Plastic yielding of NiTi shape memory alloy under local canning compression

As a new attempt, local canning compression was applied in order to implement large plastic deformation of nickel-titanium shape memory alloy （NiTi SMA） at room temperature. The plastic mechanics of local canning compression of NiTi SMA was analyzed according to the slab method as the well as plastic yield criterion. Transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, high resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM） were used to study the microstructural evolution as well as deformation behavior of NiTi samples under local canning compression. Increasing the hydrostatic pressure with the increase in the outer diameters of the steel cans is responsible for suppressing the initiation and growth of the micro-cracks, which contributes to enhancing the plasticity ofNiTi SMA and avoiding the occurrence of brittle fracture. Plastic deformation of NiTi SMA under a three-dimensional compressive stress state meets von-Mises yield criterion at the true strains ranging from about 0.15 to 0.50, while in the case of larger plastic strain, von-Mises yield criterion is unable to be met since the amorphous phase arises in the deformed NiTi sample.

Plastic deformation mechanism transition of Ti/Ni nanolaminate with pre-existing crack:Molecular dynamics study

Tensile behaviors of Ti/Ni nanolaminate with model-I crack are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations.The Ti/Ni nanolaminates with center crack either in Ti layer or in Ni layer under different loading directions are utilized to systematically study the mechanical performance of the cracked material.The results indicate that pre-existing crack dramatically changes the plastic deformation mechanism of the Ti/Ni nanolaminate.Unlike the initial plastic deformation originating from the interface or weak Ti layer of the crack-free samples,the plastic behavior of cracked Ti/Ni nanolaminate first occurs at the crack tip due to the local stress concentration.Subsequent plastic deformation is dominated by the interaction between the crack and interface.The Ti/Ni interface not only impedes the movement of the initial plastic deformation carriers(dislocation,slip band,and deformation twinning)from the crack tip,but also promotes the movement of interfacial dislocations in the tension process.Microstructure evolution analysis further confirms that the plastic deformation mechanism transition is ascribed to the orientation-dependent tensile behavior at the crack tip,which is intrinsically attributed to the anisotropy of the certain crystal structure and loading direction of the cracked Ti/Ni nanolaminate.In addition,by analyzing the effects of different plastic deformation carriers on crack propagation in specific crystal,it can be discovered that the interfacial dislocations moving towards the crack tip can further promote the crack growth.

Analysis of fluoxetine-induced plasticity mechanisms as a strategy for understanding plasticity related neural disorders

Fluoxetine hydrochloride,better known for its commercial name Prozac,is one of the most widely prescribed antidepressant drugs all over the world.This drug was considered a＂breakthrough drug＂for the treatment of depression because of its very high selectivity as a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and because it presented a lower side-effectprofile than previous drugs （Wong et al., 2005）.

Elastoplastic cup model for cement-based materials

Based on experimental data obtained from triaxial tests and a hydrostatic test, a cup model was formulated. Two plastic mechanisms, respectively a deviatoric shearing and a pore collapse, are taken into account. This model also considers the influence of confining pressure. In this paper, the calibration of the model is detailed and numerical simulations of the main mechanical behavior of cement paste over a large range of stress are described, showing good agreement with experimental results. The ease study shows that this cup model has extensive applicability for cement-based materials and other quasi-brittle and high-porosity materials in a complex stress state.

Mechanical properties of lattice grid composites

An equivalent continuum method only considering the stretching deformation of struts was used to study the in-plane stiffness and strength of planar lattice grid com- posite materials. The initial yield equations of lattices were deduced. Initial yield surfaces were depicted separately in different 3D and 2D stress spaces. The failure envelope is a polyhedron in 3D spaces and a polygon in 2D spaces. Each plane or line of the failure envelope is corresponding to the yield or buckling of a typical bar row. For lattices with more than three bar rows, subsequent yield of the other bar row after initial yield made the lattice achieve greater limit strength. The importance of the buckling strength of the grids was strengthened while the grids were relative sparse. The integration model of the method was used to study the nonlinear mechanical properties of strain hardening grids. It was shown that the integration equation could accurately model the complete stress-strain curves of the grids within small deformations.

