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At least 1,351 records · Page 75
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Microstructure Evolution and Failure Analysis of an Aluminum–Copper Cathode Conductive Head Produced by Explosive Welding

In this paper, microstructure evolution and failure analysis of the aluminum-copper interface of cathode conductive heads during their use were studied. The interface morphologies, compositions, conductivity and mechanical properties were investigated and analyzed. Obvious corrosion was found on the surface of the contact interface, which was more prevalent on an Al matrix. The crack increased sharply in the local metallurgical bonding areas on the interface, with the compound volume having no significant change. The phase transformation occurred on the interface during use, which was investigated using the elemental composition and x-ray diffraction pattern. The microhardness near the interface increased accordingly. An obvious electrical conductivity decrease appeared on the Al/Cu interface of the cathode conductive head after use over a specific time interval. Therefore, the deterioration of the microstructures and corrosion are the primary factors that affect the electrical conductivity and effective bonding, which will lead to eventual failure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

A generalized O-element approach for analyzing interface structures

A correct description of interfacial dislocations is critical to the understanding of physical and mechanical properties of the interfaces and their impact on phase transformation and deformation mechanisms. The O-lattice theory provides a general theoretical framework for determining interfacial dislocation structures. However, for systems having an invariant line (IL) or an invariant plane, the O-elements do not always exist in the three-dimensional (3D) space, which impedes the capability of the O-lattice theory to the interfaces in these systems. To determine the dislocation structures in interfaces for which the O-elements do not extend in the 3D space, we introduce a generalized O-element approach by employing the Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse. The generalized O-elements, as the least square solutions to the O-lattice, play a parallel role as that of the ideal O-elements and extend the candidate locations for the coherent regions between dislocations. Worked examples for dislocation structures in both homo-phase and hetero-phase systems are presented. The predicted interface structures are in good agreement with experimental observations and molecular statics (MS)/molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Gradient twinned 304 stainless steels for high strength and high ductility

Gradient materials often have attractive mechanical properties that outperform uniform microstructure counterparts. It remains a difficult task to investigate and compare the performance of various gradient microstructures due to the difficulty of fabrication, the wide range of length scales involved, and their respective volume percentage variations. We have investigated four types of gradient microstructures in 304 stainless steels that utilize submicrotwins, nanotwins, nanocrystalline-, ultrafine- and coarse-grains as building blocks. Tensile tests reveal that the gradient microstructure consisting of submicrotwins and nanotwins has a persistent and stable work hardening rate and yields an impressive combination of high strength and high ductility, leading to a toughness that is nearly 50% higher than that of the coarse-grained counterpart. Ex- and in-situ transmission electron microscopy indicates that nanoscale and submicroscale twins help to suppress and limit martensitic phase transformation via the confinement of martensite within the twin lamellar. Twinning and detwinning remain active during tensile deformation and contribute to the work hardening behavior. We discuss the advantageous properties of using submicrotwins as the main load carrier and nanotwins as the strengthening layers over those coarse and nanocrystalline grains. Furthermore, our work uncovers a new gradient design strategy to help metals and alloys achieve high strength and high ductility.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Phase-Field Model for In-Space Manufacturing of Binary Alloys

The integrity of the final printed components is mostly dictated by the adhesion between the particles and phases that form upon solidification, which is a major problem in printing metallic parts using available In-Space Manufacturing (ISM) technologies based on the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) methodology. Understanding the melting/solidification process helps increase particle adherence and allows to produce components with greater mechanical integrity. We developed a phase-field model of solidification for binary alloys. The phase-field approach is unique in capturing the microstructure with computationally tractable costs. The developed phase-field model of solidification of binary alloys satisfies the stability conditions at all temperatures. The suggested model is tuned for Ni-Cu alloy feedstocks. We derived the Ginzburg-Landau equations governing the phase transformation kinetics and solved them analytically for the dilute solution. We calculated the concentration profile as a function of interface velocity for a one-dimensional steady-state diffuse interface neglecting elasticity and obtained the partition coefficient, k, as a function of interface velocity. Numerical simulations for the diluted solution are used to study the interface velocity as a function of undercooling for the classic sharp interface model, partitionless solidification, and thin interface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Characterization of γ′/γ″ compact and sandwich type precipitates during long-term high-temperature exposure in Ni-based superalloys

