Oxygen interstitials make metastable titanium alloys strong and ductile

Chong, Y.*; Gholizadeh, R.*; Guo, B.*; Tsuru, Tomohito; Zhao, G.*; Yoshida, Shuhei*; Mitsuhara, Masatoshi*; Godfrey, A.*; Tsuji, Nobuhiro*

Acta Materialia, 257, p.119165_1 - 119165_14, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.119165

Metastable titanium alloys possess excellent strain-hardening capability, but suffer from a low yield strength. As a result, numerous attempts have been made to strengthen this important structural material in the last decade. Here, we explore the contributions of grain refinement and interstitial additions in raising the yield strength of a Ti-12Mo (wt.%) metastable titanium alloy. Surprisingly, rather than strengthening the material, grain refinement actually lowers the ultimate tensile strength in this alloy. This unexpected and anomalous behavior is attributed to a significant enhancement in strain-induced martensite phase transformation, where in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction analysis reveals, for the first time, that this phase is much softer than the parent phase. Instead, a combination of both oxygen addition and grain refinement is found to realize an unprecedented strength-ductility synergy in a Ti-12Mo-0.3O (wt.%) alloy. The advantageous effect of oxygen solutes in this ternary alloy is twofold. Firstly, solute oxygen largely suppresses strain-induced transformation to the martensite phase, even in a fine-grained microstructure, thus avoiding the softening effect of excessive amounts of martensite. Secondly, oxygen solutes readily segregate to twin boundaries, as revealed by atom probe tomography. This restricts the growth of deformation twins, thereby promoting more extensive twin nucleation, leading to enhanced microstructural refinement. The insights from our work provide a cost-effective rationale for the design of strong yet tough metastable titanium alloys, with significant implications for more widespread use of this high strength-to-weight structural material.

Ultrahigh yield strength and large uniform elongation achieved in ultrafine-grained titanium containing nitrogen

Chong, Y.*; Tsuru, Tomohito; Guo, B.*; Gholizadeh, R.*; Inoue, Koji*; Tsuji, Nobuhiro*

Acta Materialia, 240, p.118356_1 - 118356_15, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.118356

In this study, we systematically investigated the influences of nitrogen content and grain size on the tensile properties and deformation behaviors of titanium at room temperature. By high-pressure torsion and annealing, we obtained ultrafine-grained (UFG) Ti-0.3wt.%N alloy with a fully recrystallized microstructure, which combined an unprecedented synergy of ultrahigh yield strength (1.04 GPa) and large uniform elongation (10%). The hardening and strain-hardening mechanisms of Ti-0.3wt.%N alloy were comprehensively studied via deformation substructure observation and first-principles calculations. It is revealed that the contributions of nitrogen to the excellent strength/ductility balance in UFG Ti-0.3wt.%N were twofold. On one hand, nitrogen atoms inside the grains strongly impeded the motion of dislocations on prismatic plane due the shuffling of nitrogen from octahedral to hexahedral site, giving rise to a six-fold increase in the friction stress than pure Ti. Moreover, the greatly reduced stacking fault energy difference between prismatic and pyramidal planes in Ti-0.3wt.%N alloy facilitated an easier activation of dislocations, which contributed to an enhanced strain-hardening rate. On the other hand, some nitrogen atoms segregated near the grain boundaries, a phenomenon discovered in -titanium for the first time. These segregated nitrogen atoms served as an additional contributor to the yield strength of UFG Ti-0.3wt.%N, by raising the barrier against dislocation slip transfer between grains. Our experimental and theoretical calculation work provide insights for the design of affordable high strength titanium without a large sacrifice of ductility, shedding lights on a more widespread use of this high strength to weight material.

Two-step Mott transition in Ni(S,Se); SR studies and charge-spin percolation model

Sheng, Q.*; Kaneko, Tatsuya*; Yamakawa, Kohtaro*; Guguchia, Z.*; Gong, Z.*; Zhao, G.*; Dai, G.*; Jin, C.*; Guo, S.*; Fu, L.*; et al.

