In situ microlevel spherical B2 CuZr phase reinforced Zr49.5Cu36.45Ni4.05Al9Nb1 bulk metallic glass matrix composite was prepared successfully by the copper mold casting method. It was found that mechanical properties of Zr50.5Cu36.45Ni4.05Al9 alloy were improved largely due to the Nb addition. The room-temperature compressive fracture strength and plastic strain for Zr49.5Cu36.45Ni4.05Al9Nb1 rod with a diameter of 5 mm reaches 2037 MPa and 8%, respectively. The improvements are attributed to the precipitation of the spherical B2 CuZr phase distributed uniformly in amorphous matrix, which effectively hampers the propagation of shear bands by deflecting them at the interface and by a multiplication mechanism.

Systematic microstructural and mechanical investigations of the Fe84.3Cr4.3Mo4.6V2.2C4.6 alloy cast under special manufacturing conditions in the as-cast state and after specific heat treatment are presented to point out that the special manufacturing of the alloy led to high compression strength (up to 4680 MPa) combined with large fracture strain (about 20%) already in the as-cast state. One select chemical composition of the alloy, which was mentioned previously [Kühn et al., Appl. Phys. Lett.90, 261901 (2007)] enhanced mechanical properties already in the as-cast state. Furthermore, that composition is comparable to commercial high-speed steel. By the special manufacturing used, a high purity of elements and a high cooling rate, which led to a microstructure similar to a composite-like material, composed of dendritic area (martensite, bainite, and ferrite) and interdendritic area (e.g., complex carbides). The presented article demonstrates an alloy that exhibits already in the as-cast state high fracture strength and large ductility. Furthermore, these outstanding mechanical properties remain unchanged after heating up to 873 K.

The stress relaxation responses of the Sn–3.8Ag–0.7Cu joints following exposure to electrical currents were examined to investigate the effect of electromigration on the reliability of solder joints. It was found that the stress relaxation rate was enhanced for the Sn–3.8Ag–0.7Cu solder joints subjected to a current density of 2 × 104 A/cm2. Sn hillock formation was observed in situ on the surface of the solder joint and the increase of the hillock volume was obtained as a function of the current application time. Analysis of the vacancy flux indicated that the variations of the vacancy concentration with the electromigration time from the calculations agreed with the growth kinetics of the hillocks observed in the experiments. By modeling the stress relaxation as a climb-assisted dislocation glide process, it is shown that the vacancy accumulation induced by electromigration enhanced the dislocation climb rate, resulting in a large increase of the stress relaxation rate.

The strain rate dependence of anisotropic compression behavior in porous iron with cylindrical pores oriented in one direction was investigated. Through high strain rate (˜103 s−1) compression tests along the orientation direction of pores using the split Hopkinson pressure bar method, it was shown that the stress–strain curve exhibits a unique plateau-stress region where deformation proceeds with almost no stress increase. The appearance of the plateau-stress region is related to the buckling deformation of the iron matrix and provides superior energy absorption. However, for the middle (˜10−1 s−1) and low strain rates (˜10−4 s−1), compression along the same direction produces no such plateau region. In fact, in contrast to compression in the parallel direction, compression perpendicular to the orientation direction of pores produces no plateau-stress regions in any of the three strain rates.

The microstructure of Pt-modified γ′-Ni3Al + γ-Ni coating on CMSX-4 single-crystal superalloy has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Cross-sectional TEM analyses showed the presence of precipitates in the coating. This precipitate was identified as the hexagonal topologically close-packed (TCP) μ phase with lattice parameters a = 0.473 nm and c = 2.565 nm. The energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectrum of the μ phase suggested a refractory element rich compound comprising the elements Re, W, and Co. Twin domains parallel to (001) were found in the μ phase. The mechanisms of the μ phase and twinning formation were discussed.

Metallic multilayers of Cu/Al/Ti composition were studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and plasmon energy-loss mapping as prototypes of nanoscale reactive multilayer systems with exothermic alloy formation in oxygen-free conditions. The selection and arrangement of alloy phases by the system during ex situ and in situ heating experiments were found to depend not only on temperature but strongly on the initial volume ratios of metals, and to a lesser degree on the dimensionality of the reactive sample. Here, a two-dimensional sample was represented by ex situ heating of the full multilayer structure, a one-dimensional sample refers to in situ heating of thin cross-sectional TEM specimens, while a zero-dimensional sample (or metallic dot-array) was obtained after cutting thin pillars using focused ion beams. Lamellar self-organized alternation between Heusler phase and Cu9Al4 was found.

The initial stage of oxidation of Ti45Al7Nb0.4Y alloy (at.%) oxidized at 900 °C in air was investigated by using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy. Experimental results revealed that YAl2 segregated along the grain boundaries preferentially oxidized to Y2O3 and Al2O3 due to strong affinity of Y to oxygen. Oxides grew faster at the grain boundaries than in lamellar colonies. As a result, Y and Al oxides pegs protruded into the substrate, which can increase the contact areas of oxide scale and substrate. Moreover, inward diffusion of oxygen more easily occurred along the grain boundaries. As a result, it promoted the external oxidation of Al within the grains due to lower inward diffusion flux of oxygen. And coarse-grained Y2O3 blocked the cationic intergranular diffusion. Therefore, Y addition can effectively enhance the Al2O3 layer and suppress the TiO2 outermost layer.