High-strength nanocrystalline intermetallics with room temperature deformability enabled by nanometer thick grain boundaries

Although intermetallics are attractive for their high strength, many of them are often brittle at room temperature, thereby severely limiting their potential as structural materials. Here, we report on a previously unidentified deformable nanocrystalline CoAl intermetallics with Co-rich thick grain boundaries (GBs). In situ micropillar compression studies show that nanocrystalline CoAl with thick GBs exhibits ultrahigh yield strength, exceeding 4.5 gigapascals. Unexpectedly, nanocrystalline CoAl intermetallics also show prominent work hardening to a flow stress of 5.7 gigapascals up to 20% compressive strain. Transmission electron microscopy studies show that deformation induces abundant dislocations inside CoAl grains with thick GBs, which accommodate plastic deformation. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the Co-rich thick GBs play a vital role in promoting nucleation of dislocations at the Co/CoAl interfaces, thereby enhancing the plasticity of the intermetallics. This study provides a perspective to promoting the plasticity of intermetallics via the introduction of thick GBs.

Abrupt phase transitions

This chapter studies abrupt phase transitions, familiar from boiling water, raindrops, snowflake formation, and frost. At these transitions, the properties change abruptly -- the ice cube and the water in which it floats are at the same temperature and pressure, but have quite different densities and rigidities. The chapter studies the coexistence between two phases by matching their free energies, and discover the Maxwell equal-area construction. It examines the barriers to raindrop formation and discovers nucleation and critical droplet theory. It examines how the transition proceeds after nucleation, and discovers coarsening (familiar from the segregation of oil and water in well-shaken salad dressing), dendrites (snowflakes and frost patterns), and martensitic structures (important in steel). Exercises explore nucleation of dislocations, of cracks, and of droplets in the Ising model; complex free energies and nucleation rates; dendrites in surface growth and snowflakes; and martensites, minimizing sequences, and origami.

Investigation on the Threading Dislocations Formed by Lattice Misfits during Initial Stage of Sublimation Growth of 4H-SiC

We investigated the relation between the nucleation of dislocations and the lattice misfits by nitrogen concentration difference between seed and grown crystal during the initial stage of growth. 4H-SiC single crystals were grown with various nitrogen gas flow rates introduced into the crystal growing chamber under the same temperature and pressure to minimize the effect of thermal stress on the nucleation of dislocations. The nitrogen atomic concentrations of grown crystals depended on the introduced nitrogen gas ratios and they highly increased at the very early stage of growth. The generation of new threading dislocations at the interface also was affected by the nitrogen atomic concentrations differences between seed and grown crystals. Very few generated threading dislocations were observed in low nitrogen atomic concentration samples, however nucleation of threading dislocations at the interface were found in high nitrogen atomic concentrations samples. At initial stages of PVT growth process, the generation of threading dislocations induced by lattice misfits originated from nitrogen concentration difference between seed and grown crystals were investigated and found the appropriate nitrogen gas flow rates and profile at the heating and depressurized stage.

Distinguishing contributions of ceramic matrix and binder metal to the plasticity of nanocrystalline cermets

Using the typical WC–Co cemented carbide as an example, the interactions of dislocations within the ceramic matrix and the binder metal, as well as the possible cooperation and competition between the matrix and binder during deformation of the nanocrystalline cermets, were studied by molecular dynamics simulations. It was found that at the same level of strain, the dislocations in Co have more complex configurations in the cermet with higher Co content. With loading, the ratio between mobile and sessile dislocations in Co becomes stable earlier in the high-Co cermet. The strain threshold for the nucleation of dislocations in WC increases with Co content. At the later stage of deformation, the growth rate of WC dislocation density increases more rapidly in the cermet with lower Co content, which exhibits an opposite tendency compared with Co dislocation density. The relative contribution of Co and WC to the plasticity of the cermet varies in the deformation process. With a low Co content, the density of WC dislocations becomes higher than that of Co dislocations at larger strains, indicating that WC may contribute more than Co to the plasticity of the nanocrystalline cermet at the final deformation stage. The findings in the present work will be applicable to a large variety of ceramic–metal composite materials.

Schottky defects induced effects on the behaviors of high velocity shock compression of MgO

A double yielding phenomenon occurs for shock wave propagation, i.e., homogeneous nucleation of dislocations accompanied by vacancy emission of dislocations.