Atomistic study of temperature and strain rate-dependent phase transformation behaviour of NiTi shape memory alloy under uniaxial compression

Molecular dynamics simulation was conducted to investigate the phase transformation behaviour of nickel–titanium (NiTi, 50%-50% at.%) nanopillar under uniaxial compression at loading rates varying from 3.30 × 10⁷ to 3.30 × 10⁹ s^?1 and at temperatures varying from 325 to 600 K. The phase transformation of NiTi was observed to be sensitive to loading rates and temperatures. The phase transformation stress of B2 → B19 increased with increasing temperature while it was insensitive to loading rate. The phase transformation stress of B19 → B19′ → BCO increased with increasing strain rate and decreasing temperature. In addition, reverse phase transformation was observed during compression due to the interaction between the phase transformation of B19 → B19′ → BCO and the deformation twinning/dislocation slide-induced plasticity of the BCO phase, leading to different residual crystal structures after loading. Moreover, a diagram for the phase transformation behaviour of NiTi in the simulated ranges of strain rate and temperature was obtained, from which the contrary experimental observations on the phase transformation behaviour of NiTi from the studies of Nemat-Nasser et al. (Mech. Mater. 37 (2005) p.287) and Liao et al. (J. Appl. Phys. 112 (2012) p.033515) at various strain rates could be well explained.     

Broad-band dielectric response of 0.5Ba(Ti0.8Zr0.2)O3–0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 piezoceramics: soft and central mode behaviour

ABSTRACT

Dielectric properties of 0.5Ba(Ti_0.8Zr_0.2)O₃–0.5(Ba_0.7Ca_0.3)TiO₃ ceramics were probed in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 100 THz in a broad temperature range (10–900 K). Polar soft phonon observed in infrared spectra softens with cooling; however, below 500 K, its frequency becomes temperature independent. Simultaneously, a central mode activates in terahertz and microwave spectra; and it actually drives the ferroelectric phase transitions. Consequently, the phase transitions strongly resemble a crossover between the displacive and order–disorder type. The central mode vanishes below 200 K. The dielectric relaxation in the radiofrequency and microwave range anomalously broadens on cooling below T_C1, resulting in the nearly frequency independent dielectric loss below 200 K. This broadening comes from a broad frequency distribution of ferroelectric domain wall vibrations. Raman spectra reveal new phonons below 400 K, i.e. already 15 K above T_C1. Several weak modes are detected in the paraelectric phase up to 500 K in Raman spectra. Activation of these modes is ascribed to the presence of polar nanoclusters in the material.     

Vickers Microhardness and Hyperfine Magnetic Field Variations of Heat Treated Amorphous Fe78Si9B13 Alloy Ribbons

Amorphous Fe₇₈Si₉B₁₃ alloy ribbons were heat treated between 296 and 763 K, using heating rates between 1 and 4.5 K/min. Whereas one ribbon partially crystallized at T _x = 722 K, the other one partially crystallized at T _x = 763 K. The partially crystallized ribbon at 722 K, heat treated using a triangular form for the heating and cooling rates, was substantially less fragile than the partially crystallized at 763 K where a tooth saw form for the heating and cooling rates was used. Vickers microhardness and hyperfine magnetic field values behaved almost concomitantly between 296 and 673 K. The Mössbauer spectral line widths of the heat-treated ribbons decreased continuously from 296 to 500 K, suggesting stress relief in this temperature range where the Vickers microhardness did not increase. At 523 K the line width decreased further but the microhardness increased substantially. After 523 K the line width behave in an oscillating form as well as the microhardness, indicating other structural changes in addition to the stress relief. Finally, positron lifetime data showed that both inner part and surface of Fe₇₈Si₉B₁₃ alloy ribbons were affected distinctly. Variations on the surface may be the cause of some of the high Vickers microhardness values measured in the amorphous state.     

Preparation and properties of Ba1−xCaxTiO3 nanopowders obtained by mechanochemical synthesis

ABSTRACT

The calcium-substituted barium titanate nanopowders Ba_1?xCa_xTiO₃ (0.2 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) have been obtained at room temperature by mechanochemical synthesis. The formation of the perovskite phase was controlled by X-ray diffraction studies at various milling duration. The powders possess the perovskite crystallographic structure directly after milling longer than 10 h. The dielectric properties of the ceramics obtained by sintering of the nanopowders were investigated in the temperature range between 300 and 500 K. The temperature dependence of permittivity exhibited a single anomaly, which corresponds to the ferroelectric–paraelectric phase transition.     

