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In this paper, vacuum annealing has been adopted to introduce atomic cluster micro-regions inside Gd-based metallic microfibers to further explore the effect of the structural changes on the magnetocaloric properties and the mechanism which is systematically expressed. The experimental results indicate that the as-prepared Gd-based metallic microfibers have favorable amorphous formation ability and thermal stability. After annealing @ 380 °C, the maximum magnetic entropy change −ΔSmmax, refrigerating capacity (RC), and relative cooling power (RCP) values of the Gd-based metallic microfibers are 7.20 J/kg·K, 459.4 J/kg, and 588.7 J/kg, respectively. Combined with the transmission electron microscopy analysis results, the internal organizational order of the annealed microfibers is significantly altered, and the atomic clusters formed in localized regions, which reduce the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the microfibers. While under the uni-action of an external magnetic field, the magnetic moment rotation state and magnetic domain structure distribution of the micro-region atoms will be changed obviously, thereby changing the general magnetic properties and magnetocaloric properties of the metallic microfibers. The above research results can promote the engineering application of Gd-based metallic microfibers in the field of magnetic refrigeration.

Ion irradiation combined with nanoindentation is a promising tool for studying irradiation-induced hardening of nuclear materials, including reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels. For RPV steels, the major sources of hardening are nm-sized irradiation-induced dislocation loops and solute atom clusters, both representing barriers for dislocation glide. The dispersed barrier hardening (DBH) model provides a link between the irradiation-induced nanofeatures and hardening. However, a number of details of the DBH model still require consideration. These include the role of the unirradiated microstructure, the proper treatment of the indentation size effect (ISE), and the appropriate superposition rule of individual hardening contributions. In the present study, two well-characterized RPV steels, each ion-irradiated up to two different levels of displacement damage, were investigated. Dislocation loops and solute atom clusters were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography, respectively. Nanoindentation with a Berkovich indenter was used to measure indentation hardness as a function of the contact depth. In the present paper, the measured hardening profiles are compared with predictions based on different DBH models. Conclusions about the appropriate superposition rule and the consideration of the ISE (in terms of geometrically necessary dislocations) are drawn.

SAF2507 duplex stainless steel (DSS) is often used as a structural component in ocean-going vessels and marine petroleum exploitation equipment, which require superior mechanical properties. In this study, we used cold rolling (CR) at room temperature with 55% or 80% deformation amounts and subsequent annealing at 1273 K in 1 min to prepare SAF2507 samples with a heterogeneous structure (HS) that was composed of ferrite and austenite phases with different grain sizes. Compared with the homogeneous structure samples, the yield strength of the HS samples increased, while the ductility did not decrease. The 55%-1273 and 80%-1273 samples exhibited the hetero-zone boundary-affected regions on both sides of the grain boundary, phase boundary, and twin boundary. This resulted in hetero-deformation-induced (HDI) strengthening and strain hardening of samples during tensile deformation, which improved the ultimate tensile strength of the HS samples while maintaining a good uniform elongation. In addition, the heterogeneous structure of DSS had better corrosion resistance than the initial sample of coarse grain (CG) structure; mainly because the HS samples had finer grains and more grain boundaries on the DSS surface than the CG structure, which is conducive to the formation of high-density passivation film on the surface of stainless steel. The current study provides a new method of material selection of some structural components with the demands of high strength and good ductility.

Novel HEAp-Ti/Al laminated composites embedded with particles of the high-entropy alloy Al0.5CoCrFeNi (HEA) were fabricated by vacuum hot-press sintering at 730 °C. The phase composition and microstructure of the composites were studied with X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope SEM, energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) techniques. At this temperature, it has been observed that Al3Ti intermetallic compound is the favored phase and the reaction results in the dispersion of Al3Ti in the original Al layer. A large number of interfaces are formed between Al3Ti and Al. The deformed Al3Ti grains are concentrated in the interface near the Ti side. The mechanical properties, including tensile and compressive properties at room temperature, were analyzed. The tensile test results indicate that the composite exhibited an average tensile strength of 258 MPa and an average yield strain of 9.86%. Compression test results show that when a load perpendicular to the layer is applied, the yield strain and yield stress of the material are 9.67% and 474.09 MPa, respectively. Moreover, under a load parallel to the layer, the material fails due to interfacial debonding.