Here, the formation of γ′/γ″ co-precipitates is investigated in Ni-based superalloys with a varying Ti/Al ratio and Ta content and their stability is studied using long-term high-temperature exposure. Transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography analyses demonstrate that both higher Ti/Al ratios and increased Ta promote γ″ phase formation, leading to sandwich and compact structures. The compact co-precipitation significantly reduces γ′ precipitate coarsening during 10,000 h exposure at 700°C by restricting elemental diffusion, particularly of aluminum, from the γ matrix to the γ′ phase. For the alloy without a compact structure, and only γʹ precipitates, at the beginning of the exposure, the coarsening rate over 10,000 h was 3.5 times faster than for the alloy with compact γʹ/γʺ precipitates. Evidence of destabilization of the compact morphology was found to occur between 5,000 and 10,000 h exposure and originated from the extensive formation and growth of δ platelets that extended throughout the grains. Thus, the outer layer of the compact, which consists of γʺ, was subjected to the γ″ to δ phase transformation.

gamma double prime↗
DOE OSTI2012

Effects of electron-phonon coupling and electron diffusion on ripples growth on ultrafast-laser-irradiated metals

Metals exposed to ultrafast laser irradiation close to ablative regimes show often a submicron-scale (near 0.5 {mu}m) periodic organization of the surface as ripples. Using two classes of metallic materials (transition and noble), we have determined that the ripples amplitude is strongly correlated to the material transport properties, namely electron-phonon relaxation strength, electronic diffusion, and to the energy band characteristics of the electronic laser excitation. This particularly depends on the topology of the electronic structure, including d-band effects on electronic excitation. Comparing the effects of electron-phonon nonequilibrium lifetimes for the different metals under similar irradiation conditions, we indicate how the electron-phonon coupling strength affects the electronic thermal diffusion, the speed of phase transformation and impacts on the ripples contrast. The highest contrast is observed for ruthenium, where the electron-phonon coupling is the strongest, followed by tungsten, nickel, and copper, the latter with the least visible contrast. The dependence of surface patterns contrast with fluence is linked to the dependence of the relaxation characteristics with the electronic temperature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

One-pot solvothermal synthesis of dual-phase titanate/titania Nanoparticles and their adsorption and photocatalytic Performances

Dual phase titanate/titania nanoparticles undergo phase transformation gradually with the increase of solvothermal synthesis temperature from 100 °C to 200 °C, and eventually are fully transformed into anatase TiO{sub 2}. The crystal structure change results in the changes of optical absorption, sensitizer/dopant formation and surface area of the materials which finally affect the overall dye removal ability. Reactions under dark and light have been conducted to distinguish the contributions of surface adsorption from photocatalytic degradation. The sample synthesized at 160 °C (S160) shows the best performances for both adsorption under dark and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The adsorption mechanism for S160 is determined as monolayer adsorption based on the adsorption isotherm test under dark condition, and an impressive adsorption capacity of 162.19 mg/g is achieved. For the photocatalytic application, this sample at 0.1 g/L loading is also able to degrade 20 ppm MB within 6 hours under the visible light (>420 nm) condition. - Graphical abstract: The effect of solvothermal synthesis temperature on the formation and dye removal performance of dual phase titanate/titania nanoparticles was unveiled and optimized. - Highlights: • Low temperature one-pot solvothermal synthesis of dual-phase photocatalysts. • Correlation of the synthesis temperature is made with the phase composition. • Adsorption isotherm, kinetics, photocatalytic degradation were studied. • Synthesis at 160 °C yields the best material for adsorption of MB in dark. • The same sample also shows the best visible light degradation of MB.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Highly oriented NdFeCoB nanocrystalline magnets from partially disproportionated compacts by reactive deformation under low pressure

In the present investigation, we take advantage of the ultrafine grain size of NdFeCoB partially hydrogen-disproportionated phases, and prepare anisotropic nanocrystalline magnets with full density and homogenous microstructure and texture by reactive deformation under low pressure. Our results suggest that the pressure could properly promote an occurrence of desorption-recombination reaction due to a shorter-range rearrangement of the atoms, and the newly recombined Nd{sub 2}Fe{sub 14}B grains with fine grain size could undergo deformation immediately after the phase transformation, and then an obvious anisotropy and uniform alignment would be obtained. The maximum magnetic properties, (BH){sub max} = 25.8 MGOe, Br = 11.8 kG, H{sub cj} = 5.5 kOe, were obtained after being treated for 5 min at 820 °C in vacuum. The present study highlights the feasibility to prepare anisotropic nanocrystalline magnets with homogeneous microstructure and a strong (00l) texture of uniform grain size under low pressure.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effect of isochronal annealing on the microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of a cold-rolled high manganese steel

