Directional solidification and characterization of NiAl-9Mo eutectic alloy

Ni-45.5Al-9Mo （mole fraction,%） alloy was directionally solidified with a constant temperature gradient （GL=334 K/cm） and growth rates ranging from 2 to 300 μm/s using a Bridgman type crystal growing facility with liquid metal cooling （LMC） technique. The effect of growth rate （v） on the solidified microstructures such as rod spacing （λ）, rod size （d） and rod volume fraction was experimentally investigated. Two types of the solidified interfaces, planar and cellular, were identified. On the condition of both planar and cellular eutectic microstructures, the relationships between λ, d and v were given as： λv1/2=5.90 μm·μm1/2·s1/2 and dv1/2=2.18μm·μm1/2·s1/2, respectively. It was observed that the volume fraction of Mo phase could be adjusted in a certain range. The variation of phase volume fraction was attributed to undercooling increase and the growth characteristics of the individual constituent phases during the eutectic growth.

High temperature oxidation behavior of directionally solidified NiAl-31Cr-2.9Mo-0.1Hf-0.05Ho eutectic alloy

The isothermal oxidation behavior of NiAl-31Cr-2.9Mo-0.1Hf-0.05Ho directional eutectic alloy was investigated with the help of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.The results revealed that a continuous Al2O3 scale was formed and owned excellent oxidation resistance in the temperature range of 900-1100°C.When the temperature was up to 1150°C,the continuous Al2O3 oxide film ruptured.Trace rare earth element Ho distributed uniformly in the alloy and relatively high level of Al in Cr（Mo）phase are beneficial to the formation of continuous and compact Al2O3 scale.During the oxidation,a phase transformation fromθ-Al2O3 toα-Al2O3 existed on the surface of oxidation film.It resulted in the abnormal oxidation mass gain happening when the alloy was oxidized at 1000°C or 1050°C.

Influence of Cu content on microstructure,grain orientation and mechanical properties of Sn-xCu lead-free solders

The effect of Cu content on the microstructure,grain orientation and mechanical properties of Sn-xCu(x=0-4.0 wt.%)lead-free solder was studied.Results showed that added Cu induced the formation of intermetallic phases.Only theη-Cu;Sn;andε-Cu;Sn phases were present in theβ-Sn matrix.For all contents,the strongly preferred orientation of theβ-Sn phase was formed on the{001}plane.In Sn doped with 1.0 wt.%Cu,theη-Cu;Sn;phase exhibited the preferred orientation of{0001}plane,whereas doping with 3.0 or 4.0 wt.%Cu transformed the preferred orientation to the{010}plane.In addition,only the{0001}and{■}planes were present in theε-Cu;Sn phase.The high Cu contents contributed to an increased number of low-angle boundaries,high residual strain,tensile strength and microhardness.

Microstructure transition from stable to metastable eutectic growth in Ni-25%Al alloy

The microstructural evolution during directional solidification of the Ni-25%Al(mole fraction) alloy was investigated in the range of growth velocity from 10 to 100 μm/s under a given thermal gradient of 10 K/mm. The solidification microstructures reveal a transition from γ'-β equilibrium eutectic to γ-β metastable eutectic plus β dendrites. A mixed microstructure of γ'-β and γ-β eutectics produced at a growth velocity of 25 μm/s illustrates that the transition occurs during the competitive growth between γ and γ' phases. The growth temperature for each phase was considered to understand the microstructure selection during solidification. The experimental results show that a phase or a microstructure solidifying with the highest temperature under a given growth condition is preferentially selected upon solidification. In addition, both stable eutectic and metastable eutectic are shown to coexist and simultaneously grow in the velocity range between 25 and 60 μm/s due to their similar growth temperatures.

Dual-metal precursors for the universal growth of non-layered 2D transition metal chalcogenides with ordered cation vacancies

Two-dimensional(2D)transition metal chalcogenides(TMCs)are promising for nanoelectronics and energy applications.Among them,the emerging non-layered TMCs are unique due to their unsaturated dangling bonds on the surface and strong intralayer and interlayer bonding.However,the synthesis of non-layered 2D TMCs is challenging and this has made it difficult to study their structures and properties at thin thickness limit.Here,we develop a universal dual-metal precursors method to grow non-layered TMCs in which a mixture of a metal and its chloride serves as the metal source.Taking hexagonal Fe_(1-x)S as an example,the thickness of the Fe_(1-x)S flakes is down to 3 nm with a lateral size of over 100 μm.Importantly,we find ordered cation Fe vacancies in Fe_(1-x)S,which is distinct from layered TMCs like MoS_(2) where anion vacancies are commonly observed.Low-temperature transport measurements and theoretical calculations show that 2D Fe_(1-x)S is a stable semiconductor with a narrow bandgap of60 meV.In addition to Fe_(1-x)S,the method is universal in growing various non-layered 2D TMCs containing ordered cation vacancies,including Fe_(1-x)Se,Co_(1-x)S,Cr_(1-x)S,and V_(1-x)S.This work paves the way to grow and exploit properties of non-layered materials at 2D thickness limit.