This work aimed to fabricate two varieties of near-equiatomic TiNbZr and TiTaZr medium-entropy alloy (MEA) claddings on pure Ti as protective layers by stepwise laser cladding. Their stratified component distribution, microstructural characteristics, and phase constitutions were analyzed, with their hardness and wear resistance were compared with that of pristine Ti. It was found that a single body-centered-cubic solid-solution phase in both MEA claddings were realized on the hexagonal closed-packed pure Ti substrates. The subgrain structures in the TiNbZr cladding were cellular grains, while the ones in the TiTaZr cladding were much denser dendrite arms, which led to increased residual stress. The results showed that the hardness of the TiNbZr and TiTaZr claddings were 450 ± 30 HV0.2 and 513 ± 27 HV0.2, respectively, 2.6 times and 3 times that of the pure Ti (170 ± 11 HV0.2). Also, the consequent wear rates decreased from 2.08 × 10−4 mm3·N−1·m−1 (pure Ti) to 0.49 × 10−4 mm3·N−1·m−1 (TiNbZr) and 0.32 × 10−4 mm3·N−1·m−1 (TiTaZr). Such high hardness and enhanced wear resistance are attributed to the solid-solution strengthening of the body-centered-cubic phase and the residual stress in the claddings. The realization of hard MEA layers by stepwise laser cladding offers a flexible and effective way for protecting pure Ti.

Reinforcement of aluminum and aluminum alloys with graphene has been intensively practiced by researchers in the past dozen years. The role of Al4C3, which could be produced unintentionally or purposefully during the composite production, was controversial until it was found that nano-sized carbides were beneficial for strengthening the composites. aluminum-graphene-nano-sized Al4C3 composites were produced by us using the powder metallurgical method and subsequent annealing. The microstructure was investigated using light microscopy (LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy HRTEM. Nano-sized carbides were found at the interface aluminum-graphene. The formation of a chemical bond between aluminum and graphene during annealing was proved. Lower values of the microhardness and strength characteristics of the composites after extrusion and subsequent annealing during which nano-sized carbides are formed were found in comparison with those obtained after extrusion. It could be supposed that the annealing processes contribute more to the reduction in microhardness and strength characteristics than nano-sized carbides contribute to its increase. The presence of a strong chemical bond between the graphene and the aluminum is manifested in the failure pattern, which is characterized by graphene nano-platelets and nano-sized carbides fracture and semi-pulled out or semi-slipped Al4C3 from the matrix.

Quenched and tempered (Q & T) steels have numerous applications, particularly in the defence industry with welding as the main fabrication route. Since welding imparts stresses due to thermal gradients development during welding, plus the fact that the Q & T fabricated structures are expected to function in a complex loading environment, it is critically important to relax the welding stresses before exposing the parts to service conditions. The present study reports on the generated residual stresses when Bisalloy 80 is welded by pulsed gas metal arc welding (GMAW-P) and verifies the effects of post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) on the microstructural changes, removal or reduction of residual stresses and the resulting mechanical properties of the welded Q & T steel joints. Neutron diffraction was utilized to measure the residual stresses in the as-welded and after PWHT of the Bisalloy 80 steel weldments. High levels of tensile residual stresses reaching to the yield strength of the weld metal were present (642 ± 24 MPa) in the as-welded joints but were substantially reduced after PWHT (145 MPa ± 21 MPa, which is ~23% of the yield strength of the weld metal). PWHT led to microstructural changes in different regions of the parent and weld metals, including the formation of coarsened polygonal ferrite grains and bainitic ferrite laths. This finding is in line with hardness measurements, where hardness reductions were evident in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and the weld metal (WM) of the heat-treated specimens.

