Topological phase transition associated with structural phase transition in ternary half Heusler compound LiAuBi.

In this article, we report detailed theoretical investigations of topological phases in a new non-centrosymmetric half Heusler compound LiAuBi upto a pressure of 30 GPa. It is found that the compound forms into a dynamically stable face centered cubic (FCC) lattice structure of space group F ¯43m (216) at ambient pressure. The compound is topologically non-trivial at ambient pressure, but undergoes a quantum phase transition to trivial topological phase at 23.4 GPa. However, the detailed investigations show a structural phase transition from FCC lattice (space group 216) to a honeycomb lattice (space group 194) at 13 GPa, which is also associated with a non-trivial to trivial topological phase transition. Further investigations show that the compound also carries appreciable thermoelectric properties at ambient pressure. The figure of merit (ZT) increases from 0.21 at room temperature to a maximum value of 0.22 at 500K. The theoretical findings show its potential for practical applications in spintronics as well as thermoelectricity, therefore LiAuBi needs to be synthesized and investigated experimentally for its applications.

Selective Laser Melting of Stainless Steel 316L with Face-Centered-Cubic-Based Lattice Structures to Produce Rib Implants

Selective laser melting has a great potential to manufacture biocompatible metal alloy scaffolds or implants with a regulated porosity structure. This study uses five face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice structures, including FCC, FCC-Z, S-FCC, S-FCC-Z, and FCC-XYZ. Specimens with different lattice structures are fabricated using two laser energy densities, 71 J/mm3 and 125 J/mm3. Density, tensile, compressive and flexural test results exhibit the effect of laser parameters and lattice structure geometries on mechanical properties. The higher laser energy density of 125 J/mm3 results in higher properties such as density, strength, and Young’s modulus than the laser energy density of 71 J/mm3. The S-FCC lattice has the lowest density among all lattices. The mechanical tests result show specimen with FCC-XYZ lattice structures fabricated using a laser energy density of 125 J/mm3 meet the tensile properties requirement for human ribs. This structure also meets the requirement in flexural strength performance, but its stiffness is over that of human ribs. The compression test results of lattices are still incomparable due to unavailable compression data of the human ribs. In short, The FCC-XYZ lattice design fabricated by the 125 J/mm3 laser energy density parameter can be used to manufacture customized rib implants.

Modeling of supersonic crowdion clusters in FCC lattice: Effect of the interatomic potential

Among a wide variety of point defects, crowdions can be distinguished by their high energy of formation and relatively low migration barriers, which makes them an important agent of mass transfer in lattices subjected to severe plastic deformation, irradiation, etc. It was previously shown that complexes and clusters of crowdions are even more mobile than single interstitials, which opened new mechanisms for the transfer of energy and mass in materials under intense external impacts. One of the most popular and convenient methods for analyzing crowdions is molecular dynamics, where the results can strongly depend on the interatomic potential used in the study. In this work, we compare the characteristics of a crowdion in an fcc lattice obtained using two different interatomic potentials — the pairwise Morse potential and the many-body potential for Al developed by the embedded atom method. It was found that the use of the many-body potential significantly affects the dynamics of crowdion propagation, including the features of atomic collisions, the evolution of energy localization and the propagation path.

High-entropy alloys: Structure, mechanical properties, deformation mechanisms and application

The article considers a brief review of the foreign publications on the study of the structure, phase composition and properties of five-component high-entropy alloys (HEAs) in different structural states in a wide temperature range over the past two decades. HEAs attract the attention of scientists with their unique and unusual properties. The difficulties of comparative analysis and generalization of data are noted due to different methods of obtaining HEAs, modes of mechanical tests for uniaxial compression and tension, sizes and shapes of the samples, types of thermal treatments, and phase composition (bcc and fcc crystal lattices). It is noted that the HEA with a bcc lattice has mainly high strength and low plasticity, and the HEA with a fcc lattice has low strength and increased plasticity. A significant increase in the properties of the FeMnCoCrNi HEA with a fcc lattice can be achieved by alloying with boron and optimizing the parameters of thermal mechanical treatment at alloying with carbon in the amount of 1 % (at.). The deformation curves analyzed in the temperature range –196 ÷ 800 °C indicate an increase in the yield strength with a decrease in the grain size from 150 to 5 microns. As the temperature decreases, the yield strength and elongation increase. The effect of deformation rate on the mechanical properties is an increase in the ultimate strength and yield strength, which is most noticeable at high rates of 10–2 ÷ 103 s–1. The features of HEAs deformation behavior in the mono- and poly-crystalline states are noted. The complex of high operational properties of HEAs makes it possible to use them in various industries. There are good prospects of using energy treatment to modify the surface layers and further improve HEAs properties.

Wagner interaction coefficient between nitrogen and cobalt in liquid nickel-based alloy

The report describes a simple theory of thermodynamic properties of nitrogen solutions in liquid Ni– Co alloys. This theory is completely analogous to the theory for liquid nitrogen solutions in alloys of the Fe– Cr system proposed previously by the authors in 2019. The theory is based on lattice model of the Ni– Co solutions. The model assumes FCC lattice. In the sites of this lattice are the atoms of Ni and Co. Nitrogen atoms are located in octahedral interstices. The nitrogen atom interacts only with the metal atoms located in the lattice sites neighbouring to it. This interaction is pairwise. The initial values for the calculation are the Sieverts law constants for nitrogen solubility of in liquid nickel and in liquid cobalt. The result of the calculation is the value of the Wagner interaction coefficient in liquid nickel-based alloys at 1873 K = –1,35. This value is in good agreement with the experimental data (Kowanda and Speidel, 2003).

Magnetic Properties of Nickel-Titanium Alloy during Martensitic Transformations under Plastic and Elastic Deformation

This paper focuses on the processes of the occurrence of magnetization during structure formation in samples of Ni51Ti49 alloy under deformation conditions. The possibility of the existence of a phase with an FCC (face-centered cubic) lattice in titanium nickelide has been demonstrated by electron microscopy and electron diffraction. It has been discovered that the interplanar distances of BCC110 (body-centered cubic), FCC111, and HCP002 (hexagonal close packed) in the alloy under study have similar values, which indicates the possibility of their mutual polymorphic transformation. Based on the modular self-organization, a scheme of martensitic transformations in titanium nickelide from the B2 structure (BCC lattice) to the B19’ structure (HCP lattice) through an intermediate phase with an FCC lattice is proposed. It is shown that lenticular crystals appear in the Ni51Ti49 alloy under tensile deformation until rupture, which is accompanied by the onset of ferromagnetism. The effect of magnetization in Ni51Ti49 samples when immersed in liquid nitrogen has been also discovered. In this case, the reason for the appearance and disappearance of magnetization can be associated with microdeformation processes caused by direct and reverse martensitic transitions that occur during cooling and heating of the samples.