Effect of Annealing on Fly-Line Microstructure and Properties of Explosively Composited Stainless Steel-Stainless Steel Plates

Effect of annealing on "fly-line"(adiabatic sheer line) microstructure and properties of explosively composited stainless steel-stainless steel plates was studied.Results show that the flyline microstructure will diminish through certain annealing process,while the cracks formed from fly-line microstructure will remain.Therefore,fly-line microstructure can be considered as a plastic deformation microstructure and crack source s meanwhile its formation is considered as a special plastic deformation mechanism of metal under explosive load.

Molecular dynamics study of coupled layer thickness and strain rate effect on tensile behaviors of Ti/Ni multilayered nanowires

Novel properties and applications of multilayered nanowires(MNWs)urge researchers to understand their mechanical behaviors comprehensively.Using the molecular dynamic simulation,tensile behaviors of Ti/Ni MNWs are investigated under a series of layer thickness values(1.31,2.34,and 7.17 nm)and strain rates(1.0×10^(8)s^(-1)≤ε≤5.0×10^(10)s^(-1)).The results demonstrate that deformation mechanisms of isopachous Ti/Ni MNWs are determined by the layer thickness and strain rate.Four distinct strain rate regions in the tensile process can be discovered,which are small,intermediate,critical,and large strain rate regions.As the strain rate increases,the initial plastic behaviors transform from interface shear(the shortest sample)and grain reorientation(the longest sample)in small strain rate region to amorphization of crystalline structures(all samples)in large strain rate region.Microstructure evolutions reveal that the disparate tensile behaviors are ascribed to the atomic fractions of different structures in small strain rate region,and only related to collapse of crystalline atoms in high strain rate region.A layer thickness-strain rate-dependent mechanism diagram is given to illustrate the couple effect on the plastic deformation mechanisms of the isopachous nanowires.The results also indicate that the modulation ratio significantly affects the tensile properties of unequal Ti/Ni MNWs,but barely affect the plastic deformation mechanisms of the materials.The observations from this work will promote theoretical researches and practical applications of Ti/Ni MNWs.

Glial Activation, A Common Mechanism Underlying Spinal Synaptic Plasticity？

Long-term potentiation （LTP） at synapses between primary afferents and spinal dorsal horn neurons induced by noxious electrical stimulation or injury of peripheral nerve is con- sidered to underlie chronic pain [1]. The mechanisms of the spinal LTP have been intensively investigated, since it was discovered in 1995 [2]. In recent years, spinal application of ATP [3], brain-derived neurotrophic factor （BDNF） [4] and opioid [5] has been shown to induce spinal LTP at C-fiber synapses in the absence of conditioning activation of primary afferents. This is contrary to the general belief that coinci- dent pre- and postsynaptic activity is needed for LTP induction. Recently, Sandkiihler and his co-workers reported in Science that combined activation of microglia and astro- cytes by P2X7 receptor agonist BzATP induces LTP at synapses between afferent C-fibers and spinal lamina I neurons in the absence of presynaptic activation, which is termed gliogenic LTP [6] （Fig. 1C）. To determine the rela- tionship between the gliogenic LTP and high frequency stimulation （HFS）-indueed LTP, they used transverse lum- bar spinal cord slices with long dorsal roots which were separated into halves. Twenty two lamina I neurons that received independent monosynaptic C-fiber inputs from each dorsal root half were recorded. Homosynaptic LTP is recorded in 12 neurons, among them 6 neurons also show heterosynaptic LTP （Fig. 1A）. Interestingly, heterosynaptic LTP is also induced in 5 neurons in which HFS fails to induce homosynaptic LTP （Fig. 1B）.