Highlights: • Recrystallised γ grains have similar orientations to reverted/recovered γ grains. • After reversion, γ orientations are correlated to ε and α′-martensite orientations. • γ nucleation at the boundary of reverted/recovered γ grains - Abstract: A Fe-17Mn-3Al-2Si-1Ni-0.06C wt.% steel was subjected to cold-rolling to 42% thickness reduction and isochronally annealed for 300 s between 500 and 850 °C. The high Mn steel was characterised via electron back-scattering diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and uniaxial tensile testing. The reversion of deformation-induced ε and α′-martensite to austenite (γ) was witnessed with the formation of fine twins in reverted/recovered γ grains after annealing to 650 °C. The nucleation of new γ grains at the boundary of reverted/recovered γ grains was also noted. Upon reversion, the γ orientations originated from the ε and α′-martensite orientations by phase transformation via the Shoji-Nishiyama and Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation relationships, respectively. Upon segmenting the γ grains, the recrystallised γ grains were observed to nucleate with orientations similar to those of the reverted/recovered γ grains. Uniaxial tension on a fully recrystallised γ microstructure showed that the initial γ grain size has a more significant effect on the yield strength than the ε and α′-martensite fractions. On the other hand, the initial ε and α′-martensite fractions affect the total elongation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of point and grain boundary defects on the mechanical behavior of monolayer MoS{sub 2} under tension via atomistic simulations

Atomistic simulation is used to study the structure and energy of defects in monolayer MoS{sub 2} and the role of defects on the mechanical properties of monolayer MoS{sub 2}. First, energy minimization is used to study the structure and energy of monosulfur vacancies positioned within the bottom S layer of the MoS{sub 2} lattice, and 60° symmetric tilt grain boundaries along the zigzag and armchair directions, with comparison to experimental observations and density functional theory calculations. Second, molecular dynamics simulations are used to subject suspended defect-containing MoS{sub 2} membranes to a state of multiaxial tension. A phase transformation is observed in the defect-containing membranes, similar to prior work in the literature. For monolayer MoS{sub 2} membranes with point defects, groups of monosulfur vacancies promote stress-concentration points, allowing failure to initiate away from the center of the membrane. For monolayer MoS{sub 2} membranes with grain boundaries, failure initiates at the grain boundary and it is found that the breaking force for the membrane is independent of grain boundary energy.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2017

Influences of granular constraints and surface effects on the heterogeneity of elastic, superelastic, and plastic responses of polycrystalline shape memory alloys

Deformation heterogeneities at the microstructural length-scale developed in polycrystalline shape memory alloys (SMAs) during superelastic loading are studied using both experiments and simulations. In situ X-ray diffraction, specifically the far-field high energy diffraction microscopy (ff-HEDM) technique, was used to non-destructively measure the grain-averaged statistics of position, crystal orientation, elastic strain tensor, and volume for hundreds of austenite grains in a superelastically loaded nickel-titanium (NiTi) SMA. These experimental data were also used to create a synthetic microstructure within a finite element model. The development of intragranular stresses were then simulated during tensile loading of the model using anisotropic elasticity. Driving forces for phase transformation and slip were calculated from these stresses. The grain-average responses of individual austenite crystals examined before and after multiple stress-induced transformation events showed that grains in the specimen interior carry more axial stress than the surface grains as the superelastic response "shakes down". Examination of the heterogeneity within individual grains showed that regions near grain boundaries exhibit larger stress variation compared to the grain interiors. As a result, this intragranular heterogeneity is more strongly driven by the constraints of neighboring grains than the initial stress state and orientation of the individual grains.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Role of point defects in bipolar fatigue behavior of Bi(Mg{sub 1/2}Ti{sub 1/2})O{sub 3} modified (Bi{sub 1/2}K{sub 1/2})TiO{sub 3}-(Bi{sub 1/2}Na{sub 1/2})TiO{sub 3} relaxor ceramics

