scholarly journals Investigation of NbC/TiC Heterogeneous Nucleation Interface by First-Principles and Experimental Methods

Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1265
Author(s):  
Jianhong Dong ◽  
Dejian Hou ◽  
Jin-Yan Li ◽  
Rui Huang

The mechanism of the heterogeneous nucleation of NbC on TiC precipitates was investigated systematically in this paper. The interfacial properties of NbC (100)/TiC (100), NbC (110)/TiC (110), and NbC (111)/TiC (111) interfaces were studied by first-principles calculations. The results showed that the NbC (111)/TiC (111) interface with the Nb–C bond is the most stable one, and the stability of interfaces with the C–Ti, Nb–Ti, and C–C bonds decreases in turn. The interface of the Nb/C-terminated and Third Layer (TL) stacking sequence (NCTL) has the largest adhesion work (10.15 J/m2) and the smallest equilibrium interface spacing (1.290 Å). In the range of low niobium (Nb) chemical potential and high carbon (C) chemical potential, the nucleation of NbC on TiC precipitates takes precedence over the epitaxy growth in the coherent relationship of [ 1 1 ¯ 0 ] ( 111 ) NbC / / [ 1 1 ¯ 0 ] ( 111 ) TiC , while the nucleation of NbC on TiC precipitates is prior to the epitaxy growth in the coherent relationship of [ 001 ] ( 100 ) NbC / / [ 001 ] ( 100 ) TiC in the range of high niobium (Nb) chemical potential and low carbon (C) chemical potential. Besides, the characteristics of heterogeneous nucleation precipitates in Nb–Ti microalloyed steels were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The orientation relationship between the (Ti, Nb) C and (Nb, Ti) C precipitates follows [ 1 1 ¯ 0 ] ( 111 ) ( Nb ,   TiC ) / / [ 1 1 ¯ 0 ] ( 111 ) ( Ti ,   Nb ) C , which is consistent with the calculated result.

Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Zaitsev ◽  
Anton Koldaev ◽  
Nataliya Arutyunyan ◽  
Sergey Dunaev ◽  
Dmitrii D’yakonov

The most promising direction for obtaining a unique combination of difficult-to-combine properties of low-carbon steels is the formation of a dispersed ferrite microstructure and a volumetric system of nanoscale phase precipitates. This study was aimed at establishing the special features of the composition influence on the characteristics of the microstructure, phase precipitates, and mechanical properties of hot-rolled steels of the ferritic class. It was carried out by transmission electron microscopy and testing the mechanical properties of metal using 8 laboratory melts of low-carbon steels microalloyed by V, Nb, Ti, and Mo in various combinations. It was found that block ferrite prevails in the structure of steel cooled after hot rolling at a rate of 10–15 °C/s. Lowering of the microalloying components content leads to a decrease in the block ferrite fraction to 20–35% and the dominance of polygonal ferrite. The presence of nanoscale carbide (carbonitride) precipitates of austenitic and interphase/mixed types was detected in the rolled steels. It was established that the tendencies of changes in the characteristics of the structural state and present phase precipitates correlate well with obtained values of strength properties. The advantages of titanium-based microalloying systems in comparison with vanadium-based are shown.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (03) ◽  
pp. 1550037 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIAN-NA ZHANG ◽  
LI ZHAO ◽  
JIA-FU WANG ◽  
YAN-LI LI

The electronic structures and the stability of the low-index surface (001), (011) and (111) for MgO were investigated by first-principles method based on density functional theory (DFT). We analyzed the stability of the MgO slab in equilibrium with an arbitrary oxygen environment. The density of states (DOS) and the band structures of MgO slabs were calculated and compared with those of the bulk MgO . Our calculation results reveal that the stabilities of the surface vary with the change of O chemical potential. In addition, the (001) and (011) surfaces are semiconductors, which are similar to that of the bulk MgO . However, the MgO (111) surface exhibits metallic property due to the effect of the surface states, which is different from that of the bulk MgO .


