Phase formation under non-equilibrium processing conditions: rapid solidification processing and mechanical alloying

Rapid solidification processing (RSP) of metallic alloys, involving solidification of liquid metals at very high rates, results in the formation of a variety of metastable phases such as supersaturated solid solutions, crystalline intermetallic compounds, quasicrystalline phases, and metallic glasses. Additionally, significant refinement of the grain sizes and segregation patterns also occurs. Mechanical alloying (MA), another powerful non-equilibrium processing technique, utilizes repeated cold welding, fracturing, and rewelding of powder particles in a high-energy ball mill. MA also results in the formation of metastable phases and microstructural refinement similar to what happens during RSP. Consequently, comparisons are frequently made between the phases produced by RSP and MA and the general understanding is that they both result in similar metastable effects. A detailed analysis of the metastable phases produced by RSP and MA is made in the present work, and it is shown that even though the effects may appear similar, the mechanisms of formation and the composition ranges in which particular phases form are quite different. These two methods also have some unique features and produce different phases. The differences have been ascribed to the fact that RSP involves solidification from the melt while MA is a completely solid-state process that is not restricted by the phase diagram.     

Relationships between processing conditions and mechanical properties of PA12 tubes. The EWF approach

In polyamide 12 (PA12) tube extrusion, calibration is the key step of the process that affects the subsequent mechanical properties. In previous work it has been shown that according to the calibration conditions, a very oriented skin layer may be created, which has been correlated to an important decrease of elongation at break. In this paper, we present new results showing a good correlation between molecular orientation and fracture toughness, as evaluated by the EWF (Essential Work of Fracture) approach. They concern notched specimens and confirm the results obtained in classical tensile testing. The specific essential work of fracture is very sensitive to the orientation generated in the skin region by appropriate processing conditions: it decreases from the external to the inner regions of the tube, and increases with skin orientation.     

70 nm: The most unstable grain size in Cu prepared by surface mechanical grinding treatment

The stability of Cu with different average grain sizes prepared by surface mechanical grinding treatment were investigated under the conditions of isothermal annealing and uniaxial tension.In both conditions,experimental results revealed that the stability of the grains decreased with the decrease of grain size when the grain size was above 70–75 nm,while the stability of the grains increased with the decrease of grain size when the grain size was below 70–75 nm.The grains of about 70–75 nm in size showed the worst stability in both thermal and mechanical conditions due to having the highest level of average atom free energy and their large amount of high energy grain boundary with large curvature.This size was very close to the calculated smallest size achievable by severe plastic deformation based on the grain refinement mechanism of dislocation evolution under present processing condition,at which both the highest density of dislocation and highest energy should be produced and induces poor stability.Below 70 nm,the deformation mechanism of nanograined Cu was transformed into a partial dislocation motion,which activated mechanically induced grain boundary(GB)relaxation accompanied by GB flattening and GB energy decrease and resulted in enhanced stability.This discovery offers the potential for developing nanograined metals with high strength and high stability.     

Effect of high-pressure torsion processing on the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of consolidated micro size Cu and Cu-SiC powders

In this paper, micro size Cu and Cu-SiC composites powders were consolidated by powder metallurgy (PM) followed by sintering or high-pressure torsion (HPT) to study the effect of the different processing methods on microstructure evolution and mechanical properties. HPT contributes in producing fully dense samples with a relative density higher than those processed by PM followed by sintering. Bimodal and trimodal microstructures with a mixture of ultrafine grain (UFG) and micro or nano grain sizes were noted in the case of Cu and Cu-SiC HPTed samples, respectively. The increase of the SiC volume fraction (SiC%) produces smaller grain size with higher fractions of high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) in the HPTed Cu-SiC samples than that in the case of HPTed Cu sample. The HPT under a pressure of 10 GPa and 15 revolutions was effective to achieve a complete fragmentation of SiC particles down to ultrafine particle size. HPT processing of Cu and Cu-SiC composites enhanced the mechanical properties (hardness and tensile strength) with conserving a reasonable degree of ductility (elongation%). The yield strength of the samples was estimated based on the microstructure observations and processing parameters by different models correctly with an error range of 5.1–1% from the experiential results.     

Radiometric calibration of SUMER: refinement of the laboratory results under operational conditions on SOHO

The radiometric calibration of the solar telescope and spectrometer SUMER was carried out in the laboratory before delivery of the instrument for integration into the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft. Although this effort led to a reasonable coverage of the wavelength range from 53.70 to 146.96 nm, uncalibrated portions of the sensitivity curves remained before SUMER became operational in early 1996. Thereafter it was possible to perform extrapolations and interpolations of the calibration curves of detector A to shorter, longer, and intermediate wavelengths by using emission line pairs with known intensity ratios. The spectra of the stars alpha and rho Leonis were also observed on the KBr (potassium bromide) photocathode and the bare microchannel plate (MCP) in the range from 120 to 158 nm. In addition, the sensitivity ratios of the KBr photocathode to the bare MCP were determined for many solar lines as well as the H i Lyman and the thermal continua. The results have been found to be consistent with published laboratory data. The uncertainty is +/-15% (1 varsigma) in the wavelength range from 54 to 125 nm.     

