Surface evolution of a gradient structured Ti in hydrogen peroxide solution

In this work, the interaction between hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and a gradient structured Ti was investigated extensively. The gradient structured Ti (SMAT Ti) was produced by surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT), and then it was immersed in H₂O₂ solution for different time until 48 h at room temperature (25 °C). The structure and surface morphology evolution were examined by Raman spectra and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The formation mechanism of nanoporous titania was discussed based on above results.     

In vitro and in vivo mineralization and osseointegration of nanostructured Ti6Al4V

Surface characteristics of the orthopedic implants remarkably affect the corresponding biological responses. In this study, Ti6Al4V alloy was subjected to the surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) in order to achieve favorable surface properties. The SMAT substrates exhibited a highly hydrophilic surface with nanograins about 20–40 nm. Then, the in vitro and in vivo mineralizations were evaluated on the untreated and SMAT processed substrates. The in vitro experimental results showed a significant increase in the deposition of calcium-containing minerals on the SMAT surface both with and without osteoblasts. The in vivo experiments also revealed a higher bone mineral apposition on the SMAT processed implants after 8 and 12 weeks post operation. The well-organized bone formation on the SMAT substrates indicated an enhanced osseointegration on the bone-implant interface. Therefore, it was suggested that the obvious improvements of biomineralization and osseointegration were attributed to the nanostructure features on the SMAT surface, as well as the higher surface hydrophilicity.     

温度和应变速率耦合作用下纳米晶Ni压缩行为研究

本文利用低温力学测试系统研究了电化学沉积纳米晶Ni在不同温度和宽应变速率条件下的压缩行为. 借助应变速率敏感指数、激活体积、扫描电子显微镜及高分辨透射电子显微镜方法, 对纳米晶Ni的压缩塑性变形机理进行了表征. 研究表明, 在较低温度条件下, 纳米晶Ni的塑性变形主要是由晶界位错协调变形主导, 晶界本征位错引出后无阻碍的在晶粒内无位错区运动, 直至在相对晶界发生类似切割林位错行为. 并且, 在协调塑性变形时引出位错的残留位错能够增加应变相容性和减小应力集中; 在室温条件下, 纳米晶Ni的塑性变形机理主要是晶界-位错协调变形与晶粒滑移/旋转共同主导. 利用晶界位错协调变形机理和残留位错运动与温度及缺陷的相关性揭示了纳米晶Ni在不同温度、不同应变速率条件下力学压缩性能差异的内在原因.     

Scanning probe microscopy on superconductors: Achievements and challenges

A dislocation dynamical model of the reaction-diffusion type is used to describe the spatio-temporal dynamics of Lüders band propagation in polycrystals. The diffusive nature of dislocation glide is traced back to the random crystallographic orientation of the active slip systems. The role of pile-ups in dislocation multiplication is accounted for by a dynamical generalization of the Hall-Petch law. It is argued that Lüders bands in polycrystals are related to a bistable dynamics of mobile dislocations. Further results obtained cover the dependences on material parameters and deformation conditions of (1) the occurrence, (2) the strain, propagation velocity and width of Lüders bands, and (3) the upper and lower yield stresses. These results are in good agreement with experimental findings.     

THE INFLUENCE OF GRAIN SIZE AND TEMPERATURE ON THE MECHANICAL DEFORMATION OF NANOCRYSTALLINE MATERIALS: MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATION

Nanocrystalline (nc) materials are characterized by a typical grain size of 1-100nm. The uniaxial tensile deformation of computer-generated nc samples, with several average grain sizes ranging from 5.38 to 1.79nm, is simulated by using molecular dynamics with the Finnis-Sinclair potential. The influence of grain size and temperature on the mechanical deformation is studied in this paper. The simulated nc samples show a reverse Hall-Petch effect. Grain boundary sliding and motion, as well as grain rotation are mainly responsible for the plastic deformation. At low temperatures, partial dislocation activities play a minor role during the deformation. This role begins to occur at the strain of 5%, and is progressively remarkable with increasing average grain size. However, at elevated temperatures no dislocation activity is detected, and the diffusion of grain boundaries may come into play.     

