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Oxygen-affected cracking commonly presents on thin Ni-based single crystal superalloy components serving in high temperature and oxidizing environments. This study uses a newly developed in-situ thermal-stress environmental transmission electron microscope to investigate the oxidation and fracture behaviors of Ni-based single crystal superalloy at 650°C under stress. The in-situ oxidation was found to change the tensile fracture mode from the close-packed {111} planes of plastic fracture to $ \{001\} $ planes adjacent to γ/γ′ interfaces of brittle fracture. The microanalysis also revealed that the γ′ cuboids, γ phase, and γ/γ interface exhibit different oxidation behavior, thus underscoring the thickness debit effect.

Porous SiC ceramics were prepared by a new approach combination of carbothermal reduction and subsequent recrystallization sintering. Firstly, micro-sized SiC particles were used as the skeleton, and SiC spherical nanocrystals were in-situ synthesized by the vapor-solid reaction between carbon nanoparticles and silicon monoxide vapor. The shape and diameter of SiC nanocrystals are related to the pristine carbon nanoparticles, showing a shape memory effect. After recrystallization sintering, high purity α-SiC porous ceramics with tailored necking area were obtained by the evaporation-condensation of SiC nanocrystals. A linear relation was revealed between the flexural strength and the value of d/d0 of porous recrystallized SiC (RSiC) ceramics (the neck diameter to coarse micron-sized grains diameter ratio). The necking area and d/d0 value increased with the SiC nanocrystals content, due to the higher saturated vapor pressure resulted in high mass mobility to neck area of SiC nanoparticles. As a result, a remarkable value of d/d0 ~ 99% and outstanding flexural strength of 75.7 MPa could be achieved for the porous RSiC ceramics with ~42% porosity by adding 20 wt.% nano-sized SiC sintered at 1950°C for 2 h.

Ultrastrong, biomorphic cellular silicon carbide (bio-SiC) ceramics were generated by the carbothermal reduction of gaseous SiO with a pyrolytic carbon template. The anisotropic wood tissue microst...

Revealing the atomistic mechanisms for the high-temperature mechanical behavior of materials is important for optimizing their properties for service at high-temperatures and their thermomechanical processing. However, due to materials microstructure’s dynamic recovery and the absence of available in situ techniques, the high-temperature deformation behavior and atomistic mechanisms of materials are difficult to evaluate. Here, we report the development of a microelectromechanical systems-based thermomechanical testing apparatus that enables mechanical testing at temperatures reaching 1556 K inside a transmission electron microscope for in situ investigation with atomic-resolution. With this unique technique, we first uncovered that tungsten fractures at 973 K in a ductile manner via a strain-induced multi-step body-centered cubic (BCC)-to-face-centered cubic (FCC) transformation and dislocation activities within the strain-induced FCC phase. Both events reduce the stress concentration at the crack tip and retard crack propagation. Our research provides an approach for timely and atomic-resolved high-temperature mechanical investigation of materials at high-temperatures., High-temperature deformation of materials is challenging to evaluate. Here the authors develop a novel device that allows atomic resolved in situ high temperature mechanical tests inside a transmission electron microscope and reveal ductile fracture of a single crystal tungsten deformed at 973 K.

Previous molecular simulations and experiments suggest that grain boundaries (GBs) serve as dislocation sources in nanocrystalline metals. Although a large number of studies have been carried out, direct experimental evidence of dislocation nucleation from GBs has rarely been achieved. In this work, we performed in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations for a Pt nanocrystalline film with an average grain size of ~10 nm during tensile deformation. This study revealed direct evidence of dislocation nucleation at the GBs at the atomic scale. This is different from the common hypothesis predicted by molecular dynamic simulations that only partial dislocations are emitted from GBs in small-grained structures.

M23C6 carbide is a common precipitate phase present in Ni-based superalloys. The carbide is generally an alloy carbine and often contains more than one metallic element. In this study, the site preference of metallic elements in M23C6 carbide in a Ni-based single crystal was determined by means of aberration-corrected High-Angle Annular Dark Field Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (HAADF-STEM) technique and quantitative STEM (QSTEM)-based image simulation method. The carbide was found to contain mostly Cr and Re, with a small amount of Mo. The HAADF-STEM and QSTEM-based simulation analyses indicate that heavy atoms prefer to substitute Cr at 8c sites. Keywords: Ni-based superalloy, Creep, Carbides, Rhenium, Aberration-corrected HAADF-STEM

In this article, the Ni-46.1Al-7.8Mo (at.%) alloy was directionally solidified at different growth rates ranging from 15 μm/s to 1000 μm/s under a constant temperature gradient (334 K/cm). The dependence of microstructural length scales on the growth rate was investigated. The results show that, with the growth rate increasing, the primary dendritic arm spacings (PDAS) and secondary dendritic arm spacings (SDAS) decreased. There exists a large distribution range in PDAS under directional solidification conditions at a constant temperature gradient. The average PDAS and SDAS as a function of growth rate can be given as λ1 = 848.8967 V−0.4509 and λ2 = 64.2196 V−0.4140, respectively. In addition, a comparison of our results with the current theoretical models and previous experimental results has also been made.

Based on the gas-liquid phase equilibrium and multi-component diffusion theory, an analytical model for predicting acid dew point temperature and vapour condensation characteristics of flue gas was developed. The effects of components content, ash particle radius, wall temperature, coal-burned type and excess air ratio have been investigated. The results indicated that the acid dew point temperature and vapour condensation rate will increase with both water and sulfuric acid vapour contents increase. Vapours are not prone to condense on the ash particles when the particle radius is less than the corresponding critical condensing radius. The vapour condensation characteristics can be divided into two different stages with the wall temperature varies. The particle radius has a significant influence on the vapour condensation characteristics in the higher temperature stage. The acid dew point temperatures present significant differences for different coal-burned types, and the water vapour condensation rate is more sensitive to excess air ratio compared with the acid condensation rate.

A series of stoichiometric NiAl alloys contain four different concentrations of Mo (7.8, 9, 13, 16 at.%) were directionally solidified in the Bridgman-type directional solidification furnace for four different growth rates (V = 1.5–6 μm/s) in a constant temperature gradient (G = 334 K/cm). the microstructures of the alloys produced with the different growth rates at a constant temperature gradient tended to form fully fibrous structures. The fiber spacings λ were measured from transverse section of the specimen. The variation of λ with respect to growth rate (V) and composition (C 0) were determined by linear regression analysis. It has been found that λ decreases with the increasing values of V and C 0. The results are compared with theoretical models and previous experimental published data.

In this work, we designed a MEMS device which allows simultaneous direct measurement of mechanical properties during deformation under external stress and characterization of the evolution of microstructure of nanomaterials within a transmission electron microscope. This MEMS device makes it easy to establish the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties of nanomaterials. The device uses piezoresistive sensors to qualitatively measure the force and displacement of nanomaterials, e.g., in wire and thin plate forms. The device has a theoretical displacement resolution of 0.19 nm and a force resolution of 2.1 μN. The device has a theoretical displacement range limit of 2.74 μm and a load range limit of 27.75 mN.

In this work, we designed a micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) device that allows simultaneous direct measurement of mechanical properties during deformation under external stress and characterization of the evolution of nanomaterial microstructure within a transmission electron microscope. This MEMS device makes it easy to establish the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties of nanomaterials. The device uses piezoresistive sensors to measure the force and displacement of nanomaterials qualitatively, e.g., in wire and thin plate forms. The device has a theoretical displacement resolution of 0.19 nm and a force resolution of 2.1 μN. The device has a theoretical displacement range limit of 5.47 μm and a load range limit of 55.0 mN.