Unique mechanical properties of nanostructured metals

Recently, it becomes possible to fabricate bulk metals having ultrafine grained or nanocrystalline structures of which grain size is in nano-meter dimensions. One of the promising ways to realize bulk nanostructured metals is severe plastic deformation (SPD) above logarithmic equivalent strain of 4. We have developed an original SPD process, named Accumulative Roll Bonding (ARB) using rolling deformation in principle, and have succeeded in fabricating bulk nanostructured sheets of various kinds of metals and alloys. The ARB process and the nanostructured metals fabricated by the ARB are introduced in this paper. The nanostructured metals sometimes perform quite unique mechanical properties, that is rather surprising compared with conventionally coarse grained materials. The unique properties seem to be attributed to the characteristic structures of the nano-metals full of grain boundaries.     

Dynamic Plastic Deformation （DPD）： A Novel Technique for Synthesizing Bulk Nanostructured Metals

While some superior properties of nanostructured materials （with structural scales below 100 nm） have attracted numerous interests of material scientists, technique development for synthesizing nanostructured metals and alloys in 3-dimensional （3D） bulk forms is still challenging despite of extensive investigations over decades. Here we report a novel synthesis technique for bulk nanostructured metals based on plastic deformation at high Zener-Hollomon parameters （high strain rates or low temperatures）, i.e., dynamic plastic deformation （DPD）. The basic concept behind this approach will be addressed together with a few examples to demonstrate the capability and characteristics of this method. Perspectives and future developments of this technique will be highlighted.     

The new trends in fabrication of bulk nanostructured materials by SPD processing

During the past decade, fabrication of bulk nanostructured metals and alloys using severe plastic deformation (SPD) has been evolving as a rapidly advancing direction of nanomaterials science and technology aimed at developing materials with new mechanical and functional properties for advanced applications. The principle of these developments is based on grain refinement down to the nanoscale level via various SPD techniques. This paper is focused on investigation and development of new SPD processing routes enabling fabrication of fully dense bulk nanostructured metals and alloys with a grain size of 40–50 nm and smaller, namely, SPD-consolidation of powders, including nanostructured ones, as well as SPD-induced nanocrystallization of amorphous alloys. We also consider microstructural features of SPD-processed materials that are responsible for enhancement of their properties.     

Tensile behavior of bulk nanostructured and ultrafine grained aluminum alloys

In the present study, data on tensile behavior of bulk nanostructured aluminum alloys processed via consolidation of mechanically milled powders and severe plastic deformation are analyzed. High strength and low strain hardening were observed in bulk nanostructured and ultrafine-grained Al alloys. The ductility of aluminum alloys decreases with decreasing grain size. The high amount of intercrystalline components may have an influence on tensile properties of bulk nanostructured materials when grain sizes are less than 100 nm. The high strength in bulk nanostructured Al-Mg alloy may be attributed to contributions arising from grain size strengthening, the presence of high dislocation densities, Orowan strengthening, precipitation hardening and solid-solution hardening. The large and sudden stress drops in the stress-strain curves of cryomilled Al alloys are most probably indicative of the dislocation annihilation in the vicinity of or breakaway from the strong pinning role of dispersoids.     

Review of principles and methods of severe plastic deformation for producing ultrafine-grained tubes

Severe plastic deformation (SPD) is known to be the best method for producing bulk ultrafine-grained and nanostructured materials with excellent properties. Different SPD methods were developed that are suitable for sheet and bulk solid materials. During the past decade, efforts have been made to create effective SPD processes suitable for producing cylindrical tubes. In this paper, we review SPD processes intended to produce ultrafine-grained and nanostructured tubes, and their effects on material properties. The paper will focus on introduction of the tube SPD processes, and then comparison of them based on their advantages and disadvantages from the viewpoints of processing and properties.     

The Innovation Potential of Bulk Nanostructured Materials

The innovation potential is high for bulk nanostructured materials (BNM) produced by methods of severe plastic deformation and accordingly this report focuses on very recent developments demonstrating the potential of using BNM for advanced and functional applications in engineering and medicine.     

