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Processing through the application of high-pressure torsion (HPT) provides significant grain refinement in bulk metals at room temperature. These ultrafine-grained (UFG) materials after HPT generally demonstrate exceptional mechanical properties. Recent reports demonstrated the bulk-state reactions for mechanical bonding of dissimilar lightweight metal disks to synthesize hybrid alloy systems by utilizing conventional HPT processing. Accordingly, the present report provides a comprehensive summary of the recent work on processing of several UFG hybrid alloy systems including Al-Mg and Al-Cu by HPT under 6.0 GPa at room temperature and a special emphasis was placed on understanding the evolution of hardness. This study demonstrates a significant opportunity for the application of HPT for a possible contribution to current enhancements in diffusion bonding, welding and mechanical joining technologies as well as to an introduction of hybrid engineering nanomaterials.

High-pressure torsion (HPT) was conducted under 6.0 GPa on commercial purity titanium up to 10 turns. An ultrafine-grained (UFG) pure Ti with an average grain size of ~96 nm was obtained. The thermal properties of these samples were studied by using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) which allowed the quantitative determination of the evolution of stored energy, the recrystallization temperatures, the activation energy involved in the recrystallization of the material and the evolution of the recrystallized fraction with temperature. The results show that the stored energy increases, beyond which the stored energy seems to level off to a saturated value with increase of HPT up to 5 turns. An average activation energy of about 101 kJ/mol for the recrystallization of 5 turns samples was determined. Also, the thermal stability of the grains of the 5 turns samples with subsequent heat treatments were investigated by microstructural analysis and Vickers microhardness measurements. It is shown that the average grain size remains below 246 nm when the annealing temperature is below 500 °C, and the size of the grains increases significantly for samples at the annealing temperature of 600 °C.

The occurrence of superplastic flow in metals has a long history but it is only over the last three or four decades that it was recognized that this process provides an opportunity for fabricating complex parts, especially curved panels, that may be used in a wide range of industrial applications. In practice, this use is dependent upon the high strain rate sensitivity of ~0.5 which is an inherent feature of true superplastic flow but in practice excellent forming may be achieved also through the use of metals deforming within the range of dislocation glide where the strain rate sensitivity is close to 0.3. New possibilities have arisen over the last two decades with the demonstrations that exceptionally refined microstructures, usually within the submicrometer or even the nanometer range, may be prepared from a wide range of commercial alloys through the application of severe plastic deformation in which the material is subjected to a very high strain without any significant changes in the overall dimensions of the sample. This presentation examines these historical developments and describes the new processing procedures that provide new opportunities within the field of superplastic forming.

Fusion-negative rhabdomyosarcoma (FN-RMS) is molecularly heterogeneous with few universal alterations except for Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) promoter hypermethylation. We demonstrate that...

Hydroclimate on ‘Uvea (Wallis et Futuna) is controlled by rainfall associated with the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ), the southern hemisphere's largest precipitation feature. To extend the short observational precipitation record, the hydrogen isotopic composition of the algal lipid biomarker dinosterol (δ2Hdinosterol) was measured in sediment cores from two volcanic crater lakes on ‘Uvea. The modern lakes differ morphologically and chemically but both contain freshwater within the photic zone, support phytoplankton communities inclusive of dinosterol-producing dinoflagellates, and experience identical climate conditions. δ2Hdinosterol values track lake water isotope ratios, ultimately controlled in the tropics by precipitation amount and evaporative enrichment. However, in 88-m-deep Lac Lalolalo a steadily decreasing trend in sedimentary δ2Hdinosterol values from −227‰ around year 988 CE to modern values as low as −303‰, suggests this lake's evolution from an active volcanic setting to the present system strongly influenced δ2Hdinosterol values. Although current hydrology and water isotope systematics may now reflect precipitation and evaporation in this lake, the interaction between theseprocesses and large changes in basin morphology, geochemistry, and hydrology obstruct the recovery of a climate signal from Lac Lalolalo's sedimentary δ2Hdinosterol records. This work emphasizes the importance of site replication and the use of complementary climate reconstruction tools, especially when using molecular proxiesthat may be sensitive to more than one environmental parameter. Contrary to its neighbor, duplicate δ2Hdinosterol records from 23-m-deep Lac Lanutavake varied between −277‰ and −297‰ and indicate slightly drier conditions during the time-period known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, 950–1250 CE). The δ2Hdinosterol signal in Lac Lanutavake was muted compared to published records from ‘Upolu (Samoa) and Efate (Vanuatu) indicating that ‘Uvea's location is not as sensitive to precipitation variability at sites farther from the SPCZ centralaxis. Lithogenic runoff proxies combined with δ2Hdinosterol support the interpretation of a relatively dry MCA on ‘Uvea, ‘Upolu, and Efate, potentially due to less intense precipitation, a contracted, or a more zonally oriented SPCZ.