Effect of precipitates on thermal conductivity of aged Mg-5Sn alloy

Abstract

The influence of precipitates on thermal conductivity of aged Mg-5Sn alloy has been investigated at different heat treatment temperatures. The results show that the thermal conductivity of aged Mg-5Sn alloy increases from 87.5 to 92.8 W·m^?1·K^?1 at 433 K for 720 h and from 87.5 to 122 W·m^?1·K^?1 at 513 K for 120 h with the increasing ageing time. The increasing rate of the former is obviously lower than that of the latter. Meanwhile, the Sn content of precipitates at 433 K is considerably below that of aged Mg-5Sn at 513 K. The interface between precipitates and α-Mg matrix is completely coherent at 433 K for 720 h. The increase in thermal conductivity is mainly attributed to the remaining Sn solutes in α-Mg matrix, and the interface relationship between precipitates and α-Mg matrix.     

Critical point of martensitic transformation under stress in an Fe-31.2Pd (at.%) shape memory alloy

We have examined the transformation strain, Δε, in the [0 0 1] direction of an Fe-31.2Pd (at.%) shape memory alloy under compressive stress applied in the same direction. When the stress is absent, the alloy exhibits a cubic to tetragonal martensitic transformation at 230 K with |Δε| of 1.4%. As the stress increases, the transformation temperature increases linearly and |Δε| decreases linearly and vanishes at 40 MPa (280 K). This point is the critical point of this transformation at which the first-order nature disappears, and the critical exponent β is evaluated to be 0.47?±?0.04.     

Correlated process of phase separation and microstructure evolution of ternary Co-Cu-Pb alloy

The phase separation and rapid solidification of liquid ternary Co₄₅Cu₄₂Pb₁₃ immiscible alloy have been investigated under both bulk undercooling and containerless processing conditions. The undercooled bulk alloy is solidified as a vertical two-layer structure, whereas the containerlessly solidified alloy droplet is characterized by core-shell structures. The dendritic growth velocity of primary α(Co) phase shows a power-law relation to undercooling and achieves a maximum of 1.52 m/s at the undercooling of 112 K. The Pb content is always enriched in Cu-rich zone and depleted in Co-rich zone. Numerical analyses indicate that the Stokes motion, solutal Marangoni convection, thermal Marangoni convection, and interfacial energy play the main roles in the correlated process of macrosegregation evolution and microstructure formation.     

On low temperature glide of dissociated 〈1 1 0〉 dislocations in strontium titanate

An elastic interaction model is presented to quantify low temperature plasticity of SrTiO₃ via glide of dissociated 〈1 1 0〉{1 1 0} screw dislocations. Because 〈1 1 0〉 dislocations are dissociated, their glide, controlled by the kink-pair mechanism at T < 1050 K, involves the formation of kink-pairs on partial dislocations, either simultaneously or sequentially. Our model yields results in good quantitative agreement with the observed non-monotonic mechanical behaviour of SrTiO₃. This agreement allows to explain the experimental results in terms of a (progressive) change in 〈1 1 0〉{1 1 0} glide mechanism, from simultaneous nucleation of two kink-pairs along both partials at low stress, towards nucleation of single kink-pairs on individual partials if resolved shear stress exceeds a critical value of 95 MPa. High resolved shear stress allows thus for the activation of extra nucleation mechanisms on dissociated dislocations impossible to occur under the sole action of thermal activation. We suggest that stress condition in conjunction with core dissociation is key to the origin of non-monotonic plastic behaviour of SrTiO₃ at low temperatures.     

Influence of neutron irradiation on the martensitic transformations and shape-memory effect in a TiNi alloy

The paper reports measurements of the strains and electrical resistance of a TiNi shape-memory alloy under irradiation in the low-temperature helium circuit of a nuclear reactor. Irradiation of the alloy in martensitic state at 170 K revealed that the transition temperatures from cubic to rhombohedral and from rhombohedral to monoclinic phase decrease exponentially with increasing dose. No change in the shape-memory effects and transformation plasticity was observed up to a dose of 6.7×10²² n/m². Keeping the sample at 340 K without irradiation restores (increases) partially the transition temperatures. The relations observed can be assigned to a change in the degree of long-range order in the lattice caused by neutron irradiation. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1705–1709 (September 1998)     

Chain Straightening During Constant-Strain Relaxation in Melt-Crystallized Polyethylene Films

Abstract

The low-frequency Raman study of the chain-straightening process during stress relaxation in melt-crystallized polyethylene with molecular weight 10⁵ is presented. The application of tensile stress to low- and mid-drawn films causes the formation of “short” (as compared with crystal cores) straight-chain-segments (SCS). During the subsequent stress relaxation, while keeping the strain constant, the amount of SCS in the λ = 7 sample (λ is the draw ratio) gradually increases, while in the λ = 22 sample, a fraction of “short” SCS diminishes to zero within 3 days. This difference in the behavior of the low- and mid-drawn samples was ascribed to the difference in the contribution of the chain-breaking process. In the ultimately drawn sample (λ = 31), the length of the newly formed SCS is close to the crystal size, and they are situated, mainly, in the axially ordered interfibrillar phase. The formation of taut-tie molecules was not observed.     