The promising aspects of processing nanomaterials under mechanical stressing for physicochemical viewpoints

Solid-state mechanochemical processing of nanomaterials offers unique opportunities for the creation of value-added materials. The present review reexamines physicochemical aspects of these processes and identifies the merits of leveraging local deformation derived phenomena such as symmetry loss of ligand field, charge-transfer across the grain boundary, reaction-induced amorphization and the consequences of intimate mixing for the creation of new materials. Case studies are also presented that include ligand exchange of transition metal coordination compounds, anion substitution of metal oxides, organic synthesis and drug amorphization. All these studies provide promise for solid-state mechanochemical processing in the future as a cornerstone of powder technology.     

Continuum based modeling of silicon integrated circuit processing: An object oriented approach

Continuum based integrated circuit process modeling is the dominant tool used to investigate and understand integrated circuit (IC) development. This paper describes the commonly used models for implantation, diffusion, and material growth. In addition, the supporting numerical techniques are described. This paper focuses on the implementation in object oriented code, Florida Object Oriented Process Simulator (FLOOPS). The software architecture is described for implementing models and numerics. A number of process examples are introduced and discussed.     

Deriving a dynamic-system eigenvalue spectrum under conditions of uncertainty by processing measurements

A method is given for determining the eigenvalue spectrum of a linear dynamic system under conditions of uncertainty. A method is described for deriving the characteristic parameters by analysis of measurement data that provide preliminary evaluations of the spectrum. An adaptive identification algorithm is proposed to refine the estimators. The task is handled in the class of static models.     

Relationships between processing conditions and mechanical properties of PA12 tubes

In polyamide 12 (PA12) tube extrusion, calibration is the key step of the process that affects the subsequent mechanical properties. In previous work it has been shown that according to the calibration conditions, a very oriented skin layer may be created, which has been correlated to an important decrease of elongation at break. In this paper, we present new results showing a good correlation between molecular orientation and fracture toughness, as evaluated by the EWF (Essential Work of Fracture) approach. They concern notched specimens and confirm the results obtained in classical tensile testing. EWF is very sensitive to processing conditions, and especially to induced orientation: it decreases from the external to the inner regions of the tube, and increases with skin orientation.     

Numerical modeling of crack growth under dynamic loading conditions

A framework for modeling crack growth is described that is based on introducing one or more cohesive surfaces into a continuum. Constitutive relations are specified independently for the material and for the cohesive surfaces. Fracture emerges as a natural outcome of the deformation process, without introducing an additional failure criterion. The characterization of the mechanical response of a cohesive surface involves both an interfacial strength and the work of separation per unit area, which introduces a characteristic length into the formulation. Finite element analyses are carried out for a plane strain block with an initial central crack, subject to impact loading. The crack is constrained to grow along the initial crack line. Numerical results are presented for elastic and elastic-viscoplastic solids using various degrees of mesh refinement.     

The phenomenological approach to estimating critical indices of critical fluid

High Temperature - This work presents a new phenomenological approach to estimating critical indices of critical fluid that are characterized by two components, regular and fluctuational. A direct...     

Influence of dislocations on magnon-phonon couplings: A phenomenological approach

On the basis of a nonlinear theory of finitely deformable elastoviscoplastic ferromagnetic crystals developed in a companion paper, the present work presents an attempt at a phenomenological study of the influence of dislocations and viscoplastic flow on the behavior of spin waves (the collective modes of oscillations typical of ferromagnetism). This is achieved by linearizing the above mentioned nonlinear theory about a fundamental ferromagnetic phase with a practically vanishing viscoplastic threshold. The main results obtained after a study of wave modes and asymptotic evaluations in terms of a piezomagnetic coupling parameter are the evidence of a magnetoacoustic resonance between spin waves and left circularly polarized transverse elastoviscoplastic disturbances, a slight shift towards higher wave numbers of the corresponding critical wave number as compared to the perfectly elastic-crystal case and the fact that spin waves suffer a damping which is directly proportional to the piezomagnetic coupling parameter and to the reciprocal primary relaxation time (the relaxation time associated with the viscosity processes inherent in viscoplasticity, in the absence of restoring effects.     

Mass transfer in a three-phase system under conditions of mechanical and pneumatic agitation

Mass transfer between a solid and a liquid, accompanied by the evolution of a gaseous phase, is studied experimentally in the presence of mechanical agitation. It is shown that for low concentrations of the reagent pneumatic agitation is more effective than mechanical.     