By understanding lake ecosystem resilience in the face of increasing environmental and anthropogenic stress, we can hope to anticipate future ecosystem instability. We assess recent historic ecosystem resilience using composition and network analyses of empirical zoobenthos chironomid (Diptera: Chironomidae; non-biting midges) reconstructions from three Subarctic Alaskan lakes, spanning the last c. 200 years. We measured community richness, turnover and structure using taxon richness, beta diversity and network skewness respectively. Simulated taxonomic networks were created to establish the sensitivity of these metrics to changes in taxon connectivity, and to inform the interpretation of empirical chironomid records. The models indicated that beta diversity was more sensitive to taxon loss, while skewness was more sensitive to taxon gain. Both beta diversity and skewness were required to understand structural change under taxon replacement. The simulated arrival of strongly connected taxa caused a greater decrease in skewness than the arrival of weakly connected taxa. The empirical datasets indicated a rise in taxon richness (measured as rarefaction) and beta diversity in the recent samples. Changes in chironomid composition were associated with climate warming (replacement of cold taxa with temperate taxa) and increased lake biological productivity (the arrival of macrophyte-associated taxa). Skewness was predominantly negative across the lakes, indicating high taxon connectivity and structural stress. However, little directional change in the skewness trends suggests some resilience within the chironomid community structures in relation to the current levels of climate and environmental stress. Continued climatic warming, and associated rises in nutrient levels, may cause further structural stress and ecological degradation.

An investigation was conducted to evaluate the effect of dynamic plastic deformation (DPD) and post-DPD annealing on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of a tempered low carbon-low alloy steel. The results showed that ultrafine-grained structures consisting of elongated martensitic laths and sub-grains are achieved after DPD processing. The amounts and sizes of carbides in the steels, identified as (Fe, Cr, Mn, Mo)3C, decreased markedly with DPD straining due to their fragmentation and dissolution but the strength increased and the plasticity showed a slight decrease with increasing DPD strain. A simultaneous improvement in the strength and plasticity was obtained at strains below ~0.8. This increase in strength by ~30-60% after DPD processing by comparison with the as-received state is attributed primarily to grain boundary strengthening and dislocation strengthening and the good plasticity is due to the occurrence of more active sliding systems and a reduction in the stress concentration during loading because of a decrease in the amounts of M3C distributed along the interfaces. After post-DPD annealing both the strength and the plasticity improved by comparison with the as-received steel in the tempered state. Strengths higher by ~15-35% than the as-received condition were attributed to a combination of grain boundary strengthening, dislocation strengthening and precipitation strengthening derived from a re-precipitation of fine and dispersed carbides. The dislocation recovery occurring during annealing led to a decrease in strength compared with the strength before annealing. The incremental increase in plasticity after annealing is ascribed to dislocation recovery and the inhibition in micro-crack propagation due to an even distribution of fine carbides within the matrix

The effect of the grain size on the mechanical properties of metallic materials has been a topic of significant interest for researchers and industry. For many decades a relationship defining the mechanical strength proportional to the inverse of the square root of the grain size has been widely accepted despite some reports of deviations from this behavior. Nevertheless, the initial explanations for this relationship, based mainly on the activation of slip systems by dislocation pile-ups at grain boundaries, have provided essentially no predictive capability. Here we show that a physically-based model for grain boundary sliding predicts, in excellent agreement with experimental data, the flow stress for plastic deformation for a broad range of materials using the fundamental properties of each material over a wide range of grain sizes and testing conditions. This mechanism also successfully predicts the reported enhanced strain rate sensitivity in ultrafine and nanocrystalline materials at different temperatures.

Nanocrystalline (NC) metals are attractive due to their outstanding mechanical, physical and chemical properties. However, they are generally metastable and prone to undergo grain coarsening, which severely impedes their engineering application, particularly at elevated temperatures. A strategy to counteract this phenomenon lies in decreasing the energetic driving force for grain growth, through grain boundary segregation according to the Gibbs adsorption isotherm. The natural thought of ‘more segregation is better’, which was exercised over decades to solve this problem, however, does not work because interfaces themselves are thermodynamic entities, with only limited solute decoration tolerance. Herein, we propose to solve this long-standing problem via introducing multi-component co-segregated interfaces. This concept allows us to maximize the solute decoration of interfaces and minimize their energy, without triggering formation of new phases. This is enabled by extending the high entropy alloy (HEA) concept from the bulk to interfaces, a strategy we refer to as interfaces with higher entropy. This design concept is not transferred one-to-one but constrained by a few rules that reflect the nature of interfaces: use of several co-segregating elements with high mixing entropy; segregation remains in the dilute limit; and use of elements with high segregation coefficient. The latter criterion marks an important difference to the HEA concept as a high segregation coefficient guarantees that alloying elements are deposited only to those locations where they are needed, namely, to the interfaces, thus drastically reducing alloying costs. We applied this new design approach to NC-Nb and show that we can increase its stability from 873 to 1023 K with as little alloying as only 1 at.% of Ti, Ni, Co and Hf with equal fractions. The material maintains its nanocrystalline structure even after 2200 h at 973 K. This work thus offers a new paradigm for designing stable dilute NC materials for advanced engineering application.

