Unraveling the origin of extra strengthening in gradient nanotwinned metals

Materials containing heterogeneous nanostructures hold great promise for achieving superior mechanical properties. However, the strengthening effect due to plastically inhomogeneous deformation in heterogeneous nanostructures has not been clearly understood. Here, we investigate a prototypical heterogeneous nanostructured material of gradient nanotwinned (GNT) Cu to unravel the origin of its extra strength arising from gradient nanotwin structures relative to uniform nanotwin counterparts. We measure the back and effective stresses of GNT Cu with different nanotwin thickness gradients and compare them with those of homogeneous nanotwinned Cu with different uniform nanotwin thicknesses. We find that the extra strength of GNT Cu is caused predominantly by the extra back stress resulting from nanotwin thickness gradient, while the effective stress is almost independent of the gradient structures. The combined experiment and strain gradient plasticity modeling show that an increasing structural gradient in GNT Cu produces an increasing plastic strain gradient, thereby raising the extra back stress. The plastic strain gradient is accommodated by the accumulation of geometrically necessary dislocations inside an unusual type of heterogeneous dislocation structure in the form of bundles of concentrated dislocations. Such a heterogeneous dislocation structure produces microscale internal stresses leading to the extra back stress in GNT Cu. Altogether, this work establishes a fundamental connection between the gradient structure and extra strength in GNT Cu through the mechanistic linkages of plastic strain gradient, heterogeneous dislocation structure, microscale internal stress, and extra back stress. Broadly, this work exemplifies a general approach to unraveling the strengthening mechanisms in heterogeneous nanostructured materials.

Mechanical Properties and Deformation Mechanisms of Heterostructured High-Entropy and Medium-Entropy Alloys: A Review

Recently, heterostructured (HS) materials, consisting of hard and soft zones with dramatically different strengths, have been developed and received extensive attention because they have been reported to exhibit superior mechanical properties over those predicted by the rule of mixtures. Due to the accumulation of geometrically necessary dislocations during plastic deformation, a back stress is developed in the soft zones to increase the yield strength of HS materials, which also induce forward stress in the hard zones, and a global hetero-deformation induced (HDI) hardening to retain ductility. High-entropy alloys (HEAs) and medium-entropy alloys (MEAs) or multicomponent alloys usually contain three or more principal elements in near-equal atomic ratios and have been widely studied in the world. This review paper first introduces concepts of HS materials and HEAs/MEAs, respectively, and then reviewed emphatically the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms of HS HEAs/MEAs. Finally, we discuss the prospect for industrial applications of the HS HEAs and MEAs.

Tailoring Heterogeneous Microstructure in a High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel for Enhanced Strength-Toughness Balance

The attainment of both strength and toughness is of vital importance to most structural materials, although unfortunately they are generally mutually exclusive. Here, we report that simultaneous increases in strength and toughness in a high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel were achieved by tailoring the heterogeneous microstructure consisting of soft intercritical ferrite and hard martensite via intercritical heat treatment. The heterogeneous microstructure features were studied from the perspective of morphology and crystallography to uncover the effect on mechanical properties. Specifically, the volume fraction of martensite increased with increasing annealing temperature, which resulted in increased back stress and effective stress, and thereby an improved strength-ductility combination. The enrichment of carbon and alloying elements in the martensite was lowered with the increase in annealing temperature. As a result, the hardness difference between the intercritical ferrite and martensite was reduced. In addition, the globular reversed austenite preferentially grew into the adjacent austenite grain that held no Kurdjumov-Sachs (K-S) orientation relationship with it, which effectively refined the coarse prior austenite grains and increased the density of high angle grain boundaries. The synergy of these two factors contributed to the improved low-temperature toughness. This work demonstrates a strategy for designing heterostructured HSLA steels with superior mechanical properties.

LASER SHOCK PEENING INDUCED BACK STRESS MITIGATION IN ROLLED STAINLESS STEEL

Laser shock peening (LSP) is investigated as a potential tool for reducing tensile back stress, shown here applied to rolled and annealed 304L austenitic steel. The back stress of treated and untreated dog-bone samples is extracted from hysteresis tensile testing. Electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) and orientation imaging microscopy (OIM) analysis quantify the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density distribution of unstrained and strained as well as un-peened and peened conditions. Finite element analysis (FEA) simulation models back stress and residual stress development through tensile testing and LSP treatment using known LSP pressure models and Ziegler's non-linear kinematic hardening law. Non-linear regression fitting of tensile testing stress-strain in as-received specimens extracts the kinematic hardening parameters that are used in numerical study. This research shows LSP may be used to overcome manufacturing design challenges presented by yield asymmetry due to back stress in rolled steel.