Lead-free Bi(Mg{sub 1/2}Ti{sub 1/2})O{sub 3}-(Bi{sub 1/2}K{sub 1/2})TiO{sub 3}-(Bi{sub 1/2}Na{sub 1/2})TiO{sub 3} (BMT-BKT-BNT) ceramics have been shown to exhibit large electromechanical strains under high electric fields along with negligible fatigue under strong electric fields. To investigate the role of point defects on the fatigue characteristics, the composition 5BMT-40BKT-55BNT was doped to incorporate acceptor and donor defects on the A and B sites by adjusting the Bi/Na and Ti/Mg stoichiometries. All samples had pseudo-cubic symmetries based on x-ray diffraction, typical of relaxors. Dielectric measurements showed that the high and low temperature phase transitions were largely unaffected by doping. Acceptor doping resulted in the observation of a typical ferroelectric-like polarization with a remnant polarization and strain hysteresis loops with significant negative strain. Donor-doped compositions exhibited characteristics that were indicative of an ergodic relaxor phase. Fatigue measurements were carried out on all of the compositions. While the A-site acceptor-doped composition showed a small degradation in maximum strain after 10{sup 6} cycles, the other compositions were essentially fatigue free. Impedance measurements were used to identify the important conduction mechanisms in these compositions. As expected, the presence of defects did not strongly influence the fatigue behavior in donor-doped compositions owing to the nature of their reversible field-induced phase transformation. Even for the acceptor-doped compositions, which had stable domains in the absence of an electric field at room temperature, there was negligible degradation in the maximum strain due to fatigue. This suggests that either the defects introduced through stoichiometric variations do not play a prominent role in fatigue in these systems or it is compensated by factors like decrease in coercive field, an increase in ergodicity, symmetry change, or other factors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Optimizing the fabrication process and interplay of device components of polymer solar cells using a field-based multiscale solar-cell algorithm

Both the device composition and fabrication process are well-known to crucially affect the power conversion efficiency of polymer solar cells. Major advances have recently been achieved through the development of novel device materials and inkjet printing technologies, which permit to improve their durability and performance considerably. In this work, we demonstrate the usefulness of a recently developed field-based multiscale solar-cell algorithm to investigate the influence of the material characteristics, like, e.g., electrode surfaces, polymer architectures, and impurities in the active layer, as well as post-production treatments, like, e.g., electric field alignment, on the photovoltaic performance of block-copolymer solar-cell devices. Our study reveals that a short exposition time of the polymer bulk heterojunction to the action of an external electric field can lead to a low photovoltaic performance due to an incomplete alignment process, leading to undulated or disrupted nanophases. With increasing exposition time, the nanophases align in direction to the electric field lines, resulting in an increase of the number of continuous percolation paths and, ultimately, in a reduction of the number of exciton and charge-carrier losses. Moreover, we conclude by modifying the interaction strengths between the electrode surfaces and active layer components that a too low or too high affinity of an electrode surface to one of the components can lead to defective contacts, causing a deterioration of the device performance. Finally, we infer from the study of block-copolymer nanoparticle systems that particle impurities can significantly affect the nanostructure of the polymer matrix and reduce the photovoltaic performance of the active layer. For a critical volume fraction and size of the nanoparticles, we observe a complete phase transformation of the polymer nanomorphology, leading to a drop of the internal quantum efficiency. For other particle-numbers and -sizes, we observe only a local perturbation of the nanostructure, diminishing the number of continuous percolation paths to the electrodes and, therefore, reducing the device performance. From these investigations, we conclude that our multiscale solar-cell algorithm is an effective approach to investigate the impact of device materials and post-production treatments on the photovoltaic performance of polymer solar cells.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

A coupled effect of nuclear and electronic energy loss on ion irradiation damage in lithium niobate

Understanding irradiation effects induced by elastic energy loss to atomic nuclei and inelastic energy loss to electrons in a crystal, as well as the coupled effect between them, is a scientific challenge. Damage evolution in LiNbO 3 irradiated by 0.9 and 21 MeV Si ions at 300 K has been studied utilizing Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in channeling mode. During the low-energy ion irradiation process, damage accumulation produced due to elastic collisions is described utilizing a disorder accumulation model. Moreover, low electronic energy loss is shown to induce observable damage that increases with ion fluence. For the same electronic energy loss, the velocity of the incident ion could affect the energy and spatial distribution of excited electrons, and therefore effectively modify the diameter of the ion track. Furthermore, nonlinear additive phenomenon of irradiation damage induced by high electronic energy loss in pre-damaged LiNbO 3 has been observed. The result indicates that pre-existing damage induced from nuclear energy loss interacts synergistically with inelastic electronic energy loss to promote the formation of amorphous tracks and lead to rapid phase transformation, much more efficient than what is observed in pristine crystal solely induced by electronic energy loss. As a result, this synergistic effect is attributed to the fundamental mechanism that the defects produced by the elastic collisions result in a decrease in thermal conductivity, increase in the electron-phonon coupling, and further lead to higher intensity in thermal spike from intense electronic energy deposition along high-energy ion trajectory.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Electrospark doping of steel with tungsten