Biodiversity and ecological stability are closely linked, and over recent timescales, anthropogenic impacts have accelerated losses in both from local to global scales. We attempt to show the combined response of diversity and stability of an aquatic community to changes in human activity as a driver. To address this, we measured the diversity and variability of chironomids and their drivers and nature of response to external conditions over the last century, based on 4 lake sediment sequences from Southwest China, one of world's 36 biodiversity hotspots. Our results showed that the driver–response relationship was linear in a lake without direct human impacts but nonlinear in human directly impacted lakes. Recent decreases in alpha diversity and increases in beta diversity were commonly recorded in all four lakes, suggesting that both species loss and a faster replacement of chironomid taxa are a regional phenomenon. However, in the same context of human-induced global warming, increased variability and regime shifts only occurred in lowland lakes, directly disturbed by humans, highlighting that direct human impacts have overcome natural forcing as the determinant driver shaping the chironomid composition in these sites. In addition, we found that increases in beta diversity occurred prior to a regime shift and its character depends on how the community responds to the key external pressure. Our findings reveal that direct human disturbances have largely reshaped the chironomid composition and induced an earlier regime shift at the cost of species loss, resilience loss, and a change in driver–response type.

This study demonstrates an approach of utilizing high-pressure torsion (HPT) to fabricate a novel hybrid material by the direct bonding of Al and Ti disks at room temperature under a compressive pressure of 6.0 GPa and with increasing numbers of HPT turns up to 50. Detailed structural observations revealed the formation of a multi-layered nanostructure in the edge regions of the disks with a grain size of ~30 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) confirmed the presence of three intermetallic compounds, AlTi, Al3Ti and Ti3Al, in the layered structures. Processing by HPT led to the formation of a hybrid nanocomposite with exceptional hardness (over 300 Hv) in the edge regions of the disks. Special emphasis was placed on understanding the evolution of hardness in the hybrid material. The investigation demonstrates a significant opportunity for using HPT processing to deepen the knowledge on diffusion bonding and mechanical joining technologies as well as for fabricating new and valuable hybrid nanomaterials.

Research was conducted on the microstructural evolution and ensuing mechanical response from high-pressure torsion (HPT) processing of Ti-6Al-4V alloy in the as-cast and β-forged conditions with and without 0.1 wt.% boron addition. The boron addition produces refinement of the prior β grains and the (α+β) colonies and introduces an additional TiB phase but this affects the deformation response and the microstructural evolution only at low strains of 0.5 to 5 rotations. In the initial condition the orientation of the (α+β) colonies significantly affects the deformation response and leads to differences in substructure formation in both the as-cast and β-forged conditions. This orientation dependence counts on the initial microstructural differences between the unmodified and the boron modified alloys. At higher strains, there is a similar deformation response and microstructure evolution all the alloys. The hardness variation with equivalent strain is similar for the unmodified and boron modified alloys in as-cast and β-forged conditions and represents various deformation regimes in HPT-processing. Strength modelling confirms a simultaneous contribution from microstructural refinement and increased dislocation density towards the hardness increment during HPT processing. Overall, the as-cast and β-forged Ti-6Al-4V-0.1B alloys possess identical deformation response to the β-forged unmodified Ti-6Al-4V alloy in the initial and intermediate stages. At high levels of straining, all alloys respond in an equivalent manner, thus ruling out any possible effects from additional TiB phase or microstructural refinement for the boron-modified alloys.

Experimental data show that the conventional Hall-Petch relationship cannot be maintained in its original form for metals having submicrometer structures. We now propose a dislocation model which modifies the Hall-Patch relationship to provide a uniform description of the grain size strengthening of submicron-structured face-centered cubic (f.c.c.) metals and solid solution alloys.

The high pressure torsion (HPT) process was performed on a Bi-Sn eutectic alloy up to 10 revolutions and the materials were stored at room temperature for durations up to 91 days in order to investigate the strain weakening and self-annealing behaviour of the alloy. The results show that HPT processing leads to significant grain refinement and enhanced superplasticity in the alloy. When the material is stored at room temperature, the grain size increases and the microhardness also increases producing a near linear relationship between grain size and microhardncess. This effect is attributed to the enhanced creep behaviour of the Bi-Sn alloy after HPT processing.

Magnesium and its alloys have gained significant popularity due to their light weight and their potential for use as bioresorbable materials. However, their application is limited in practice due to their relatively poor corrosion resistance. Several methods are available for improving the corrosion resistance of Mg alloys for bio-applications such as using different coatings, alloying, and modifying the microstructural parameters such as the grain size and the crystallographic texture. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the effects of crystallographic texture and twinning, as one of the most important deformation mechanisms of Mg and Mg alloys, on the corrosion behavior. Regarding the crystallographic texture, it is shown that theoretically the basal planes should exhibit a lower corrosion rate but in some cases, such as when there is a galvanic effect or when corrosion films control the overall corrosion behavior, different results may take place. Also, there are contradictory results concerning the effect of twinning on the corrosion behavior. Thus, in some cases twinning may provide preferential sites for corrosion due to the higher energies of atoms located in the twin region by comparison with normal atomic positions in the crystalline lattice whereas there are also other examples where experiments show that twins produce more protective films than in the surrounding matrix.

