Effect of heat treatment on microstructures and mechanical properties of a bulk nanostructured Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy

A bulk nanostructured Al-10.0Zn-2.8Mg-1.8Cu alloy was synthesized by cryomilling first and then by spark plasma sintering （SPS）, and the effect of heat treatment on the microstructures and mechanical properties of this alloy were studied. Most MgZn2 particles with a coarse size lie on the grain boundaries of the SPS-processed sample. After solid solution and artificial aging, fine spherical-like MgZn2 particles precipitate uniformly in the grain interiors. No obvious grain growth is found after the heat treatment. A nanoindentation study indicates that no clear change is found in the Yong＇s modulus of the nanostructured alloy after the heat treatment. However, the hardness of the nanostructured alloy increases by about 33% after the heat treatment, which is attributed to the effect of precipitation-hardening.

Negative Temperature Coefficient of Resistivity in Bulk Nanostructured Ag

The change of the temperature coefficient of resistivity (a) with the particle size, dp, and the grain size, dc, in the nanostructured Ag bulk samples was investigated. dp and dc were controlled by heating the nano-Ag powders over the temperature range from 393 to 453 K. The electrical resistance measurements of the nanostructured Ag bulk samples obtained by compacting the Ag powders after heat treatments showed a change in the sign of a with dP and dc. When dp and dc are smaller or equal to 18 and 11 nm below room temperature or 20 and 12 nm above room temperature, respectively, the sign of the temperature coefficient of resistivity changes from positive to negative. The negative a arises mainly from the high resistivity induced by the particle interfaces with very lowly ordered or even disordered structure, a large volume fraction of interfaces and impurities existing in the interfaces, and the quantum size effect appearing in the nano-Ag grains.

In situ study on medium-range order evolution during the polyamorphous phase transition in a Pd-Ni-P nanostructured glass

Engineering multiscale structural hierarchies in glassy alloys enable a broad spectrum of potential applications.Metallic glasses were born in hierarchical structures from atomic-to-nanometer scales.However,the frozen-in structures in traditional metallic glasses prepared by rapid quenching techniques are challenging to tailor.Here,we show that a PdNiPbulk nanostructured glass of polyamorphous interfacial structures was prepared by inert-gas condensation with a laser evaporation source,and its multiscale structures could be engineered.In-situ scattering experiment results reveal polyamorphous phase transitions occurred in the interfacial regions,which are accompanied by the evolution of medium-range order and the nanoscale heterogeneous structures during the condensation process of glassy nanoparticles under high pressure and the following heating process.Moreover,changes in the cluster connectivity resulting from repacking of the local ordering induced by pressure and temperature could be observed.The thermophysical and mechanical properties,including boson peaks,hardness,and elasticity modulus,could be changed as a function of heat-treatment parameters.Our findings would shed light on the synthesis of bulk nanostructured glassy alloys with tailorable thermodynamic and dynamical behavior as well as mechanical properties based on the understanding of metastability for polyamorphous interfacial phases.

Microstructure and magnetic properties of(SmCo+FeCo)/NdFeB multicomponent nanocomposite magnets fabricated by HPTC with change in heating temperature and composition

We report the fabrication of bulk anisotropic(SmCo+FeCo)/NdFeB multicomponent nanocomposite magnets using high-pressure thermal compression(HPTC).The correlations among microstructure,magnetic properties,heating temperature and composition of the HPTC nanocomposite magnets were studied.The HPTC magnet made under variable temperatures(VT),with 19 wt% of FeCo phase,exhibits a maximum energy product of 32 MGOe,which is much higher than that(14 MGOe) for the HPTC magnet made under a constant temperature(CT).When the FeCo content increases to^23 wt%,the HPTC magnet made under VT still remains a high energy product of about 25 MGOe.With increasing NdFeB content,the(SmCo+FeCo)/NdFeB multicomponent nanocomposite magnets exhibit an enhanced magnetic anisotropy and coercivity.This work is beneficial to fabricating high-performance and low-cost permanent magnets for practical applications.