Phase field simulation for non-isothermal solidification of multicomponent alloys coupled with thermodynamics database

In order to quantitively model the real solidification process of industrial multicomponent alloys, a non-isothermal phase field model was studied for multicomponent alloy fully coupled with thermodynamic and diffusion mobility database, which can accurately predict the phase equilibrium, solute diffusion coefficients, specific heat capacity and latent heat release in the whole system. The results show that these parameters are not constants and their values depend on local concentration and temperature. Quantitative simulation of solidification in multicomponent alloys is almost impossible without such parameters available. In this model, the interfacial region is assumed to be a mixture of solid and liquid with the same chemical potentials, but with different composition. The anti-trapping current is also considered in the model. And this model was successfully applied to industrial A1-Cu-Mg alloy for the free equiaxed dendrite solidification process.

Quantitative multi-phase-field modeling of non-isothermal solidification in hexagonal multicomponent alloys

A quantitative multi-phase-field model for non-isothermal and polycrystalline solidification was developed and applied to dilute multicomponent alloys with hexagonal close-packed structures.The effects of Lewis coefficient and undercooling on dendrite growth were investigated systematically.Results show that large Lewis coefficients facilitate the release of the latent heat,which can accelerate the dendrite growth while suppress the dendrite tip radius.The greater the initial undercooling,the stronger the driving force for dendrite growth,the faster the growth rate of dendrites,the higher the solid fraction,and the more serious the solute microsegregation.The simulated dendrite growth dynamics are consistent with predictions from the phenomenological theory but significantly deviate from the classical JMAK theory which neglects the soft collision effect and mutual blocking among dendrites.Finally,taking the Mg-6Gd-2Zn(wt.%)alloy as an example,the simulated dendrite morphology shows good agreement with experimental results.

Accelerating matrix/boundary precipitations to explore high-strength and high-ductile Co_(34)Cr_(32)Ni_(27)Al_(3.5)Ti_(3.5) multicomponent alloys through hot extrusion and annealing

Annealing-regulated precipitation strengthening combined with cold-working is one of the most efficient strategies for resolving the conflict between strength and ductility in metals and alloys.However,precipitation control and grain refinement are mutually contradictory due to the excellent phase stability of multicomponent alloys.This work utilizes the high-temperature extrusion and annealing to optimize the microstructures and mechanical properties of the Co_(34)Cr_(32)Ni_(27)Al_(3.5)Ti_(3.5) multicomponent alloy.Hot extrusion effectively reduces grain sizes and simultaneously accelerates the precipitation of coherent L12 nanoparticles inside the face-centered cubic(FCC)matrix and grain boundary precipitations(i.e.,submicron Cr-rich particles and L12-Ni 3(Ti,Al)precipitates),resulting in strongly reciprocal interaction between dislocation slip and hierarchical-scale precipitates.Subsequent annealing regulates grain sizes,dislocations,twins,and precipitates,further allowing to tailor mechanical properties.The high yield strength is attributed to the coupled precipitation strengthening effects from nanoscale coherent L12 particles inside grains and submicron grain boundary precipitates under the support of pre-existing dislocations.The excellent ductility results from the synergistic activation of dislocations,stacking faults,and twins during plastic deformation.The present study provides a promising approach for regulat-ing microstructures,especially defects,and enhancing the mechanical properties of multicomponent alloys.

Interstitial concentration effects on incipient plasticity and dislocation behaviors of face-centered cubic FeNiCr multicomponent alloys based on nanoindentation

Interstitial atoms that commonly occupy the octahedral or tetrahedral interstices of face-centered cubic(FCC)lattice,can significantly affect the dislocation behaviors on deformation.Recently,interstitial doping has been applied to tune the mechanical properties of the emerging multicomponent,often termed high-entropy alloys(HEAs)or medium-entropy alloys(MEAs).However,the fundamental mechanisms of the dislocation nucleation and the onset of plasticity of interstitial multicomponent alloys governed by the concentration of interstitial atoms are still unclear.Therefore,in the present work,an instrumented nanoindentation was employed to investigate the interstitial concentration effects of carbon atoms on single FCC-phase equiatomic FeNiCr MEAs during loading.The results show that the pop-in events that denote the onset of incipient plasticity are triggered by the sudden heterogeneous dislocation nucleation via the primary atoms-vacancy exchange with the instant stress field,regardless of the interstitial concentration.Moreover,the measured activation volumes for dislocation nucleation of the FeNiCr MEAs are determined to be increased with the interstitial concentration,which definitely suggests the participation of interstitial atoms in the nucleation process.Besides,it is also found that the average value measured in statistics of the maximum shear stress corresponding to the first pop-in is enhanced with the interstitial concentration.Such scenario can be attributed to the improved local change transfer and lattice cohesion caused by the interstitial atoms with higher concentrations.Furthermore,the significant drag effect of interstitial carbon atoms hinders the mobile dislocations before exhaustion,which severely suppresses the subsequent occurrence of pop-in events in the carbon-doped specimens.The work gives a microscale view of interstitial effects on the mechanical properties of multicomponent alloys,which can further help to develop new interstitial strengthening strategies for structural materials with remarkable performance.