A cast Bi–Sn eutectic alloy was processed by high-pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature and stored at room temperature for durations of up to 91 days in order to investigate the effect of self-annealing. The HPT processing produces grain refinement but hardness measurements show there is strain softening with lower microhardness values than in the initial as-cast material and with hardness values that decrease with increasing amounts of imposed torsional strain. This softening is attributed to a loss of precipitates within the Sn and Bi phases during the processing operation. In self-annealing at room temperature, the microhardness increases significantly due to reprecipitation and there is also a minor increase in grain size with increasing time of storage. It is demonstrated by tensile testing that the HPT-processed Bi–Sn alloy exhibits superplastic behavior with elongations of up to >1000% after storage for 35 days and with an associated strain rate sensitivity close to ∼0.5. Grain boundary sliding plays an important role in superplastic flow and it is shown that maximum sliding occurs on the Bi–Bi interfaces where this is consistent with estimates of the coefficients for grain boundary diffusion in the Bi–Sn alloy.

International audience; In the present study, the stored energy and activation energy for recrystallization were investigated for a Cu-Ni-Si alloy after high-pressure torsion processing for N = ½, 1, 5 and 10 turns at room temperature. The contributions of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs), statistically stored dislocations (SSDs) and vacancies to the stored energy were calculated through the Vickers microhardness measurements, kernel average misorientation (KAM) measurements and an analysis by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results show that the total stored energy decreases rapidly after equivalent strain of εeq ~ 9 (N = 1 turn) and then saturates through εeq ~ 86 (N = 10 HPT turns) at ~70 J/mol. Concurrently, the local stored energy in GNDs and SSDs was found to depend strongly on the radial distance from the centre of the disc and increase with increasing equivalent strain at εeq ~ 16 and saturate with further straining. Accordingly, the results indicate that the GNDs and vacancies are responsible for the high stored energy in the initial stage of deformation at equivalent strain range of εeq = 8.6-16 (N = ½-1 turn) and thereafter their contribution decreases slightly due to the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization and the formation of fine grains. At the same time, the contribution of the SSDs is similar to that of the GNDs only in high strain deformation as at εeq = 49.3 (N = 5 turns) to accommodate the deformation process. The 2 recrystallization peak was detected in the range of 157-194 °C depending on the number of HPT turns and heating rate. An activation energy for recrystallization was estimated in the range of ~ 89.7-98.7 kJ/mol, thereby suggesting a poor thermal stability.

Nanostructuring of bulk metals is now well documented with the development of severe plastic deformation (SPD) for improving the physical and mechanical properties of engineering materials. Processing by high-pressure torsion (HPT), which was developed initially as a grain refinement technique, was extended recently to the mechanical bonding of dissimilar metals during nanostrcturing which generally involves significant microstructural heterogeneity. Here we introduce, for the first time, a bulk metastable Al-Mg supersaturated solid solution by the diffusion bonding of separate Al and Mg metal solids at room temperature using HPT. Exceptional hardness was achieved homogeneously throughout the metastable alloy with a record maximum supersaturated Mg content of ~38.5 at.% in the Al matrix having a grain size of ~35–40 nm. Our results demonstrate the synthesis of a bulk nanocrystalline metastable alloy with good microstructural stability at room temperature where such bulk solids are not yet reported for mechanical alloying by powder metallurgy.

A magnesium/aluminium composite was produced by room temperature consolidation through high-pressure torsion (HPT) processing. Half-discs of the pure metals were placed side-by-side and subjected to different numbers of turns. The initially reduced interface between the phases gradually increased with increasing rotation. The composite displayed a significant ductility even after 10 turns. The distribution of hardness in the HPT-processed discs was bi-modal in the early stages of processing. As the number of turns increased and the thickness of the phases decreased there was a noticeable increase in hardness. The hardness values of the composite further increased after thermal treatment due to the formation of intermetallics within the interface between the magnesium and aluminium-rich phases.

High-pressure torsion (HPT) was used to evaluate the effect of straining on the electrochemical properties of a ZK60 magnesium alloy. The samples were processed using HPT up to 20 turns and the electrochemical responses were examined through polarization, EIS, Mott–Schottky and hydrogen evolution tests. Electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) studies showed more homogeneity with finer average grain sizes accompanied by the evolution of a nobler texture when increasing the numbers of HPT turns. Ultimately, this led to improved corrosion behavior for the HPT-processed disks. Post corrosion observations revealed improved protective layers after higher turns of HPT.