Ultrasonic non-destructive characterization is an appealing technique for identifying the microstructures of materials in place of destructive testing. However, the existing ultrasonic characterization techniques do not have sufficient long-term gage repeatability and reproducibility (GR&R), since benchmarking data are not updated. In this study, a hierarchical Bayesian regression model was utilized to provide a long-term ultrasonic benchmarking method for microstructure characterization, suitable for analyzing the impacts of experimental setups, human factors, and environmental factors on microstructure characterization. The priori distributions of regression parameters and hyperparameters of the hierarchical model were assumed and the Hamilton Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithm was used to calculate the posterior distributions. Characterizing the nodularity of cast iron was used as an example, and the benchmarking experiments were conducted over a 13-week transition period. The results show that updating a hierarchical model can increase its performance and robustness. The outcome of this study is expected to pave the way for the industrial uptake of ultrasonic microstructure characterization techniques by organizing a gradual transition from destructive sampling inspection to non-destructive one-hundred-percent inspection.

Herein, we correlate the prior austenite grain (PAG) microstructure to deformation and fracture mechanisms of an ultra-high strength martensitic steel. To this end, a low-carbon martensitic steel is subjected to five heat-treatments and the PAG microstructure in the material is reconstructed from the EBSD inverse pole figure maps of the martensitic microstructure. The deformation and fracture response of all heat-treated materials are characterized by in situ tension tests of dog-bone and single-edge notch specimens that allow us to capture both the macroscopic mechanical response and the evolution of microscopic strains via microscale digital image correlation. The experimental results, together with microstructure-based finite element analysis, are then used to elucidate the effect of the PAG microstructure on the mechanical response of the material. Our results show that the interaction between the heterogeneous deformation fields induced by the notch and the bimodal PAG size distribution leads to an increase in the propensity of shear deformation and degradation in the fracture response of the material with increasing heat-treatment temperature and time. Our results also suggest that achieving a unform distribution of fine grains is an effective way to enhance both the strength and fracture properties of this class of materials.

The deformation behaviors of the austenite phase in lean duplex stainless steels were investigated through uniaxial tension tests with different amounts of deformation. Microstructural analysis showed that in the initial deformation stage the deformation in austenite grains had a predominant effect on the strain hardening behavior of the LDX-2101 steel. The initial deformation in the austenite grains was found to be mainly accommodated by the formation of stacking faults. As the deformation increased further, mechanical twins were generated by the initial stacking faults and sequentially interacted with dislocations to accommodate the strain. The analysis of dislocation behavior revealed that the deformation twinning process followed the three-layer twin formation mechanism.

Monazite is one of the most valuable natural resources for rare earth oxides (REOs) used as dopants with high added value in ceramic materials for extreme environments applications. The complexity of the separation process in individual REOs, due to their similar electronic configuration and physical–chemical properties, is reflected in products with high price and high environmental footprint. During last years, there was an increasing interest for using different mixtures of REOs as dopants for high temperature ceramics, in particular for ZrO2-based thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) used in aeronautics and energy co-generation. The use of mixed REOs may increase the working temperature of the TBCs due to the formation of tetragonal and cubic solid solutions with higher melting temperatures, avoiding grain size coarsening due to interface segregation, enhancing its ionic conductivity and sinterability. The thermal stability of the coatings may be further improved by using rare earth zirconates with perovskite or pyrochlore structures having no phase transitions before melting. Within this research framework, firstly we present a review analysis about results reported in the literature so far about the use of ZrO2 ceramics doped with mixed REOs for high temperature applications. Then, preliminary results about TBCs fabricated by electron beam evaporation starting from mixed REOs simulating the real composition as occurring in monazite source minerals are reported. This novel recipe for ZrO2-based TBCs, if optimized, may lead to better materials with lower costs and lower environmental impact, as a result of the elimination of REOs extraction and separation in individual lanthanides. Preliminary results on the compositional, microstructure, morphological, and thermal properties of the tested materials are reported.

