Microstructural Stability of Nanocrystalline Copper through the Addition of Antimony Dopants at Grain Boundaries: Experiments and Molecular Dynamics Simulations
- University of Arkansas
- Texas A&M University
- ORNL
Experiments and simulations show that the microstructural stability of nanocrystalline Cu can be improved by adding impurity atoms, such as Sb, which migrate to the grain boundaries. Cu100-xSbx alloys are cast in three compositions (Cu-0.0, 0.2 and 0.5 at.%Sb) and subsequently processed into nanocrystalline form by equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE). The presence of Sb atoms at the grain boundaries increases the recrystallization temperature to 400 C compared to 200 C for pure nanocrystalline Cu, which was verified by measurements of microhardness, ultimate tensile strength, grain size using TEM, and Auger electron spectroscopy. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed using a wider range of Sb compositions (0.0 to 1.0 at.%Sb) to study the underlying mechanisms associated with stability. MD simulations show that Sb atoms reduce excess grain boundary energy and that 0.2 and 0.5 at.%Sb is enough to stabilize the nanocrystalline Cu microstructure.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Shared Research Equipment Collaborative Research Center
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 992521
- Journal Information:
- Acta Materialia, Vol. 45, Issue 24; ISSN 1359-6454
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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