New Deformation Twinning Mechanism Generates Zero Macroscopic Strain In Nanocrystalline Metals

Macroscopic strain was hitherto considered a necessary corollary of deformation twinning in coarse-grained metals. Recently, twinning has been found to be a preeminent deformation mechanism in nanocrystalline face-centered-cubic (fcc) metals with medium-to-high stacking fault energies. Here we report a surprising discovery that the vast majority of deformation twins in nanocrystalline Al, Ni, and Cu, contrary to popular belief, yield zero net macroscopic strain. We propose a new twinning mechanism, random activation of partials, to explain this unusual phenomenon. The random activation of partials mechanism appears to be the most plausible mechanism and may be unique to nanocrystalline fcc metals with implications for their deformation behavior and mechanical properties.

Vacancy clusters in ultrafine grained Al by severe plastic deformation

Bulk nanostructured metals are often formed via severe plastic deformation (SPD). The dislocations generated during SPD evolve into boundaries to decompose the grains. Vacancies are also produced in large numbers during SPD, but have received much less attention. Using transmission electron microscopy, here we demonstrate a high density of unusually large vacancy Frank loops in SPD-processed Al. They are shown to impede moving dislocations and should be a contributor to strength. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Microstructural evolution and formation of nanocrystalline intermetallic compound during surface mechanical attrition treatment of cobalt

Nanocrystalline intermetallic Co3Fe7 was produced on the surface of cobalt via surface mechanical attrition (SMA). Deformationinduced diffusion entailed the formation of a series of solid solutions. Phase transitions occurred depending on the atomic fraction of Fe in the surface solid solutions: from hexagonal close-packed (<4% Fe) to face-centered cubic (fcc) (4-11% Fe), and from fcc to body-centered cubic (>11% Fe). Nanoscale compositional probing suggested significantly higher Fe contents at grain boundaries and triple junctions than grain interiors. Short-circuit diffusion along grain boundaries and triple junctions dominate in the nanocrystalline intermetallic compound. Stacking faults contribute significantly to diffusion. Diffusion enhancement due to high-rate deformation in SMA was analyzed by regarding dislocations as solute-pumping channels, and the creation of excess vacancies. Non-equilibrium, atomic level alloying can then be ascribed to deformation-induced intermixing of constituent species. The formation mechanism of nanocrystalline intermetallic grains on the SMA surface can be thought of as a consequence of numerous nucleation events and limited growth. (C) 2007 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mechanisms underlying two kinds of surface effects on elastic constants

ABSTRACT Recently, people are confused with two opposite variations of elastic modulus with decreasing size of nano scale sample: elastic modulus either decreases or increases with decreas- ing sample size. In this paper, based on intermolecular potentials and a one dimensional model, we provide a unified understanding of the two opposite size effects. Firstly, we analyzed the mi- crostructural variation near the surface of an fcc nanofilm based on the Lennard-Jones potential. It is found that the atomic lattice near the surface becomes looser in comparison with the bulk, indicating that atoms in the bulk are located at the balance of repulsive forces, resulting in the decrease of the elastic moduli with the decreasing thickness of the film accordingly. In addition, the decrease in moduli should be attributed to both the looser surface layer and smaller coor- dination number of surface atoms. Furthermore, it is found that both looser and tighter lattice near the surface can appear for a general pair potential and the governing mechanism should be attributed to the surplus of the nearest force to all other long range interactions in the pair po- tential. Surprisingly, the surplus can be simply expressed by a sum of the long range interactions and the sum being positive or negative determines the looser or tighter lattice near surface re- spectively. To justify this concept, we examined ZnO in terms of Buckingham potential with long range Coulomb interactions. It is found that compared to its bulk lattice, the ZnO lattice near the surface becomes tighter, indicating the atoms in the bulk located at the balance of attractive forces, owing to the long range Coulomb interaction. Correspondingly, the elastic modulus of one- dimensional ZnO chain increases with decreasing size. Finally, a kind of many-body potential for Cu was examined. In this case, the surface layer becomes tighter than the bulk and the modulus increases with deceasing size, owing to the long range repulsive pair interaction, as well as the cohesive many-body interaction caused by the electron redistribution.

