Grain Boundary Segregation and Intermetallic Precipitation in Coarsening Resistant Nanocrystalline Aluminum Alloys
Abstract
In-spite of all of the unique properties of nanocrystalline materials, they are notorious when it comes to their susceptibility to thermally induced grain coarsening, thus imposing an upper limit to their application temperature. In this study, we demonstrate a coupled Monte Carlo-molecular dynamics simulation-guided experimental approach of improving the resistance to thermally induced grain coarsening in light-weight nanocrystalline Al-Mg alloys. The structure, grain boundary segregation of Mg, and extent of grain coarsening of the Al-Mg alloys were characterized using plan view and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. Coarsening resistance is attributed to a combination of thermodynamic stabilization of grain boundaries by controlled Mg segregation, and kinetic stabilization through pinning of the boundaries with nanoscale intermetallic precipitates. Furthermore, we highlight the opportunities in extending the upper limit of application temperature for nanocrystalline alloys by using a complementary thermodynamic and kinetic stabilization approach.
- Authors:
-
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1477775
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1636947
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-135423
Journal ID: ISSN 1359-6454; PII: S135964541830750X
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Acta Materialia
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 165; Journal ID: ISSN 1359-6454
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; Al-Mg; grain boundary segregation; intermetallic precipitation; nanocrystalline; stability
Citation Formats
Devaraj, Arun, Wang, W., Vemuri, R., Kovarik, L., Jiang, X., Bowden, M., Trelewicz, J. R., Mathaudhu, S., and Rohatgi, Aashish. Grain Boundary Segregation and Intermetallic Precipitation in Coarsening Resistant Nanocrystalline Aluminum Alloys. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2018.09.038.
Devaraj, Arun, Wang, W., Vemuri, R., Kovarik, L., Jiang, X., Bowden, M., Trelewicz, J. R., Mathaudhu, S., & Rohatgi, Aashish. Grain Boundary Segregation and Intermetallic Precipitation in Coarsening Resistant Nanocrystalline Aluminum Alloys. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2018.09.038
Devaraj, Arun, Wang, W., Vemuri, R., Kovarik, L., Jiang, X., Bowden, M., Trelewicz, J. R., Mathaudhu, S., and Rohatgi, Aashish. Thu .
"Grain Boundary Segregation and Intermetallic Precipitation in Coarsening Resistant Nanocrystalline Aluminum Alloys". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2018.09.038. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1477775.
@article{osti_1477775,
title = {Grain Boundary Segregation and Intermetallic Precipitation in Coarsening Resistant Nanocrystalline Aluminum Alloys},
author = {Devaraj, Arun and Wang, W. and Vemuri, R. and Kovarik, L. and Jiang, X. and Bowden, M. and Trelewicz, J. R. and Mathaudhu, S. and Rohatgi, Aashish},
abstractNote = {In-spite of all of the unique properties of nanocrystalline materials, they are notorious when it comes to their susceptibility to thermally induced grain coarsening, thus imposing an upper limit to their application temperature. In this study, we demonstrate a coupled Monte Carlo-molecular dynamics simulation-guided experimental approach of improving the resistance to thermally induced grain coarsening in light-weight nanocrystalline Al-Mg alloys. The structure, grain boundary segregation of Mg, and extent of grain coarsening of the Al-Mg alloys were characterized using plan view and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. Coarsening resistance is attributed to a combination of thermodynamic stabilization of grain boundaries by controlled Mg segregation, and kinetic stabilization through pinning of the boundaries with nanoscale intermetallic precipitates. Furthermore, we highlight the opportunities in extending the upper limit of application temperature for nanocrystalline alloys by using a complementary thermodynamic and kinetic stabilization approach.},
doi = {10.1016/j.actamat.2018.09.038},
journal = {Acta Materialia},
number = ,
volume = 165,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {9}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:

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Works referencing / citing this record:
Interaction of precipitate with shear–coupled grain boundary migration
journal, October 2019
- Tan, Fusheng; Fang, Qihong; Li, Jia
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Atomistic Study of the Effect of Magnesium Dopants on the Strength of Nanocrystalline Aluminum
journal, February 2019
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