Solute Redistribution Model for Multicomponent AHoys during Rapid Solidification

1.IntroductionThe solute redistribution models for binary alloys during the rapid solidification havebeen extensively studied in recent years[1-10],but up to now the solute redistribution modelfor multicomponent alloys has not been reported.In this paper the solute redistribution mod-el for the multicomponent alloys based on the Aziz model is established theoretically.

Pretreatment of lead anode slime with low silver by vacuum distillation for concentrating silver

The feasibility of separation of lead anode slime with low silver by vacuum distillation was analyzed theoretically. The volatilization rates and mass fractions of elements, influenced by distillation temperature, heat preservation time and material thickness, were investigated under laboratory conditions. The experimental results indicate that almost all of lead and bismuth can be separated from silver-contained multicomponent alloy at 1 223 K for 45 min when the chamber pressure maintains at 10-25 Pa. Silver can be easily enriched in the residue and its mass fraction increases from 3.6% to 27.8% when the distillation temperature is between 1 133 K and 1 373 K. Due to the forming ofintermetallic compounds Cu2Sb, Cul0Sb3 and Ag3Sb, the antimony could not be evaporated completely during the vacuum distillation. EDS analysis indicates that the condensate has a columnar crystal structure.

Multi-physics multi-scale simulation of unique equiaxed-to-columnar-to-equiaxed transition during the whole solidification process of Al-Li alloy laser welding

In this study,a novel multi-physics multi-scale model with the dilute multicomponent phase-field method in three-dimensional(3D)space was developed to investigate the complex microstructure evolu-tion in the molten pool during laser welding of Al-Li alloy.To accurately compute mass data within both two and three-dimensional computational domains,three efficient computing methods,including central processing unit parallel computing,adaptive mesh refinement,and moving-frame algorithm,were uti-lized.Emphasis was placed on the distinctive equiaxed-to-columnar-to-equiaxed transition phenomenon that occurs during the entire solidification process of Al-Li alloy laser welding.Simulation results indi-cated that the growth distance of columnar grains that epitaxially grew from the base metal(BM)de-creased as the nucleation rate increased.As the nucleation rate increased,the morphology of the newly formed grains near the fusion boundary(FB)changed from columnar to equiaxed,and newly formed equiaxed grains changed from having high-order dendrites to no obvious dendrite structure.When the nucleation rate was sufficiently high,non-dendritic equiaxed grains could directly form near the FB,and there was nearly no epitaxial growth from the BM.Additionally,simulation results illustrated the com-petition among multiple grains with varying orientations that grow in 3D space near the FB.Finally,how equiaxed grain bands develop was elucidated.The equiaxed band not only hindered the growth of early columnar grains but also some of its grains could grow epitaxially to form new columnar grains.These predicted results were in good agreement with experimental measurements and observations.

Composition,Microstructure,Phase Constitution and Fundamental Physicochemical Properties of Low-Melting-Point Multi-Component Eutectic Alloys

Low-melting-point alloys have an extensive applications in the fields of materials processing, phase change energy storage, electronic and electrical automatic control, continuous casting simulation, welding, etc. Specifically, the eutectic compositions make up a large number of low-melting-point alloys that are ex- ploited because of their desirable features like single melting peaks, excellent operational reliability, and casting fluidity. However, the fundamental physicochemical properties from the current available liter- ature on low-melting-point multi-component eutectic alloys （LMP-MCEAs） are rather rare and lowly accurate, including the exact melting temperatures and compositions, constituent phases, microstruc- tures and morphologies, melting enthalpies, specific heats, densities, and so on. This lack of information seriously limits the development and application of low-melting-point multi-component eutectic alloys. In this paper, the low-melting-point multi-component eutectic alloys composed of Bi, Cd, Sn, Pb, and In elements synthesized by high vacuum induction melting and fundamental data were investigated by scan- ning electron microscopy （SEM）, energy dispersive spectrometry （EDS）, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, differential scanning calorimetry （DSC）, and density analysis instrument. Most of the LMP-MCEAs with complex eu- tectic morphology structures and XRD diffraction patterns could be explained with the fact that they were three-phase eutectic alloys with mixed growth way. Generally, LMP-MCEAs present an extremely low melting point between 48.3 and 124 ℃ and high density between 8 and 10 g/cm3.

