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.

Strengthening of Mg and long-period stacking ordered phases in a Mg-Zn-Y alloy by hot-extrusion with low extrusion ratio

Harjo, S.; Gong, W.; Aizawa, Kazuya; Kawasaki, Takuro; Yamasaki, Michiaki*

Acta Materialia, 255, p.119029_1 - 119029_12, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.119029

Accurate description of hydrogen diffusivity in bcc metals using machine-learning moment tensor potentials and path-integral methods

Kwon, H.*; Shiga, Motoyuki; Kimizuka, Hajime*; Oda, Takuji*

Acta Materialia, 247, p.118739_1 - 118739_11, 2023/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.118739

We estimate the diffusivity of dilute hydrogen in body-centered-cubic metals, Nb, Fe, and W, from path integral simulations using machine-learning moment tensor potentials with an accuracy level of density functional theory. Our computational results show great agreement with some experimental results that appear to be accurate. The isotope effects are also reproduced consistently with the experimental data.

Competitive strengthening between dislocation slip and twinning in cast-wrought and additively manufactured CrCoNi medium entropy alloys

Woo, W.*; Kim, Y. S.*; Chae, H. B.*; Lee, S. Y.*; Jeong, J. S.*; Lee, C. M.*; Won, J. W.*; Na, Y. S.*; Kawasaki, Takuro; Harjo, S.; et al.

Acta Materialia, 246, p.118699_1 - 118699_13, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.118699

Evidence supporting reversible martensitic transformation under cyclic loading on Fe-Mn-Si-Al alloys using neutron diffraction

Sawaguchi, Takahiro*; Tomota, Yo*; Yoshinaka, Fumiyoshi*; Harjo, S.

Acta Materialia, 242, p.118494_1 - 118494_14, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.118494

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.

Mechanical surface treatment studies by Bragg edge neutron imaging

Ramadhan, R. S.*; Glaser, D.*; Soyama, Hitoshi*; Kockelmann, W.*; Shinohara, Takenao; Pirling, T.*; Fitzpatrick, M. E.*; Tremsin, A. S.*

Acta Materialia, 239, p.118259_1 - 118259_12, 2022/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.118259

Achieving excellent mechanical properties in type 316 stainless steel by tailoring grain size in homogeneously recovered or recrystallized nanostructures

Liu, M.*; Gong, W.; Zheng, R.*; Li, J.*; Zhang, Z.*; Gao, S.*; Ma, C.*; Tsuji, Nobuhiro*

Acta Materialia, 226, p.117629_1 - 117629_13, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.117629

Metalloid substitution elevates simultaneously the strength and ductility of face-centered-cubic high-entropy alloys

Wei, D.*; Wang, L.*; Zhang, Y.*; Gong, W.; Tsuru, Tomohito; Lobzenko, I.; Jiang, J.*; Harjo, S.; Kawasaki, Takuro; Bae, J. W.*; et al.

Acta Materialia, 225, p.117571_1 - 117571_16, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2021.117571

Density functional theory study of solute cluster growth processes in Mg-Y-Zn LPSO alloys

Itakura, Mitsuhiro; Yamaguchi, Masatake; Egusa, Daisuke*; Abe, Eiji*

Acta Materialia, 203, p.116491_1 - 116491_9, 2021/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2020.116491

Solute cluster in LPSO alloys plays a key role in their idiosyncratic plastic behavior such as kink formation and kink strengthening. Identifying the atomistic details of the cluster structure is a prerequisite for any atomistic modeling of LPSO alloys aiming for their improved strength and ductility, but there have been uncertainty about interstitial atom in the cluster. While density functional theory calculations have shown that inclusion of interstitial atom is energetically favorable, it has been unclear how the extra atom is provided, how much of the cluster have interstitial atoms, and what kind of element they are. In the present work we use density functional theory calculations to investigate the growth process of the solute cluster, specifically that of Mg-Y-Zn LPSO alloy, to determine the precise atomistic structure of solute cluster. We show that a pair of an interstitial atom and a vacancy is spontaneously created when a certain number of solute atoms are absorbed into the cluster, and all the full-grown cluster should include interstitial atom. We also show that interstitial atom is either Mg or Y atom, while Zn interstitial atom is extremely rare. These knowledge greatly simplifies atomistic modeling of solute clusters in Mg-Y-Zn alloy. Owing to the vacancies emitted from the cluster, vacancy density should be over-saturated in regions where solute clusters are growing, and the increased vacancy density accelerates cluster growth.