Thermomechanics of nanocrystalline nickel under high pressure-temperature conditions

We present a comparative study of thermomechanical properties of nano-polycrystalline nickel (nano-Ni) and micrometer-polycrystalline nickel (micron-Ni) by in situ high pressure-temperature (P-T) diffraction experiments. The yield strength of 2.35 GPa for the nano-Ni measured under high-pressure triaxial compression is more than three times that of the micron-Ni value. Contrary to tensile experiments of uniaxial loading, we observe significant work-hardening for the nano-Ni in high-pressure plastic deformation stage, whereas the micron-Ni experiences minor high-pressure work-softening and considerable energy dissipation into heat. The significantly reduced energy dissipation for the nano-Ni during the loading-unloading cycle indicates that the nanostructured materials can endure much greater mechanical fatigue in cyclic loadings. The nano-Ni exhibits steady grain growth during bulk plastic deformation at high-pressure loading, and drastic stress reduction and grain growth occur during the high P-T cycle. Our experiments utilized novel approaches to comparatively study micro- and nanostructured materials revealing recoverability of elastic/plastic deformations, strain corrections by diffraction elasticity ratio, and identifying dominances of stress relaxation, grain growth, and intrinsic residual stresses. The results should be of considerable interest to the fields of materials science, condensed matter, and computational physics.     

强变形制备超细晶金属材料的方法

强变形是细化晶粒的有效方法,甚至可以制备纳米材料,最近十几年来大量的强变形方法涌现出来,研究也越来越多.介绍了等通道角挤压、高压扭转、连续限制带材角轧挤、循环挤压、限制斜槽压缩、反复弯曲校平、累积叠轧焊等方法,回顾了各种方法可以得到的最大应变量、细化晶粒效果及应变量计算公式.阐述了强变形及剪切变形细化晶粒的机制.     

Deformation behavior of nanostructured ZnO films on glass

Nanostructured ZnO films on glass substrate were studied by nanoindentation, scanning electron and atomic force microscopy. The films were obtained by a straightforward mechanoactivated oxidation method. The morphology of the obtained films was grained with a grain size in the range 50-100 nm and the thickness was approximately 2 μm. A detailed deformation behavior of ZnO films, critical parameters and indentation induced plastic deformation mechanisms were determined in correlation to bulk ZnO, Si single crystal and commercial ZnO films. In comparison to a single crystal ZnO, nanostructured films exhibit increased hardness (9 GPa); however, the Young's modulus is decreased (120 GPa). A directly detectable evidence of brittleness, “pop-in” and “pile-up” phenomena in ZnO films was not observed. The ZnO/glass interface is stable and exhibits high adhesion, no signs of delamination or presence of brittleness cracks were detected (even at load P_max > 2 N). The role of grain boundaries on the properties of deformation behavior of ZnO nanostructured films has been discussed.     

Lokale Hochverformung zur Erzeugung von ultrafeinkörnigen Zonen

Local severe plastic deformation for producing ultrafine‐grained regions The methods of severe plastic deformation are able to produce semi‐finished products with a homogenous ultrafine‐grained microstructure. An alternative option is the formation of ultrafine‐grained layers or rather a gradation of the grain size. The qualification of incremental bulk forming processes is concluded from an analysis of methods for producing ultra fine‐grained materials and the kneading in cyclic forming. Spin extrusion is investigated regarding the formation of ultra fine‐grained regions. Tests are carried out to analyse the grain refinement in cyclically deformed regions.     

Nanostructuring of metals by severe plastic deformation for advanced properties

Despite rosy prospects, the use of nanostructured metals and alloys as advanced structural and functional materials has remained controversial until recently. Only in recent years has a breakthrough been outlined in this area, associated both with development of new routes for the fabrication of bulk nanostructured materials and with investigation of the fundamental mechanisms that lead to the new properties of these materials. Although a deep understanding of these mechanisms is still a topic of basic research, pilot commercial products for medicine and microdevices are coming within reach of the market. This progress article discusses new concepts and principles of using severe plastic deformation (SPD) to fabricate bulk nanostructured metals with advanced properties. Special emphasis is laid on the relationship between microstructural features and properties, as well as the first applications of SPD-produced nanomaterials.     

Stress-dependent deformation behaviour in bulk nanocrystalline titanium–nickel alloys

In this study, the deformation mechanisms operating with stress in bulk nanocrystalline (NC) titanium–nickel with an average grain size below a critical size of 10–20?nm have been investigated. We demonstrate a sequential variation of the deformation mechanism from grain boundary (GB) sliding and grain rotation to grain growth and dislocation activity with the increase of the deformation stress. These deformation mechanisms are different from the previous understanding that below a critical grain size of 10–20?nm, GB sliding and grain rotation govern plastic deformation of NC materials.     