Experiments were conducted to study the compressive mechanical properties of an Al-Zn-Mg alloy after solid solution treatment and equal-channel angular pressing (SS-ECAP) using strain rates ranging from 1.0 × 10−3 to 3.0 × 103 s−1. The results show that SS-ECAP processing enhances the compressive strength due to the high dislocation density, large numbers of fine precipitates and grain refinement. The alloy in both the peak-aged (as-received) and the SS-ECAP states shows a strain rate strengthening effect such that the strain rate sensitivity increases with increasing strain rate. The high volume fraction of fine precipitates in the SS-ECAP alloy decreases the strain rate sensitivity. The coarse precipitates in the peak-aged alloy are fragmented while their sizes increase in the SS-ECAP alloy due to dynamic precipitation assisted by the high density of dislocations during compressive testing. With increasing strain rate, the size of the precipitates further increases for the SS-ECAP alloy and this is influenced by accelerated dislocation motion. During compression, the T (Al20Cu2Mn3) and E (Al18Mg3Cr2) phases evolve into a new tetragonal phase containing Mg, Mn, Cr and Zn with Al.

In general, the process of superplastic deformation is regarded as steady-state so that the flow stress is given as a function of the strain rate only, thereby emphasizing the significance of the strain rate sensitivity and its determining methods. In this work, in addition to the important role of the strain rate sensitivity, it is shown that it is necessary also to consider the stability criteria for real, stable superplastic deformation through other factors such as work hardening. A possible scenario is proposed to describe the process whereby the work hardening rate may stabilize the deformation process when a perturbation occurs in the cross-section of the sample. The assumption of a work hardening effect is confirmed by its application for interpretation of the systematic deviations observed between the strain rate sensitivities determined experimentally using different experimental methods.

Commercial purity titanium (CP-Ti) was processed by high-pressure torsion (HPT) with various numbers of turns (N = 1, 10 and 20). The hardness of the CP-Ti increased with an increasing number of HPT turns due to grain refinement. Tensile testing showed that the PT-processed 10 turns sample had low ductility and high strength but the ductility may be improved through post-HPT short-term annealing at carefully selected temperatures. Some HPT-processed samples were laser surface-treated with different laser powers and scanning speeds.The surface roughness of the laser-textured samples increased with increasing laser power and led to a lower contact angle which signifies an increased hydrophilicity. After a holding time of 13 days, the samples underwent a hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic transformation as the contact angle increasedto as much as 129 degree. It is concluded that laser surface texture processes are capable of controlling the hydrophilic / hydrophobic properties of ultra-fine grained CP-Ti.

High pressure torsion offers unique conditions for the consolidation of metallic particles at room temperature owing to the high hydrostatic compressive stresses combined with the high shear strain. A Mg-Al2O3 composite was produced by consolidation of machining chips of pure magnesium with 10% in volume of alumina particles. The consolidation process was investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microtomography. It is shown that shear deformation concentrates along thick alumina particle layers in the initial stage of deformation. A significant fraction of the hard phase particles are pushed into the outflow in quasi-constrained HPT and a homogeneous composite is achieved after significant straining. The composite exhibits a refined microstructure, a higher hardness and improved resistance against room temperature creep compared to pure magnesium.

High-pressure torsion (HPT) processing was applied to an Fe-10Ni-7Mn (wt.%) martensitic steel at room temperature and the grain size was reduced from an initial value of ~5.5 μm to an ultrafine value of ~185 nm for the ferritic phase and around 30 nm for the austenitic phase after 20 HPT turns. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-processed material were evaluated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), microhardness measurements and tensile testing. In addition, annealing of an as-processed specimen was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results show that HPT processing increases the hardness and ultimate tensile strength to ~690 Hv and ~2230 MPa, respectively, but the ductility is decreased from ~16.5% initially to ~6.4% and ~3.1% after 10 and 20 turns, respectively. The hardness distributions and EBSD images show that a reasonably homogeneous microstructure is formed when applying a sufficient level of pressure and torsional strain. The DSC results demonstrate that processing by HPT reduces the start and finish temperatures of the reverse transformation of martensite to austenite and there is continuous re-crystallization after the recovery process.

We present a sub-centennial resolution summer temperature record from the SE Tibetan Plateau (Tiancai Lake, SW China, 3900 m a.s.l.) derived from a chironomid stratigraphy covering the last c.19.5 ka. The record highlights the interaction between tropical and high-latitude climate forcing through the changes in atmospheric circulation during the last deglaciation. The scale of the last glacial maximum (LGM) cooling is consistent with other tropical mountain regions at c.5 °C and a rapid recovery of temperatures at 19.0 ka is related to changes in adiabatic lapse rates at the end of the glaciation. The overall pattern of change shows that North Atlantic deglaciation climate events (the Heinrich 1 and Younger Dryas cooling events and the Bolling–Allerod warm period) are all recorded, but the influence of the events decline as the deglaciation progresses. We relate these patterns to North Atlantic Deep water ventilating the Southern Ocean and to the consequent movements of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the Indian Ocean Basin as transmitted through changes in the southern mid-latitude circulation.

