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The Journal of Materials Science awards the annual Robert W. Cahn Prize to recognize the best paper published in the journal each year. The winner of the 2023 Cahn Prize is a research paper titled "Molecular modelling of graphene nanoribbons on the effect of porosity and oxidation on the mechanical and thermal properties." The paper presents molecular simulation models of graphene nanoribbons and examines the impact of porosity and oxidation on their mechanical and thermal conductivity properties. The paper is well-written and provides valuable insights for researchers in this field. Two other papers were selected as runners-up for the prize. All the monthly finalists for the Cahn Prize can be downloaded for free on the journal's website. [Extracted from the article]

Twinning is an important deformation mechanism for magnesium alloys, which has a significant impact on the texture evolution and mechanical properties. Pre-twinning deformation has been considered as an effective method for texture regulation. For each twinning mode, there are six crystallographically equivalent variants. Properly identifying the activated twin and understanding its variant selection criteria are essential for the development of high-performance magnesium alloys. As summarized in this paper, the observed twin variant by the commonly employed electron backscatter diffraction technique can be identified by several approaches, including misorientation analysis, trace analysis and matrix method. Schmid factor analysis was commonly performed to explain the selection of twin variants. To broaden the application scope under complex stress state, a generalized Schmid factor was derived by introducing a stress tensor. The efficiency of Schmid criteria to assess twin variant selection was confirmed to be influenced by the type of the applied stress. To consider the local effect on twin activation, in particular twin-twin transfer and slip-induced twinning, displacement gradient tensor calculation and geometrical compatibility factor analysis have been employed. It was demonstrated that local strain accommodation played a critical role in selecting the variants of cross-boundary twins in magnesium alloys. Assisted with crystal plasticity finite element modeling, the resolved shear stress on twinning and a composite Schmid factor combining the global Schmid factor and geometrical compatibility factor were obtained to better explain the activated twin variants in magnesium alloys. All the above-mentioned Schmid law based criteria and some energy based criteria as well are summarized in this paper. Their applications in evaluating twin variant selection in magnesium alloys are critically reviewed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior of forged 42CrMoA steel during hot deformation, the hot deformation experiments of forged 42CrMoA steel under different deformation conditions (strain rate, temperature, and strain) were carried out in this paper. The hot deformation activation energy of forged 42CrMoA steel was determined to be 413627.2 J · mol - 1 . The constitutive model and DRX kinetic model of the steel were established. Analyzing the reconstructed parent phase grains reveals that when the strain is constant, as the deformation temperature increases and the strain rate decreases, the average size and DRX volume fraction of the parent phase grains gradually increase, and the peak stress gradually decreases. When the deformation temperature and strain rate are constant, as the strain increases, the average size of the parent phase grains gradually decreases, and the volume fraction of DRX gradually increases. Based on the cellular automaton theory model and considering the influence of grain deformation on the DRX process, a cellular automaton dynamic recrystallization (T-DRX-CA) model for forged 42CrMoA steel based on topological deformation technology was established, and the microstructure evolution under different deformation conditions was simulated. The microstructure evolution under different deformation conditions was simulated, which was compared with experimental results. The results showed that the average errors between the simulated and experimental values of the average grain size of the parent phase, the volume fraction of DRX, and peak stress were all less than 8%, and the simulated results were in good agreement with the experimental values, which indicates that the established model can accurately predict the DRX behavior of the forged 42CrMoA steel in the process of hot deformation. The hot deformation behavior of forged 42CrMoA steel under different deformation conditions was investigated by a cellular automaton dynamic recrystallization (T-DRX-CA) model based on topological deformation technique. The results showed that the average errors between the simulated and experimental values of the average grain size of the parent phase, the volume fraction of DRX, and peak stress were all less than 8%, and the simulated results were in good agreement with the experimental values, which indicates that the established model can accurately predict the DRX behavior of the forged 42CrMoA steel in the process of hot deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the machining-induced residual stress while processing, the machining distortion of thin-walled 7050 aluminum alloy parts occurs easily, which greatly affects the pass rate of the products. Herein, electromagnetic coupling treatment (EMCT) was proposed to relieve the residual stress of 7050 aluminum alloy. It was found that EMCT had a significant effect on residual stress relief (13.3–89.7%). The energy input by EMCT promoted the movement of dislocation, resulting in the uniform distribution of microplastic strain, the release of stored elastic strain energy, and the residual stress relief, ultimately. A numerical simulation method to visualize the evolution of the electromagnetic field, the stress, and the strain in the materials was proposed to explain the causes of microplastic strain. Specimen #5 with the optimal EMCT processing parameter (1.5 T, 1.5 V) was considered to be the most effective for both residual stress relief and mechanical property enhancement, in which the residual stress decreased by 85.1% and the tensile strength increased by 8.3%. In this paper, it is proposed that EMCT can be used as an effective method to reduce the residual stress of 7050 aluminum alloy. Moreover, it has certain technical reference value for the study of residual stress relief of other thin-walled part materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During high-temperature applications, tensile stability is significantly important and urgent for the security of components. In this paper, the high-temperature tensile tests under different creep strain were performed and analyzed through scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) of TC11 titanium alloy. It is found that the creep strain, dynamic α precipitation and deformation modes have significant influence on the high-temperature tensile behavior of TC11 titanium alloy. An abnormal characteristic of high-temperature tensile stress plateau was observed with the increasing