Materials Characterization最新文献

{"title":"Glow discharge sputtering technology and apparatus for microstructural preparation of metallic materials","authors":"Yixuan Shen ,&nbsp;Xing Yu ,&nbsp;Siyu Cui ,&nbsp;Suran Liu ,&nbsp;Jianqiu Luo ,&nbsp;Haizhou Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115297","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115297","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Authentic and efficient preparation of microstructures over large surface areas of materials is crucial for accurate characterization of material properties. Traditional microstructural preparation techniques, such as mechanical polishing, chemical etching, and ion beam milling, suffer from limitations including surface damage, complex procedures, and low efficiency. In contrast, glow discharge sputtering (GDS) operates in a high-pressure argon atmosphere (several millibars) and utilizes a wide-angle, low-energy argon ion beam to achieve uniform large-area sputtering with minimal material damage and high preparation efficiency. More importantly, the sputtering yield differences at grain/phase boundaries in GDS lead to selective sputtering behavior, which directly reveals the material's original microstructure, thereby eliminating the two essential steps of polishing and etching in traditional metallographic preparation. Commercial GDS instruments are exclusively designed for chemical composition analysis, lacking microstructural preparation capabilities. Furthermore, their restricted anode cylinder dimensions prevent them from meeting large-area preparation requirements. This study first employs numerical simulations to analyze glow discharge cathode sputtering behavior, confirming GDS's capability to preserve the material's original microstructural characteristics. Building upon this foundation, we designed and constructed a dedicated GDS apparatus for microstructural preparation, incorporating a successive approximation control algorithm to stabilize the glow discharge process. In practical applications, the integration of GDS with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) enabled three-dimensional reconstruction and visualization of GH4169 polycrystalline superalloy grains, revealing their three-dimensional morphology and spatial distribution. Additionally, GDS demonstrates versatility across various materials and characterization techniques. It significantly enhances microstructural image quality in EBSD, metallographic, and backscattered electron (BSE) imaging for materials including martensitic heat-resistant steel, T2 copper, and GH4096, effectively replacing polishing and etching in certain applications. This establishes GDS as an innovative approach for microstructural preparation in metallic materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115297"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Microstructural evolution mechanism and mechanical performance of nanocrystallized surface induced by high-strain-rate plastic deformation","authors":"Wenqian Zhang ,&nbsp;Qinglong Yang ,&nbsp;Pengpeng Hou ,&nbsp;Chongwen Yang ,&nbsp;Baoyi Zhu ,&nbsp;Huan Xue ,&nbsp;Haishan Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115332","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115332","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A surface nanocrystallization (SNC) method using high-strain-rate severe plastic deformation (SPD) via diamond rotary rolling treatment (DRRT) technology was employed to achieve a nanostructured surface in 316 L stainless steel. The DRRT specimens showed a maximum strain rate of 250 s⁻¹. The maximum compressive residual stresses were − 421 MPa in the machining direction (MD) and − 689 MPa in the perpendicular direction (PD). The maximum surface hardness reached 575 HV with a hardening depth of 1100 μm. The DRRT specimen with optimal strength-ductility balance achieved an ultimate tensile strength of 757 MPa while maintaining 38 % uniform elongation. Microstructural characterizations revealed that the high-strain-rate SPD process was accompanied by complex microstructural changes, including dislocations, slips, stacking faults, twinning, grain refinement, and multiphase of face-centered cubic austenite (fcc-γ), body-centered cubic martensite (bcc-α') and hexagonal close-packed martensite (hcp-ε). Different regions of the gradient micro-nano structure exhibited distinct martensitic transformation mechanisms. In the high-strain-rate deformation zone near the surface, the γ → ε → α' phase transformation mechanism was observed, whereas the transformation mechanism of γ → austenite twinning → α' occurred in the lower strain-rate deformation zone deeper from the surface. Notably, the phenomenon of detwinning was observed in the high-strain-rate region, which may be related to the inhibition from the intermediate ε-hcp phase during the phase transformation. Based on these results, the co-evolution mechanism of grain refinement and martensitic phase transformation under high-strain-rate conditions was revealed. The combined effects of high-strain-rate SPD, martensitic phase transformation, grain refinement, and detwinning resulted in the nanocrystallization of coarse-grained austenite.