Induced Plasticity of a Brittle(La,Ce)-Based Bulk Metallic Glass by Surface Corrosion

Unexpected facture without any room-temperature plasticity severely limits potential structural applications of bulk metallic glasses （BMGs）, especially La-, Mg- and Fe-based ones. In this study, a simple free corrosion method was provided to improve the plasticity of a brittle （La, Ce）-based BMG by the introduction of high-density corrosion defects on the surface. The influences of immersing time in 0.1 mol/L H2SO4 aqueous solution on the surface morphology and mechanical properties of the BMG were evaluated. With increasing immersing time from 5 to 30 min, the degree of surface corrosion increased obviously, and the distribution of corrosion defects became more homogenous. In the samples, the yielding phenomenon and certain plasticity appeared up to 0.3% after the surface treatment. The yielding and plasticity can be attributed to easier nucleation of shear bands on the defect surface rather than on the glabrous surface. The results provided a novel method to improve the plasticity of BMGs.

Orientation-Dependent Mechanical Responses and Plastic Deformation Mechanisms of FeMnCoCrNi High-entropy Alloy:A Molecular Dynamics Study

Mechanical properties of high-entropy alloys(HEAs)with the face-centered cubic(fcc)structure strongly depend on their initial grain orientations.However,the orientation-dependent mechanical responses and the underlying plastic fl ow mechanisms of such alloys are not yet well understood.Here,deformation of the equiatomic FeMnCoCrNi HEA with various initial orientations under uniaxial tensile testing has been studied by using atomistic simulations,showing the results consistent with the recent experiments on fcc HEAs.The quantitative analysis of the activated deformation modes shows that the initiation of stacking faults is the main plastic deformation mechanism for the crystals initially oriented with[001],[111],and[112],and the total dislocation densities in these crystals are higher than that with the[110]and[123]orientations.Stacking faults,twinning,and hcp-martensitic transformation jointly promote the plastic deformation of the[110]orientation,and twinning in this crystal is more significant than that with other orientations.Deformation in the crystal oriented with[123]is dominated by the hcp-martensite transformation.Comparison of the mechanical behaviors in the FeMnCoCrNi alloy and the conventional materials,i.e.Cu and Fe50Ni50,has shown that dislocation slip tends to be activated more readily in the HEA.This is attributed to the larger lattice distortion in the HEA than the low-entropy materials,leading to the lower critical stress for dislocation nucleation and elastic–plastic transition in the former.In addition,the FeMnCoCrNi HEA with the larger lattice distortion leads to an enhanced capacity of storing dislocations.However,for the[001]-oriented HEA in which dislocation slip and stacking fault are the dominant deformation mechanisms,the limited deformation modes activated are insu fficient to improve the work hardening ability of the material.

Recent progress in medium-Mn steels made with new designing strategies, a review

After summarizing the relevant researches on the medium Mn steels in references, two new targets on the tensile properties have been defined. One is that both transformation-induced（TRIP） and twinninginduced plasticity（TWIP） could be realized for the steel with a relatively low Mn content, which exhibits the similar tensile properties to the classical TWIP steels with higher Mn content. The other is to achieve ultrahigh ultimate tensile strength（〉1.5 GPa） without sacrificing formability. To achieve these goals,new designing strategies was put forward for compositions and the processing route. In particular, warm rolling was employed instead of the usual hot/cold rolling process because the former can produce a mixture of retained austenite grains with different morphologies and sizes via the partial recrystallization. Consequently, the retained austenite grains have a wide range of mechanic stability so that they can transform to martensite gradually during deformation, leading to enhanced TRIP effect and then improved mechanic properties. Finally, it is succeeded in manufacturing these targeted medium Mn steels in laboratory, some of them even exhibit better tensile properties than our expectation.

