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Herein, the microstructure stability of a newly developed hot‐working die (HWD700) steel at elevated temperatures up to 700 °C is investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected‐area electron diffraction, energy‐dispersive spectrometer, and high‐resolution transmission electron microscope. The results show that the HWD700 steel exhibits a higher thermal stability than the commercial H13 steel when the temperature is up to 700 °C. After quenching and tempering, high densities of intra‐lath rodlike and inter‐lath spherical MC nano‐carbides and inter‐lath strip‐like M7C3 nano‐carbides are observed in the HWD700 steel. These carbides remain nanoscale at temperatures up to 700 °C. For comparison, rod‐shaped MC nano‐carbides in the tempered H13 steel tend to coarsen and transform into larger M23C6 carbides at temperatures up to 650 °C. The TEM observation further reveals that the interface misfit between the MC nano‐carbide and matrix in the HWD700 steel is as low as 0.88%, lower than that of 14.8% in the H13 steel. This can be the main reason for the improved stability of the HWD700 steel by pinning dislocations and grain boundaries and thereby hindering the recrystallization process at an elevated temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the mechanism of nucleation and growth of nanocrystals is crucial for designing and regulating the structure and properties of nanocrystals. However, the process from molecules to nanocrystals remains unclear because of the rapid and complicated dynamics of evolution under reaction conditions. Here, the complete evolution process of solid‐phase chloroplatinic acid during the electron beam irradiation triggered reduction and nucleation of platinum nanocrystals is recorded. Aberration‐corrected environmental transmission electron microscopy is used for direct visualization of the dynamic evolution from H2PtCl6 to Pt nanocrystals at the atomic scale, including the formation and growth of amorphous clusters, crystallization, and growth of clusters, and the ripening of Pt nanocrystals. At the first two stages, there exists a critical size of ≈2.0 nm, which represents the start of crystallization. Crystallization from the center and density fluctuation are observed in the second stage of the crystallization of a few clusters with a size obviously larger than the critical size. The work provides valuable information to understand the kinetics of the early stage of nanocrystal nucleation and crystallization at atomic scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]