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children. Despite aggressive treatment clinical outcomes for RMS have not improved for three decades, emphasizing the need to uncover the molecular underpinnings of the disease. RMS has been presumed to originate from derailed muscle progenitors based on the histologic appearance and gene expression pattern of the tumors resembling embryonic developing skeletal muscle. However, an origin restricted to skeletal muscle does not explain RMS occurring in tissues devoid of skeletal muscle such as the prostate, bladder, and salivary gland. Previously, we described that activation of Sonic Hedgehog signaling through expression of a conditional, constitutively active Smoothened allele, SmoM2, under control of a presumed adipocyte-restricted adipose protein 2 (aP2)-Cre recombinase transgene in mice gives rise to aggressive skeletal muscle tumors. These tumors display the histologic and molecular characteristics of human embryonal fusion-negative RMS (FN-RMS). This model suggested a potential non-myogenic origin of FN-RMS and an avenue to explain FN-RMS development in anatomic sites devoid of skeletal muscle. Lineage tracing showed that RMS can originate from cell reprogramming and transdifferentiation of endothelial progenitor cells. Hedgehog pathway activation in committed endothelial progenitors results in Tbx1 expression and subsequent Myod1 expression driving a partially myogenic program characteristic of FN-RMS. Our work identifies reprogramming cell fate as a mechanism of transformation in pediatric sarcoma and illustrates that it is dangerous to assume the cell of origin from the characteristics of the tumor cell. The cell-reprogramming mechanism that shifts endothelial progenitors to muscle-like cells provides a unique system to define the core regulatory circuitry controlling RMS cell fate and to determine in vivo if targeting this network is a therapeutic vulnerability. Genomic profiling of human FN-RMS failed to uncover a unique mutation that drives oncogenesis. However, the PTEN cis-regulatory region is hypermethylated in more than 90% of all human FN-ERMS tumors, resulting in decreased expression. However, inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway has had varied efficacy in RMS. In our RMS mouse model, PTEN localizes to the cytoplasm and nucleus, suggesting that PTEN could have functions other than regulating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. We demonstrate that Pten loss cooperates in RMS tumorigenesis and results in tumors more reflective of human FN-RMS. We show that Pten loss drives expression of the transcription factor PAX7 and identified PAX7 as a dependency in human FN-RMS. Furthermore, Pax7 deletion completely rescues the deleterious effects of Pten loss but also alters tumor cell fate, giving rise to a smooth muscle tumor. Thus, PTEN loss drives the expression of PAX7, a key member of the RMS core regulatory circuitry dictating tumor cell fate. This highlights a synthetic essential relationship between PTEN and PAX7 in FN-RMS tumor maintenance and tumor-fate decisions. Citation Format: Mark E. Hatley, Casey G. Langdon, Katherine E. Gadek, Matthew R. Garcia, Catherine J. Drummond, Jason A. Hanna, Hongjian E. Jin, Jerold E. Rehg. Rhabdomyosarcoma: visions through the looking glass [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Sarcomas; 2022 May 9-12; Montreal, QC, Canada. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2022;28(18_Suppl):Abstract nr IA013.

Experiments were conducted to investigate, within the framework of a multiscale approach, the mechanical enhancement, deformation and damage behavior of copper–silicon carbide composites (Cu–SiC) fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and the combination of SPS with high-pressure torsion (HPT). The mechanical properties of the metal–matrix composites were determined at three different length scales corresponding to the macroscopic, micro- and nanoscale. Small punch testing was employed to evaluate the strength of composites at the macroscopic scale. Detailed analysis of microstructure evolution related to SPS and HPT, sample deformation and failure of fractured specimens was conducted using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. A microstructural study revealed changes in the damage behavior for samples processed by HPT and an explanation for this behavior was provided by mechanical testing performed at the micro- and nanoscale. The strength of copper samples and the metal–ceramic interface was determined by microtensile testing and the hardness of each composite component, corresponding to the metal matrix, metal–ceramic interface, and ceramic reinforcement, was measured using nano-indentation. The results confirm the advantageous effect of large plastic deformation on the mechanical properties of Cu–SiC composites and demonstrate the impact on these separate components on the deformation and damage type.

CoCrMo alloys are used in hip and knee replacements due to their excellent long-term survival rates. However, high failure rates have recently been observed associated with adverse tissue reactions. CoCrMo alloy surfaces undergo microstructural changes during wear, including the formation of ε-martensite and, occasionally, a nanocrystalline surface layer. It is not clear whether these changes are beneficial or detrimental to the performance of the component. Thus, high-pressure torsion (HPT) was employed to produce different grain sizes and crystallographic structures in a CoCrMo alloy and the corrosion and tribocorrosion behaviour were critically investigated as a function of grain size. The results reveal a degradation of the corrosion resistance for the HTP processed samples. The contributions of mechanical and corrosion material loss in tribocorrosion is also examined.