纳米晶Ni晶间断裂的数值模拟

提出了一种针对超细晶和纳米晶金属(主要是fcc金属)晶间断裂的微结构计算模型,即采用基于机制的应变梯度塑性(CMSG)理论描述晶粒内部材料塑性变形过程中的变形、强化和尺度效应;采用黏聚力界面模型来模拟晶界的滑移和分离现象,以及晶间裂纹的萌生和演化,直至晶间断裂导致的材料失效.利用该计算模型模拟了纳米晶Ni的拉伸实验过程,对纳米晶Ni宏观力学行为和晶间微裂纹萌生与扩展之间的关系进行了研究,验证了针对超细晶和纳米晶力学性能的计算模型的有效性;同时,模拟结果表明,非均匀塑性变形导致高应变梯度效应,晶粒塑性变形强化显著,使晶界主导的变形机制对纳米晶金属的整体力学性能产生重要影响.

磁控溅射不同厚度银膜的微结构及其光学常数

Ag films with different thickness from 8.2nm to 107.2nm were prepared by DC sputtering deposition and analyzed by X-ray diffraction with the help of optimization program on computer. Microstructrue analysis shows that the films are made of fcc-Ag particles. With the increase of thickness, the mean size of Ag particles increases and the interplaner spacing decreases gradually. The optical constants computed by computer program shows that n value decreases quickly with the increasing thickness below 17.5nm and k value changes in reverse, and then go steadily when the thickness is larger than 17.5nm at the wavelength of 550mn.

Electronic structures of cubic lattice quantum dots

In this article, we give the electronic structure and optical transition matrix elements of coupled quantum dots (QDs) arranged as different cubic lattices: simple cubic (sc), body-centered cubic (bcc), and face-centered cubic (fcc) superlattices. The results indicate that electron and hole energies of bcc, sc, and fcc superlattices are the lowest, the highest, and the middle, respectively, for the same subband under the same QD density or under the same superlattice constant. For a fixed QD density, the confinement effects in sc, fcc, and bcc superlattices are the strongest, the middle, and the weakest, respectively. There are only one, two, and four confined energy bands, with energies lower than the potential barrier for sc, bcc, and fcc QD superlattices, respectively. The results have great significance for researching and making semiconductor quantum dot devices. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(98)02119-7]

A New Criterion Number for the Boundary Conditions at the Solid/Liquid Interface in Nanoscale

A simple, but important three-atom model was proposed at the solid/liquid interface, leading to a new criterion number, lambda, governing the boundary conditions (BCs) in nanoscale. The solid wall is considered as the face-centered-cubic (fcc) structure. The fluid is the liquid argon with the well-known LJ potential. Based on the concept, the two micro-systems have the same BCs if they have The same criterion number. The degree of the locking BCs is enhanced when lambda equals to 0.757. Such critical criterion number results in the substantial epitaxial ordering and one, two, or even three liquid layers are locked by the solid wall, depending on the coupling energy scale ratio of the solid and liquid atoms. With deviation from the critical criterion number, the flow approaches the slip BCs and there are little ordering structures within the liquid. Always at the same criterion number, the degree of the slip is decreased or the locking is enhanced with increasing the coupling energy scale ratio of the solid and liquid atoms. The above analysis is well confirmed by the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The slip length is well correlated in terms of the new criterion number. The future work is suggested to extend the present theory for other microstructures of the solid wall atoms and quasi-LJ potentials.