Local and dynamic Jahn-Teller distortion in ulvöspinel Fe2TiO4

⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopic study on ulvöspinel Fe₂TiO₄ has been conducted in a wide temperature range from 16 K to 500 K. The paramagnetic spectra are composed of several high spin Fe^2?+? doublets even at 500 K, which is rather strange because the point symmetry of the A-site is completely cubic (??43m). We explain the electric field gradient (EFG) at A-site by the local arrangement of Fe^2?+? and Ti^4?+? on the B-site. The spectra were successfully analyzed by four-subspectra model, which is based on the B-site arrangement. The model also fits rather well to the magnetically ordered spectra. Thus the temperature variations of the hyperfine parameters were obtained. The Néel temperature (T _N) is estimated to be about 125 K. The quadrupole coupling constants e ² qQ/2 of A-site subspectra show little change around cubic-tetragonal transition temperature (T _t?=?163 K), but rapidly increase below T _N. From the temperature variation of line width, we found local and dynamic Jahn-Teller distortions around A-site Fe^2?+? ions in the cubic phase.     

Initial dislocation density effect on strain hardening in FCC aluminium alloy under laser shock peening

Abstract

The effect of initial dislocation density on subsequent dislocation evolution and strain hardening in FCC aluminium alloy under laser shock peening (LSP) was investigated by using three-dimension discrete dislocation dynamics (DD) simulation. Initial dislocations were randomly generated and distributed on slip planes for three different dislocation densities of 4.21 × 10¹², 8.12 × 10¹² and 1.26 × 10¹³ m^?2. Besides, variable densities of prismatic loops were introduced into the DD cells as nanoprecipitates to study the dislocation pinning effect. The flow stresses as a function of strain rate obtained by DD simulation are compared with relevant experimental data. The results show a significant dislocation density accumulation in the form of dislocation band-like structures under LSP. The overall yield strength in FCC aluminium alloy decreases with increasing initial dislocation density and forest dislocation strengthening becomes negligible under laser induced ultra-high strain rate deformation. In addition, yield strength is enhanced by increasing the nanoprecipitate density due to dislocation pinning effect.     

Influence of Al3Ni crystallisation origin particles on hot deformation behaviour of aluminium based alloys

Abstract

Binary Al–Ni, Al–Mg and ternary Al–Mg–Ni alloys containing various dispersions and volume fraction of second-phase particles of crystallisation origin were compressed in a temperature range of 200–500 °C and at strain rates of 0.1, 1, 10, 30 s^?1 using the Gleeble 3800 thermomechanical simulator. Verification of axisymmetric compression tests was made by finite-element modelling. Constitutive models of hot deformation were constructed and effective activation energy of hot deformation was determined. It was found that the flow stress is lowered by decreasing the Al₃Ni particle size in case of a low 0.03 volume fraction of particles in binary Al–Ni alloys. Intensive softening at large strains was achieved in the alloy with a 0.1 volume fraction of fine Al₃Ni particles. Microstructure investigations confirmed that softening is a result of the dynamic restoration processes which were accelerated by fine particles. In contrast, the size of the particles had no influence on the flow stress of ternary Al–Mg–Ni alloy due to significant work hardening of the aluminium solid solution. Atoms of Mg in the aluminium solid solution significantly affect the deformation process and lead to the growth of the effective activation energy from 130–150 kJ/mol in the binary Al–Ni alloys to 170–190 kJ/mol in the ternary Al–Mg–Ni alloy.     

Structure and electrical properties of Sb2Te3 and Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 metastable phases obtained by HPHT treatment

We have obtained the metastable phase of the thermoelectric alloy Bi_0.4Sb_1.6Te₃ with electron type conductivity for the first time using the method of quenching under pressure after treatment at P=4.0 GPa and T=400–850 °C. We have consequently performed comparative studies with the similar phase of Sb₂Te₃. The polycrystalline X-ray diffraction patterns of these phases are similar to the known monoclinic structure α-As₂Te₃ (C2/m) with less monoclinic distortion, β ≈ 92°. We have measured the electrical resistivity and the Hall coefficient in the temperature range of T=77?450 K and we have evaluated the Hall mobility and density of charge carriers. The negative Hall coefficient indicates the dominant electron type of carriers at temperatures up to 380 K in the metastable phase of Sb₂Te₃ and up to 440 K in the metastable state of Bi_0.4Sb_1.6Te₃. Above these temperatures, the p-type conductivity proper to the initial phases dominates.     

