Internal Friction of Bend-Deformed Nanocrystalline Nickel by Mechanical Spectroscopy

Internal friction of nanocrystalline nickel is investigated by mechanical spectroscopy from 360 K to 120 K. Two relaxation peaks are found when nanocrystalline nickel is bent up to 10% strain at room temperature and fast cooling. However, these two peaks disappear when the sample is annealed at room temperature in vacuum for ten days. The occurrence and disappearance of the two relaxation peaks can be explained by the interactions of partial dislocations and point defects in nanocrystalline materials.     

Compressibility of Nickel Nanoparticle Chain

We perform the high-pressure energy dispersive x-ray diffraction experiments of nickel nanoparticle chain using a synchrotron source under quasi-hydrostatic compression up to 44.7GPa. There is no phase transition over the pressure range. The bulk modulus Ko, the first pressure derivative of bulk modulus K＇0 and the volume Vo are calculated from the pressure-volume data using the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. A decrease of compressibility is observed, in agreement with the Hall-Perch effect.     

Isothermal martensitic transformation in a 12Cr–9Ni–4Mo–2Cu stainless steel in applied magnetic fields

This work concerns an in situ study of the isothermal formation of martensite in a stainless steel under the influence of magnetic fields up to 9 T at three different temperatures (213, 233 and 253 K). It is shown that the presence of a constant applied magnetic field promotes the formation of martensite significantly. The activation energy for the nucleation of martensite has been derived using a semi-empirical kinetic model. The experimental results have been analyzed using the Ghosh and Olson model. While this model describes the time and field dependences of the experimental data well, the thermal frictional energy and the defect size values are much lower than those expected from earlier work.     

Compressive Deformation Induced Nanocrystallization of a Supercooled Zr-Based Bulk Metallic Glass

The nanocrystallization behaviour of a bulk Zr-based metallic glass subjected to compressive stress is investigated in the supercooled liquid region. Compared with annealing treatments without compressive stress, compressive deformation promotes the development of nucleation and suppresses the coarsening of nanocrystallites at high temperatures.     

Role of Niobium in the nanocrystallization of a Fe73.5Si13.5B9Nb3Cu alloy

The nanostructure of a nanocrystalline Fe_73.5Si_13.5B₉Nb₃Cu alloy has been studied by means of Mössbauer spectroscopy, 1D and 3D atom probes. After 6 h at 520 °C, the crystallized fraction of the alloy is about 53%. α$\mathrm{\alpha }$-Fe(Si) nanocrystals, 10–20 nm in diameter, are embedded in a retained amorphous matrix. They have a near Fe₈₀Si₂₀ composition and exhibit a DO₃ structure. The very low number density of Cu-rich particles does not match with the hypothesis of a systematic heterogeneous precipitation of α$\mathrm{\alpha }$-Fe close to Cu-rich particles. A detailed analysis of the distribution of alloying elements in the retained amorphous matrix reveals the formation of a Nb-rich shell around α$\mathrm{\alpha }$-Fe(Si) nanocrystals. It is proposed that this shell is formed during the growth of nanocrystals and the decomposition of the matrix, which tends toward a Fe₃B composition. The Nb-rich shell behaves as a diffusion barrier which inhibits the growth of nanocrystals. However, despite the presence of a Nb-rich shell, the junction between adjacent nanocrystals may occur, even if this phenomenon is rare.     

Dynamic Simulation of Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition in Two-Dimensional Fully Frustrated XY Model

Relaxation dynamics of the two-dimensional fully frustrated XY model is investigated with Monte Carlo methods. The simulation focuses on the Kosterlitz Thouless phase transition. From the dynamic scaling behaviour of the magnetization above the transition temperature TKT, the correlating time of the dynamic system is extracted. The transition temperature TKT and static exponent v are then determined.     