耐热Mg-Gd基合金的研究和应用

本研究从二元Mg-Gd体系出发，研究了添加不同稀土元素对Mg-Gd基合金的组织、时效行为和力学性能的影响。优化出多种力学性能优异、加工性能良好和耐热性突出的新型Mg-Gd-RE-Zn-Zr系合金。在探讨Mg-Gd基合金强化机理的同时，提出了强化模型，并进行了定量分析。 在Mg-Gd二元体系中，通过对不同Gd含量的合金组织，时效行为和力学性能的研究，发现Gd不仅可以细化晶粒，还可以细化枝晶。合金中Gd的含量大于8 wt.%开始表现出时效硬化现象，Gd含量超过12wt.％时效硬化效果显著。在二元体系研究结果的基础上，选用Mg-8Gd基合金，研究了不同轻稀土元素LRE(La, Ce和Nd)和重稀土元素HRE (Y, Dy, Ho 和Er)对合金组织和性能的影响。结果表明，轻稀土中Nd的作用效果最好，其次为Ce和La。重稀土中Y和Dy的作用效果较好，其次为Ho和Er。将轻、重稀土综合考虑，在Mg-8Gd-3RE(Nd+Y)-Zr合金中，变化Nd和Y的添加量，发现Nd和Y的添加量分别为1 和2或2和1时，能够明显改善合金的综合力学性能。 研究了Mg-8Gd-2Y-1Nd-0.3Zn和Mg-8Gd-1Dy-0.3Zn压铸合金的组织和性能。研究表明，两种合金的铸造性能好，而且具有优异的抗拉性能和蠕变性能，可以满足在250℃~275℃环境下使用。进一步研究了挤压变形Mg-8Gd-2Y-1Nd-0.3Zn合金。合金成形性能好，抗拉强度和伸长率明显提高，而且改善了合金的高温抗蠕变性能，比压铸合金提高了近一个数量级。 发明了一种新型的分步固溶处理方法——振荡热处理方法，这种方法比传统的T6热处理方法更加有效，振荡热处理的主要作用是改变了凝固过程中析出相的尺寸和分布。 研究了Mg-Gd基合金凝固过程中的相析出和相转变。在合金的凝固过程中，容易生成块状的化学组成为Mg5RE（fcc结构）的共晶相；加入Zn后，凝固中容易出现片状的Mg3RE（14H型）沉淀；时效强化的主要原因是在过饱和固溶体时效过程中析出针状的50 nm~100 nm的Mg15RE3相，它与基体具有半共格的位相关系，能够有效阻止位错滑移。但随着时效时间的延长，针状析出相长大，共格关系被破坏，导致强化作用降低。而对于压铸和挤压变形合金，合金析出相的种类不变，主要的不同是挤压变形合金析出化合物的分布更加均匀，尺寸更小。 开发了高强度耐热Mg-12Gd-4Y-2Nd-0.4Zn-0.6Zr合金，这种合金经过热处理后，力学性能优良，热稳定性突出。在300 ℃的抗拉强度约为300 MPa，400 ℃的抗拉强度在100 MPa以上。本合金流动性能良好，适合于砂型铸造，在具有高温、高强度要求的镁合金制品方面极具潜力。 从金属材料强化原理出发，建立了Mg-Gd基合金的强化模型，并进行了定量分析。结果表明，析出强化是Mg-Gd基合金的主要强化方式，但实际试验值和理论值略有偏差，分析认为主要是由于β'相体积分数的变化区间较宽，且合金制备过程中不可避免地产生一些微观缺陷所致。 采用新型合金制备出了一些工业用品部件，探索了该类合金在机械、汽车和高技术等工业领域中的潜在应用

Brownian dynamics simulation of the crystallization dynamics of charged colloidal particles

Crystal formation process of charged colloidal particles is investigated using Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations. The particles are assumed to interact with the pair-additive repulsive Yukawa potential. The time evolution of crystallization process and the crystal structure during the simulation are characterized by means of the radial distribution functions (RDF) and mean square displacement (MSD). The simulations show that when the interaction is featured with long-range, particles can spontaneously assemble into body-centered-cubic (BCC) arrays at relatively low particle number density. When the interaction is short-ranged, with increasing the number density particles become trapped into a stagnant disordered configuration before the crystallization could be actualized. The simulations further show that as long as the trapped configurations are bypassed, the face-centered-cubic (FCC) structures can be achieved and are actually more stable than BCC structures. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modification of Fe/Cu multilayers under 400 keV Xe20+ irradiation

