Time-dependent nanoscale plasticity in nanocrystalline nickel rods and tubes

Time-dependent nanoscale plasticity of nanocrystalline nickel at room temperature was critically explored through a series of micropillar creep and quasi-static compression experiments on rod and tube specimens fabricated by electron beam lithography and electroplating. Enhanced creep rates in tubes as compared to rods, establishes the facilitating role played by the free surface in time-dependent deformation. Creep stress exponent, n, and strain-rate sensitivity, m, were compared to examine connections between creep and the rate-dependent plasticity, if any. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fracture Testing at Small-Length Scales: From Plasticity in Si to Brittleness in Pt

The field of micro-/nano-mechanics of materials has been driven, on the one hand by the development of ever smaller structures in devices, and, on the other, by the need to map property variations in large systems that are microstructurally graded. Observations of `smaller is stronger' have also brought in questions of accompanying fracture property changes in the materials. In the wake of scattered articles on micro-scale fracture testing of various material classes, this review attempts to provide a holistic picture of the current state of the art. In the process, various reliable micro-scale geometries are shown, challenges with respect to instrumentation to probe ever smaller length scales are discussed and examples from recent literature are put together to exhibit the expanse of unusual fracture response of materials, from ductility in Si to brittleness in Pt. Outstanding issues related to fracture mechanics of small structures are critically examined for plausible solutions.

SYNGAP1: Mind the Gap

A cardinal feature of early stages of human brain development centers on the sensory, cognitive, and emotional experiences that shape neuronal-circuit formation and refinement. Consequently, alterations in these processes account for many psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Neurodevelopment disorders affect 3-4% of the world population. The impact of these disorders presents a major challenge to clinicians, geneticists, and neuroscientists. Mutations that cause neurodevelopmental disorders are commonly found in genes encoding proteins that regulate synaptic function. Investigation of the underlying mechanisms using gain or loss of function approaches has revealed alterations in dendritic spine structure, function, and plasticity, consequently modulating the neuronal circuit formation and thereby raising the possibility of neurodevelopmental disorders resulting from synaptopathies. One such gene, SYNGAP1 (Synaptic Ras-GTPase-activating protein) has been shown to cause Intellectual Disability (ID) with comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and epilepsy in children. SYNGAP1 is a negative regulator of Ras, Rap and of AMPA receptor trafficking to the postsynaptic membrane, thereby regulating not only synaptic plasticity, but also neuronal homeostasis. Recent studies on the neurophysiology of SYNGAP1, using Syngapl mouse models, have provided deeper insights into how downstream signaling proteins and synaptic plasticity are regulated by SYNGAP1. This knowledge has led to a better understanding of the function of SYNGAP1 and suggests a potential target during critical period of development when the brain is more susceptible to therapeutic intervention.

Effect of semi-solid heat treatment on elevated temperature plasticity of 304L stainless steel

The present work explores the potential of semi-solid heat treatment technique by elucidating its effect on the plastic behavior of 304L SS in hot working domain. To accomplish this objective, hot isothermal compression tests on 304L SS specimens with semi-solid heat treatment and conventional annealing heat treatment have been carried out within a temperature range of 1273-1473 K and strain rates ranging from 0.01 to 1 s(-1). The dynamic flow behavior of this steel in its conventional heat-treated condition and semi-solid heat-treated condition has been characterized in terms of strain hardening, temperature softening, strain rate hardening, and dynamic flow softening. Extensive microstructural investigation has been carried out to corroborate the results obtained from the analysis of flow behavior. Detailed analysis of the results demonstrates that semi-solid heat treatment moderates work hardening, strain rate hardening, and temperature sensitivity of 304L SS, which is favorable for hot deformation. The post-deformation hardness values of semi-solid heat-treated steel and conventionally heat-treated steel were found to remain similar despite the pre-deformation heat treatment conditions. The results obtained demonstrate the potential of semi-solid heat treatment as a pre-deformation heat treatment step to effectively reduce the strength of the material to facilitate easier deformation without affecting the post-deformation properties of the steel.

