, rapidly below 1100℃, and then gradually above 1100℃. WC grains grow gradually with increasing sintering temperature. The powder was sintered to near full density at 1100℃ for 5 rain under 10 kN. The best result of the sample with 275 nm WC grains and no pores was obtained at 1150℃ under 10 kN for 5 rain. The research found the graphite die had a function of carburization, which could compensate the sintered body for the lack of carbon, and had the normal microstructure.

Solvothermal synthesis and characterization of nanocrystalline vanadium-chromium composite oxides and catalytic ammoxidation of 2,6-dichlorotoluene

Vanadium‐chromium oxides(VCrO)were usually prepared by high‐temperature solid‐state reactions;however,mixed phases were frequently produced and the morphology of the products was not well controlled.In this work,we prepared amorphous VCrO precursors by using V2O5 and CrO3 and alcohols or mixtures of alcohol and water via solvothermal reaction at 180°C.The precursors were then calcined under nitrogen at various temperatures.The products were characterized by powder X‐ray diffraction,transmission electron microscopy,and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy.It was revealed that pure‐phase nanocrystalline orthorhombic CrVO4 was obtained when methanol or methanol/water was used as the solvothermal medium and the precursor was calcined at 700°C.The size of the CrVO4 crystals was around 500 nm when methanol was used,whereas it reduced significantly to less than 50 nm when a mixture of methanol and water was used.The sizes could be effectively tuned from 10 to 50 nm by varying the methanol/water volume ratio.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first report on the synthesis of pure‐phase CrVO4 nanocrystals.The nano‐CrVO4 showed almost the highest catalytic activity for the ammoxidation of 2,6‐dichlorotoluene to 2,6‐dichlorobenzonitrile among the reported bi‐component composite oxides,owing to its smaller particle size,larger specific surface area,and more exposed active centers.

Nanocrystalline Mg and Mg alloy powders by hydriding-dehydriding processing

The process of mechanically assisted hydriding and subsequent thermal dehydriding was proposed to produce nanocrystalline Mg and Mg alloy powders using pure Mg and Mg-5.5%Zn-0.6%Zr(mass fraction)(ZK60 Mg) alloy as the starting materal.The hydriding was achieved by room-temperature reaction milling in hydrogen.The dehydriding was carried out by vacuum annealing of the as-milled powders.The microstructure and morphology of both the as-milled and subsequently dehydrided powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis(XRD) ,transmission electron microscopy(TEM) ,and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) ,respectively.The results show that,by reaction milling in hydrogen,both Mg and ZK60 Mg alloy can be fully hydrided to form nanocrystalline MgH2 with an average grain size of 10 nm.After subsequent thermal dehydriding at 300℃,the MgH2 can be turned into Mg again,and the newly formed Mg grains are nanocrystallines,with an average grain size of 25 nm.

Application of Nanocrystalline LaNi_5-type Hydrogen Absorbing Alloys in Ni-MH_x Batteries

The structure and electrochemical properties of nanocrystalline LaNi_5-type alloys were studied. These materials were prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) followed by annealing. The properties of hydrogen host materials can be modified substantially by alloying to obtain the desired storage characteristics. It was found that the partial substitution of Ni by Al or Mn in LaNi_(5-x)M_x alloy leads to an increase in discharge capacity. The alloying elements such as Al, Mn and Co greatly improved the cycle life of LaNi_5 material. For example, in the nanocrystalline LaNi_(3.75)Mn_(0.75)Al_(0.25)Co_(0.25) powder, discharge capacity up to 258 mAh·g^(-1) was measured (at 40 mA·g^(-1) discharge current). Furthermore, the effect of the graphite coating on the structure of some nanocrystalline alloys and the electrodes characteristics were investigated. The mechanical coating with graphite effectively reduced the degradation rate of the studied electrode materials. The combination of a nanocrystalline LaNi_5-type hydride electrodes and a nickel positive electrode to form a Ni-MH battery, was successful.

Electrodeposition and characterization of nanocrystalline Fe-Ni-Cr alloy coatings synthesized via pulse current method

The nanocrystalline Fe-Ni-Cr coatings were electrodeposited by using the pulse current technique.The SEM results showed that the coatings had a mixed morphology of small nodules and fine cauliflower structures at low current densities.Also,the Cr content was increased at expense of Fe and Ni contents at high current densities.XRD patterns confirmed that the pulse current density had a positive effect on the grain refinement.The results of vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM)measurements demonstrated that by increasing the current density,the saturation magnetization was decreased and the coercivity was increased due to the enhancement of Cr content and the reduction of the grain size.The friction coefficient and wear rate values were decreased by increasing the pulse current density.Also,both the adhesive and abrasive wear mechanisms were observed on the worn surfaces.The abrasive grooves and the amount of wear debris were decreased by increasing the pulse current density.

HIGH-TEMPERATURE AC MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF NANOCRYSTALLINE FINEMET ALLOYS WITH Co ADDITION

High-temperature AC magnetic properties for （Fe0.5Co0.5）73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 alloy annealed at various temperatures have been investigated using an impedance analyzer. Annealing temperature Ta has obvious effects on high-temperature AC magnetic properties of the alloy. The Hopkinson peak appears only in the amorphous alloy when Ta≤703K. As Ta increases above 733K, the real part of the complex initial permeability μi′descends gradually, μi′decreases more slowly with temperature in the high temperature range. The high-temperature （about 750K） AC initial permeability for the alloy annealed at Ta= 763K has been found to maintain a stable high value of 950 up to a frequency of- 1 × 10^5Hz. Partial substitution of Co for Fe in the F73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 alloy leads to an increase of around 110K of the Curie temperature of the amorphous phase, much higher than Ge-containing Finemet alloy.

Study on Nanocrystalline Rare Earth Mg-Based System Hydrogen Storage Alloys with AB_3-Type

A sort of rare earth Mg-based system hydrogen storage alloys with AB3-type was prepared by double-roller rapid quenching method. The alloys were nanocrystalline multi-phase structures composed of LaNi3 phase and LaNi5 phase by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy analyses, and the suitable absorption/desorption plateau was revealed by the measurement of P-C-I curve. Electrochemical studies indicate that the alloys exhibit good electrochemical properties such as high capacity and stable cycle life, and the discharge capacity is 369 mAh·g-1 at 0.2 C (72 mA·g-1). after 460 cycles, the capacity decay was only 19.4% at 2 C (720 mA·g-1).

PREPARTION OF QUANTUM SIZED CdSe NANOCRYSTALLINE FILMS BY CHEMICAL SOLUTION DEPOSITION

Chemical solution deposited CdSe particulate film possess nanocrystalline structure and exhibit quantum size effects. By changing the temperature of chemical deposition and subsequent annealing, CdSe particulate films with different particle sizes can be obtained.