2014 ◽  
Vol 794-796 ◽  
pp. 746-751
Author(s):  
Han Long Zhang ◽  
Yan Feng Han ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Yong Bing Dai ◽  
Bao De Sun

To exactly understand the grain refining mechanism of α-Al by the Al-5Ti-1B master alloy, the structural properties of α-Al/solid-TiB2(S/S) and liquid-Al/solid-TiB2(L/S) interfaces were studied using the first-principles method. Different ordered structures were formed on the interfaces with different terminations of TiB2(0001) surface, which determines the nucleant potency of TiB2. The heterogeneous nucleation of α-Al on the B-terminated surface is frustrated by an AlB2-like structure formed at the interface. In contrast, a five-layer quasi-solid region with stacking sequence of fcc-Al (111) planes forms on the Ti-terminated TiB2(0001) surface, which is the basis of successful heterogeneous nucleation of α-Al. Moreover, when redundant Ti solute being added into the liquid Al region of Ti-terminated liquid-Al/TiB2interface, the quasi-solid Al region further extends until entire solidification. The reason for using the Al-5Ti-1B master alloy rather than TiB2powders as the commercial refiner in Al industry lies in two aspects: the excessive Ti atoms in the master alloy could guarantee sufficient Ti chemical potential to form Ti-terminated surface of TiB2, and the redundant Ti solute in inoculated melts could facilitate the growth of quasi-solid Al region at the solid/liquid interface.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 1934-1941
Author(s):  
Rina Ibragimova ◽  
Zhong-Peng Lv ◽  
Hannu-Pekka Komsa

Interactions between two-dimensional MXene sheets and electron beams of a (scanning) transmission electron microscope are studied by first-principles calculations.


Author(s):  
G. M. Greene ◽  
J. W. Sprys

The present study demonstrates that fracture surfaces appear strikingly different when observed in the transmission electron microscope by replication and in the scanning electron microscope by backscattering and secondary emission. It is important to know what form these differences take because of the limitations of each instrument. Replication is useful for study of surfaces too large for insertion into the S.E.M. and for resolution of fine detail at high magnification with the T.E.M. Scanning microscopy reduces sample preparation time and allows large sections of the actual surface to be viewed.In the present investigation various modes of the S.E.M. along with the transmission mode in the T.E.M. were used to study one area of a fatigue surface of a low carbon steel. Following transmission study of a platinum carbon replica in the T.E.M. and S.E.M. the replica was coated with a gold layer approximately 200A° in thickness to improve electron emission.


Author(s):  
S. Shinozaki ◽  
J. W. Sprys

In reaction sintered SiC (∽ 5um average grain size), about 15% of the grains were found to have long-period structures, which were identifiable by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In order to investigate the stability of the long-period polytypes at high temperature, crystal structures as well as microstructural changes in the long-period polytypes were analyzed as a function of time in isothermal annealing.Each polytype was analyzed by two methods: (1) Electron diffraction, and (2) Electron micrograph analysis. Fig. 1 shows microdensitometer traces of ED patterns (continuous curves) and calculated intensities (vertical lines) along 10.l row for 6H and 84R (Ramsdell notation). Intensity distributions were calculated based on the Zhdanov notation of (33) for 6H and [ (33)3 (32)2 ]3 for 84R. Because of the dynamical effect in electron diffraction, the observed intensities do not exactly coincide with those intensities obtained by structure factor calculations. Fig. 2 shows the high resolution TEM micrographs, where the striped patterns correspond to direct resolution of the structural lattice periodicities of 6H and 84R structures and the spacings shown in the figures are as expected for those structures.


