G.P. Zhang

Experimental evidence of plastic deformation instability in nanoscale Au∕Cu multilayers

Plastic deformation instability in Au/Cu multilayers has been investigated as a function of individual layer thickness by nanoindentation and focused ion beam cross-sectional view techniques. Experimental results demonstrate that when the length scales of grains and individual layer thickness of the multilayered composite approach the nanometer regime, inhomogeneous shear banding becomes prevalent. The width of shear bands decreases with the decrease of these length scales. The extent of plastic deformation instability was characterized and the possible physical mechanism of the highly localized plastic deformation was explained. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Al/Mg Alloy Multilayered Composites Produced by Accumulative Roll Bonding

Al/Mg alloy multilayered composites were produced successfully at the lower temperature (280 degrees C) by accumulative roll bonding (ARB) processing technique. The microstructures of Al and Mg alloy layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Vickers hardness and three-point bending tests were conducted to investigate mechanical properties of the composites. It is found that Vickers hardness, bending strength and stiffness modulus of the Al/Mg alloy multilayered composite increase with increasing the ARB pass. De lamination and crack propagation along the interface are the two main failure modes of the multilayered composite subjected to bending load. Strengthening and fracture mechanisms of the composite are analyzed.

Investigation of deformation instability of Au/Cu multilayers by indentation

Plastic deformation behavior of Au/Cu multilayers with individual layer thicknesses of 25–250 nm was investigated via microindentation experiments. It was found that plastic instability of the Au/Cu multilayer exhibits strong length scale (individual layer thickness and grain size) dependence. The smaller the length scale, the easier shear bands form. In other words, plastic deformation becomes unstable with decreasing length scale. Cross-sectional observation along with plan-view indicates that the occurrence of plastic deformation instability corresponds to transformation of the deformation mechanism associated with geometrical configuration and length scale of the material. At nanometer scale, buckling-assisted interface crossing of dislocations results in local shear band, while, at submicron scale or above, local dislocation pileup-induced interface offset leads to plastic instability. Theoretical analysis is conducted to understand the length scale-dependent plastic deformation behavior of the multilayer.

An extraction process to recover vanadium from low-grade vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite

An extraction process to recover vanadium from low-grade vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite was developed. In this study, a mixed solvent system of di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (D2EHPA) and tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) diluted with kerosene was used for the selective extraction of vanadium from a hydrochloric acid leaching solution that contained low vanadium concentration with high concentrations of iron and impurities of Ca, Mg, and Al. In the extraction process, the initial solution pH and the phase ratio had considerable functions in the extraction of vanadium from the hydrochloric acid leaching solution. Under optimal extraction conditions (i.e., 30-40°C for 10min, 1:3 phase ratio (O/A), 20% D2EHPA concentration (v/v), and 0-0.8 initial solution pH), 99.4% vanadium and only 4.2% iron were extracted by the three-stage counter-current extraction process. In the stripping process with H2SO4 as the stripping agent and under optimal stripping conditions (i.e., 20% H2SO4 concentration, 5:1 phase ratio (O/A), 20min stripping time, and 40°C stripping temperature), 99.6% vanadium and only 5.4% iron were stripped by the three-stage counter-current stripping process. The stripping solution contained 40.16g/LV2O5,0.691g/L Fe, 0.007g/L TiO2, 0.006g/L SiO2 and 0.247g/L CaO. A V2O5 product with a purity of 99.12% V2O5 and only 0.026% Fe was obtained after the oxidation, precipitation, and calcination processes. The total vanadium recovered from the hydrochloric acid leaching solution was 85.5%.

Two different types of shear-deformation behaviour in Au-Cu multilayers

Localised shear deformation of a material is usually identified as a particular feature of deformation inhomogeneity. Here, we show two different types of shear deformation-behaviour that occurred in Au–Cu multilayers subjected to microindentation load, namely, a cooperative-layer-buckling-induced shear banding in a nanoscale multilayer and a direct localised shearing across a layer interface along a shear plane in a submicron-scale multilayer. Theoretical analysis indicates that the formation of the two different types of shear deformation in the multilayers depends on a competition between the dislocation-pile-up-induced stress concentration at the layer interface and the barrier strength of the layer interface for glissile dislocation transmission.