SYNGAP1: Mind the Gap

A cardinal feature of early stages of human brain development centers on the sensory, cognitive, and emotional experiences that shape neuronal-circuit formation and refinement. Consequently, alterations in these processes account for many psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Neurodevelopment disorders affect 3-4% of the world population. The impact of these disorders presents a major challenge to clinicians, geneticists, and neuroscientists. Mutations that cause neurodevelopmental disorders are commonly found in genes encoding proteins that regulate synaptic function. Investigation of the underlying mechanisms using gain or loss of function approaches has revealed alterations in dendritic spine structure, function, and plasticity, consequently modulating the neuronal circuit formation and thereby raising the possibility of neurodevelopmental disorders resulting from synaptopathies. One such gene, SYNGAP1 (Synaptic Ras-GTPase-activating protein) has been shown to cause Intellectual Disability (ID) with comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and epilepsy in children. SYNGAP1 is a negative regulator of Ras, Rap and of AMPA receptor trafficking to the postsynaptic membrane, thereby regulating not only synaptic plasticity, but also neuronal homeostasis. Recent studies on the neurophysiology of SYNGAP1, using Syngapl mouse models, have provided deeper insights into how downstream signaling proteins and synaptic plasticity are regulated by SYNGAP1. This knowledge has led to a better understanding of the function of SYNGAP1 and suggests a potential target during critical period of development when the brain is more susceptible to therapeutic intervention.

Social Experience Is Sufficient to Modulate Sleep Need of Drosophila without Increasing Wakefulness

Organisms quickly learn about their surroundings and display synaptic plasticity which is thought to be critical for their survival. For example, fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster exposed to highly enriched social environment are found to show increased synaptic connections and a corresponding increase in sleep. Here we asked if social environment comprising a pair of same-sex individuals could enhance sleep in the participating individuals. To study this, we maintained individuals of D. melanogaster in same-sex pairs for a period of 1 to 4 days, and after separation, monitored sleep of the previously socialized and solitary individuals under similar conditions. Males maintained in pairs for 3 or more days were found to sleep significantly more during daytime and showed a tendency to fall asleep sooner as compared to solitary controls (both measures together are henceforth referred to as ``sleep-enhancement''). This sleep phenotype is not strain-specific as it is observed in males from three different ``wild type'' strains of D. melanogaster. Previous studies on social interaction mediated sleep-enhancement presumed `waking experience' during the interaction to be the primary underlying cause; however, we found sleep-enhancement to occur without any significant increase in wakefulness. Furthermore, while sleep-enhancement due to group-wise social interaction requires Pigment Dispersing Factor (PDF) positive neurons; PDF positive and CRYPTOCHROME (CRY) positive circadian clock neurons and the core circadian clock genes are not required for sleep-enhancement to occur when males interact in pairs. Pair-wise social interaction mediated sleep-enhancement requires dopamine and olfactory signaling, while visual and gustatory signaling systems seem to be dispensable. These results suggest that socialization alone (without any change in wakefulness) is sufficient to cause sleep-enhancement in fruit fly D. melanogaster males, and that its neuronal control is context-specific.

Enhanced Plasticity of Zr-Based Bulk Metallic Glass Matrix Composite with Ductile Reinforcement

A composite material containing uniformly distributed micrometer-sized Nb particles in a Zr-based amorphous matrix was prepared by suction cast. The resulting material exhibits high fractured strength over 1550 MPa and enhanced plastic strain of about 29.7% before failure in uniaxial compression test at room temperature. Studies of the serrations on the stress-strain curves and the shear bands on the fractured samples reveal that the amplitude of the stress drop of each serration step corresponds to the extent of the propagation of a single shear band through the materials. The composite exhibits more serration steps and smaller amplitude of stress drop due to the pinning of shear band propagation by ductile Nb particles.

The Flow Theory of Mechanism-Based Strain Gradient Plasticity

The flow theory of mechanism-based strain gradient (MSG) plasticity is established in this paper following the same multiscale, hierarchical framework for the deformation theory of MSG plasticity in order to connect with the Taylor model in dislocation mechanics. We have used the flow theory of MSG plasticity to study micro-indentation hardness experiments. The difference between deformation and flow theories is vanishingly small, and both agree well with experimental hardness data. We have also used the flow theory of MSG plasticity to investigate stress fields around a stationary mode-I crack tip as well as around a steady state, quasi-statically growing crack tip. At a distance to crack tip much larger than dislocation spacings such that continuum plasticity still applies, the stress level around a stationary crack tip in MSG plasticity is significantly higher than that in classical plasticity. The same conclusion is also established for a steady state, quasi-statically growing crack tip, though only the flow theory can be used because of unloading during crack propagation. This significant stress increase due to strain gradient effect provides a means to explain the experimentally observed cleavage fracture in ductile materials [J. Mater. Res. 9 (1994) 1734, Scripta Metall. Mater. 31 (1994) 1037; Interface Sci. 3(1996) 169].