Enhancing plasticity of high-strength titanium alloys VT 22 under impact-oscillatory loading

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide new experimental data for high-strength VT 22 titanium α + β-type alloy under impact-oscillatory loading and dynamic non-equilibrium process. Based on the performed experimental studies, it was found that overall plastic deformation of this alloy can be increased by a factor 2.75 compared with its initial state without significant loss of strength. To achieve this goal, a new methodology to study the impact behaviour of materials under non-equilibrium process has been used. Physical research revealed that significant microstructural refinement of the alloy is observed after such type of loading, as the result of which the fine grains are formed with subgrain refinement which takes place within the basis of alloy.     

Grain refinement and strengthening of a Cu–0.1Cr–0.06Zr alloy subjected to equal channel angular pressing

Abstract

The grain refinement and mechanical properties of a Cu–0.1Cr–0.06Zr alloy subjected to equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at a temperature of 673 K were examined. The microstructure evolution was characterised by the development of a large number of low-angle subboundaries at small strains. An increase in the true strain resulted in gradual transformation of low-angle subboundaries into high-angle grain boundaries that was assisted by the deformation micro-banding. The development of new ultra-fine grains was considered as a kind of continuous dynamic recrystallization, the kinetics of which was characterised by a sigmoid-type dependence on strain and could be expressed by a modified Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov equation. ECAP led to significant strengthening of the alloy. The yield strength increased from 105 MPa in the initial state to 390 MPa after 8 ECAP passes. A modified Hall–Petch relationship was applied to analyse the contributions of grain refinement and dislocation density to the overall strengthening. In spite of significant strengthening, the electro-conductivity remained at a level of 80% IACS.     

Influence of nitrogen flow during sintering of bismuth manganite ceramics on grain morphology and surface disorder

ABSTRACT

Bismuth manganite ceramics, consisted of two phases: cubic I23 and orthorhombic Pbam, were obtained by high-temperature sintering in the air. The powdered ceramics were sintered in gaseous nitrogen flow at stabilized temperature of T_S = 870–1120 K for 4 h. Grain structure and chemical composition were checked by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We observed changes in the grain shapes, the number and size of the hexagon-based parallelepipeds increased. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) test has shown that the orthorhombic BiMn₂O₅ phase formation was favored. The local disorder was tested by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Multi-component lines assigned to O 1s, Mn 2p, Bi 4f were detected. The ratio of intensities of particular components was influenced by the sintering conditions. The shape of valence band was not influenced by the sintering conditions. Electric resistivity was measured in 200–750 K range with the use of Ag and In electrodes. The activation energy increased slightly when the sintering temperature increased.     

Understanding the high temperature oxidation and ignition behaviour of two-phase Mg–Nd alloys and a comparison to single phase Mg–Nd

The oxidation kinetics and the mechanism of two-phase Mg–Nd alloys were investigated via isothermal heating experiments conducted in dry air at 500 °C for 12 h. The oxidation kinetic curves reveal improved oxidation resistance on neodymium (Nd)-containing alloys compared to pure Mg. A lower mass gain was detected at 2.5-%Nd than at 6-Nd%, which was related to the lower amount of intermetallic phase on the alloy surface. The intermetallic phase has a significant effect on the oxide growth stage. Nd₂O₃ formation on the intermetallic phases creates diffusion paths for oxygen to the metal/oxide interface, affecting both the oxidation kinetics and the oxidation resistance of the alloys. The formation of a Nd-depleted region at the subsurface due to extensive Nd oxidation at the oxide/intermetallic interface lowers the protective ability of the oxide scale. As increasing the Nd content of binary Mg–Nd alloys above 0.5 wt% shifts the alloys from single-phase region to two-phase region, it adversely affects the ignition resistance.     

Behavior of the nickel-titanium alloys with the shape memory effect under conditions of shock wave loading

The behavior of the Ti_51.1Ni_48.9 and Ti_49.4Ni_50.6 alloys with shape memory effects has been studied under submicrosecond shock wave loading in the temperature range from −80 to 160°C, which includes both the regions of the stable state of the specimens in the austenite and martensite phases and the regions of thermoelastic martensitic transformations. The grain size of the studied alloys varies from initial values 15–30 to 0.05–0.30 μm. The dependences of the dynamic elastic limit on the temperature and on the elemental composition are similar to the dependences of the yield stress of these alloys under low strain rate loading. The rarefaction shock wave formation as a consequence of the pseudoelastic behavior of the alloy during a reversible martensitic transformation has been revealed. A decrease in the grain size leads to an increase in the dynamic elastic limit and decreases the temperatures of martensitic transformations.