On the nucleation of cementite on bainitic ferrite–austenite interphase boundaries

Among all possible variants of the Isaichev orientation relationship between cementite and ferrite, a single major cementite variant has been observed to appear in bainite. Interphase boundary nucleation of cementite on ferrite–austenite semi-coherent interfaces is considered a plausible reason for this observation. With the aid of known crystallographic relations and habit planes of the ferrite–cementite, ferrite–austenite and austenite–cementite phases, a model for cementite nucleation has been proposed. The interphase-boundary nucleus is assumed to form on a semi-coherent ferrite–austenite interface and to possess ferrite–cementite and austenite–cementite habits as two main facets of the nucleus. It is shown that interphase cementite nucleation will be viable if the energies of all facets of the nucleus are in the semi-coherent range.     

Effects of deep cryogenic treatment on the solid-state phase transformation of Cu–Al alloy in cooling process

The solid-state phase transformation temperature and duration of deep cryogenic treated and untreated Cu–Al alloys in cooling process were measured by differential scanning calorimetry measurement. The solid-state phase transformation activation energy and Avrami exponent were calculated according to these measurements. The effects of deep cryogenic treatment on the solid-state phase transformation were investigated based on the measurement and calculation as well as the observation of alloy's microstructure. The results show that deep cryogenic treatment can increase the solid-phase transformation activation energy and shorten the phase transformation duration, which is helpful to the formation of fine grains in Cu–Al alloy.     

Effect of the temperature of megaplastic deformation on the redistribution of carbon in Fe–Ni–C austenite

Structural phase transitions induced by megaplastic deformation at temperatures of 80–573 K are investigated in high-carbon Fe–Ni austenite of the invar range of compositions. Phase transformations change their direction from the nonequilibrium dissolution of graphite particles upon low-temperature (80 and 293 K) deformation and the activation of carbon precipitation from the fcc matrix to graphite upon high-temperature (373–573 K) deformation, due to the structure being saturated with point defects.     

Order–disorder transformation of the O phase in Ti2AlNb alloys

The free energy of the O₂ (Ti₂AlNb) phase, based on the Gorsky–Bragg–Williams (G–B–W) approximation considering nearest-neighbour interactions, has been utilized to derive expressions for the transition and instability temperatures. The relations among the long-range order parameter, transformation temperatures and free energy as a function of the concentrations of Al and Nb have been established. The results are compared with those of earlier experimental and theoretical investigations.     

Ab initio study on the formation of chemically ordered Zr2Al phase by coupled replacive–displacive transformation

We performed plane wave-based first principles calculations using the projector augmented wave (PAW) potential under the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) within the density functional theory to study the formation of ordered omega (B8₂-structured) Zr₂Al phase in β-Zr₃Al alloy. The transformation involves both replacive and displacive processes. We investigated two possible paths for the transformation where steps involving replacive (diffusive) and displacive processes occur in succession with their sequence of occurrence being different in the two paths. From this study, it was possible to show that the initial chemical ordering facilitates the displacive process leading to the transformation. It was also possible to correlate instability with respect to omega-type displacements in Zr₂Al alloy with the number of Zr–Al bonds present in the unit cell. Electronic structure analysis indicated that stronger Zr–Al bonding plays an important role in the formation of chemically ordered omega phase.     

Dependence of the form of a phase shifter’s phase–temporal characteristics on the parameters of ferrite spinels and the means of their fabrication

On the basis of experimental results, it is shown that the form of a phase shifter’s phase–temporal characteristics when working with waves of linear polarization in the 8 mm range can deviate substantially from linear and be unstable in the range of operating temperatures at the similar parameters of ferrites with critical saturation magnetic moments but certain differences in the manufacturing process.     

Effect of manganese ions concentration on the anatase–rutile phase transformation of TiO2 films

The phase structures of Ti_1?xMn_xO₂ (0?x<0.08) films synthesized by sol–gel spin coating have been investigated. The effect of Mn dopants on the stability of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) was studied by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra for isochronally annealed samples. The increased Mn dopant concentration decreased the onset temperature of anatase–rutile (A–R) phase transformation. The calculated activation energy for the phase transformation decreased from 173.6 to 89.4 kJ/mol with Mn dopants concentration increasing from 0% to 7.51%. The Mn ions incorporated into the TiO₂ lattice reduce the rutile nucleation barrier and promote the nucleation rate.     

Investigation of the ε phase in the Fe–Al system by high-temperature neutron diffraction

In the central part of the Fe–Al system between about 58 and 65 at.% Al, a high-temperature phase denoted as ε occurs with a hitherto unknown crystallographic structure. The phase is stable between 1231°C and 1095°C. In order to study the crystallographic structure of the ε phase, in situ high-temperature neutron time-of-flight diffraction experiments have been performed at the HIPPO instrument at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). The ε phase was found to have the formula Fe₅Al₈ with a body-centred cubic structure of the Hume–Rothery Cu₅Zn₈ type (I $\bar{4}3In the central part of the Fe–Al system between about 58 and 65 at.% Al, a high-temperature phase denoted as ε occurs with a hitherto unknown crystallographic structure. The phase is stable between 1231°C and 1095°C. In order to study the crystallographic structure of the ε phase, in situ high-temperature neutron time-of-flight diffraction experiments have been performed at the HIPPO instrument at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). The ε phase was found to have the formula Fe₅Al₈ with a body-centred cubic structure of the Hume–Rothery Cu₅Zn₈ type (I[`4]3\bar{4}3m (No. 217), Z=4, cI52) and 52 atoms in the unit cell. Its lattice parameter is a=8.9756(2) ? at 1120°C, which is 3.02 times that of cubic FeAl (B2) at the same temperature. We report here the evolution of the crystallographic parameters over the temperature range between 1080°C and 1120°C.     