Physical Review Research (Internet), 4(3), p.033172_1 - 033172_14, 2022/09

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.033172

The Fe(n,)Fe cross section from the surrogate ratio method and its effect on the Fe nucleosynthesis

Yan, S. Q.*; Li, X. Y.*; Nishio, Katsuhisa; Lugaro, M.*; Li, Z. H.*; Makii, Hiroyuki; Pignatari, M.*; Wang, Y. B.*; Orlandi, R.; Hirose, Kentaro; et al.

Astrophysical Journal, 919(2), p.84_1 - 84_7, 2021/10

https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac12ce

Spectroscopic and first-principles investigations of iodine species incorporation into ettringite; Implications for iodine migration in cement waste forms

Guo, B.*; Xiong, Y.*; Chen, W.*; Saslow, S. A.*; Kozai, Naofumi; Onuki, Toshihiko*; Dabo, I.*; Sasaki, Keiko*

Journal of Hazardous Materials, 389, p.121880_1 - 121880_11, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121880

The Zr()Zr cross section from the surrogate ratio method and its effect on -process nucleosynthesis

Yan, S. Q.*; Li, Z. H.*; Wang, Y. B.*; Nishio, Katsuhisa; Lugaro, M.*; Karakas, A. I.*; Makii, Hiroyuki; Mohr, P.*; Su, J.*; Li, Y. J.*; et al.

Astrophysical Journal, 848(2), p.98_1 - 98_8, 2017/10

https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa8c74

Volume-wise destruction of the antiferromagnetic Mott insulating state through quantum tuning

Frandsen, B. A.*; Liu, L.*; Cheung, S. C.*; Guguchia, Z.*; Khasanov, R.*; Morenzoni, E.*; Munsie, T. J. S.*; Hallas, A. M.*; Wilson, M. N.*; Cai, Y.*; et al.

Nature Communications (Internet), 7, p.12519_1 - 12519_8, 2016/08

https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12519

In-beam spectroscopy of the even-even nucleus Pt

Li, G. S.*; Liu, M. L.*; Zhou, X. H.*; Zhang, Y. H.*; Liu, Y. X.*; Zhang, N. T.*; Hua, W.*; Zheng, Y. D.*; Fang, Y. D.*; Guo, S.*; et al.

Physical Review C, 89(5), p.054303_1 - 054303_9, 2014/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.89.054303

High-spin states of Pt have been reinvestigated using the Yb(O, 4) reaction at a beam energy of 88 MeV. The previously known positive parity band associated with the ( being or ) configuration has been revised and extended significantly. A new negative parity band has been established and proposed to be based on the configuration. Possible structure evolution of the yrast line from predominantly vibrational to rotational with increasing spin is discussed with the help of E over spin curves. Additionally, calculations of Total Routhian surfaces have been performed to investigate the band properties.

Rotational band properties of W

Wang, H. X.*; Zhang, Y. H.*; Zhou, X. H.*; Liu, M. L.*; Ding, B.*; Li, G. S.*; Hua, W.*; Zhou, H. B.*; Guo, S.*; Qiang, Y. H.*; et al.

Physical Review C, 86(4), p.044305_1 - 044305_11, 2012/10

AA2012-0752.pdf:0.78MB

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.86.044305

Giant spin Hall effect of Au films with Pt impurities; Surface-assisted skew scattering

Gu, B.; Ziman, T.*; Guo, G.-Y.*; Nagaosa, Naoto; Maekawa, Sadamichi

Journal of Applied Physics, 109(7), p.070502_1 - 070502_3, 2011/03

We show theoretically a novel route to obtain giant room temperature spin Hall effect (SHE) using surface-assisted skew scattering. By a combined approach of density functional theory and the quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method, we have studied the SHE due to a Pt impurity in different Au hosts. We show that the spin Hall angle (SHA) could become larger than 0.1 on the Au (111) surface, and decreases by about a half on the Au (001) surface, while it is small in bulk Au. The QMC results show that the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) of the Pt impurity on the Au (001) and Au (111) surfaces is enhanced, because the Pt 5 levels are lifted to the Fermi level due to the valence fluctuations. In addition, there are two SOI channels on the Au (111) surface, while only one for Pt either on the Au (001) surface or in bulk Au.