Engineering porous architectures in multicomponent PdCuBP mesoporous nanospheres for electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation

Porous features of mesoporous metal nanocrystals are critically important for their applications in catalysis,sorption,and biomedicine and bioimaging.However,precisely engineering porous architectures of mesoporous metals is still highly challenging.Herein,we report a facile soft-templating strategy to precisely engineer porous architectures of multicomponent PdCuBP mesoporous nanospheres(MSs)by using the surfactants with different amphiphilic features.Three kinds of MSs with distinct porous architectures,including three-dimensional(3D)opened/interconnected dendritic mesopores(dMSs),one-dimensional(1D)cylindered mesopores(cMSs),and zero-dimensional(0D)spherical mesopores(sMSs),are prepared.This surfactant-templating method is generally extended to regulate elemental compositions of multicomponent MSs.The resultant Pd-based MSs have been evaluated as the electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation reaction(EOR).Our results show that quaternary PdCuBP dMSs display remarkably high catalytic activity and better stability for electrocatalytic EOR,compared to those of multicomponent MSs with other porous architectures and less elemental compositions.Mechanism studies reveal that PdCuBP dMSs combine multiple structural and compositional advantages,which kinetically accelerate the electron/mass transfers and also improve the tolerances to poisoning intermediates.We believe that the porous architecture engineering in mesoporous metal electrocatalysts will present a new way to design highly efficient electrocatalysts with desired porous systems and explore their relations towards(electro)catalysis.

Microstructure and mechanical behavior of laser aided additive manufactured low carbon interstitial Fe_(49.5)Mn_(30)Co_(10)Cr_(10)C_(0.5)multicomponent alloy

Laser aided additive manufacturing(LAAM)was used to fabricate bulk Fe_(49.5)Mn_(30)Co_(10)Cr_(10)C_(0.5)interstitial multicomponent alloy using pre-alloyed powder.The room temperature yield strength(σ_y),ultimate tensile strength(σ_(UTS))and elongation(ε_(UTS))were 645 MPa,917 MPa and 27.0%respectively.The asbuilt sample consisted of equiaxed and dendritic cellular structures formed by elemental segregation.These cellular structures together with oxide particle inclusions were deemed to strengthen the material.The other contributing components include dislocation strengthening,friction stress and grain boundary strengthening.The highε_(UTS)was attributed to dislocation motion and activation of both twinning and transformation-induced plasticity(TWIP and TRIP).Tensile tests performed at-40℃and-130℃demonstrated superior tensile strength of 1041 MPa and 1267 MPa respectively.However,almost no twinning was observed in the fractured sample tested at-40℃and-130℃.Instead,higher fraction of strain-induced hexagonal close-packed(HCP)εphase transformation of 21.2%were observed for fractured sample tested at-40℃,compared with 6.3%in fractured room temperature sample.

A universal strategy for fast,scalable,and aqueous synthesis of multicomponent palladium alloy ultrathin nanowires

Noble metal alloy nanowires(NWs)with ultrathin diameters(2–3 nm)and precisely controllable elemental compositions have attracted dramatically growing attention for(electro)catalysis.Despites numerous achievements in past two decades,noble metal alloy NWs are mostly synthesized with the traditional oil-phase methods that suffer from some undesirable drawbacks.Here,we report a general strategy for fast,scalable,and aqueous synthesis of multicomponent Pd-based alloy ultrathin NWs with an average diameter of 2.6 nm,ranging from bimetallic PdM(PdFe,PdCo,PdNi,PdCu,PdZn,PdRu,PdRh,PdAg,PdCd,PdIr,PdPt,PdAu)and binary PdS/PdP NWs,to trimetallic PdM1M2 NWs(PdAuCu,PdCoNi,PdCuZn,PdCuNi,PdAgCu,PdAuCu,PdRuAg,PdAuRu,and PdPtAu),and to tetrametallic PdM1M2M3 NWs(PdAuAgCu,PdCoCuNi,PdAuCuNi,PdPtAuCu,and PdIrPtAu).The key to the success of this aqueous synthesis is the utilization of N2H4 as the extremely strong reducing agent that directs the synchronous reduction and anisotropic nucleation growth of multicomponent Pd alloy NWs along nanoconfined columnar phase assembled with amphiphilic dioctadecyldimethylammonium chloride.As-resultant Pd-based alloy ultrathin NWs exhibit multiple structural and compositional synergies,which remarkably optimize the removal of poisoning ethoxy intermediates and thus improve electrocatalytic performance towards ethanol oxidation reaction(EOR).Among them,tetrametallic PdAuCuNi alloy ultrathin NWs hold a high EOR activity of 5.14 A mg-1 Pd and a low activation energy of 13.1 kJ mol^-1,both of which are much better than its counterpart catalysts alloyed with less elements.This work represents an important advance in precise aqueous synthesis of multicomponent noble metal alloy ultrathin NWs as the high-performance electrocatalysts for various targeted applications.