Evidence for particle size–shape correlations in the optical properties of silicate clay aerosol

Accurate modeling of the optical properties of atmospheric mineral dust is important for climate modeling calculations and remote sensing data retrievals. Atmospheric mineral dust in the accumulation mode size range is often rich in silicate clays including kaolinite and illite. This is important because dust optical properties depend on particle shape, and fundamental clay particles are known to consist of very thin flakes.In this combined laboratory and modeling study, we investigate the optical properties (IR extinction and visible light scattering) of two samples of silicate clay dust aerosol, kaolinite and illite. Particle size distributions are measured simultaneously with the optical properties. T-Matrix theory based simulations using a spheroidal particle approximation are compared with experimental data. We find that the full range of visible scattering and polarimetry data, and IR extinction profiles are not well fit by assuming a single size–shape distribution for the aerosol. In contrast, a simple bimodal distribution model that treats small particles (fundamental clay flakes) in the distribution as highly eccentric oblate spheroids with axial ratio parameters ≥5, but approximates larger particles by a more moderate shape distribution with axial ratio parameters <3, gives better agreement with the full range of experimental data. These conclusions are consistent with mineralogical data on the dimensions of fundamental clay particles.     

Thermal analysis study for the phase determination and instable to metastable transformation of the Co–13Cu alloy

The differential thermal analysis (DTA) is utilized to determine the phase boundary and phase equilibria of Co–Cu alloy having a miscibility gap. Regions for various phase i.e., spinodal and coherent binodal, peritectic, magnetic and the transformation from the two phases to α phase transformations are distinctly determined for the Co–13 at%Cu alloy. The obtained results might indicate the continuity of the decomposition kinetics at the boundary between instable and the metastable regions but an activation barrier is needed. The activation energy for the magnetic transformation is determined to be 182.2 ± 2.1 kJ mol^?1.     

Core-loss reduction of Fe–Si–Cr crystalline alloy according to particle size in the high frequency band

We used different sizes of gas atomized Fe–Si–Cr alloy powder to produce soft magnetic composites (SMCs), this alloy has higher resistivity than existing materials used in SMCs. These powders were prepared by sieving raw materials which had an average size from less than 25 μm to over 63 μm. Our experiments show that as particle size decreases, the magnetic saturation tends to increase, the sample made from the powder with particles 25–38 μm in size recorded the highest magnetic saturation of 169.38 emu/g. Additionally, as particle size decreased, permeability increased. The sample made from powder with particles under 25 μm had a permeability of 20.7 H/m at 1 MHz. Also, the relationship between particle size and quality factor was found to be inversely proportional. Finally, the minimum core-loss was 187.26 kW/m³ at 1 MHz for the sample made from powder whose constituent particles are under 25 μm.     

The influence of microstructure on the martensitic transformation in Cu–Zn–Al melt-spun ribbons

The martensitic transformation was investigated in a set of twin roller melt-spun Cu–Zn–Al shape memory alloys, solidified at tangential wheel speeds between 20 and 40 m/s. The resulting microstructures were analyzed using X-ray diffraction, optical and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The characteristic martensitic transformation temperature, M _S, was determined for each condition by conventional resistometric methods. The ribbons are homogeneous in shape and for each quenching rate they exhibit a quite uniform M _S temperature. By proper thermal treatments, the different factors affecting M _S could be separately examined and from temperature measurements, the contribution of L2₁ antiphase boundaries evaluated. A calculation of this contribution using pair interchange energies is in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Influence of the static high magnetic field on the liquid–liquid phase separation during solidifying the hyper-monotectic alloys

Magnetic in-situ quenching refers to fixing and quenching the sample at a static high magnetic field (SHMF) up to 18 T; it has been achieved by a specially designed facility. Zn-7wt%Bi and Zn-10wt%Bi hyper-monotectic melts were quenched under different magnetic flux densities to investigate the influence of SHMF on the liquid–liquid phase separation process in solidifying hyper-monotectic alloys. Because this separation is mainly caused by the growth of minority phase droplets (Bi droplets in the present study), and such growth is attributed to the diffusion of Bi element and the coalescence between the droplets, the influence of SHMF on the growth of Bi droplets was analyzed. Results show that the imposed SHMF prevented the formation of layered structure in the Zn-10wt%Bi alloy and refined the Bi particles in the Zn-7wt%Bi alloy, which indicates that the SHMF retarded the liquid–liquid phase separation during solidifying the hyper-monotectic alloys. Indeed, the two motions of droplets in determining the coalescence, Marangoni migration and Stocks sedimentation, were slowed down by the applied SHMF. Analytical estimations of the magnitude of such damping effect have been made and show that the 18 T SHMF could reduce the speed of Stokes sedimentation and Marangoni migration of the minority phase droplets by about 95.5 % and 62.4 %, respectively.