Enhanced mechanical properties of a carbon and nitrogen co-doped interstitial high-entropy alloy via tuning ultrafine-grained microstructures

C-N co-doped interstitial high entropy alloy(iHEA)was reported to have high strength and ductility.However,iHEA with fully recrystallized ultrafine grains(UFGs)and underlying thermally activated pro-cesses associated with dislocation slip,twinning,and solute drag have not been reported yet.In this work,a C-N co-doped iHEA with nominal composition Fe_(48.5)Mn_(30)Co_(10)Cr_(10)C_(0.5)N_(1.0)(at.%)was prepared,and the microstructures were tuned by cold-rolling and annealing treatments to improve mechanical properties.Upon cold-rolling with a strain of 1.74,the main microstructures in the iHEA are composed of nano-grains,nano-twins,HCP laminates,and high density of dislocations,leading to ultrahigh hardness of 466.7 HV and tensile strength of 1730 MPa at the expense of ductility(2.44%).Both the nanostructures and the high hardness of the iHEA can be maintained up to an annealing temperature of 600℃(462.5 HV).After annealing at 650℃ for 1 h,the UFG microstructures are obtained in the iHEA,containing re-crystallized grains with an average grain size of 0.91μm and nanoprecipitates with an average diameter of 90.8 nm.The combined strengthening and hardening effects of UFGs,nanoprecipitates,twinning,and solutes contribute to high strain hardening(n=0.81),gigapascal yield strength(984 MPa),and good duc-tility(20%).The C-N co-doping leads to a strong drag effect on dislocation slip,resulting in a nano-scale mean free path of dislocation slip λ(1.44 nm)and much small apparent activation volume V^(∗)(15.8 b^(3))of the UFG iHEA.

Residual compressive stress and intensity of infrared absorption of cubic BN films prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Theoretical and experimental investigations on the dependence of the intensity of infrared （IR） absorption of poly- crystalline cubic boron nitride thin films under the residual compressive stress conditions have been performed. Our results indicate that the intensity of the IR absorption is proportional to the total degree of freedom of all the ions in the ordered regions. The reduction of interstitial Ar atom concentration, which causes the increase in the ordered regions of cubic boron nitride （cBN） crystallites, could be one cause for the increase in the intensity of IR absorption after residual compressive stress relaxation. Theoretical derivation is in good agreement with the experimental results concerning the IR absorption intensity and the Ar interstitial atom concentration in cubic boron nitride films measured by energy dispersion X-ray spec- troscopy. Our results also suggest that the interstitial Ar is the origin of residual compressive stress accumulation in plasma enhanced cBN film deposition.

Pressure-induced structural evolution of apatite-type La_(9.33)Si_6O_(26)

The pressure-induced structural evolution of apatite-type La9.33Si6026 was systematically studied using in situ syn- chrotron x-ray diffraction （XRD）. The XRD spectra indicated that a subtly reversible phase transition from P63/m to P63 symmetry occurred at ~ 13.6 GPa because of the tilting of the SiO4 tetrahedra under compression. Furthermore, the La9.33Si6026 exhibited a higher axial compression ratio for the a-axis than the c-axis, owing to the different axial arrange- ment of the SiO4 tetrahedra. Interestingly, the high-pressure phase showed compressibility unusually higher than that of the initial phase, suggesting that the low P63 symmetry provided more degrees of freedom. Moreover, the La9.33Si6026 exhibited a lower phase transition pressure （PT） and a higher lattice compression than LaloSi6027. Comparisons between La9.33Si6026 and LaloSi6027 provided a deeper understanding of the effect of interstitial oxygen atoms on the structural evolution of apatite-type lanthanum silicates （ATLSs）.

巧妙的稀掺杂策略实现高性能GeTe热电材料

In thermoelectrics,doping is essential to augment the figure of merit.Traditional strategy,predomina ntly heavy doping,aims to optimize carrier concentration and restrain lattice thermal conductivity.However,this tactic can severely hamper carrier transport due to pronounced point defect scattering,particularly in materials with inherently low carrier mean-free-path.Conversely,dilute doping,although minimally affecting carrier mobility,frequently fails to optimize other vital thermoelectric parameters.Herein,we present a more nuanced dilute doping strategy in GeTe,leveraging the multifaceted roles of small-size metal atoms.A mere 4%CuPbSbTe_(3)introduction into GeTe swiftly suppresses rhombohedral distortion and optimizes carrier concentration through the aid of Cu interstitials.Additionally,the formation of multiscale microstructures,including zero-dimensional Cu interstitials,one-dimensional dislocations,two-dimensional planar defects,and three-dimensional nanoscale amorphous GeO_(2)and Cu_(2)GeTe_(3)precipitates,along with the ensuing lattice softening,contributes to an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity.Intriguingly,dilute CuPbSbTe_(3)doping incurs only a marginal decrease in carrier mobility.Subsequent trace Cd doping,employed to alleviate the bipolar effect and align the valence bands,yields an impressive figure-of-merit of 2.03 at 623 K in(Ge_(0.97)Cd_(0.03)Te)_(0.96)(CuPbSbTe_(3))_(0.04).This leads to a high energyconversion efficiency of 7.9%and a significant power density of 3.44 W cm^(-2)at a temperature difference of 500 K.These results underscore the invaluable insights gained into the constructive role of nuanced dilute doping in the concurrent tuning of carrier and phonon transport in GeTe and other thermoelectric materials.

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.

Redistribution of C and N Atoms in High Nitrogen Martensitic Stainless Steel During Cryogenic Treatment

The redistribution of C and N atoms during cryogenic treatment is crucial for the microstructure evolution and properties of high nitrogen martensitic steel.Here,the distinct redistribution behavior of C and N atoms in a martensitic stainless steel with 0.3 wt%C and 0.5 wt%N after cryogenic treatment were investigated by the atom probe tomography.Carbon clusters begin to form after cryogenic treatment at-60℃and gradually increase with the decrease of cryogenic treatment temperature.While Mo–N and Cr–N pairs are homogeneously distributed in the matrix even after cryogenic treatment at-120℃,and then form enrichment phenomenon when the cryogenic temperature is deeply lowered to-190℃.It is found that the distinct redistributions of C and N atoms are associated with the different interaction energy between substitutional atoms and them.The stronger interaction between Cr,Mo atoms and N delays the segregation of N during the cryogenic treatment.Finally,the mechanical properties results confirmed that the deep lower cryogenic treatment is a promising method to improve the hardness and strength in the high nitrogen martensitic stainless steel.