Effects of surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) on a rough surface of AISI 316L stainless steel

Surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) improves mechanical properties of metallic materials through the formation of nanocrystallites at their surface layer. It also modifies the morphology and roughness of the work surface. Surface roughening by the SMAT has been reported previously in a smooth specimen, however in this study the starting point was a rough surface and a smoothening phenomenon is observed. In this paper, the mechanisms involved in the surface smoothening of AISI 316L stainless steel during the SMAT are elucidated. The SMAT was conducted on a specimen with a roughness of R_a = 3.98 μm for 0–20 min. The size of milling balls used in the SMAT was varied from 3.18 mm to 6.35 mm. The modification of subsurface microhardness, surface morphology, roughness and mass reduction of the specimen due to the SMAT were studied. The result shows the increasing microhardness of the surface and subsurface of the steel due to the SMAT. The impacts of milling balls deform the surface and produce a flat-like structure at this layer. Surface roughness decreases until its saturation is achieved in the SMAT. The mass reduction of the specimens is also detected and may indicate material removal or surface erosion by the SMAT. The size of milling ball is found to be the important feature determining the pattern of roughness evolution and material removal during the SMAT. From this study, two principal mechanisms in the evolution of surface morphology and roughness during the SMAT are proposed, i.e. indentation and surface erosion by the multiple impacts of milling balls. A comparative study with the results of the previous experiment indicates that the initial surface roughness has no influence in the work hardening by the SMAT but it does slightly on the saturated roughness value obtained by this treatment.     

One way of surface alloying treatment on iron surface based on surface mechanical attrition treatment and heat treatment

A method of surface alloying treatment has been developed: Ni powders were welded into the surface of iron plates by Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment (SMAT), followed by annealing at certain temperature for 30 min. A Ni-Fe alloy layer with thickness about 100 μm in the sample surface was fabricated on pure iron plate. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), glow discharge spectrum (GDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods were used to analyze the microstructure, the composition and the phases of the alloy layer. Studies on the interface microstructure indicated that there was significant atomic diffusion and formation of multilayer of intermetallic compound and solid solution in SMAT process. Subsequent annealing accelerates the alloying process. The corrosion test shows the sample by SMAT treated with Ni powders exhibit the best corrosion resistance.     

X‐ray diffractometry and topography of lattice plane curvature in thermally deformed Si wafer

The correlation between the microscopic lattice plane curvature and the dislocation structure in thermal warpage of 200 mm‐diameter Czochralski Si (001) wafers has been investigated using high‐resolution X‐ray diffractometry and topography. It is found that the (004) lattice plane curvature is locally confined between two neighboring slip bands, with the rotation axis parallel to the slip bands. High‐resolution topography reveals that the curvature resulted from a fragmented dislocation structure. The local confinement is attributed to the multiplication of the dislocations that are generated between the two slip bands.     

On the prospects of preparing fullerites from small and large fullerenes

The evolution of the properties of face-centered cubic fullerites with a variation in the number (nc) of carbon atoms in a C_nc fullerene molecule (15 ≤ nc ≤ 147) is investigated using the dependence of the parameters of the interfullerene interaction in face-centered cubic fullerites on the mass of the C_nc fullerene molecule. It is demonstrated that, for nc < 20, the face-centered cubic fullerites become unstable because such light small fullerene molecules cannot be kept by weak van der Waals forces. For nc ≥ 110, the fullerites have anomalously low surface energies, which should lead to fragmentation of nanoclusters composed of large hollow spherical molecules C_nc. The inference is made that the range 30 < nc < 100 is optimum for the formation of stable face-centered cubic fullerites.     