Abnormal strain hardening in nanostructured titanium at high strain rates and large strains

Commercial purity nanostructured titanium prepared by equal channel angular pressing plus cold rolling (grain size ∼260 nm) exhibits a nonnegligible strain hardening behavior at large compressive strains (>15%) and quasistatic loading conditions. The degree of the strain hardening increases with increasing strain rates and becomes more pronounced at dynamic loading rates. This behavior is in contrast with what we have seen so far in other nanostructured materials, where flat stress-strain curves are often seen. It was concluded from transmission electron microscopy investigations that in addition to dislocation slips, deformation twinning may have played a significant role in plastic deformation of nanostructured Ti. The structural failure behavior is in-situ recorded by a CCD camera and reasoned according to the microscopic observations.     

A Generalizable Top‐Down Nanostructuring Method of Bulk Oxides: Sequential Oxygen–Nitrogen Exchange Reaction

A thermal reaction route that induces grain fracture instead of grain growth is devised and developed as a top‐down approach to prepare nanostructured oxides from bulk solids. This novel synthesis approach, referred to as the sequential oxygen–nitrogen exchange (SONE) reaction, exploits the reversible anion exchange between oxygen and nitrogen in oxides that is driven by a simple two‐step thermal treatment in ammonia and air. Internal stress developed by significant structural rearrangement via the formation of (oxy)nitride and the creation of oxygen vacancies and their subsequent combination into nanopores transforms bulk solid oxides into nanostructured oxides. The SONE reaction can be applicable to most transition metal oxides, and when utilized in a lithium‐ion battery, the produced nanostructured materials are superior to their bulk counterparts and even comparable to those produced by conventional bottom‐up approaches. Given its simplicity and scalability, this synthesis method could open a new avenue to the development of high‐performance nanostructured electrode materials that can meet the industrial demand of cost‐effectiveness for mass production.     

Structure and properties of bulk nanostructured alloys synthesized by flux-melting

Nanomaterials can easily be prepared as thin films and powders, but are much harder to prepare in bulk form. Nanostructured materials are prepared mainly by consolidation, electrodeposition, and deformation. These processing techniques have problems such as porosity, contamination, high cost, and limitations in refining the grain size. Since most bulk engineering metals are initially prepared by casting, we developed a casting technique, flux-melting and melt-solidification, to prepare bulk nanostructured alloys. The casting technique has such advantages as simplicity, low cost, and full density. In our method, Ag–Cu alloys were melted in B₂O₃ flux, which removed most of the impurities, mainly oxides, in the melts. Upon solidifying the melt at a relatively slow cooling rate on the order of 10¹–10² K/s a large undercooling of ∼0.25 T _m (where T _m is the melting temperature) was achieved. This large undercooling leads to the formation of bulk nanostructured Ag–Cu alloys composed of alternative Ag/Cu lamella and nanocrystals, both ∼50 nm in dimension. Our liquid-processed alloys are fully dense and relatively free from contamination. The nanostructured Ag–Cu alloys have similar yield strength in tension and in compression. The as-quenched alloys have yield strength of 400 MPa, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 550 MPa, and plastic elongation of ∼8%. The UTS was further increased to ∼830 MPa after the as-quenched alloy rod was cold drawn to a strain of ∼2. The nanostructured Ag–Cu alloys show a high electrical conductivity (∼80% that of International Annealed Copper Standard), a slight strain hardening (strain-hardening coefficient of 0.10), and a high thermal stability up to a reduced temperature of 2/3 T _m. Some of these behaviors are different than those found in previous bulk nanostructured materials synthesized by solid state methods, and are explained based on the unique nanostructures achieved by our flux-melting and melt-solidification technique.     

Modelling of equal channel angular pressing using a mesh-free method

Severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes are widely recognised as efficient techniques to produce bulk ultrafine-grained materials. As a complement to experiments, computational modelling is extensively used to understand the deformation mechanisms of grain refinement induced by large strain loading conditions. Although considerable research has been undertaken in the modelling of SPD processes, most of the studies have been accomplished using mesh-based methods, such as the finite element method (FEM). Mesh-based methods have inherent difficulties in modelling high-deformation processes because of the distortions in the mesh and the resultant inaccuracies and instabilities. As an alternative, a mesh-free method called smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is used. The effectiveness of this technique is highlighted for modelling of one of the most popular SPD techniques, equal channel angular pressing. A benchmark between SPH and FE calculation is performed. Furthermore, a number of simulations under different processing conditions are compared to existing literature data. A satisfactory agreement is found, which indicates that SPD processes can be approached by mesh-free methods, such as SPH.     