Mechanically alloyed metal hydride systems

Mechanosynthesis of metal hydrides is a new field in which important progress has been reported. In this paper, we present recent developments in mechanosynthesis of magnesium-based hydrides for storage applications. The effect of intense milling on magnesium and magnesium hydrides is presented. The influence of various additives on hydrogen-sorption properties is discussed with special emphasis on nanocomposite MgH₂+5 at. % V, where hydrogen-storage characteristics, cycling properties and the mechanism of hydrogen desorption are presented. The production of novel nanocrystalline porous structures by mechanical alloying followed by a leaching technique is discussed. Hot ball-milling, as a new method for rapid synthesis of alloys, is also presented. Finally, two other methods of production of metal hydrides are discussed. One is reactive milling where metal hydrides are synthesized by mechanical alloying under hydrogen pressure, while the other is milling elemental hydrides to produce complex hydrides. Received: 15 August 2000 / Accepted: 6 November 2000 / Published online: 9 February 2001     

Effects of Shock Pressure on Transition Pressure in Zr

Measurements of free surface velocity profiles of high-purity Zr samples under shock-wave loading are performed to study the dynamic strength and phase transition parameters. The peak pressure of the compression waves is within the range from 9 to 14 GPa, and the Hugoniot elastic limit is 0.5 GPa. An anomalous structure of shock waves is observed due to the α - ω phase transition in Zr. Shock pressure has effects on transition pressure which increases with increasing compression strength, and the stronger shocks have a lower transit time.     

Phase evolution of an aluminized steel by oxidation treatment

Effects of temperature and time on the microstructure and phase evolution for different thermal treatments were investigated with respect to the measurement of intermetallic layer thickness, phase identification and microhardness distribution in the aluminized zone of a steel substrate. The intermetallic phases present in the aluminized region after hot dip aluminizing is mainly Fe₂Al₅. The thickness of the intermetallic layers increases with increasing oxidation temperature and time. In the oxidation treatments of the aluminized steel in air, the initial Fe₂Al₅ phase remains at the temperature below 950 °C in 2-h, and the Fe₂Al₅ phase is completely transformed into low iron content Fe-Al intermetallics due to oxidation at 950 °C for 4 h. However, the Fe₂Al₅ phase remains in the outer layer of the aluminized samples diffusion-treated in vacuum regardless of diffusion time. The microhardness values of the Al₂O₃ and the intermetallic Fe₂Al₅, FeAl₂, FeAl and Fe₃Al phases are HV1150, HV1010, HV810, HV650 and HV320, respectively. The oxide layer formed on the steel substrate has an extremely fast adherence to the steel substrate and excellent properties of thermal shock resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance and anti-liquid aluminum corrosion.     

Structural studies of annealed neodymia-silica composite synthesized by solgel technique

Nd₂O₃-SiO₂ binary oxide was prepared by solgel technique using tetra-ethoxysilane and neodymium nitrate as precursor materials and HCl as a catalyst. The prepared samples were subjected to heat treatment in the temperature range from 600 to 1100 °C for different time duration. Characterization of heat treated samples was carried out by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of sintering temperature and time on structural changes of Nd-doped silica has been discussed. The sample sintered at 1100 °C for 12 h shows the formation of monoclinic Nd₂O₃ nanocrystallites in silica matrix with average grain size ∼18 nm.     

Cathodoluminescence and structural studies of nitrided 3D gallium structures grown by MOCVD

Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectrum imaging and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) are employed to investigate nitride three-dimensional (3D) gallium structures. The metallic precursors are naturally obtained on a large variety of substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with different shape/size controlled by the growth conditions, especially the temperature. These 3D metallic structures are subsequently exposed to a nitridation process in a conventional CVD reactor to form GaN nanocrystals, as confirmed by GIXRD measurements. CL spectroscopy shows visible light emission (2.5-2.8 eV) excited from the GaN in the 3D structures.     

Effect of pressure on melting and solidification of metal nanoparticles

A thermodynamic model was developed to clarify the dependence of melting temperature on hydrostatic pressure in the nanoscopic scale. It is based on the classic Clausius-Clapeyron relation and the size dependence of the melting entropy. The melting of nanoparticles in matrix with coherent and incoherent boundaries was also under consideration. It was shown that external hydrostatic pressure leads to the appearance of extrema of the melting temperature that was considered as a function of the characteristic size of nanoparticles.     

Interfacial Reactions and Cubic Neodymium Oxide Formation in Low Dispersed Nd2O3-SiO2 System by Wet Chemical Method

Neodymium (binary oxide) powders are synthesized by a solgel technique. Prepared powders are heat treated under different temperature for different time duration and obtained nanostructure of Nd. Metal particle have diameters in the range 7.8-21.6nm. It is found that the heat treatment plays an important role to produce different structure of Nd-doped silica matrix. The peak position shifts to lower angle as the size of the nano metal oxide particles size increases.     

