Related papers: Grain boundary component in W-Ga composites: a way…
Most metallic and ceramic materials are comprised of a space-filling collection of crystalline grains separated by grain boundaries. While this grain structure has been studied for more than a century, there few rigorous results regarding…
Here we describe the results of an atomic resolution study of the structure and composition of both the interior of the grains, and the grain boundaries in polycrystalline MgB2. We find that there is no oxygen within the bulk of the grains…
Nanocrystalline metals contain a large fraction of high-energy grain boundaries, which may be considered as glassy phases. Consequently, with decreasing grain size, a crossover in the deformation behaviour of nanocrystals to that of…
The phase behavior of grain boundaries can have a strong influence on interfacial properties. Little is known about the emergence of grain boundary phases in elemental metal systems and how they transform. Here, we observe the nanoscale…
While diverse fracture characteristics have been observed in liquid metal embrittlement (LME) depending on the solid-liquid metal pairs, the penetration of nanometer-thick liquid metal films along the grain boundary has been identified as…
Twinning in crystalline materials plays an important role in many transformation and deformation processes, where underlying mechanisms can be strongly influenced by the structural, energetic and kinetic properties of associated twin…
Understanding and controlling the properties and dynamics of topological defects is a lasting challenge in the study of two-dimensional materials, and is crucial to achieve high-quality films required for technological applications. Here…
Soft-solid molecular crystals consist of crystalline grains and fluid grain boundaries (GB) that enhance grain binding and transport of Li+ ions between the grains. The total ionic conductivity consists of ion migration in both the grains…
We study the structure of the twist grain boundary in chiral smectic liquid crystals using the Landau-de Gennes model. By considering spatial variation of the smectic order, we distinguish the Melted-Grain-Boundary-A (MGBA) structure with…
Grain boundaries (GBs) trigger structure-specific chemical segregation of solute atoms. According to the three-dimensional (3D) topology of grains, GBs - although defined as planar defects - cannot be free of curvature. This implies…
Solute segregation in materials with grain boundaries (GBs) has emerged as a popular method to thermodynamically stabilize nanocrystalline structures. However, the impact of varied GB crystallographic character on solute segregation has…
The macroscopic behavior of polycrystalline materials is influenced by the local variation of properties caused by the presence of impurities and defects. The effect of these impurities at the atomic scale can either embrittle or strengthen…
We use atomistic simulations to investigate grain boundary (GB) phase transitions in el- emental body-centered cubic (bcc) metal tungsten. Motivated by recent modeling study of grain boundary phase transitions in [100] symmetric tilt…
Grain boundaries often exhibit ordered atomic structures. Increasing amounts of evidence have been provided by transmission electron microscopy and atomistic computer simulations that different stable and metastable grain boundary…
Computing the grain boundary (GB) counterparts to bulk phase diagrams represents an emerging research direction. Using a classical embrittlement model system Ga-doped Al alloy, this study demonstrates the feasibility of computing…
Systematic microstructure design requires reliable thermodynamic descriptions of each and all microstructure elements. While such descriptions are well established for most bulk phases, thermodynamic assessment of crystal defects is…
Amorphous grain boundary complexions have been shown to increase the plasticity of nanocrystalline alloys as compared to ordered grain boundaries. Here, the effect of an important structural descriptor, amorphous complexion thickness, on…
Local chemical ordering strongly influences the behavior of complex concentrated alloys, yet its characterization remains challenging due to the nanoscale dimensions and scattered spatial distribution of the ordered domains. Here, we study…
Germanium is the base element in many phase-change materials, i.e. systems that can undergo reversible transformations between their crystalline and amorphous phases. They are widely used in current digital electronics and hold great…
There are still debates regarding the mechanisms that lead to hot cracking in parts build by additive manufacturing (AM) of non-weldable Ni-based superalloys. This lack of in-depth understanding of the root causes of hot cracking is an…