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115332"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144517849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Features of the Ti-6Al-4V microstructure and phase composition formation by changing the thermal cycle during the process of direct energy deposition","authors":"M.O. Gushchina ,&nbsp;D.M. Anisimov ,&nbsp;Zh.S. Shabunina ,&nbsp;S.A. Shalnova ,&nbsp;O.G. Klimova-Korsmik ,&nbsp;I.K. Topalov ,&nbsp;V.L. Aleksandrov ,&nbsp;G.A. Turichin","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115330","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115330","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Laser and additive manufacturing technologies are revolutionizing the industrial landscape. These techniques offer unparalleled precision, efficiency, and flexibility for creating complex components. The integration of these technologies allows for rapid prototyping and the production of custom parts in small batches. Of particular interest to industry is the 3D printing of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloys because of their unique properties. We have studied the phase transformation pathway during interlayer temperature change when different strategy deposition. Samples manufactured by direct laser deposition were analyzed using electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and dilatometry. We demonstrate that a significant β-phase fraction variation occurs with interlayer temperature change. We reveal that the increase of interlayer temperature enhances the static and dynamic properties of deposited Ti-6Al-4V alloy due to the modification of phase composition. Interlayer temperature may be adjusted with various deposition strategies. The abrupt cyclic nature of the additive manufacturing process is what has facilitated this unusual transformation sequence. The work provides a complete and general description of the phase transformation pathway, informed by these observations. The implication of the phase transformation on mechanical properties is discussed in relation to interlayer temperature.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115330"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144517850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Recrystallization texture evolution in non-grain oriented silicon steel via electrical current rapid heating","authors":"Fang Zhang,&nbsp;Feng Yan,&nbsp;Jialin Ren,&nbsp;Miao Zhang,&nbsp;Yuhui Sha,&nbsp;Liang Zuo","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115333","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115333","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Texture improvement has long been a challenging problem for non-grain oriented (NGO) silicon steel. In this work, the microstructure and texture evolution in Fe-3 %Si steel which was cold rolled by 83 % and further annealed by slow heating of 20 °C/s and rapid heating of 150 °C/s through electrical current passing the specimen were studied by electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was found that rapid heating effectively promoted the favorable recrystallization texture of λ (〈001〉//ND), Goss ({110} 〈001〉) as well as α (〈110〉//RD), while hindered the unfavorable texture of γ (〈111〉//ND). Rapid heating affects the texture competition by making the components with lower stored strain energy get more opportunities for nucleation and grain growth in terms of the modified recovery and recrystallization kinetics. Electrical current rapid heating, featured with high efficiency and low energy consumption, can act as a perspective approach to manufacture high-performance non-grain oriented silicon steel.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115333"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synergistically engineered Ti-based interlayer for high-strength pulsed-current diffusion bonding of TiAl/Ti2AlNb joints at ambient and elevated temperatures","authors":"Jiafeng Fan ,&nbsp;Xiaoqiang Li ,&nbsp;Qi Jiang ,&nbsp;Penghui Tu ,&nbsp;Haoxi Zhang ,&nbsp;Cunliang Pan ,&nbsp;Wenjie Jian ,&nbsp;Shengguan Qu ,&nbsp;Chao Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115325","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115325","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reliable joining of TiAl and Ti₂AlNb alloys, pivotal for high-temperature aerospace applications, remains challenging due to their structural and chemical disparities, which often result in brittle interfacial phases and degraded mechanical performance. This study introduces a synergistically engineered Ti-based interlayer for pulsed-current diffusion bonding (PCDB), enabling high-strength joints with exceptional stability across ambient and elevated temperatures. The interlayer, featuring a metastable β matrix and multi-element solid solution, which promotes the formation of a gradient interfacial structure: a dual-phase α₂ + B2 layer and a single phase α₂ layer on the TiAl side, and a B2-dominant structure on the Ti₂AlNb side. Optimal bonding at 900 °C yields uniform diffusion layers, balancing elemental interdiffusion and microstructural stability to achieve peak tensile strengths of 684.1 MPa at room temperature (fracturing in the TiAl substrate) and 587.9 MPa at 700 °C—surpassing conventional interlayer-based joints. Strengthening arises from synergies between