Size effects on the structure and phase transition behavior of baddeleyite TiO2

High-pressure structural transitions in nanocrystalline systems are of significant interest as models of first-order phase transitions. We demonstrate size-induced lattice expansion and significant atomic rearrangements in the crystal structure of nanocrystalline high-pressure baddeleyite-TiO₂. The α-PbO₂ structured TiO₂ recovered after dozens of pressure cycles in the α-PbO₂-baddeleyite pressure field displayed elongate 25-35 nm crystallites, compared to starting 34-nm anatase crystallites, suggesting crystallite coherency across anatase, baddeleyite, and α-PbO₂ structures and ‘single structural domain’ behavior of the nanocrystalline system.     

Co-relation between pre-exponential factor and activation energy of non-isothermal crystallization for virgin and irradiated Fe78B13Si9 metallic glass

The present work shows the applicability of Meyer-Neldel relation between the pre-exponential factor and activation energy of non-isothermal crystallization of Fe₇₈B₁₃Si₉ metallic glass. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) technique is used to observe the variation in the above two kinetic parameters of the non-isothermal crystallization due to ionic irradiation at three different fluences with high-energy heavy ion Ni¹¹⁺ having energy 150 MeV.     

Evolution of Structural Defects in SiOx Films Fabricated by Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition upon Annealing Treatment

We study the structural defects in the SiO, film prepared by electron cyclotron resonance plasma chemical vapour deposition and annealing recovery evolution. The photoluminescence property is observed in the as-deposited and annealed samples. [-SiO3]^2- defects are the luminescence centres of the ultraviolet photoluminescence （PL） from the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and PL measurements. [-SiO3]^2- is observed by positron annihilation spectroscopy, and this defect can make the S parameters increase. After 1000℃ annealing, [-SiO3]^2- defects still exist in the films.     

Effect of ionic irradiation on the pre-exponential factor of thermally activated crystallization in Co66Si16B12Fe4Mo2 metallic glass

In the present paper, we report the Meyer-Neldel relation between the pre-exponential factor and activation energy of non-isothermal crystallization of Co₆₆Si₁₆B₁₂Fe₄Mo₂ metallic glass. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) is employed to study the change in the above two kinetic parameters of the crystallization due to ionic irradiation at three different fluences with high-energy heavy ion; Ni¹¹⁺ of 150 MeV.     

Magnetic and martensitic transitions in Ni-Fe-Ga alloy

The ferromagnetic shape memory alloy with nominal composition Ni₅₄Fe₁₉Ga₂₇ is investigated by Ac susceptibility and resistivity measurements. The alloy shows long-range ferromagnetic order below 290 K. The anomaly due to the martensitic transition is observed in the susceptibility and resistivity data in the temperature range around 220 K, which is associated with clear thermal hysteresis. Minor hysteresis loop technique was used to investigate the phase coexistence across the martensitic transition, and our analysis indicate that both martensite and austenite phases mutually coexist in the region of hysteresis.     

Undercooling and metastable phase formation in a Bi95Sb5 melt

High undercoolings have been obtained in bulk Bi₉₅Sb₅ alloy melts by the cyclic superheating and cooling technology. The highest undercooling that was achieved in this paper is 121 K. The influence of various processing factors on the undercooling behavior is examined. Undercooling of 121 K leads to the formation of a metastable solid phase with the tetragonal crystal structure. The phase selection and the metastable phase formation have been discussed based on the classical nucleation theory. A criterion that contains the relative melting temperature, the relative molar volume of the solid, the relative structure-dependent factor, and the undercooling has been developed to interpret the formation of the metastable tetragonal phase. Received: 12 January 2000 / Accepted: 28 March 2000 / Published online: 13 July 2000     

Study of thermal properties of the metastable supersaturated vapor with the restricted ensemble

The pressure and internal energy data at different densities of the supersaturated Argon vapor at the reduced temperatures 0.7 and 0.8 are obtained by the restricted canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulation method [D.S. Corti, P. Debenedetti, Chem. Eng. Sci. 49 (1994) 2717]. In order to maintain the system in its one-phase state, different constraints on the density fluctuations have been imposed, varying with densities approaching and beyond the spinodal. The results are comparable with a molecular dynamics simulation study [A. Linhart, C.C. Chen, J. Vrabec, H. Hasse, J. Chem. Phys. 122 (2005) 144506] on the same system. The current study verifies the conclusion drawn by the simulation work that clustering of Argon atoms exists even in the vicinity of the spinodal. Compared with molecular dynamics simulations, our method can give the equilibrium properties of a metastable fluid, for example internal energies.