Mechanical properties of crossed-lamellar structures in biological shells: A review

The self-fabrication of materials in nature offers an alternate and powerful solution towards the grand challenge of designing advanced structural materials, where strength and toughness are always mutually exclusive. Crossed-lamellar structures are the most common microstructures in mollusks that are composed of aragonites and a small amount of organic materials. Such a distinctive composite structure has a fracture toughness being much higher than that of pure carbonate mineral. These structures exhibiting complex hierarchical microarchitectures that span several sub-level lamellae from microscale down to nanoscale, can be grouped into two types, i.e., platelet-like and fiber-like crossed-lamellar structures based on the shapes of basic building blocks. It has been demonstrated that these structures have a great potential to strengthen themselves during deformation. The observed underlying toughening mechanisms include microcracking, channel cracking, interlocking, uncracked-ligament bridging, aragonite fiber bridging, crack deflection and zig-zag, etc., which play vital roles in enhancing the fracture resistance of shells with the crossed-lamellar structures. The exploration and utilization of these important toughening mechanisms have attracted keen interests of materials scientists since they pave the way for the development of bio-inspired advanced composite materials for load-bearing structural applications. This article is aimed to review the characteristics of hierarchical structures and the mechanical properties of two kinds of crossed-lamellar structures, and further summarize the latest advances and biomimetic applications based on the unique crossed-lamellar structures.

On the length scale of cyclic strain localization in fine-grained copper films

Fine-grained copper films on a flexible substrate were cyclically deformed under constant strain range control. It was found that cyclic dislocation plasticity through individual dislocation glide is still dominant at the submicrometer scale, while the ability of irreversible slip of dislocations gradually decreases and the damage was changed from extrusion-induced localization to cracking along grain boundary. Statistical evaluation of the mean spacing between slip bands and/or lines leads to a critical scale (∼28 nm) below which dislocation-controlled cyclic strain localization would be shut down.

Frequency-dependent failure mechanisms of nanocrystalline gold interconnect lines under general alternating current

Thermal fatigue failure of metallization interconnect lines subjected to alternating currents (AC) is becoming a severe threat to the long-term reliability of micro/nanodevices with increasing electrical current density/power. Here, thermal fatigue failure behaviors and damage mechanisms of nanocrystalline Au interconnect lines on the silicon glass substrate have been investigated by applying general alternating currents (the pure alternating current coupled with a direct current (DC) component) with different frequencies ranging from 0.05 Hz to 5 kHz. We observed both thermal fatigue damages caused by Joule heating-induced cyclic strain/stress and electromigration (EM) damages caused by the DC component. Besides, the damage formation showed a strong electrically-thermally-mechanically coupled effect and frequency dependence. At lower frequencies, thermal fatigue damages were dominant and the main damage forms were grain coarsening with grain boundary (GB) cracking/voiding and grain thinning. At higher fr...

Understanding scale-dependent yield stress of metals at micrometre scales

The mechanical softening behaviour of micrometre-scale metals (free-standing metal foils and wires) with decreasing either the geometrical or the microstructural scale (i.e. the smaller, the weaker) has recently been reported. Here, we present a mechanism-based model to understand the softening behaviour, which is based on competition between the effects of surface grain relaxation and the interior grain strengthening effect. The model describes well the yield stress of Cu foils with different ratios of the thickness to grain size.

Enhanced Plasticity of Cu-Based Laminated Composites Produced by Cold Roll-Bonding

Two different laminated composites with submicron-scale grain size and strong interface bonding toughness, Cu/Al and Cu/Cu, were fabricated by cold-roll bonding at ambient temperature, and then annealing of the laminated composites was conducted to get different interface bonding toughness. It was found that a better strength-plasticity combination for the laminated composites could be obtained through stronger interface bonding toughness, which effectively delayed the onset of plastic instability and premature local necking of the material. Uniform elongation of both Cu/Al and Cu/Cu laminated composites was enhanced compared with that of the cold-rolled Cu. At the same strength level, plasticity of the Cu/Cu laminated composite is better than that of the Cu/Al one and that of the cold-rolled Cu. Mechanisms of plasticity instability and fracture of the laminated composites were evaluated.