Slip band formation and mobile dislocation density generation in high rate deformation of single fcc crystals

The mechanisms for the nucleation, thickening, and growth of crystallographic slip bands from the sub-nanoscale to the microscale are studied using three-dimensional dislocation dynamics. In the simulations, a single fcc crystal is strained along the [111] direction at three different high strain rates: 10⁴, 10⁵, and 10⁶?s^??1. Dislocation inertia and drag are included and the simulations were conducted with and without cross-slip. With cross-slip, slip bands form parallel to active (111) planes as a result of double cross-slip onto fresh glide planes within localized regions of the crystal. In this manner, fine nanoscale slip bands nucleate throughout the crystal, and, with further straining, build up to larger bands by a proposed self-replicating mechanism. It is shown that slip bands are regions of concentrated glide, high dislocation multiplication rates, and high dislocation velocities. Cross-slip increases in activity proportionally with the product of the total dislocation density and the square root of the applied stress. Effects of cross-slip on work hardening are attributed to the role of cross-slip on mobile dislocation generation, rather than slip band formation. A new dislocation density evolution law is presented for high rates, which introduces the mobile density, a state variable that is missing in most constitutive laws.     

Optical properties of Ti:LMA

Abstract

Single crystals of Ti:LaMgAl11019 (LMA:Ti) of 40 mm in diameter and 80 mm in length have been pulled by the Czochralski method. Parasitic absorption bands at 580, 730, 980 and 1200 nm for the polarization F//C have been observed and their evolution with annealings in oxyding or reducing atmospheres have been studied. They may be associated with the formation of Ti2+ and Ti4+ in the LMA.     

Features of slip-band formation during the plastic straining of layered crystals

The effects of the narrowing and branching of screw slip bands during the plastic straining of nonuniformly doped or nonuniformly irradiated (layered) crystals are discussed theoretically on the basis of the equations of dislocation kinetics. Band formation is treated as a process involving the self-organization of dislocations in a dislocation ensemble at the mesoscopic level. The distributions of the densities of mobile and immobile dislocations, as well as of the local plastic strain rate, in a slip band propagating in a layered crystal are obtained. It is found that the narrowing of bands is due to the lower rate of broadening of the bands in stiff layers than in soft layers, which have not been hardened by doping or irradiation, and that branching is due the low local strain rate in stiff layers compared with the strain rate per slip band assigned by the straining machine. In the latter case the nucleation of new bands or the branching of existing bands is required to restore the balance between these rates. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 252–258 (February 1999)     

钢铁材料中形变诱导相变超细化机理研究

通过计算机编程建立奥氏体相中12[1 1 0]刃位错、奥氏体相中非形变区和形变区奥氏体/铁 素体相界模型.用实空间的连分数方法计算了非形变区和形变区奥氏体/铁素体相界界面能， 计算了碳、氮及微合金元素在完整晶体及位错区引起的环境敏感镶嵌能，进而讨论形变过程 中铁素体形核的难易程度，碳、氮及合金元素在位错区的偏聚及析出与铁素体细化的关系. 计算结果表明：α-Fe易于在高密度位错区（形变带、亚晶界、晶界）形核，在奥氏体形变 过程中，就会大大提高α-Fe形核率，细化铁素体晶粒；碳、氮和微合金元素易于单独或共 同 关键词： 奥氏体/铁素体相界 刃位错 形变 晶粒细化     

The evolution of persistent slip bands in copper single crystals

The transformation of the so-called matrix structure into persistent slip bands (PSBs) during the fatigue of copper single crystals has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). By cyclic pre-deformation a saturated, hard matrix structure was established which is not capable of further hardening. A sudden increase of the applied amplitude of the resolved plastic shear strain initiated the transformation of the matrix structure into PSBs. The number of deformation cycles with enlarged amplitude of resolved plastic shear strain was increased from experiment to experiment in order to obtain crystals with PSBs in consecutive stages of evolution. Surface observations indicated strain localization well before first fragments of the typical ladder-like dislocation pattern of PSBs could be identified in the bulk. From our experiments, we conclude that the transformation from the matrix structure into PSBs very likely starts from the centers of the veins which exhibit small dislocation-poor, soft areas. These areas are enclosed by a harder shell, where a high dislocation density is maintained and which may develop into first dislocation walls. During the evolution of PSBs the frequency distribution of the wall spacings narrows. This indicates that a shift of dislocation walls (1–2 nm/cycle) plays an important rôle in establishing the typical regular ladder-like dislocation pattern of well-developed PSBs.     

