Thermal stability and grain growth behavior of mechanically alloyed nanocrystalline Fe-Cu alloys

X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry were used to study the thermal stability of highly supersaturated nanocrystalline FexCu100−x alloys (10~80. For 60<=x<=80 fcc and bcc phases coexist. Heating to elevated temperatures leads to structural relaxation, phase separation, and grain growth of the metastable nanocrystalline solid solutions. Single-phase fcc and bcc alloys undergo significant strain release but no appreciable grain growth prior to phase separation. After phase separation pronounced grain growth sets in. In contrast, samples in the two-phase region show some grain growth and significant chemical redistribution even at low temperatures. The phase separation of single-phase fcc and bcc alloys proceeds via different mechanisms: fcc solid solutions decompose by forming small Fe precipitates, while demixing in bcc alloys starts by segregation of Cu atoms to bcc grain boundaries before nucleation of Cu precipitates. These results show that the stability and grain growth behavior of nanocrystalline alloys is strongly affected by the microstructure of the material

Mechanically driven alloying and grain size changes in nanocrystalline Fe-Cu powders

Highly supersaturated nanocrystalline FexCu100-x alloys (10 less-than-or-equal-to x less-than-or-equal-to 95) have been prepared by mechanical alloying of elemental crystalline powders. The development of the microstructure is investigated by x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and transmission electron microscopy. The results are compared with data for ball-milled elemental Fe and Cu powders, samples prepared by inert gas condensation, and sputtered films. The deformation during milling reduces the grain size of the alloys to 6-20 nm. The final grain size of the powders depends on the composition of the material. Single-phase fcc alloys with x less-than-or-equal-to 60 and single-phase bcc alloys with x greater-than-or-equal-to 80 are formed even though the Fe-Cu system exhibits vanishingly small solid solubilities under equilibrium conditions. For 60 less-than-or-equal-to x less-than-or-equal-to 80, fcc and bcc solid solutions coexist. The alloy formation is discussed with respect to the thermodynamic conditions of the material. The role of the large volume fraction of grain boundaries between the nanometer-sized crystals, as well as the influence of internal strains and stored enthalpies introduced by ball milling, is critically assessed

The Next Stage for Social Policy: Encouraging Work and Family Formation Among Low-Income Men

Examines proposals to create work incentives for less-educated young men by changing the Earned Income Tax Credit for the childless into an individual work credit and reducing the marriage penalty. Simulates each proposal's effects, with cost estimates

Gibbs free energy difference between the undercooled liquid and the beta-phase of a Ti-Cr alloy

The heat of fusion and the specific heats of the solid and liquid have been experimentally determined for a Ti60Cr40 alloy. The data are used to evaluate the Gibbs free energy difference, DELTA-G, between the liquid and the beta-phase as a function of temperature to verify a reported spontaneous vitrification (SV) of the beta-phase in Ti-Cr alloys. The results show that SV of an undistorted beta-phase in the Ti60Cr40 alloy at 873 K is not feasible because DELTA-G is positive at the temperature. However, DELTA-G may become negative with additional excess free energy to the beta-phase in the form of defects

Gibbs free-energy difference between the glass and crystalline phases of a Ni-Zr alloy

The heats of eutectic melting and devitrification, and the specific heats of the crystalline, glass, and liquid phases have been measured for a Ni24Zr76 alloy. The data are used to calculate the Gibbs free-energy difference, DeltaGAC, between the real glass and the crystal on an assumption that the liquid-glass transition is second order. The result shows that DeltaGAC continuously increases as the temperature decreases in contrast to the ideal glass case where DeltaGAC is assumed to be independent of temperature

OGO-3 observations of ELF noise in the magnetosphere - Part 1 - Spatial extent and frequency of occurrence

OGO-3 spectrum analyzer measurements of magnetic noise in magnetospher

Green's Relations in Finite Transformation Semigroups

We consider the complexity of Green's relations when the semigroup is given by transformations on a finite set. Green's relations can be defined by reachability in the (right/left/two-sided) Cayley graph. The equivalence classes then correspond to the strongly connected components. It is not difficult to show that, in the worst case, the number of equivalence classes is in the same order of magnitude as the number of elements. Another important parameter is the maximal length of a chain of components. Our main contribution is an exponential lower bound for this parameter. There is a simple construction for an arbitrary set of generators. However, the proof for constant alphabet is rather involved. Our results also apply to automata and their syntactic semigroups.Comment: Full version of a paper submitted to CSR 2017 on 2016-12-1

A study of waves in the earth's bow shock

The perturbation vectors of waves up and downstream from the region of maximum compression in the bow shock were examined on OGO-5 under particularly steady solar wind conditions. The polarization of the upstream waves was RH, circular and of the downstream waves LH, elliptical in the spacecraft frame. By observing that the polarization of the waves remained unchanged as the shock motion swept the wave structure back and forth across the satellite three times in eight minutes, it was found that the waves were not stationary in the shock frame. A study of the methods of determining the shock normal indicates that the normal estimated from a shock model should be superior to one based upon magnetic coplanarity. The propagation vectors of the waves examined did not coincide with the shock model normal, the average magnetic field, or the plasma flow velocity. However, the major axis of the polarization ellipse of the downstream wave was nearly parallel to the upstream propagation vector