Steady crack growth in a thin, ductile plate under small-scale yielding conditions: Three-dimensional modeling

This work employs high resolution, finite element computations to investigate key features of the elastic–plastic fields near a steadily advancing crack at quasi-static rates under three-dimensional, small-scale yielding conditions. The model represents a structurally thin component constructed of a material (e.g., Al and Ti alloys) with flow stress and fracture toughness properties that together limit the size of the in-plane plastic zone during steady-growth to no more than several multiples of the plate thickness. The computational approach generalizes the streamline integration procedure used previously for two-dimensional studies into three dimensions to represent steady-state growth on a fixed mesh in a boundary-layer framework. The plate thickness provides the only geometrical length scale. Crack extension occurs at the remotely applied, fixed loading without the need for a local growth criterion. In the first computations of this type, the present work considers a straight crack front advancing under local and global mode I loading with zero T-stress in a moderately hardening material. Applied remote loads at steady growth generate plastic zone sizes ahead of the advancing crack front ranging from 0.25 to 6.4 times the thickness. Key results include: (1) the crack-front fields exhibit a self-similar scaling characterized by a non-dimensional loading parameter; (2) three-dimensional effects extend to distances of approximately 1.5–2.5 times the thickness ahead of the advancing crack front for key values of this loading parameter, beyond which the fields (elastic–plastic then linear-elastic at greater distances) become uniform over the thickness; and (3) crack opening profiles on the outside surface reveal a “wedge-like”, opening shape which simplifies the definition of a crack-tip opening angle.     

Optimization of ZnO sheets dimension in terms of ductility, micro-indentation, mechanical resistance, Amlouk-Boubaker optothermal expansivity and crystallites size

ZnO sheets with different thicknesses have been prepared using a simple spray pyrolysis technique. Parallel to classical characterization techniques like common XRD and AFM, a critical thickness has been proposed on the bases of micro-indentation related hardness, mechanical ductility, optothermal expansivity and crystallite sizes measurements.     

Effective mechanical properties of EM composite conductors: an analytical and finite element modeling approach

An analytical model and numerical approach to predict the effective mechanical properties of a composite conductor consisting of metallic core and insulation layers are presented in this paper. The analytical model was developed based on a two-step homogenizations and mechanics analysis for composite unit cell. The Step 1 homogenization derives the effective properties of the out-wrapped composite insulation layers. The Step 2 homogenization further smears the metallic core and the effective composite insulation layers to develop homogenized mechanical properties for composite conductor according to appropriate homogenization sequences. The procedure of using numerical approach and finite element method to determine the unit cell effective constants were also described and the results of the FEA prediction were presented. The analytical predictions were compared well to the numerical results for the nine material constants that characterize the effective mechanical properties of the composite conductor.     

The Williams-Watts dependence as a common phenomenological approach to relaxation processes in condensed matter

The Williams-Watts (WW) relaxation function has been widely used to describe the relaxation behaviour of many systems. In the present work the range of applicability of the WW response was extensively tested by the analysis of experiments in both the time and the frequency domains. On the other hand, the analysed experiments covered a wide time-scale for the characteristic relaxation times. Some related topics were also considered, i.e. our procedures in obtaining the associated activation energy spectra or the distribution of relaxation times. The relationship between time-domain and frequency-domain relaxation responses was also analysed. In light of our results the universality of the WW response, appears to be good at least for the time-scales and the different probes covered by our experiments.     

Computational modeling of size effects in concrete specimens under uniaxial tension

The paper presents a follow-up study of numerical modeling of complicated interplay of size effects in concrete structures. The major motivation is to identify and study interplay of several scaling lengths stemming from the material, boundary conditions and geometry. Methods of stochastic nonlinear fracture mechanics are used to model the well published results of direct tensile tests of dog-bone specimens with rotating boundary conditions. Firstly, the specimens are modeled using microplane material and also fracture-plastic material laws to show that a portion of the dependence of nominal strength on structural size can be explained deterministically. However, it is clear that more sources of size effect play a part, and we consider two of them. Namely, we model local material strength using an autocorrelated random field attempting to capture a statistical part of the combined size effect, scatter inclusive. In addition, the strength drop noticeable with small specimens which was obtained in the experiments could be explained either by the presence of a weak surface layer of constant thickness (caused e.g. by drying, surface damage, aggregate size limitation at the boundary, or other irregularities) or three dimensional effects incorporated by out-of-plane flexure of specimens. The latter effect is examined by comparison of 2D and 3D models with the same material laws. All three named sources (deterministic-energetic, statistical size effects and the weak layer effect) are believed to be the sources most contributing to the observed strength size effect; the model combining all of them is capable of reproducing the measured data. The computational approach represents a marriage of advanced computational nonlinear fracture mechanics with simulation techniques for random fields representing spatially varying material properties. Using a numerical example, we document how different sources of size effects detrimental to strength can interact and result in relatively complicated quasibrittle failure processes. The presented study documents the well known fact that the experimental determination of material parameters (needed for the rational and safe design of structures) is very complicated for quasibrittle materials such as concrete.