The excitation mechanism of rare-earth ions in silicon nanocrystals

A detailed investigation on the excitation mechanisms of rare-earth (RE) ions introduced in Si nanocrystals (nc) is reported. Silicon nanocrystals were produced by high-dose 80-keV Si implantation in thermally grown SiO₂ followed by 1100 °C annealing for 1 h. Subsequently some of the samples were implanted by 300-keV Er, Yb, Nd, or Tm at doses in the range 2×10¹²–3×10¹⁵ /cm². The energy was chosen in such a way to locate the RE ions at the same depth where nanocrystals are. Finally an annealing at 900 °C for 5 min was performed in order to eliminate the implantation damage. These samples show intense room-temperature luminescence due to internal 4f shell transitions within the RE ions. For instance, luminescence at 1.54 μm and 0.98 μm is observed in Er-doped nc, at 0.98 μm in Yb-doped nc, at 0.92 μm in nc and two lines at 0.78 μm and 1.65 μm in Tm-doped nc. Furthermore, these signals are much more intense than those observed when RE ions are introduced in pure SiO₂ in the absence of nanocrystals, demonstrating the important role of nanocrystals in efficiently exciting the REs. It is shown that the intense nc-related luminescence at around 0.85 μm decreases with increasing RE concentration and the energy is preferentially transferred from excitons in the nc to the RE ions which, subsequently, emit radiatively. The exact mechanism of energy transfer has been studied in detail by excitation spectroscopy measurements and time-resolved photoluminescence. On the basis of the obtained results a plausible phenomenological model for the energy transfer mechanism emerges. The pumping laser generates excitons within the Si nanocrystals. Excitons confined in the nc can either give their energy to an intrinsic luminescent center emitting at around 0.85 μm nor pass this energy to the RE 4f shell, thus exciting the ion. The shape of the luminescence spectra suggests that excited rare-earth ions are not incorporated within the nanocrystals and the energy is transferred at a distance while they are embedded within SiO₂. Rare-earth excitation can quantitatively be described by an effective cross section σ_eff taking into account all the intermediate steps leading to excitation. We have directly measured σ_eff for Er in Si nc obtaining a value of ≈2×10⁻¹⁷ cm². This value is much higher than the cross section for excitation through direct photon absorption (8×10⁻²¹ cm²) demonstrating that this process is extremely efficient. Furthermore, the non-radiative decay processes typically limiting rare-earth luminescence in Si (namely back-transfer and Auger) are demonstrated to be absent in Si nc further improving the overall efficiency of the process. These data are reported and their implications. Received: 9 April 1999 / Accepted: 10 April 1999 / Published online: 2 June 1999     

Twinning propensity in nanocrystalline face-centered cubic,body-centered cubic,and hexagonal close-packed metals

The nanotwinned structures in metals exhibit the unique combination of physical properties. The unifying approach is developed that can be applied to nanocrystalline (nc) materials with different crystal structures. It is used to make a bridge between microscopical mechanisms of twin nucleation and macroscopic characteristics of the twinning and calculate them. The grain size range of the nanotwinning propensity, the grain size of its peak, and the requisite external twinning stress are calculated for the nc face-centered cubic metals Al, Cu, Ni, Pd, Au, Ag, for nc body-centered cubic metals Ta, Fe, Nb, Mo, and for hexagonal close-packed nc metals Co, Zr, Mg, Ti.     

