Mechanical buckling induced periodic kinking/stripe microstructures in mechanically peeled graphite fla es from HOPG

Mechanical exfoliation is a widely used method to isolate high quality graphene layers from bulk graphite. In our recent experiments, some ordered microstructures, consisting of a periodic alternation of kinks and stripes, were observed in thin graphite flakes that were mechanically peeled from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. In this paper, a theoretical model is presented to attribute the formation of such ordered structures to the alternation of two mechanical processes during the exfoliation： （1） peeling of a graphite flake and （2） mechanical buckling of the flake being sub- jected to bending. In this model, the width of the stripes L is determined by thickness h of the flakes, surface energy Y, and critical buckling strain ecr. Using some appropriate values of y and ecr that are within the ranges determined by other inde- pendent experiments and simulations, the predicted relations between the stripe width and the flake thickness agree reason- ably well with our experimental measurements. Conversely, measuring the L-h relations of the periodic microstructures in thin graphite flakes could help determine the critical mechan- ical buckling strain εcr and the interface energy γ.

Effect of Multi-Pass Equal Channel Angular Pressing on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of a Heterogeneous Mg_(88)Y_8Zn_4 Alloy

The microstructure evolutions and mechanical properties of a heterogeneous Mg88Y8Zn4（in at.%） alloy during multi-pass equal channel angular pressing（ECAP） were systematically investigated in this work.The results show that four phases,i.e.α-Mg,18 R long period stacking ordered（LPSO） phase,Mg24Y5 and Y-rich phase,are present in cast alloy.During ECAP,dynamic recrystallization（DRX） occurs and the diameter of DRXedα-Mg grains decreases to 0.8 μm.Moreover,precipitation of lamellar 14 H LPSO structure is developed withinα-Mg phase.Both the refinement of α-Mg grains and precipitation of 14 H LPSO contribute to the increase in micro-hardness from 98 HV to 135 HV for α-Mg.In addition,a simplified model describing the evolution of 18 R LPSO phase is established,which illustrates that 18 R undergoes a four-step morphological evolution with increasing strains during ECAP,i.e.original lath → bent lath → cracked lath → smaller particles.Compression test results indicate that the alloy has been markedly strengthened after multi-pass ECAP,and the main reason for the significantly enhanced mechanical properties could be ascribed to the DRXed α-Mg grains,newly precipitated 14 H lamellas,18 R kinking and refined 18 R particles.