Orientation and strain rate dependent tensile behavior of single crystal titanium nanowires by molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics simulation was employed to study the tensile behavior of single crystal titanium nanowires（NWs）with[112^-0],[1^-100] and[0001]orientations at different strain rates from 10^8s^-1 to 10^11s^-1.When strain rates are above 10^10s^-1,the state transformation from HCP structure to amorphous state leads to super plasticity of Ti NWs,which is similar to FCC NWs.When strain rates are below 10^10s^-1,deformation mechanisms of Ti NWs show strong dependence on orientation.For [112^-0] orientated NW.{101^-1} compression twins（CTs）and the frequently activated transformation between CTs and deformation faults lead to higher plasticity than the other two orientated NWs.Besides,tensile deformation process along [112^-0] orientation is insensitive to strain rate.For [1^-100] orientated NW,prismaticslip is the main deformation mode at 10^8s^-1.As the strain rate increases,more types of dislocations are activated during plastic deformation process.For[0001]orientated NW,{101^-2} extension twinning is the main deformation mechanism,inducing the yield stress of [0001] orientated NW,which has the highest strain rate sensitivity.The number of initial nucleated twins increases while the saturation twin volume fraction decreases nonlinearly with increasing strain rate.

Bimodal microstructure – A feasible strategy for high-strength and ductile metallic materials

Introducing a bimodal grain-size distribution has been demonstrated an efficient strategy for fabricating high-strength and ductile metallic materials, where fine grains provide strength, while coarse grains enable strain hardening and hence decent ductility. Over the last decades, research activities in this area have grown enormously, including interesting results onfcc Cu, Ni and Al-Mg alloys as well as steel and Fe alloys via various thermo-mechanical processing approaches. However, investigations on bimodal Mg and other hcp metals are relatively few. A brief overview of the available approaches based on thermo- mechanical processing technology in producing bimodal microstructure for various metallic materials is given, along with a summary of unusual mechanical properties achievable by bimodality, where focus is placed on the microstructure-mechanical properties and relevant mechanisms. In addition, key factors that influencing bimodal strategies, such as compositions of starting materials and processing parameters, together with the challenges this research area facing, are identified and discussed briefly.

Thermal stability of retained austenite and mechanical properties of medium-Mn steel during tempering treatment

The thermal stability of retained austenite（RA）and the mechanical properties of the quenched and intercritical annealed 0.1C-5Mn steel with the starting ultrafine lamellar duplex structure of ferrite and retained austenite during tempering within the range from 200 to 500°C were studied by X-ray diffraction（XRD）,transmission electron microscopy（TEM）and tensile testing.The results showed that there was a slight decrease in the RA volume fraction with increasing tempering temperature up to 400°C.This caused a slight increase in the ultimate tensile strength（UTS）and a slight decrease in the total elongation（TE）;thus,the product of UTS to TE（UTS×TE）as high as 31GPa·% was obtained and remained nearly unchanged.However,aportion of the RA began to decompose when tempered at 500°C and thus caused a^35% decrease of the RA fraction and a^16%decrease of the value of UTS×TE.It is concluded that the ultrafine lamellar duplex structure is rather stable and the excellent combination of strength and ductility could be retained with tempering temperature up to 400°C.Thus,thermal processes such as galvanization are feasible for the tested steel provided that their temperatures are not higher than 400°C.

Thermal-structural analysis of regeneratively-cooled thrust chamber wall in reusable LOX/Methane rocket engines

To predict the thermal and structural responses of the thrust chamber wall under cyclic work,a 3-D fluid-structural coupling computational methodology is developed.The thermal and mechanical loads are determined by a validated 3-D finite volume fluid-thermal coupling computational method.With the specified loads,the nonlinear thermal-structural finite element analysis is applied to obtaining the 3-D thermal and structural responses.The Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening model calibrated by experimental data is adopted to predict the cyclic plastic behavior of the inner wall.The methodology is further applied to the thrust chamber of LOX/Methane rocket engines.The results show that both the maximum temperature at hot run phase and the maximum circumferential residual strain of the inner wall appear at the convergent part of the chamber.Structural analysis for multiple work cycles reveals that the failure of the inner wall may be controlled by the low-cycle fatigue when the Chaboche model parameter c3= 0,and the damage caused by the thermal-mechanical ratcheting of the inner wall cannot be ignored when c3〉 0.The results of sensitivity analysis indicate that mechanical loads have a strong influence on the strains in the inner wall.

