Tb3+/Yb3+ heavily-doped tellurite glasses with efficient green light emission

Without introducing concentration quenching phenomenon, a few wt% of Tb3+ and Yb3+ ions were doped into a group of easily-fiberized tellurite glasses characterized by loose polyhedron structures and rich interstitial positions. Intense green upconversion emission from Tb3+ ions centered at 539 nm due to transition 5D4→7F5 was observed by direct excitation of Yb3+ ions with a laser diode at 976 nm. Optimizing the concentration ratio of Tb3+/Yb3+, a tellurite glass with composition of 80TeO2-10ZnO-10Na2O (mol%)+1.0wt% Tb2O3+3.0wt% Yb2O3 was found to present the highest green light intensity and therefore is especially suitable for efficient green fiber laser development.

Faraday Glasses with a Large Size and High Performance

A kind of Faraday glass with a size of 40 mm x 14 mm and 100-300 mm x 25 mm, respectively, was prepared by the melting and casting process, which had neither a Pt particulate nor a bubble or striation. The measurement results showed that the surface homogeneity of the samples was up to +/- 1 x 10-6, the laser threshold reached 10 J/cm2 (1 omega, 3 ns), and the Verdet constants of the glasses were -0.273 min/Oe/cm at 632.8 nm and -0.076 min/Oe/cm at 1064 nm, respectively.

Shear transformation zone volume determining ductile–brittle transition of bulk metallic glasses

Three-point bending experiments were performed on as-cast and annealed samples of Zr52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10Ti5 (Vit105) bulk metallic glasses over a wide range of temperatures varying from room temperature (293 K) to liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). The results demonstrated that the free volume decrease due to annealing and/or cryogenic temperature can reduce the propensity for the formation of multiple shear bands and hence deteriorate plastic deformation ability. We clearly observed a sharp ductile-to-brittle transition (DBT), across which microscopic fracture feature transfers from micro-scale vein patterns to nano-scale periodic corrugations. Macroscopically, the corresponding fracture mode changes from ductile shear fracture to brittle tensile fracture. The shear transformation zone volume, taking into account free volume, temperature and strain rate, is proposed to quantitatively characterize the DBT behavior in fracture of metallic glasses.

Strain rate-dependent shear band behavior in bulk metallic glasses

In this article, we review our recent advances in understanding the deformation behavior of a typical tough Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 (Vit 1) bulk metallic glass (BMG), as a model material, under various loading modes and strain rates, focusing particularly on the rate-dependence and formation mechanism of shear-banding. Dynamic and quasi-static mechanical experiments, including plate shear, shear punch and spherical indentation, and continuum as well as atomistic modeling on shear-banding are discussed. The results demonstrate that higher strain rate slows down the annihilation process of free volume, but promotes the free-volume coalescence, which is responsible for the rate-dependent shear banding. The physical origin of shear bands, that is the free volume softening underpinned by irreversible rearrangements of atoms, is unveiled. Finally, some concluding remarks are given.