Author(s):  
N. David Theodore ◽  
Leslie H. Allen ◽  
C. Barry Carter ◽  
James W. Mayer

Metal/polysilicon investigations contribute to an understanding of issues relevant to the stability of electrical contacts in semiconductor devices. These investigations also contribute to an understanding of Si lateral solid-phase epitactic growth. Metals such as Au, Al and Ag form eutectics with Si. reactions in these metal/polysilicon systems lead to the formation of large-grain silicon. Of these systems, the Al/polysilicon system has been most extensively studied. In this study, the behavior upon thermal annealing of Au/polysilicon bilayers is investigated using cross-section transmission electron microscopy (XTEM). The unique feature of this system is that silicon grain-growth occurs at particularly low temperatures ∽300°C).Gold/polysilicon bilayers were fabricated on thermally oxidized single-crystal silicon substrates. Lowpressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) at 620°C was used to obtain 100 to 400 nm polysilicon films. The surface of the polysilicon was cleaned with a buffered hydrofluoric acid solution. Gold was then thermally evaporated onto the samples.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Medford ◽  
Shengchun Yang ◽  
Fuzhu Liu

Understanding the interaction of multiple types of adsorbate molecules on solid surfaces is crucial to establishing the stability of catalysts under various chemical environments. Computational studies on the high coverage and mixed coverages of reaction intermediates are still challenging, especially for transition-metal compounds. In this work, we present a framework to predict differential adsorption energies and identify low-energy structures under high- and mixed-adsorbate coverages on oxide materials. The approach uses Gaussian process machine-learning models with quantified uncertainty in conjunction with an iterative training algorithm to actively identify the training set. The framework is demonstrated for the mixed adsorption of CH<sub>x</sub>, NH<sub>x</sub> and OH<sub>x</sub> species on the oxygen vacancy and pristine rutile TiO<sub>2</sub>(110) surface sites. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm is highly efficient at identifying the most valuable training data, and is able to predict differential adsorption energies with a mean absolute error of ~0.3 eV based on <25% of the total DFT data. The algorithm is also used to identify 76% of the low-energy structures based on <30% of the total DFT data, enabling construction of surface phase diagrams that account for high and mixed coverage as a function of the chemical potential of C, H, O, and N. Furthermore, the computational scaling indicates the algorithm scales nearly linearly (N<sup>1.12</sup>) as the number of adsorbates increases. This framework can be directly extended to metals, metal oxides, and other materials, providing a practical route toward the investigation of the behavior of catalysts under high-coverage conditions.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Julio Gutierrez Moreno ◽  
Marco Fronzi ◽  
Pierre Lovera ◽  
alan O'Riordan ◽  
Mike J Ford ◽  
...  

<p></p><p>Interfacial metal-oxide systems with ultrathin oxide layers are of high interest for their use in catalysis. In this study, we present a density functional theory (DFT) investigation of the structure of ultrathin rutile layers (one and two TiO<sub>2</sub> layers) supported on TiN and the stability of water on these interfacial structures. The rutile layers are stabilized on the TiN surface through the formation of interfacial Ti–O bonds. Charge transfer from the TiN substrate leads to the formation of reduced Ti<sup>3+</sup> cations in TiO<sub>2.</sub> The structure of the one-layer oxide slab is strongly distorted at the interface, while the thicker TiO<sub>2</sub> layer preserves the rutile structure. The energy cost for the formation of a single O vacancy in the one-layer oxide slab is only 0.5 eV with respect to the ideal interface. For the two-layer oxide slab, the introduction of several vacancies in an already non-stoichiometric system becomes progressively more favourable, which indicates the stability of the highly non-stoichiometric interfaces. Isolated water molecules dissociate when adsorbed at the TiO<sub>2</sub> layers. At higher coverages the preference is for molecular water adsorption. Our ab initio thermodynamics calculations show the fully water covered stoichiometric models as the most stable structure at typical ambient conditions. Interfacial models with multiple vacancies are most stable at low (reducing) oxygen chemical potential values. A water monolayer adsorbs dissociatively on the highly distorted 2-layer TiO<sub>1.75</sub>-TiN interface, where the Ti<sup>3+</sup> states lying above the top of the valence band contribute to a significant reduction of the energy gap compared to the stoichiometric TiO<sub>2</sub>-TiN model. Our results provide a guide for the design of novel interfacial systems containing ultrathin TiO<sub>2</sub> with potential application as photocatalytic water splitting devices.</p><p></p>


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document