Microstructures and mechanical properties of ferrite-based lightweight steel with different compositions

The microstructures and mechanical properties of ferrite-based lightweight steel with different compositions were investigated by tensile test,scanning electron microscopy（SEM）,transmission electron microscopy（TEM）,X-ray diffraction（XRD）and thermodynamic calculation（TC）.It was shown that the ferrite-based lightweight steels with 5wt.%or 8wt.%Al were basically composed of ferrite,austenite andκ-carbide.As the annealing temperature increased,the content of the austenite in the steel gradually increased,while theκ-carbide gradually decomposed and finally disappeared.The mechanical properties of the steel with 5wt.%Al and 2wt.%Cr,composed of ferrite and Cr7C3carbide at different annealing temperatures,were significantly inferior to those of others.The steel containing 5wt.%Al,annealed at 820°C for 50sthen rapidly cooled to 400°C and held for 180s,can obtain the best product of strength and elongation（PSE）of 31242MPa·%.The austenite stability of the steel is better,and its PSE is higher.In addition,the steel with higher PSE has a more stable instantaneous strain hardening exponent（n value）,which is mainly caused by the effect of transformation induced plasticity（TRIP）.When theκ-carbide or Cr7C3carbide existed in the microstructure of the steel,there was an obvious yield plateau in the tensile curve,while its PSE decreased significantly.

Strain Hardening Associated with Dislocation,Deformation Twinning,and Dynamic Strain Aging in Fe–20Mn–1.3C–(3Cu) TWIP Steels

The effects of Cu on stacking fault energy,dislocation slip,mechanical twinning,and strain hardening in Fe–20Mn–1.3C twinning-induced plasticity（TWIP） steels were systematically investigated.The stacking fault energy was raised with an average slope of 2 mJ/m2 per 1 wt% Cu.The Fe–20Mn–1.3C–3Cu steel exhibited superior tensile properties,with the ultimate tensile strength reached at 2.27 GPa and elongation up to 96.9% owing to the high strain hardening that occurred.To examine the mechanism of this high strain hardening,dislocation density determination by XRD was calculated.The dislocation density increased with the increasing strain,and the addition of Cu resulted in a decrease in the dislocation density.A comparison of the strain-hardening behavior of Fe–20Mn–1.3C and Fe–20Mn–1.3C–3Cu TWIP steels was made in terms of modified Crussard–Jaoul（C–J） analysis and microstructural observations.Especially at low strains,the contributions of all the relevant deformation mechanisms—slip,twinning,and dynamic strain aging—were quantitatively evaluated.The analysis revealed that the dislocation storage was the leading factor to the increase of the strain hardening,while dynamic strain aging was a minor contributor to strain hardening.Twinning,which interacted with the matrix,acted as an effective barrier to dislocation motion.

Mechanical Properties and Microstructure Evolution of AA1100 Aluminum Sheet Processed by Accumulative Press Bonding Process

Accumulative press bonding（APB） is a novel variant of severe plastic deformation processes,which is devised to produce materials with ultra-fine grain.In the present work,the mechanical properties and microstructural evolution of AA1100 alloy,which is produced by APB technique,were investigated.The study of the microstructure of AA1100 alloy was performed by optical microscopy.The results revealed that the grain size of the samples decreased to 950 nm after six passes of APB process.The yield strength of AA1100 alloy after six passes of the process increased up to 264 MPa,which is three times higher than that of the as-cast material（89 MPa）.After six passes,microhardness values of AA1100 alloy increased from 38 to 61 HV.Furthermore,the results showed that the behavior of variations in mechanical properties is in accordance with the microstructural changes and it can be justified by using the Hall-Patch equation.Moreover,the rise in the yield strength can be attributed to the reduction in the grain size leading to the strain hardening.