Mechanical Properties and Microstructure Development in Ultrafine‐grained Materials Processed by Equal‐channel Angular Pressing

In this chapter, the detailed characterization of processes of grain fragmentation and refinement resulting from gradual imposition of strain by individual equal‐channel angular pressing (ECAP) passes is reported. A great emphasis is placed on the processing of materials with different crystal structure, particularly the face‐centred cubic (FCC), the body‐centred cubic (BCC) and the hexagonal close‐packed (HCP). Advanced techniques of electron microscopy, electron and X‐ray diffraction and positron annihilation spectroscopy have been employed to characterize microstructure, texture and defect evolution in the material as a function of strain imposed by ECAP. Microstructure development was correlated with mechanical properties obtained by both mechanical tests and microhardness measurements. Processes controlling the microstructure refinement and texture development were identified and discussed in detail

Powder diffraction in Bragg-Brentano geometry with straight linear detectors.

A common way of speeding up powder diffraction measurements is the use of one- or two-dimensional detectors. This usually goes hand in hand with worse resolution and asymmetric peak profiles. In this work the influence of a straight linear detector on the resolution function in the Bragg-Brentano focusing geometry is discussed. Because of the straight nature of most modern detectors geometrical defocusing occurs, which heavily influences the line shape of diffraction lines at low angles. An easy approach to limit the resolution-degrading effects is presented. The presented algorithm selects an adaptive range of channels of the linear detector at low angles, resulting in increased resolution. At higher angles the whole linear detector is used and the data collection remains fast. Using this algorithm a well behaved resolution function is obtained in the full angular range, whereas using the full linear detector the resolution function varies within one pattern, which hinders line-shape and Rietveld analysis

Characterization of W-type hexaferrite thin films prepared by chemical solution deposition

Thin films of W-type hexaferrite were grown on SrTiO3(111) single crystals using the chemical solution deposition method and metalorganic precursor solutions prepared using the modified Pechini method. The synthesis of single-phase materials required optimizing the initial stoichiometry and crystallization conditions. The results showed that a concurrent excess of alkaline earth metal and deficiency in divalent metal ion (Zn2+, Co2+) favors the synthesis of pure W hexaferrites. This off-stoichiometry suppressed the formation of an exceedingly stable spinel phase at pyrolysis temperatures. The epitaxial nature of thin films, expressed as the orientation relation (00l)W || (111)SrTiO3 and [110] W || [112] SrTiO3 and hence the pronounced anisotropy of their magnetic properties as well were established by three dimensional x-ray diffraction texture analysis and magnetization measurements, respectively and enabled to identify the temperature interval in which the characteristic spin reorientation transition occurs for a specific degree of cobalt substitution.This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation, Grant No. 19-06433S, by the Research Infrastructure NanoEnviCz (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Projects No. LM2018124), by the “NanoCent” Project No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000485, ERDF. Authors also acknowledge financial support of H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016 SPICOLOST Grant No. 734187 (TEM analysis, at LMA-INA, University of Zaragoza).Peer reviewe