Anomalous twinning in AZ 31 magnesium alloy during electrically assisted forming

The electro plastic effect (EPE) occurs in materials exposed to high electric currents, on the order of 102 to 104 A mm-2, during elastic or plastic deformation. Current pulses with durations of about 10-3 s are usually used to limit resistive heating of the sample. As a result, a reduction the macroscopic of flow stress and enhanced ductility is observed, The EPE may therefore be exploited to support the deformation of inherently brittle materials. The underlying microscopic mechanisms enabling the flow stress reduction and increase in ductility are still unresolved. Besides the obvious contribution of Joule heating, various mechanisms of electron -dislocation interactions, resulting in increased dislocation mobility or changed dislocation density, have been proposed. In the present study, the EPE was investigated using samples of extruded pure magnesium and AZ 31 Mg alloy, which were subjected to one or ten current pulses with a current density of 700 A mm-2 and 1 ms duration while subjected to constant compressive strain below the yield point. During the experiments the mechanical response of the sample to the current impulse, a drop of stress, the occurrence of residual plastic strain and hardening of the sample, was observed. The magnitude of the observed reduction in stress depends on the relative orientations of texture and current direction. In the case of multiple pulses, the first current pulse led to a significantly larger drop than the subsequent pulses. Reference experiments using hot air and inductive heating were conducted, in which samples were subjected to identical strains and similar temperature profiles. A similar softening could not be observed. The subsequent optical and EBSD microstructural observations, using appropriate metallographical preparation techniques, revealed unusual twinning in the samples subjected to current pulses. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Combined structural analysis and cathodoluminescence investigations of single Pr3+-doped Ca2Nb3O10 nanosheets

Due to the novel properties of both 2D materials and rare-earth elements, developing 2D rare-earth nanomaterials has a growing interest in research. To produce the most efficient rare-earth nanosheets, it is essential to find out the correlation between chemical composition, atomic structure and luminescent properties of individual sheets. In this study, 2D nanosheets exfoliated from Pr3+-doped KCa2Nb3O10 particles with different Pr concentrations were investigated. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis indicates that the nanosheets contain Ca, Nb and O and a varying Pr content between 0.9 and 1.8 at%. K was completely removed after exfoliation. The crystal structure is monoclinic as in the bulk. The thinnest nanosheets are 3 nm corresponding to one triple perovskite-type layer with Nb on the B sites and Ca on the A sites, surrounded by charge compensating TBA+ molecules. Thicker nanosheets of 12 nm thickness (and above) were observed too by transmission electron microscopy with the same chemical composition. This indicates that several perovskite-type triple layers remain stacked similar to the bulk. Luminescent properties of individual 2D nanosheets were studied using a cathodoluminescence spectrometer revealing additional transitions in the visible region in comparison to the spectra of different bulk phases

The brittle-to-ductile transition in cold-rolled tungsten sheets: Contributions of grain and subgrain boundaries to the enhanced ductility after pre-deformation

One of the key demands on tungsten (W) as designated plasma-facing material (PFM) is the capability to fulfill a structural function. Since W has refused ductilization strategies by alloying alone, the production of W materials with enhanced ductility has come into focus considering tailored microstructures. This work addresses the rolling-induced microstructural modifications of warm- and cold-deformed W sheets and is supplemented by a comprehensive fracture mechanical study as a fundament for correlations between the spatial distribution of boundaries and brittle-to-ductile transition (BDT) temperature. Here we show that an extended Hall–Petch-like relationship is well suited to describe the rolling-induced reduction in BDT temperature and moreover has the potential to reflect the anisotropic nature of the transition temperature in severely rolled W sheets. Using the data of warm- and cold-rolled W sheets and also of strongly recovered W, best description of the BDT temperature was achieved by using as microstructural variables (i) the mean spacing between boundaries which intersect with the crack front and (ii) the mean boundary spacing along the normal of the crack plane. Taking into account the similarity to recent simulative-derived relationships, our findings support the theory suggesting the stimulated dislocation nucleation at boundaries as the decisive factor for more effective shielding of the crack tip in UFG materials and, in consequence, significantly reduced BDT temperatures. Besides, this work gives strong indications that the reduction of the BDT temperature in UFG W is not related to coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries

Current Challenges and Opportunities in Microstructure-Related Properties of Advanced High-Strength Steels

This is a viewpoint paper on recent progress in the understanding of the microstructure–property relations of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS). These alloys constitute a class of high-strength, formable steels that are designed mainly as sheet products for the transportation sector. AHSS have often very complex and hierarchical microstructures consisting of ferrite, austenite, bainite, or martensite matrix or of duplex or even multiphase mixtures of these constituents, sometimes enriched with precipitates. This complexity makes it challenging to establish reliable and mechanism-based microstructure–property relationships. A number of excellent studies already exist about the different types of AHSS (such as dual-phase steels, complex phase steels, transformation-induced plasticity steels, twinning-induced plasticity steels, bainitic steels, quenching and partitioning steels, press hardening steels, etc.) and several overviews appeared in which their engineering features related to mechanical properties and forming were discussed. This article reviews recent progress in the understanding of microstructures and alloy design in this field, placing particular attention on the deformation and strain hardening mechanisms of Mn-containing steels that utilize complex dislocation substructures, nanoscale precipitation patterns, deformation-driven transformation, and twinning effects. Recent developments on microalloyed nanoprecipitation hardened and press hardening steels are also reviewed. Besides providing a critical discussion of their microstructures and properties, vital features such as their resistance to hydrogen embrittlement and damage formation are also evaluated. We also present latest progress in advanced characterization and modeling techniques applied to AHSS. Finally, emerging topics such as machine learning, through-process simulation, and additive manufacturing of AHSS are discussed. The aim of this viewpoint is to identify similarities in the deformation and damage mechanisms among these various types of advanced steels and to use these observations for their further development and maturation