Instability of plastic flow in the microstructure of alkali halide crystals

Spatial localization of deformation bands in LiF and KCl single crystals caused by instability of plastic flow in the strain rate range from 5 × 10^?6 to 2 × 10^?4 s^?1 was studied experimentally. The geometrical parameters of localized shift bands (LSB) were studied as a function of strain rate and temperature. To study the LSB relief, a surface profilometry technique was used for the first time, which made it possible to determine the LSB parameters at the early stages of plastic flow (for strains in the range from 0.5 to 2%). The formation and branching of LSB steps on the surface of a deformed crystal due to the generation and motion of dislocations were found to be scaled. It was shown experimentally that the LSB formation is a thermally activated process that occurs through dislocation glide and is limited by dislocation creep.     

Microscopical study of the formation of adiabatic shear bands in 4340 steel during dynamic loading

In this study, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and electron probe microanalyser were used to analyse the changes in microstructure of AISI 4340 steel specimens caused by impact at high strain rates and large strains. The structures of the steel prior to dynamic deformation and after dynamic deformation were examined to understand on a microscale level, the mechanism of formation of adiabatic shear bands (ASBs). The study also includes the structural changes that occur during post-deformation annealing processes which may relate to understanding of the mechanism of formation of ASBs. Prior to deformation, the tempered steel specimens consisted of lenticular laths of α-ferrite with precipitated platelet and spherical M₃C carbides. After impact, the structure inside the shear band was characterized by refined and recrystallized grains immersed in dense dislocation structures. In addition, residual carbide particles were observed inside the shear bands due to deformation induced carbide dissolution. Regions away from the shear bands developed ‘knitted’ dislocation walls, evolving gradually into sub-boundaries and highly misoriented grain boundaries at increasing strains, leading to grain refinement of the ferrite. After impact, annealing the shear bands at 350?°C resulted in an increase in hardness regardless of the heat treatment before impact, amount of deformation and the time of annealing. This is because of the occurrence of extensive reprecipitation of dissolved carbides that existed in the steel structure prior to deformation. It is concluded that dynamic recovery/recrystallization, development of dislocation structures and carbide dissolution all contribute simultaneously to the formation of ASBs in quench-hardened steels.     

Low-strain fatigue in AISI 316L steel surface grains: a three-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics modelling of the early cycles I. Dislocation microstructures and mechanical behaviour

The early stages of the formation of dislocation microstructures in low-strain fatigue are analysed, using three-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics modelling. Simulations under various conditions of loading amplitude and grain size have been performed. Both the dislocation microstructures and the associated mechanical behaviour are accurately reproduced in single-slip as well as in double-slip loading conditions. The microstructures thus obtained are analysed quantitatively, in terms of number of slip bands per grain, band thickness and band spacing. The simulations show the crucial role of cross-slip both for the initial spreading of strain inside the grain and for the subsequent strain localization in the form of slip bands. A complete and detailed scheme for the persistent slip band formation is proposed, from the observation of the numerical dislocation arrangements.     

Theoretical study of Ti and Fe surface alloys on Al(0 0 1) substrate

Accurate density-functional calculations are performed to investigate the formation of Ti and Fe ultrathin alloys on Al(0 0 1) surface. It is demonstrated that a deposition of Ti monolayer on Al(0 0 1) substrate leads to the formation of Al₃Ti surface alloy with Ti atoms arranged according to the L1₂ stacking, distinct from the D0₂₂ structure characteristic of a bulk Al₃Ti compound. A quest for the reason of this distinct atomic arrangement led us to the study of the surface structure of Al₃Ti(0 0 1) compound. It is concluded that even the Al₃Ti(0 0 1) surface is terminated with three layers assuming a L1₂ stacking and hence this stacking fault can be classified as a surface-induced stacking fault. Several possibilities of Fe atoms distributed in the surface region of Al(0 0 1) have been examined. The most stable configuration is the one with the compact Fe monolayer on Al(0 0 1) and covered by one Al monolayer. Lastly, our calculations show that there is no barrier for the penetration of Fe adatoms below the Al(0 0 1) surface; however, such a barrier is present for a Ti-alloyed Al(0 0 1) surface.