Enhancing the Mechanical Performance of Metallic Materials Induced by Heterogeneous Nanostructures

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Chemistry at Nanoscale".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 2574

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Interests: ultrahigh strength steel; HEA; superalloy; nanostructure; phase transformation; twinning; strengthening; strength; ductility; deformation mechanism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Metals and their alloys are the major workhorse materials in terms of industrial and structural applications, and—largely because they exhibit high levels of deformability that permit arbitrary changes of shape without cracking—continue to remain irreplaceable even today. Recently, heterostructured (HS) materials have been emerging as a major research field because of their superior properties and excellent application potential. Hetero-deformation induced (HDI) strengthening and HDI hardening are responsible for the superior mechanical properties of HS materials, and are major factors determining their mechanical behavior, adding to conventional dislocation-based strengthening and hardening to provide additional enhancements of strength and ductility. In addition, grain boundaries and interphase interfaces in metals have been shown to play a fundamental role in material properties such as strength, fracture resistance, work hardening, and damage evolution. In particular, heterophase interfaces play a crucial role in deformation microstructures and thus govern the mechanical properties of multilayered composites.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  1. Heterogeneous lamella structures;
  2. Layered structures;
  3. Gradient structures;
  4. Dual/multiple phase structures;
  5. Harmonic structures;
  6. Bi-modal structures;
  7. Metal matrix composites, etc.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Yongfeng Shen
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • metallic materials
  • nanoscale
  • heterogeneous microstructure
  • mechanical performance
  • strengthening

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 11694 KiB  
Article
Investigation of the Crystallographic Evolution Sequence of Nano-Precipitation via HRTEM in Cu-Bearing Ultra-Low Carbon Steel
by Weina Zhang, Zhanjie Gao, Hao Wei, Huimin Zhang, Zejin Chen, Wenying Xue, Yongfeng Shen and Zhenyu Liu
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(16), 1335; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14161335 - 10 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1077
Abstract
The precipitation behavior of Cu-bearing ultra-low carbon steel after step quenching and tempering at 923 K for 0.5–2.5 h was investigated. The size, quantity, and characteristic distribution of nano-precipitates were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy, and the microstructure of B2 (an ordered structure [...] Read more.
The precipitation behavior of Cu-bearing ultra-low carbon steel after step quenching and tempering at 923 K for 0.5–2.5 h was investigated. The size, quantity, and characteristic distribution of nano-precipitates were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy, and the microstructure of B2 (an ordered structure belonging to the body-centered cubic structure), 9R (a special triclinic lattice that has characteristics of rhombohedral structure), 3R (a special triclinic lattice like 9R), and FCT (face-centered tetragonal lattices) were accurately determined. The relationship between nano-precipitates and mechanical properties under different heat treatment processes was obtained, revealing that nano-precipitates effectively enhanced the yield strength of Cu-bearing ultra-low carbon steel. There were two forms of crystal structure evolution sequence of precipitation: B2→multi twin 9R→detwined 9R→FCT→FCC and B2→multi-twin 9R→detwinned 9R→3R→FCT→FCC. The morphology of the precipitated particles during the growth process changed from spherical to ellipsoidal and finally to rod-shaped. It was proven that a stable 3R structure existed due to the coexistence of 9R, 3R, and FCT structures in the same precipitate particle. Full article
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19 pages, 8904 KiB  
Article
High-Entropy Alloy Activating Laves-Phase Network for Multi-Component Metallic Coatings with High Hardness
by Ao Yan, Guoxing Chen, Huiqiang Ying, Xiao Yang, Zongde Kou, Song Tang, Longlong Fan, Xiang Chen, He Zhu, Zhiguang Zhu, Yang Ren and Si Lan
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(12), 1016; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14121016 - 12 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1140
Abstract
The low hardness and poor wear resistance of laser-cladding 316L stainless steel impose significant constraints on its practical applications. In this study, a strategy for strengthening laser-cladding 316L stainless steel with WMoTaNb refractory high-entropy alloy as a reinforcement material is proposed. The results [...] Read more.
The low hardness and poor wear resistance of laser-cladding 316L stainless steel impose significant constraints on its practical applications. In this study, a strategy for strengthening laser-cladding 316L stainless steel with WMoTaNb refractory high-entropy alloy as a reinforcement material is proposed. The results confirm that the coating primarily comprises a body-centered cubic (BCC) Fe-based solid solution, a network-distributed hexagonal Fe2X (X = W, Mo, Ta, and Nb) Laves phase, and a diffusely distributed face-centered cubic (FCC) (Ta, Nb)C phase. The Fe-based solid solution distributes along columnar and fine dendrites, while the Laves phase and (Ta, Nb)C phase are in the inter-dendrites. The presence of a significant number of network Laves phases exhibiting high strength and hardness is the primary factor contributing to the enhancement of coating microhardness. The hardness of the composite coating is increased by nearly twice compared to that of the 316L coating, resulting in an improved wear resistance. The present work can shed light on designing and fabricating 316L stainless steel coating with enhanced hardness and wear resistance. Full article
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