The presence of a gradient layer with an increased maximum microhardness and extended thickness is extremely attractive because it can enhance the service performances for surface-strengthened metallic materials. In this research, Cu-Al alloys with different Al contents and microstructures were processed by surface spinning strengthening (3S) and studies were conducted to examine the gradient microstructure and microhardness distributions of the 3S Cu-Al alloys. The experimental results show that each group of the 3S Cu-Al alloys having the same Al content has approximately the same maximum microhardness at the topmost surface layer and the maximum microhardness increases with an increase in the Al content. In addition, the thickness of the gradient layer in the 3S Cu-Al alloys increases with a decrease of yield strength and an increase in the work-hardening exponent, respectively. The relationship between the maximum microhardness and chemical composition which determines the Young's modulus and plastic deformation mode, and the relationship between the thickness of the gradient layer and the microstructure which governs the strength and work-hardening capacity, were both investigated. It is found that the maximum microhardness of the gradient layer depends mainly on the chemical composition; whereas the thickness of the gradient layer depends primarily on both the strength and work-hardening capacity which are closely related to the microstructure. By combining the compositional design and microstructure optimization of the materials, and improving the surface strengthening intensity, a gradient layer of the surface-strengthened materials with an enhanced maximum microhardness and an extended thickness may be achieved.

It is a challenge in practice to cost-effectively fabricate copper matrix composites having high mechanical properties and outstanding electrical conductivity for electric power applications. This report describes a new and simple mass production strategy that was developed to construct Cu/Nb multilayer composites having an ultra-thin continuous laminated structure processed by accumulative roll bonding (ARB). Benefiting from the synergistic contributions from alternating heterogeneous lamellar structures, regular arrays of interfacial dislocations as well as efficient electron transport channels and a low electron scattering structure, the fabricated Cu/Nb multilayer composites exhibit ultrahigh tensile strengths of ~1.2 GPa while retaining their electrical conductivity, thereby negating the general trade-off between strength and electrical conductivity. This study illustrates that interface strengthening is broadly important to improve the strength of multilayer composites. The excellent performance of the Cu/Nb multilayer composites indicates that these composites, having alternating heterogeneous lamellar structures, are promising for future energy and power applications. More significantly, the proposed method provides a potentially novel process for the high-yield production of nanolaminated composites and thereby gives a robust strategy for the development of structural and multifunctional materials.

Abnormal grain growth (AGG) in a Zn-0.8Ag (wt%) alloy, produced through the application of high-pressure torsion (HPT), was systematically investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and microhardness testing. The HPT-deformed alloy exhibits AGG at room temperature without any additional heat treatment. Analysis by EBSD revealed oriented grain nucleation in a { 11 2 ¯ 0 } 〈 0001 〉 direction from the initial ( 0001 ) fibre texture which agrees with the maximum energy release model. New grains were oriented according to the minimal Young's modulus direction (c-axis), parallel to the shearing direction. The strain-induced dissolution of nanocrystalline Zn3Ag precipitates was identified as the main driving force for AGG in this alloy. The strains necessary for the initiation and termination of AGG were determined as ~4.0 and ~5.0, respectively. The increase in solid-solution strengthening caused an increase in hardness from ~47 HK in the fine-grained centre to ~84 HK in the coarse-grained region. A Hall-Petch investigation revealed grain refinement softening below a grain size of 23 µm. These results provide the first comprehensive description of AGG in metallic materials processed by a severe plastic deformation method at room temperature.

Hydrogen isotope ratios of sedimentary leaf waxes (δ2HWax values) are increasingly used to reconstruct past hydroclimate. Here, we add δ2HWax values from 19 lakes and four swamps on 15 tropical Pacific islands to an updated global compilation of published data from surface sediments and soils. Globally, there is a strong positive linear correlation between δ2H values of mean annual precipitation (δ2HP values) and the leaf waxes n‐C29‐alkane (R2 = 0.74, n = 665) and n‐C28‐acid (R2 = 0.74, n = 242). Tropical Pacific δ2HWax values fall within the predicted range of values based on the global calibration, and the largest residuals from the global regression line are no greater than those observed elsewhere, despite large uncertainties in δ2HP values at some Pacific sites. However, tropical Pacific δ2HWax values in isolation are not correlated with estimated δ2HP values from isoscapes or from isotope‐enabled general circulation models. Palynological analyses from these same Pacific sediment samples suggest no systematic relationship between any particular type of pollen distribution and deviations from the global calibration line. Rather, the poor correlations observed in the tropical Pacific are likely a function of the small range of δ2HP values relative to the typical residuals around the global calibration line. Our results suggest that δ2HWax values are currently most suitable for use in detecting large changes in precipitation in the tropical Pacific and elsewhere, but that ample room for improving this threshold exits in both improved understanding of δ2H variability in plants, as well as in precipitation., Plain Language Summary: Past precipitation patterns are difficult to reconstruct, limiting our ability to understand Earth’s climate system. Geochemists reconstruct past precipitation by measuring the amount of heavy hydrogen naturally incorporated into the waxy coating of leaves, which is preserved in mud that accumulates in lakes, soils, and oceans. Heavy hydrogen in leaf waxes is strongly correlated with local precipitation, allowing us to learn about rainfall intensity, temperature, and cloud movement. However, no existing calibration studies include sites from the tropical Pacific, home to the most intense rainfall on the planet and populations that rely on rain for drinking water and farming. We measured heavy hydrogen in leaf waxes from tropical Pacific islands and show that although values are within the global calibration error, no precipitation relationship exists within the region. Plant type distributions do not explain the lack of correlation, which is best attributed to poorly constrained estimates of heavy hydrogen in local rain and the relatively small range of variability within the region. At present, heavy hydrogen from ancient leaf waxes can show large changes in past precipitation, but improved process‐level understanding is needed to use this tool to understand smaller changes in the tropical Pacific and elsewhere., Key Points: Leaf wax 2H/1H ratios are correlated with mean annual precipitation 2H/1H ratios globally, but not in the tropical Pacific. Deviations from the global relationship between precipitation leaf wax 2H/1H ratios cannot be predicted from palynological assemblages. Small range and large uncertainties in estimates of tropical Pacific precipitation 2H/1H ratios likely account for poor correlations., Swiss National Science Foundation, National Science Foundation (NSF) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000270, Department of Education and Training, Australian Research Council (ARC) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000923, http://10.0.15.89/ethz-b-000412154

