Pressure engineering of van der Waals compound RhI; Bandgap narrowing, metallization, and remarkable enhancement of photoelectric activity

Fang, Y.*; Kong, L.*; Wang, R.*; Zhang, Z.*; Li, Z.*; Wu, Y.*; Bu, K.*; Liu, X.*; Yan, S.*; Hattori, Takanori; et al.

Materials Today Physics (Internet), 34, p.101083_1 - 101083_7, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtphys.2023.101083

The layered van der Waals halides are particularly sensitive to external pressure, suggesting a feasible route to pinpoint their structure with extraordinary behavior. However, a very sensitive pressure response usually lead to a detrimental phase transition and/or lattice distortion, making the approach of materials manipulation in a continuous manner remain challenging. Here, the extremely weak interlayer coupling and high tunability of layered RhI crystals are observed. A pressure-driven phase transition occurs at a moderate pressure of 5 GPa, interlinking to a change of layer stack mode. Strikingly, such a phase transition does not affect the tendency of quasi-linear bandgap narrowing, and a metallization with an ultra-broad tunability of 1.3 eV redshift is observed at higher pressures. Moreover, the carrier concentration increases by 4 orders of magnitude at 30 GPa, and the photocurrent enhances by 5 orders of magnitude at 7.8 GPa. These findings create new opportunities for exploring, tuning, and understanding the van der Waals halides by harnessing their unusual feature of a layered structure, which is promising for future devices based on materials-by-design that are atomically thin.

Heat-induced structural changes in magnesium alloys AZ91 and AZ31 investigated by in situ synchrotron high-energy X-ray diffraction

Liu, X. J.*; Xu, P. G.; Shiro, Ayumi*; Zhang, S. Y.*; Shobu, Takahisa; Yukutake, Eitaro*; Akita, Koichi*; Zolotoyabko, E.*; Liss, K.-D.*

Journal of Materials Science, 57(46), p.21446 - 21459, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07917-y

IRDFF-II; A New neutron metrology library

Trkov, A.*; Griffin, P. J.*; Simakov, S. P.*; Greenwood, L. R.*; Zolotarev, K. I.*; Capote, R.*; Aldama, D. L.*; Chechev, V.*; Destouches, C.*; Kahler, A. C.*; et al.

Nuclear Data Sheets, 163, p.1 - 108, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2019.12.001

The version II of the International Reactor Dosimetry and Fusion File (IRDFF-II) has been released as a consistent set of nuclear data for fission and fusion neutron metrology applications up to 60 MeV neutron energy. The library is intended to support: (a) applications in research reactors; (b) safety and regulatory applications in the nuclear power generation in commercial fission reactors; and c) material damage studies in support of the research and development of advanced fusion concepts. The paper describes the contents of the library, documents the thorough verification process used in its preparation, and provides an extensive set of validation data gathered from a wide range of neutron benchmark fields. The new library is expected to become the international reference in neutron metrology for multiple applications.

Hydrostatic compression behavior and high-pressure stabilized -phase in -based titanium aluminide intermetallics

Liss, K.-D.*; Funakoshi, Kenichi*; Dippenaar, R. J.*; Higo, Yuji*; Shiro, Ayumi*; Reid, M.*; Suzuki, Hiroshi; Shobu, Takahisa; Akita, Koichi

Metals, 6(7), p.165_1 - 165_22, 2016/07

https://doi.org/10.3390/met6070165

Titanium aluminides find application in modern light-weight, high-temperature turbines, such as aircraft engines, but suffer from poor plasticity during manufacturing and processing. Huge forging presses enable materials processing in the 10 GPa range and hence, it is necessary to investigate the phase-diagrams of candidate materials under these extreme conditions. Here we report on an in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction study in a large-volume-press of a modern ( + ) two-phase material, Ti-45Al-7.5Nb-0.25C, under pressures up to 9.6 GPa and temperatures up to 1686 K. At room temperature, the volume response to pressure is accommodated by the transformation rather than volumetric strain, expressed by apparently high bulk moduli of both constituent phases. Crystallographic aspects, specifically lattice strain and atomic order are discussed in detail. It is interesting to note that this transformation takes place despite an increase in atomic volume, which is due to the high ordering energy of . Upon heating under high pressure, both the eutectoid and -solvus transition temperatures are elevated, and a third, cubic -phase is stabilized above 1350 K. Earlier research has shown that this -phase is very ductile during plastic deformation, essential in near-conventional forging processes. Here, we were able to identify an ideal processing window for near-conventional forging, while the presence of the detrimental -phase is not present under operating conditions. Novel processing routes can be defined from these findings.

Progress of bulk texture measurement techniques using various neutron sources towards widespread materials evaluation

Xu, P. G.; Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; Harjo, S.; Shobu, Takahisa; Iwamoto, Chihiro*; Takamura, Masato*; Otake, Yoshie*; Onuki, Yusuke*; Sato, Shigeo*; Liss, K.-D.*

no journal, ,