The paper is devoted to the numerical modeling of thermal processes and the analysis of the structure and properties of the surface layer of carbon steel subjected to electrospark doping with tungsten. The problem of finding the temperature field in the system film (tungsten) / substrate (iron) is reduced to the solution of the heat conductivity equation. A one-dimensional case of heating and cooling of a plate with the thickness d has been considered. Calculations of temperature fields formed in the system film / substrate synthesized using methods of electrospark doping have been carried out as a part of one-dimensional approximation. Calculations have been performed to select the mode of the subsequent treatment of the system film / substrate with a high-intensity pulsed electron beam. Authors revealed the conditions of irradiation allowing implementing processes of steel doping with tungsten. A thermodynamic analysis of phase transformations taking place during doping of iron with tungsten in equilibrium conditions has been performed. The studies have been carried out on the surface layer of the substrate modified using the method of electrospark doping. The results showed the formation in the surface layer of a structure with a highly developed relief and increased strength properties.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effect of Tool Offset and Rotational Speed in Dissimilar Friction Stir Welding of AISI 304 Stainless Steel and Mild Steel

In the present study, dissimilar friction stir welding was carried out between stainless steel (UNS S30400) and mild steel (UNS G10080) plates of 4 mm thickness using a tungsten carbide tool. The influence of tool rotational speeds (600, 875 rpm) and tool offsets (0.6, 1.2 mm) on mechanical properties, i.e., hardness, tensile strength, and impact toughness of welded joints was investigated. Maximum tensile strength of the joint was about 107.6% of the mild steel under rotational speed of 875 rpm and tool offset of 1.2 mm. The maximum hardness reached in the stir zone was about 281 HV{sub 0.5} due to the phase transformations and grain refinement. Charpy’s notch toughness of the welded joints was observed lower than the base materials. The microstructural characterizations were carried by using an optical microscope, and FESEM–EDS analysis which revealed the complex material mixing and material movement during the welding. Tungsten-rich bands were observed in the weld micrograph especially toward the advancing side. During this study, various wear mechanisms like oxidation wear, abrasive wear, and adhesion wear were responsible for the degradation of tungsten carbide tool.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

On the reliability of nanoindentation hardness of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films grown on Si-wafer by atomic layer deposition

The interest in applying thin films on Si-wafer substrate for microelectromechanical systems devices by using atomic layer deposition (ALD) has raised the demand on reliable mechanical property data of the films. This study aims to find a quick method for obtaining nanoindentation hardness of thin films on silicon with improved reliability. This is achieved by ensuring that the film hardness is determined under the condition that no plastic deformation occurs in the substrate. In the study, ALD Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films having thickness varying from 10 to 600 nm were deposited on a single-side polished silicon wafer at 300 °C. A sharp cube-corner indenter was used for the nanoindentation measurements. A thorough study on the Si-wafer reference revealed that at a specific contact depth of about 8 nm the wafer deformation in loading transferred from elastic to elastic–plastic state. Furthermore, the occurrence of this transition was associated with a sharp increase of the power-law exponent, m, when the unloading data were fitted to a power-law relation. Since m is only slightly material dependent and should fall between 1.2 and 1.6 for different indenter geometry having elastic contact to common materials, it is proposed that the high m values are the results from the inelastic events during unloading. This inelasticity is linked to phase transformations during pressure releasing, a unique phenomenon widely observed in single crystal silicon. Therefore, it is concluded that m could be used to monitor the mechanical state of the Si substrate when the whole coating system is loaded. A suggested indentation depth range can then be assigned to each film thickness to provide guidelines for obtaining reliable property data. The results show good consistence for films thicker than 20 nm and the nanoindentation hardness is about 11 GPa independent of film thickness.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