Facile preparation and magnetic study of amorphous Tm-Fe-Co-Ni-Mn multicomponent alloy nanofilm

A facile and efficient synthesis route for the preparation of Tm-Fe-Co-Ni-Mn multicomponent alloy films was reported.Here the films with nanostructures were successfully synthesized by electrodeposition at room temperature.By changing the electrodeposition parameters,such as the deposition potential,deposition time,and the substrates,the styles of the nanostructures and surface morphologies of the deposits could be well controlled.The energy dispersive spectrometer （EDS） indicated that the five elements were co-deposited.The result of XRD suggested that the film was amorphous.The as-deposited alloys showed soft magnetic and superparamagnetic behavior,and the magnetic particles were frozen step by step in the freezing process.

Nano-amorphous–crystalline dual-phase design of Al_(80)Li_(5)Mg_(5)Zn_(5)Cu_(5)multicomponent alloy

The design of metallic materials with high strength,high ductility,and high thermal stability has always been a long-sought goal for the materials science community.However,the trade-off between strength and ductility remains a challenge.Here,we proposed a new strategy to design and fabricate bulk amorphous-crystalline dual-phase superior alloys out of the Al_(80)Li_(5)Mg_(5)Zn_(5)Cu_(5)multicomponent alloy.The nano-amorphous phase revealed unexpected thermal stability during fabrication and mechanical testing above the crystallization temperature.The true fracture strength of the Al_(80)Li_(5)Mg_(5)Zn_(5)Cu_(5)nano-amorphous-crystal dual-phase multicomponent alloy was increased from 528 to 657 MPa,and the true strain was increased from 18%to 48%.In addition,the alloy yielded a strength 1.5 times higher than that of the commonly used high-strength aluminum alloys at 250℃.This strategy provided a new approach and concept for the design of high-performance alloys to ensure strength-plasticity balance.

A novel computational framework for establishment of atomic mobility database directly from composition profiles and its uncertainty quantification

In this work,a novel computational framework for establishment of atomic mobility database directly from the experimental composition profiles and its uncertainty quantification was developed by merging the Bayesian inference with the Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm into the latest version of the Hit DIC software.By treating the simulation of composition profiles with the composition-dependent coefficients as the forward problem,the inverse coefficient problem that provides the potential way to compute the atomic mobilities directly from composition profiles can be postulated.The values and uncertainties of the atomic mobility parameters of interest were assessed by means of Bayesian inference,where the composition profiles were consumed directly.Benchmark tests that consider the number of diffusion couples and the noise levels were conducted.Practical application of the current framework in determination of atomic mobility descriptions of fcc Ni-Ta and Ni-Al-Ta alloys was performed.Further discussion about the results of the benchmark tests and practical study case indicated that the present computational framework together with numbers of composition profiles from the multiple diffusion couples can help to establish the high-quality atomic mobility database of the target multicomponent alloys.

Revealing a Transformation-Induced Plasticity(TRIP)Phenomenon in a Medium-Entropy Alloy

A transformation-induced plasticity phenomenon in Fe65(CoCrMnNi)35 medium-entropy alloy was investigated.According to the X-ray diffraction patterns,the as-cast specimen contains a single-phase face-centered cubic(fcc),while low-temperature annealing at 500℃and 600℃leads to the introduction of a body-centered cubic(bcc)phase as a secondary phase.Further increment of the annealing temperature to above 700℃eliminates the bcc phase,and the microstructure was found to contain a single-phase fcc.At 20%true strain,an fcc-to-bcc phase transformation is observed;whereas,at 28%true strain,an fccto-hcp phase transformation takes place as an additional deformation mechanism.This strain-induced phase transformation phenomenon leads to improved tensile properties of this alloy.