Tensile Failure and Fracture Width of Partially Permeable Wellbores with Applications in Lost Circulation Material Design

Summary Estimation of near-wellbore fracture widths remains central to designing the particle size distribution (PSD) and composition of lost circulation material (LCM) blends. Although elastic rock models are often used for this purpose, they fall short in capturing the substantial effect of pore fluid pressure on the fracture width. The problem is addressed in this paper by incorporating the poroelastic back stress in width estimation of axial fractures nearby an inclined wellbore. The poroelastic back stress is caused by a nonideal drilling fluid filter cake allowing for fluid pressure communication between the wellbore and pore space of the rock surrounding the wellbore. In this aspect, a proper definition of the filter-cake efficiency is made in terms of the wellbore pressure, far-field pore fluid pressure, and pore fluid pressure of the rock surrounding the wellbore. The value of this parameter is estimated from the standard drilling fluid filtration test results, as well as the formation rock permeability. The filter-cake efficiency is next used to develop the long-time, asymptotic analytical solution for the poroelastic stress of an inclined wellbore. By accounting for the obtained poroelastic back stress, an improved estimation of the wellbore tensile limit that depends on the filter-cake efficiency parameter is developed. For wellbore pressures beyond the wellbore tensile limit, the width of the near-wellbore fractures is estimated. The fracture width estimation is made through an analytical, dislocation-based fracture mechanics solution to the integral equation describing the nonlocal stress equilibrium along the fracture faces. The commonly practiced scheme for geometric design of LCM blends is enhanced by using the presented improvement in estimation of the near-wellbore fracture width. A case study is used to demonstrate the substantial effect of drilling fluid filtration properties and the resulting poroelastic back stress on the wellbore tensile limit, estimated fracture width, and consequently, composition of the recommended LCM blend.

Semi-Automated Procedure to Estimate Nonlinear Kinematic Hardening Model to Simulate the Nonlinear Dynamic Properties of Soil and Rock

The strain-dependent nonlinear properties of ground materials, such as shear modulus degradation (G/Gmax) and damping, are of significant importance in seismic-related analyses. However, the ABAQUS program lacks a comprehensive procedure to estimate parameters for a built-in model. In this study, a nonlinear kinematic hardening (NKH) model with three back-stress values was used, which allows better fitting to the backbone curves compared to the simplified nonlinear kinematic hardening (SNKH) model previously proposed. Instead of modeling in ABAQUS, a semi-automated procedure was implemented in MATLAB, which can predict shear stress–shear strain hysteretic loops, to find the fitting parameters to the target G/Gmax and/or damping curves. The procedure was applied for three soil and two rock samples, and the results indicate a good match between model and target backbone curves, which proves the application of the procedure and the NKH model in simulating the nonlinear properties of ground materials.

Gradient Microstructure Design in Stainless Steel: A Strategy for Uniting Strength-Ductility Synergy and Corrosion Resistance

Martensite transformation and grain refinement can make austenitic stainless steel stronger, but this comes at a dramatic loss of both ductility and corrosion resistance. Here we report a novel gradient structure in 301 stainless steel sheets, which enables an unprecedented combination of high strength, improved ductility and good corrosion resistance. After producing inter-layer microstructure gradient by surface mechanical attrition treatment, the sheet was annealed at high temperature for a short duration, during which partial reverse transformation occurred to form recrystallized austenitic nano-grains in the surface layer, i.e., introducing extra intra-layer heterogeneity. Such 3D microstructure heterogeneity activates inter-layer and inter-phase interactions during deformation, thereby producing back stress for high yield strength and hetero-deformation induced (HDI) hardening for high ductility. Importantly, the recrystallized austenitic nano-grains significantly ameliorates the corrosion resistance. These findings suggest an effective route for evading the strength–ductility and strength–corrosion tradeoffs in stainless steels simultaneously.

Introduction to Heterostructured Materials: A Fast Emerging Field

Strong and tough materials are desired for lightweight, energy efficient applications such as electric cars and aerospace applications. Recently, heterostructures are found to produce unprecedented strength and ductility that are considered impossible based on the materials science in our textbooks. Such superior mechanical properties are enabled by a new scientific principle: hetero-deformation-induced (HDI) strengthening and work hardening. Heterostructured (HS) materials consist of heterogeneous zones with dramatic difference (> 100 pct) in flow stresses. The inter-zone interaction produces back stress in the soft zones and forward stress in the hard zones, which collectively produces the HDI stress. HS materials possess a significant synergistic effect where the integrated property exceeds the prediction by the rule of mixtures. Importantly, HS materials can be produced by current industrial facilities at large scale and low cost. The new materials sciences and promising applications are driving the fast development of the HS materials as an emerging field. There are many fundamental issues that need to be probed so as to effectively design HS materials for superior properties. To solve these issues, it requires collaborative efforts by the communities of experimental materials science and computational material science and mechanics.