solid-solution, intracrystalline defects (dislocation walls and nanotwins), and gradient interfacial structures, demonstrating a breakthrough in joining dissimilar Ti<img>Al intermetallics for high-performance engineering applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115325"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144490145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Microstructure, mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of Al-1.2Fe alloy fabricated by laser-directed energy deposition","authors":"Haeju Jo ,&nbsp;Chanho Park ,&nbsp;Dohyung Kim ,&nbsp;Tae-hyeon Jeong ,&nbsp;Wookjin Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115327","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115327","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Al-1.2Fe (wt%) alloy was fabricated using the laser-directed energy deposition (L-DED) process at various combinations of laser power and scanning speed, followed by laser rescanning (LR) and heat treatment at 873 K for 24 h. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivity were investigated to evaluate the suitability of Al-1.2Fe alloy fabricated by L-DED as heat dissipation material. The results show that the L-DED samples exhibited a multilayered microstructure with coarse columnar structures. The bead thickness was reduced in the LR samples compared to the L-DED samples, but the microstructure remained similar. Heat treatment altered the microstructure, forming spherical and plate-like precipitates of Al₆Fe and Al₁₃Fe₄. A great number of nano-scale Al₆Fe particles predominated in the L-DED sample, while a small number of micro-scale Al₁₃Fe₄ particles were found in the heat-treated sample. All samples exhibited elongated α-Al grains along the build direction (BD). The grain size decreased in the order of the L-DED, LR and heat-treated samples. The LR process had negligible effects on hardness and tensile properties. On the other hand, the heat treatment reduced both hardness and tensile properties. The thermal conductivity was slightly improved by the LR process and significantly increased to approximately 30 W/m∙K after the heat treatment. Across all fabrication types (N, R, and H), increases in laser power and scanning speed led to improvements in the tensile properties and thermal conductivity. Additionally, there was clear anisotropy in tensile properties and thermal conductivity. The tensile properties were superior in the horizontal direction along the BD compared to the vertical direction, while the thermal conductivity was higher in vertical direction than in the horizontal direction. The anisotropy in these properties is believed to be primarily caused by the elongated grains along the BD.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115327"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144481801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Microstructure refinement, thermal stability and mechanical properties improvements of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu-xSb","authors":"N.S. Mohamad Zaimi ,&nbsp;M.A.A. Mohd Salleh ,&nbsp;Mohd Sharizal Abdul Aziz ,&nbsp;N.I. Muhammad Nadzri ,&nbsp;M.F.H. Baser ,&nbsp;W. Tanthanuch ,&nbsp;S. Tancharakorn ,&nbsp;N. Mothong ,&nbsp;C.Y. Khor","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115324","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115324","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study systematically elucidates the effects of antimony (Sb) additions (0, 0.5, and 1.5 wt%) on the microstructure, thermal stability, wettability, and mechanical performance of SAC305 solder alloys at both bulk and solder joints. The results demonstrate that incorporating 1.5 wt% Sb leads to significant microstructure refinement as evidenced by a 66 % reduction in crystallite sizes of β-Sn phase through Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction. Synchrotron micro-XRF mapping analysis further confirmed a uniform distribution of Sb within the matrix phase, which contributes to enhanced grain refinement. Additionally, Sb addition reduces the interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) layer thickness by 9 %, enhancing joint reliability. The undercooling values were also reduced with increasing Sb content, indicating improved thermal stability. The growth restriction factor (Q) was calculated, and the results demonstrated that the Q value increased from 13.82 to 15.62 with 1.5 wt% Sb addition highlighting Sb’s role as an effective grain refiner. Mechanical testing confirmed that Sb additions enhance the mechanical performance of both bulk solder and solder joints primarily through solid solution strengthening mechanisms. By employing advanced synchrotron-based characterization techniques to quantitatively correlate Sb-induced microstructure refinement with improved mechanical and thermal properties, these findings contribute to a deeper understanding that is crucial for optimizing reliability in electronic packaging systems while providing new insights into the role of Sb in optimizing the performance and reliability of SAC305 solder alloys.