Two kinds of Fe/Cu multilayers with different modulation wavelength were deposited on cleaved Si(100) substrates and then irradiated at room temperature using 400 keV Xe20+ in a wide range of irradiation fluences. As a comparison, thermal annealing at 300-900 degrees C was also carried out in vacuum. Then the samples were analyzed by XRD and the evolution of crystallite structures induced by irradiation was investigated. The obtained XRD patterns showed that, with increase of the irradiation fluence, the peaks of Fe became weaker, the peaks related to Cu-based fcc solid solution and Fe-based bcc solid solution phase became visible and the former became strong gradually. This implied that the intermixing at the Fe/Cu interface induced by ion irradiation resulted in the formation of the new phases which could not be achieved by thermal annealing. The possible intermixing mechanism of Fe/Cu multilayers induced by energetic ion irradiation was briefly discussed.

New parameters of many-body potentials: studying the thermal and mechanical properties of noble metals

New parameters of nearest-neighbor EAM (1N-EAM), n-th neighbor EAM (NN-EAM), and the second-moment approximation to the tight-binding (TB-SMA) potentials are obtained by fitting experimental data at different temperatures. In comparison with the available many-body potentials, our results suggest that the 1N-EAM potential with the new parameters is the best description of atomic interactions in studying the thermal expansion of noble metals. For mechanical properties, it is suggested that the elastic constants should be calculated in the experimental zero-stress states for all three potentials. Furthermore, for NNEAM and TB-SMA potentials, the calculated results approach the experimental data as the range of the atomic interaction increases from the first-neighbor to the sixth-neighbor distance.

重离子辐照引起的金属/金属界面混合与相变研究

本论文用重离子在室温下辐照Fe/Cu(Si/Fe(10nm)/[Cu(2.5nm)/Fe(2.5nm)]8/Cu(5n m)、Si/Fe(10nm)/[Cu(4nm)/Fe(4nm)]5(8)/Cu(4nm)、Si/[Fe(10nm)/Cu(10nm)]5)和Fe/Nb(Si /[Fe(10nm)/Nb(4nm)/Fe(4nm)/Nb(4nm)]2/[Fe(4nm)/Nb(4nm)]4))金属多层膜样品，然后利用X射线衍射谱、俄歇电子元素深度剖析谱、透射电子显微镜和振动样品磁强计对样品进行分析。主要研究界面原子混合、相变现象及其与离子辐照参数之间的关系。 1. 室温下用400 keV Xe离子辐照Fe/Cu(Si/Fe(10nm)/[Cu(2.5nm)/Fe(2.5nm)]8/Cu (5nm)、Si/Fe(10nm)/[Cu(4nm)/Fe(4nm)]5/Cu(4nm))和Fe/Nb多层膜。结果显示：随着辐照量的增加，离子辐照引起了Fe/Cu多层膜中Fe与Cu原子的混合和Cu基fcc固溶体和Fe基bcc固溶体地出现；而在Fe/Nb多层膜中，离子辐照引起Fe与Nb原子的混合和FeNb固溶体和非晶态FeNb合金相的出现。随着样品的结构变化，样品的磁滞回线也发生了变化。 2. 室温下用2 MeV Xe离子辐照Fe/Cu和Fe/Nb多层膜。结果显示：随着辐照量的增加，首先发生Fe、Cu原子的偏析和界面锐化，接着发生混合，辐照量较大时形成Cu基fcc固溶体和Fe基bcc固溶体；而在Fe/Nb多层膜中，低辐照量辐照引起多层膜的界面锐化，高辐照量辐照引起Fe与Nb原子混合和FeNb固溶体和非晶态FeNb合金相的出现。随着样品的结构变化，样品的磁滞回线也发生了变化。 3. 室温下用2.03 GeV Kr离子辐照Fe/Cu和Fe/Nb多层膜。结果显示：对于Si/Fe(10nm)/[Cu(4nm)/Fe(4nm)]5/Cu(4nm)多层膜，辐照量为1.0×1013ions/cm2时，发生Fe、Cu原子的偏析和界面锐化；对于Si/[Fe(10nm)/Cu(10nm)]5多层膜，随着辐照量的增加，首先发生Fe、Cu原子的偏析和界面锐化，接着发生混合；对于Fe/Nb多层膜，低辐照量辐照引起多层膜的界面锐化，高辐照量辐照引起Fe与Nb原子混合。随着样品的结构变化，多层膜样品的磁滞回线也发生了变化。 4. 室温下用1.08 GeV Kr离子辐照Fe/Cu和Fe/Nb多层膜。结果显示：在Si/Fe(10nm)/[Cu(4nm)/Fe(4nm)]5/Cu(4nm)、Si/[Fe(10nm)/Cu(10nm)]5和Fe/Nb多层膜中，辐照引起Fe层与Cu（Nb）层混合。随着样品的结构变化，多层膜样品的磁滞回线也发生了变化。 最后，对重离子辐照引起多层膜界面原子混合及相变的机理进行了探讨