A new hardening law for strain gradient plasticity

A new hardening law of the strain gradient theory is proposed in this paper, which retains the essential structure of the incremental version of conventional J(2) deformation theory and obeys thermodynamic restrictions. The key feature of the new proposal is that the term of strain gradient plasticity is represented as an internal variable to increase the tangent modulus. This feature which is in contrast to several proposed theories, allows the problem of incremental equilibrium equations to be stated without higher-order stress, higher-order strain rates or extra boundary conditions. The general idea is presented and compared with the theory given by Fleck and Hutchinson (Adv. in Appl. Mech. (1997) 295). The new hardening law is demonstrated by two experimental tests i.e. thin wire torsion and ultra-thin beam bending tests. The present theoretical results agree well with the experiment results.

Influences of strain rate and temperature variation on material intrinsic length of plasticity strain gradient theory

Cowper-Symonds and Johnson-Cook dynamic constitutive relations are used to study the influence of both strain rate effect and temperature variation on the material intrinsic length scale in strain gradient plasticity. The material intrinsic length scale decreases with increasing strain rates, and this length scale increases with temperature.

Steady-state crack growth and fracture work based on the theory of mechanism-based strain gradient plasticity

Mode I steady-state crack growth is analyzed under plane strain conditions in small scale yielding. The elastic-plastic solid is characterized by the mechanism-based strain gradient (MSG) plasticity theory [J. Mech. Phys. Solids 47 (1999) 1239, J. Mech. Phys. Solids 48 (2000) 99]. The distributions of the normal separation stress and the effective stress along the plane ahead of the crack tip are computed using a special finite element method based on the steady-state fundamental relations and the MSG flow theory. The results show that during the steady-state crack growth, the normal separation stress on the plane ahead of the crack tip can achieve considerably high value within the MSG strain gradient sensitive zone. The results also show that the crack tip fields are insensitive to the cell size parameter in the MSG theory. Moreover, in the present research, the steady-state fracture toughness is computed by adopting the embedded process zone (EPZ) model. The results display that the steady-state fracture toughness strongly depends on the separation strength parameter of the EPZ model and the length scale parameter in the MSG theory. Furthermore, in order for the results of steady crack growth to be comparable, an approximate relation between the length scale parameters in the MSG theory and in the Fleck-Hutchinson strain gradient plasticity theory is obtained.

Toughness Of Ni/Al2O3 Interfaces As Dependent On Micron-Scale Plasticity And Atomistic-Scale Separation

Ceramic/metal interfaces were studied that fail by atomistic separation accompanied by plastic dissipation in the metal. The macroscopic toughness of the specific Ni alloy/Al2O3 interface considered is typically on the order of ten times the atomistic work of separation in mode I and even higher if combinations of mode I and mode II act on the interface. Inputs to the computational model of interface toughness are: (i) strain gradient plasticity applied to the Ni alloy with a length parameter determined by an indentation test, and (ii) a potential characterizing mixed mode separation of the interface fit to atomistic results. The roles of the several length parameters in the strain gradient plasticity are determined for indentation and crack growth. One of the parameters is shown to be of dominant importance, thus establishing that indentation can be used to measure the relevant length parameter. Recent results for separation of Ni/Al2O3 interfaces computed by atomistic methods are reviewed, including a set of results computed for mixed mode separation. An approximate potential fit to these results is characterized by the work of separation, the peak separation stress for normal separation and the traction-displacement relation in pure shearing of the interface. With these inputs, the model for steady-state crack growth is used to compute the toughness of the interface under mode I and under the full range of mode mix. The effect of interface strength and the work of separation on macroscopic toughness is computed. Fundamental implications for plasticity-enhanced toughness emerge.