Atomic-scale dissecting the formation mechanism of gradient nanostructured layer on Mg alloy processed by a novel high-speed machining technique

Severe plastic deformation(SPD)-induced gradient nanostructured(GNS)metallic materials exhibit supe-rior mechanical performance,especially the high strength and good ductility.In this study,a novel high-speed machining SPD technique,namely single point diamond turning(SPDT),was developed to produce effectively the GNS layer on the hexagonal close-packed(HCP)structural Mg alloy.The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations and atomistic molecular dynamics sim-ulations were mainly performed to atomic-scale dissect the grain refinement process and corresponding plastic deformation mechanisms of the GNS layer.It was found that the grain refinement process for the formation of the GNS Mg alloy layer consists of elongated coarse grains,lamellar fine grains with deformation-induced-tension twins and contraction twins,ultrafine grains,and nanograins with the grain size of～70 nm along the direction from the inner matrix to surface.Specifically,experiment results and atomistic simulations reveal that these deformation twins are formed by gliding twinning partial dis-locations that are dissociated from the lattice dislocations piled up at grain boundaries.The corresponding deformation mechanisms were evidenced to transit from the deformation twinning to dislocation slip when the grain size was below 2.45 μm.Moreover,the Hall-Petch relationship plot and the surface equivalent stress along the gradient direction estimated by finite element analysis for the SPDT process were incorporated to quantitatively elucidate the transition of deformation mechanisms during the grain refinement process.Our findings have implications for the development of the facile SPD technique to construct high strength-ductility heterogeneous GNS metals,especially for the HCP metals.     

Commercialization of Nanostructured Metals Produced by Severe Plastic Deformation Processing

The promise of nanotechnology is increasingly being realized as governments, universities, public and private research laboratories, and the various industrial sectors devote resources to this emerging area. Estimates for the economic impact of nanotechnology on existing global markets exceed 700 billion by the year 2008. Nanomaterials are projected to be one of the earliest components of nanotechnology to appear in commercial applications. Amongst the emerging new nanomaterials, bulk nanostructured metals produced by severe plastic deformation (SPD) have shown promise in a wide range of application areas. In this paper, we overview developments in severe plastic deformation technology, emphasizing progress since the international workshop “Investigations and Applications of Severe Plastic Deformation” held 2–8 August 1999 in Moscow, Russia. Then, we overview some of principal areas of application for SPD metals and alloys.     

Deformation Behavior Study of Multi-Pass ECAE Process for Fabrication of Ultrafine or Nanostructured Bulk Materials

Severe plastic deformation (SPD) is an efficient approach for producing ultrafine or nanostructured bulk materials. Equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) is the most effective SPD solution for material nanostructuring, as material billet undergoes severe and large deformation and the grains are efficiently broken up in the process. To improve material nanostructuring, the ECAE die design and process configuration are critical. The deformation behavior study through FE simulation in ECAE process provides basic and useful information for optimizing die design and process determination. In this research, the deformation behavior for three different die design scenarios is studied and the related deformation mechanisms and nanostructuring performance are investigated via FE simulation. Through multi-pass simulation, the optimal design scenario is then identified. The simulation results reveal deformation phenomena, and nanostructuring performance of the designs and the corresponding process can be recommended accordingly for improving die and process performance.     

Structural nanocrystalline materials: an overview

This paper presents a brief overview of the field of structural nanocrystalline materials. These are materials in either bulk, coating, or thin film form whose function is for structural applications. The major processing methods for production of bulk nanocrystalline materials are reviewed. These methods include inert gas condensation, chemical reaction methods, electrodeposition, mechanical attrition, and severe plastic deformation. The stability of the nanocrystalline microstructure is discussed in terms of strategies for retardation of grain growth. Selected mechanical properties of nanocrystalline materials are described; specifically strength and ductility. Corrosion resistance is briefly addressed. Examples of present or potential applications for structural nanocrystalline materials are given.