The optimization of the autogenous diffusion copper bonding via thermocompression at vacuum environment was investigated. The influence of various bonding parameters on the interdiffusion efficiency was studied in detail at the micro (SEM-EBSD) and nano (TEM) scales. Bonding at 1000 °C for 90 min under pressure (10 MPa) presented optimum structural and mechanical results. Under these conditions, interdiffusion phenomena were observed at a significant extent through the swelling transformation of existing fine grains or the formation of equiaxed copper grains with an orientation parallel to the bond interface. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the importance of the grain size of the base material on the bond quality. In the regions with fine-sized copper grains, the formation of small equiaxed recrystallized twins was observed. Their length within the bonding zone was in the order of 200 and 400 nm. On the contrary, in the regions with coarse grains the interdiffusion was poorer. The processing temperature and duration presented a significant effect on the bonding strength (BS). BS exceeded 100 MPa in case of processing conditions of T ≥ 850 °C and t ≥ 60 min, while the maximum BS value achieved (≈180 MPa) was comparable with the respective value of the base material. The microhardness of the optimum bond reached 55 HV—slightly higher in comparison to the hardness of the initial copper material. The results indicated that the proposed thermocompression process is appropriate for the production of Cu-Cu bonded structures that can be potentially used as electrical components under mechanical stress.

Aluminium alloys form many important structural components, and the addition of alloying elements contributes to the improvement of properties and characteristics. The objective of this work is to study the influence of thermal variables on the microstructure, present phases, microhardness, dynamic modulus of elasticity, and damping frequency in unidirectional solidification experiments, which were performed in situ during the manufacturing of Al−0.8 Nb and Al−1.2 Nb (wt.%) alloys. Experimental laws for the primary (λ1) and secondary (λ2) dendritic spacings for each alloy were given as a function of thermal variables. For Al−0.8%wt Nb, λ1 = 600.1( T ˙ )−1.85 and λ2 = 186.1(VL)−3.62; and for Al−1.2%wt Nb, λ1 = 133.6( T ˙ )−1.85 and λ2 = 55.6(VL)−3.62. Moreover, experimental growth laws that correlate the dendritic spacings are proposed. An increase in dendritic spacing influences the solidification kinetics observed, indicating that metal/mold interface distance or an increase in Nb content lowers the liquidus isotherm velocity (VL) and the cooling rate (Ṫ). There is also a small increase in the microhardness, dynamic modulus of elasticity, and damping frequency in relation to the composition of the alloy and the microstructure.

An innovative, high-strength metal⁻intermetallic-laminate (MIL) composite Ti-(SiCf/Al3Ti), reinforced by double or even several SiC fiber rows, was fabricated. A high-efficiency, semi-analytical model with a numerical equivalent inclusion method (NEIM) was employed to investigate the deformation behaviors, microscopic strengthening, and failure mechanisms of the composite during elasto-plastic sphere⁻plane contact. The microstructure and interface features were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The contact model for the Ti-(SiCf/Al3Ti) composite was validated via quasi-static compressive indentation tests with a spherical indenter. A series of in-depth parametric studies were conducted to quantify the effect of the microstructure. The results indicate that the as-fabricated laminated composite has a well-organized microstructure and a higher volume fraction of fibers. The SiC fiber rows effectively enhance the strength and toughness of the composite. The optimal diameter of the SiC fibers is 32 μm when the horizontal center distance between the adjacent fibers is 2.5 times that of the fiber diameter. The hole defects occurring above the fibers would damage the material strength most compared with those occurring in other positions. The optimal quantity of the SiC fiber rows is four when the thickness of the SiCf/Al3Ti layer is 400 μm and the fiber diameter is 8 μm.