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115324"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144481802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In situ monitoring of temperature, force and torque in additive friction stir deposition of AA6061: Effect of rotational driving mode","authors":"Q. Qiao ,&nbsp;C.W. Tam ,&nbsp;D. Guo ,&nbsp;H. Qian ,&nbsp;Y. Lin ,&nbsp;Z. Li ,&nbsp;D. Zhang ,&nbsp;C.T. Kwok ,&nbsp;L.M. Tam","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115326","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115326","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The effects of different rotational driving modes, using round and square rods, on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a deposition fabricated via additive friction stir deposition (AFSD) were investigated. A process monitoring kit was employed in this study to enable in-situ monitoring of real-time temperature, force, and torque of the contact interface and upsetting. The results show that the detected force and torque were reduced when a round rod was used as the feedstock. Furthermore, the corresponding microstructure was more refined, and the tensile properties in both the longitudinal and building directions improved, with a yield strength of 175 and 108 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 188 and 129 MPa, and elongations of 30 and 33 %, respectively. These findings enhance deposition performance and optimize tooling structures in AFSD and other additive manufacturing technologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115326"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144535793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dynamic recrystallization, textural evolution, and strengthening mechanism of medium-Mn steel subjected to friction-stir welding (FSW)","authors":"Hyo-Nam Choi ,&nbsp;Hidetoshi Fujii ,&nbsp;Seung-Joon Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115307","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115307","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present study aims to a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior, textural evolution, and strengthening mechanisms in <em>bcc</em> α/α' and <em>fcc</em> γ phases during friction stir welding (FSW) of medium-Mn steel. The α/α' phases with high stacking-fault energy (SFE), predominantly revealed continuous DRX, forming island-type grains with high-angle boundaries within subdivided grains. In contrast, the γ phase with low SFE had discontinuous DRX, characterized by recrystallized regions featuring grain-boundary bulging assisted with limited twinning. Notably, DRX kinetics showed higher activity in α/α' phases compared to the γ phase, leading to two significant outcomes: a reduction in deformation texture (particularly, Trans-Goss component) and hardening in the stir zone center originated from the grain refinement and dislocation accumulation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115307"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144500980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantification of line dislocations in FFTF irradiated HT9 cladding by deep learning method","authors":"Liang Zhao,&nbsp;Fei Xu,&nbsp;Douglas L. Porter,&nbsp;Yachun Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115322","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.matchar.2025.115322","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Dislocations in crystalline materials are directedly linked to the plastic deformation and bulk mechanical properties in materials. Specifically, this work is inspired by the need for microstructural dislocation information to support a model for thermal creep of HT9 ferritic/martensitic stainless steel. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can directly reveal dislocations at nanoscale; however, deriving accurate dislocation statistics remains a challenge. This difficulty arises from the complex contrast mechanism and multitude of microstructural features in TEM micrographs, as well as the natural human bias in widely used manual labelling methods. Preliminary computer vision models, which employ segmentation-based neural networks and involve multiple steps of manual manipulation and analysis, often fail to detect sparse and fragmented line dislocations effectively. This work presents an end-to-end deep learning-based method for versatile dislocation line detection in TEM micrographs. By treating dislocations as edges rather than cracks or lines, we designed two modules to adapt the network from general edge detection to TEM dislocations detection. Specifically, a rectification module was developed and integrated into the basic framework to enhance the feature segmentation for continuous and non-cycle detection of TEM dislocations. Additionally, a post-processing module was embedded into the model network to filter out redundant and overlapping dislocations. The method was then used to automatically generate dislocation locations and lengths in untested TEM micrographs with high accuracy. This method has the potential to be applied to large datasets of TEM micrographs of high dislocations' density (in the order of 10¹⁴ m⁻²).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18727,"journal":{"name":"Materials Characterization","volume":"227 ","pages":"Article 115322"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144472003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}