Climatic expressions of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) vary regionally, with reconstructions often depicting complex spatial patterns of temperature and precipitation change. The characterisation of these spatial patterns helps advance understanding of hydroclimate variability and associated responses of human and natural systems to climate change. Many regions, including north-eastern North America, still lack well-resolved records of past hydrological change. Here, we reconstruct hydroclimatic change over the past millennium using testate amoeba-inferred peatland water table depth reconstructions obtained from fifteen peatlands across Maine, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Québec. Spatial comparisons of reconstructed water table depths reveal complex hydroclimatic patterns that varied over the last millennium. The records suggest a spatially divergent pattern across the region during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age. Southern peatlands were wetter during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, whilst northern and more continental sites were drier. There is no evidence at the multi-decadal sampling resolution of this study to indicate that Medieval mega-droughts recorded in the west and continental interior of North America extended to these peatlands in the north-east of the continent. Reconstructed Little Ice Age hydroclimate change was spatially variable rather than displaying a clear directional shift or latitudinal trends, which may relate to local temporary permafrost aggradation in northern sites, and reconstructed characteristics of some dry periods during the Little Ice Age are comparable with those reconstructed during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. The spatial hydroclimatic trends identified here suggest that over the last millennium, peatland moisture balance in north-eastern North America has been influenced by changes in the Polar Jet Stream, storm activities and sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic as well as internal peatland dynamics.

Late Holocene climatic variations pre-1850 CE are associated with volcanic and solar forcing (Schurer et al., 2013). Whilst these variations are recorded in speleothems and ice-cores, these archives are often spatially restricted leaving gaps in our knowledge about short-term climate variability in a range of regions. Here, we investigate the potential of using the high-resolution δ18O analysis of lake carbonates formed within artificially constructed water bodies dating back to the Medieval period. Whilst the isotopic analysis of lake carbonates is a well-established Quaternary palaeoclimate proxy (Leng and Marshall, 2004) it has received less attention as a tool for climate reconstruction over the historic period. In this study we use the δ18O analysis of winter calcifying ostracod species from lake sediments recovered from Medieval fishponds from the town of Alresford, in southern England, combined with a programme of monitoring within the present-day water body to establish the hydrology and thermal regime of the system. This analysis shows that over the studied interval (the end of the Medieval period through to the 20th century) the lake system underwent regular inter-annual/decadal isotopic shift of relatively high magnitude (1-2‰).In order to investigate whether these high magnitude δ18O fluctuations are explainable by climatic variability or are a result of intra-lake processes we provide a data-model comparison. This approach allows an understanding of the likely mechanistic drivers of climatic change as well as testing if proxy observations are consistent with modelled outputs (Evans et al., 2013). This study compares the δ18O ostracod record with a synthetic δ18Ocarbonate record derived from the Millennium Data iHadCM3 runs for the period 1200 CE to 1850 CE. The iHadCM3 model generates modelled values for temperature and δ18Oprecipitation on an annual and monthly basis. These data were used to produce a synthetic δ18Ocarbonate record on both an annual and seasonal basis using Kim and O’Neil's (1997) equation that describes the relationship between temperature, δ18Ocarbonate and δ18Olakewater.The preliminary outputs of this proxy-model output comparison demonstrate that the magnitude of δ18Ocarbonate variability predicted by the model data is similar to the magnitude of change recorded in the proxy data. This suggests that these variations are real and driven by climatic rather than catchment-specific processes. Ongoing work aims to disentangle primary climate drivers of interannual δ18O change, at this site, using δ18O enabled climate model simulations. Our approach of considering what drives interannual δ18O changes over the last few hundred years, in these lacustrine settings, will help enable more robust palaeoclimatic reconstructions from these records.References: Evans, M.N. et al., (2013), QSR, 76, pp.16–28.; Kim, S.-T. and O’Neil, J.R. (1997) Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 61(16), pp.3461–3475; Leng, M.J. and Marshall, J.D. (2004) QSR, pp.811–831; Schurer, A.P. et al., (2013) Journal of Climate, 26(18), pp. 6954–6973.