Materials Science Forum Vols. 558-559

Abstract: The temperature dependence of the energy of various facets of twin GBs has been measured. For the investigation of GB faceting the Al bicrystals of 99.999% wt. purity were grown by the modified Bridgman technique. One grain in these bicrystals is semi-surrounded by another one. Bicrystals were coated with a layer of Sn–Al alloy and annealed at various temperatures. Contact angles at the junction of a GB and two solid/liquid interfaces have been measured. The ratios of GB energy to solid/liquid interface energy have been calculated. Using these data, the Wulff-Herring plots and GB phase diagrams were constructed. Three different crystallographic facets were observed for the coincidence GB. Two of them are stable at all studied temperatures, the third one becomes metastable below ~ 800K. In GBs with θ = 3° only one facet (symmetric twin GB) is stable.

Abstract: In this paper, we characterized atomic structure of a Σ = 3, [110]/{112} grain boundary in a yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia bicrystal. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) clearly revealed that the grain boundary migrated to form {111}/{115} periodical facets, although the bicrystal was initially joined so as to have the symmetric straight boundary plane of {112}. Atomic-scale process for the facet growth could be modeled by the continuous flippings of atoms at the boundary core.

Abstract: In order to control WC grain size and get a microstructure with fine grain size during the sintering process, WC grain growth in WC-Co cemented carbide was investigated. The possible reason on the grain growth was showed which includes the normal grain growth (NGG) and the abnormal grain growth (AGG). We adopted the SPS (spark plasma sintering) to sinter nanometer WC-Co powder, the range of temperature was 1100 -1250 °C, the pressure was 40MPa, and sintering time was 5min. In this paper, we discuss the density, hardness, microstructures and grain sizes of the sintered samples. The results showed that during the process sintering WC-Co powder, there are two kinds of growths. XRD investigation of the WC–Co samples spark plasma sintered to full density revealed that no new phase was created. Through the observed microstructure of the sintered samples, we analyzed the reason of the abnormal grain growth of WC grain. The density and hardness of samples were increased with increasing temperature.

Abstract: The influence of addition of small amounts of boron and nitrogen on the microstructure formed by austenite decomposition in low-alloyed manganese steels was investigated. In order to understand microstructural changes by addition of boron and nitrogen, Auger electron spectroscopy was used for analyzing prior austenite grain boundaries in steels doped with phosphorus, boron and nitrogen. The results by microstructure observation showed that the formation of Widmanstätten ferrite was suppressed by addition of a small amount of boron in the steels, whereas Widmanstätten ferrite appears to be formed again by addition of boron and nitrogen. The Auger spectra showed that small particles of boron nitride were detected on grain boundaries in steel doped with boron and nitrogen, while boron was segregated at grain boundaries in steel with boron. This indicates that segregation of boron at grain boundaries and/or sub-boundaries may suppress the formation of Widmanstätten ferrite, while the formation of boron nitride seems to be ineffective to suppression of the formation of Widmanstätten ferrite in steels doped with boron and nitrogen.

Abstract: Nanocrystalline CoFeHfO thin films have been fabricated by RF sputtering method. Co52Fe23Hf10O15 thin film is observed, exhibit good magnetic properties with magnetic coercivity (Hc) of 0.18 Oe; anisotropy fild (Hk) of 49 Oe; saturation magnetization (4лMs) of 21 kG, and electrical resistivity (ρ) of 300 01cm. The frequency response of permeability of the film is excellent. The effect of microstructure on the electrical and magnetic properties of thin film was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that excellent soft magnetic properties were associated with granular nannoscale grains of α-CoFe and α-Co(Fe) phases.

Abstract: Dislocation structure of 10º low-angle tilt grain boundary in α-Al2O3 has been observed by high-resolution electron microscopy (HRTEM). It was found that perfect <1120> edge dislocations, which are introduced to compensate the misorientation, dissociated into two mixed partial dislocations with {1120} stacking-fault in between. The distances between the two partials were estimated by the force balances between repulsive forces of periodical dislocations and attractive forces from stacking-fault. The stacking-fault energy for 10o low-angle tilt grain boundary was estimated to be much higher than the previously reported value.

Abstract: Cubic shaped Magnesium oxide nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by sol-gel method using magnesium nitrate and sodium hydroxide at room temperature. Hydrated Magnesium oxide nanoparticles were annealed in air at 300 and 500°C. X-ray diffraction patterns indicate that the obtain nanoparticles are in good crystallinity, pure magnesium oxide periclase phase with (200) orientation. Morphological investigation by FESEM reveals that the typical sizes of the grown nanoparticles are in the range of 50-70nm. Powder composition was analyzed by the FTIR spectroscopy and the results confirms that the conversion of brucite phase magnesium hydroxide in to magnesium oxide periclase phase was achieved at 300°C.The Thermo-gravimetric analysis showed the phase transition of the synthesized magnesium oxide nanoparticles occurs at 280-300°C.

Abstract: It is shown that an externally applied mechanical stress field can change the kinetics of individual grain boundaries. Moreover, such mechanical stresses also have influence on grain growth and recrystallization kinetics and can strongly affect the microstructure evolution, so that the application of mechanical stresses during annealing can be used as a new approach in the field of grain boundary engineering.

Abstract: The WC/Co interface structures in WC-Co alloys doped with VC, Cr3C2 or ZrC were examined by high-resolution electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) with a special interest in the segregation behavior of respective dopants at the WC/Co interfaces. It was confirmed that the addition of VC or Cr3C2 were effective to reduce WC grain size while that of ZrC was not. In case of VC or Cr3C2-doped alloys, the morphology of WC grains largely changed comparing with undoped and ZrC-doped alloys. The WC/Co interfaces of the two alloys tend to form micro facets with (0001) and {1010} habits. EDS analysis with a sub-nano scale probe revealed that the dopants strongly segregated at the two habits. In contrast, such morphology change, and also dopant segregation, could not be observed in ZrC-doped alloy. In our study, doped ZrC was not found to solute in Co-phase. Doped ZrC distributed in Co-phase to form other grains mainly consisting of ZrC. The interface structures of WC/Co could be considered to be closely related to the inhibition effect to WC grain growth.