重离子蚀刻径迹中金属纳米线阵列的研制

本论文主要进行了核孔膜的蚀刻和紫外光辐照效应研究，以及在核孔膜模板内进行Cu、CO金属纳米线阵列的制备研究。在UNILAC（GSI，Darmstadt）加速器上真空和室温条件下对30μm厚的聚碳酸酯（PC）薄膜进行快重离子辐照，照射离子为11． 4 MeV／u的Au离子，辐照剂量在lion／cm，-3X109i0ns／cm，之间。重离子辐照导致在PC中产生潜径迹，通过化学蚀刻的方法将潜径迹放大而形成孔道。蚀刻速率与蚀刻温度、蚀刻液浓度、紫外光辐照敏化等参数密切相关。结果表明随着温度的升高蚀刻液浓度的增加、紫外光辐照时间的增长径迹蚀刻速率剧烈增加。此外，通过紫外可见光谱和力学性能测试发现，紫外光辐照会使Pc膜的光学性能和力学性能发生显著的变化。在能量密度为16mw／cm2的紫外光下，当膜两侧分别经过17．5小时的光照以后，392 nm处的吸收峰消失，而且其断裂伸长率大大减小。作为紫外光辐照效应的一个应用，我们利用“紫外光辐照＋液氮冷冻”的方法成功制备出了核孔膜断面的扫描电子显微镜样品，此方法能使样品的断面含有较少的残余应力从而使膜在断裂过程中没有发生明显的变形，使断面很好显现了膜和孔道的原始信息，如孔密度、形状、尺寸等。利用PC核孔膜作为模板用电化学沉积方法制备出了金属纳米线阵列。用磁控溅射的方法在PC膜模板的一面沉积一层Pt金属薄膜在电沉积过程中用作阴极。在自制的电沉积系统中用直流沉积的方法在PC核孔膜模板中成功制备出了Cu和Co金属纳米线，并运用SEM、xRD、VSM等手段对纳米线进行分析。结果表明，制备出的Cu纳米线长度约为30μm，直径从nm到协m量级，具有面心立方（fcc）结构，且纯度很高没有发现杂质。对Co纳米线阵列的xRD结果进行分析可以看出，制备出的c。纳米线阵列具有两种晶体结构：单相hcp结构和hcp、fcc共存结构。从vsM测量结果可以看出，Co纳米线阵列存在磁各向异性，即平行于纳米线轴向和垂直于纳米线轴向的剩余磁化强度和矫顽力存在明显差异，这主要是由于纳米线的形状各向异性和纳米线之间的磁相互作用引起的。