of the creep strain. Moreover, an increment of 100 MPa for yield strength was achieved when the creep strain increased from 0.075 to 0.21%. For low creep strain, sample was controlled by the dislocation slip. While at high creep strain, it promotes the precipitation of nano-sized α particles, and dislocation slip hardly transfers across the α/β interface. Then, dislocation tangles, deformation twins and stacking faults become dominated, which results in an obvious stress plateau in the stress–strain curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some key structural parts made of welding titanium alloys usually serve in hydrogen environment in aerospace, ship building and chemical industries. To investigate the hydrogen embrittlement (HE) behaviors of the welded titanium alloy joints and the impact factors, the TC4 titanium alloy joints welded by laser welding method were first treated by ultrasonic surface rolling process (USRP). Then, slow-rate tensile tests were conducted under electrochemical hydrogen charging condition to compare the mechanical properties of the TC4 laser welded joints before and after USRP. On this basis, the HE behaviors and mechanisms of the USRP-treated TC4 laser welded joint and the USRP-untreated one were discussed in detail. The results show that USRP could significantly improve the anti-hydrogen embrittlement behaviors of the TC4 laser welded joint, which could be attributed to the grain refinement and residual compressive stress in the deformation layer induced by USRP. The results of this paper provide a theoretical basis for the design of anti-hydrogen embrittlement metal materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haynes 282 is a γ ′ precipitation-strengthened nickel-based superalloy known for its exceptional high-temperature creep resistance and excellent fabricability. Recent advancements in powder-bed fusion-based additive manufacturing (PBF-AM) have enabled the fabrication of Haynes 282 with accurate, site-specific control of the grain orientation and morphology at the microscale. This ability opens up new avenues for microstructure design, to improve the material's fatigue crack resistance and service life. This paper investigates the fatigue crack growth behavior of hybrid microstructure Haynes 282 fabricated via PBF-AM. Previous experiments revealed a higher crack propagation rate in the coarse columnar-grained microstructural regions when compared against fine-grained areas. Here, a strain gradient crystal plasticity model was adapted to study the fracture-related mechanical fields at the crack tip in the two microstructures. The simulation results showed a consistent influence of grain structure and texture on crack propagation, as was seen in the experiment. The model analysis revealed higher crack propagation driving force along crack direction in the coarse-grained sharply textured microstructure and higher driving force for crack kinking in fine-grained more diffusely textured microstructure, which is ascribed to the combined effect of yield stress, hardening rate, texture and grain morphology. The presented modeling approach will facilitate the development of the AM-based accurate microstructure design by deepening the fundamental study in AM-specific microstructure-properties relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last years, a large number of new biocompatible materials for 3D printers have emerged. Due to their recent appearance and rapid growth, there is little information about their mechanical properties. The design and manufacturing of oral appliances made with 3D printing technologies require knowledge of the mechanical properties of the biocompatible material used to achieve optimal performance for each application. This paper focuses on analysing the mechanical behaviour of a wide range of biocompatible materials using different additive manufacturing technologies. To this end, tensile and bending tests on different types of recent biocompatible materials used with 3D printers were conducted to evaluate the influence of the material, 3D printing technology, and printing orientation on the fragile/ductile behaviour of the manufactured devices. A test bench was used to perform tensile tests according to ASTM D638 and bending tests according to ISO 178. The specimens were manufactured with nine different materials and five manufacturing technologies. Furthermore, specimens were created with different printing technologies, biocompatible materials, and printing orientations. The maximum allowable stress, rupture stress, flexural modulus, and deformation in each of the tested specimens were recorded. Results suggest that specimens manufactured with Stereolithography (SLA) and milling (polymethyl methacrylate PMMA) achieved high maximum allowable and rupture stress values. It was also observed that Polyjet printing and Selective Laser Sintering technologies led to load–displacement curves with low maximum stress and high deformation values. Specimens manufactured with Digital Light Processing technology showed intermediate and homogeneous performance. Finally, it was observed that the printing direction significantly influences the mechanical properties of the manufactured specimens in some cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It this paper, the comprehensive design process was carried out to fabricate selective, molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). The material was used as a sorbent in the optimized analytical method, aimed at verifying the hypothesis that the conditions of an analytical process could convert 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid to 4-hydro-3-nitrophenylacetic acid, comprising a series of novel studies. The design stage consisted of the analysis of specificity of the MIP, synthesized from the cross-linker and used five various functional monomers independently, in the presence of four different templates. The MIP from 1-vinylimidazole, imprinted by 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, revealed the highest specificity in relation to 4-hydro-3-nitrophenylacetic acid, with an affinity factor equal to 3, and the highest selectivity from a group of structurally similar and biologically important biomolecules. The theoretical analysis revealed that electrostatic interaction between the analyte and the polymer matrix enhanced selectivity. The physicochemical characterization showed the specific surface area of the MIP as being equal to 368.6 m2 g−1, and the presence of nitrogen atoms at the level of 6.80% wt., confirming the monomer residue in the material structure. The MIP was applied in the solid phase extraction protocol, allowing for the analysis of 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetic acid in a human urine sample. Finally, the conversion of 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid in human urine in nitrate and nitrite salts at low pH conditions revealed an almost twofold increase in 4-hydro-3-nitrophenylacetic acid to 775 ± 81 ng L−1. The results also confirmed the applicability of the new MIP sorbent for the purpose of analysis of low levels of analyte, present in the complex sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]