O. V. Antonova

Evolution of the structure formation during dynamic pressing of the AMts alloy

Results of studies of phase and structural transformations in the aluminum AMts alloy (3003) during deformation by dynamic pressing are presented. Different schemes of loading material and their effect on the structure and properties of the alloy are considered. It has been found out that the formation of a submicrograin structure with a size of fragments of 400–600 nm is observed even after a single pass of the sample through two perpendicularly crossing channels upon increasing speed of the sample from 150 to 300 m/s. It has been found that the hardness of a submicrocrystalline alloy produced by dynamic pressing exceeds the hardness of a hot-pressed rod after subsequent cold-working by a factor of 1.5.

Evaluation of a low-density hydrogel microarray technique for mycobacterial species identification

ABSTRACT In addition to the obligatory pathogenic species of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Mycobacterium leprae, the genus Mycobacterium also includes conditionally pathogenic species that in rare cases can lead to the development of nontuberculous mycobacterial diseases. Because tuberculosis and mycobacteriosis have similar clinical signs, the accurate identification of the causative agent in a clinical microbiology laboratory is important for diagnostic verification and appropriate treatment. This report describes a low-density hydrogel-based microarray containing oligonucleotide probes based on the species-specific sequences of the gyrB gene fragment for mycobacterial species identification. The procedure included the amplification of a 352-nucleotide fragment of the gene and its hybridization on a microarray. The triple-species-specific probe design and the algorithm for hybridization profile recognition based on the calculation of Pearson correlation coefficients, followed by the construction of a profile database, allowed for the reliable and accurate identification of mycobacterial species, including mixed-DNA samples. The assay was used to evaluate 543 clinical isolates from two regions of Russia, demonstrating its ability to detect 35 mycobacterial species, with 99.8% sensitivity and 100% specificity when using gyrB, 16S, and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) fragment sequencing as the standard. The testing of clinical samples showed that the sensitivity of the assay was 89% to 95% for smear-positive samples and 36% for smear-negative samples. The large number of identified species, the high level of sensitivity, the ability to detect mycobacteria in clinical samples, and the up-to-date profile database make the assay suitable for use in routine laboratory practice.

Formation of vortices during explosion welding (titanium-orthorhombic titanium aluminide)

The possibility of cladding commercially pure titanium by a plate of orthorhombic titanium aluminide has been investigated. The bimetallic joints of orthorhombic titanium aluminide (Ti-30Al-16Nb-1Zr-1Mo) with commercially pure titanium have been obtained by explosion welding. It has been found that the weld joint investigated had a multilayer structure consisting of a zone of continuous deformation observed in both materials, a zone of titanium recrystallization, and a transition zone near the interface. Wave formation and formation of isolated vortex zones have been observed. It has been found that upon explosion welding the bonding of the surfaces is effected via melting and subsequent mixing (in the zone of vortices) and the transfer of particles of one metal into another with the formation of particle tracks (outside the zone of vortices). A possible scenario of the formation of the vortex zone in the melt with a subsequent eutectic decomposition is proposed. The structure of the vortex zones was found to consist of an ultrafine mixture of α and β grains (both phases are disordered) with the grain size changing in the limits of 50–300 nm. The regions of transition from the vortex zone to the region of continuous deformation of the aluminide and to the recrystallized zone of titanium have been investigated.

Evolution of the structure of V95 aluminum alloy upon high-pressure torsion

The effect of the degree of deformation upon torsion under quasi-hydrostatic pressure on the structural and phase transformations in the V95 alloy has been studied by the methods of electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. It has been found that, upon severe plastic deformation, a nanocrystalline structure with a hardness of 2.5 GPa is formed. The nanostructure with a minimum average grain size of 55–80 nm is being formed at e = 5.5–6.4. It has been shown that during dynamical strain aging at e ≥ 4.8, a hardening metastable phase MgZn2 precipitates from the supersaturated α solid solution, and the quantity of this phase increases with increasing degree of deformation.

Deformation Behavior of Intermetallics: Models and Experiments

A sufficiently general thermally activated mechanism for extension of dislocations in some preferential direction was proposed. This mechanism comprises a necessary step of dislocation transformations that lead to blocking. The reasons for blocking of different types of dislocations in different materials are diverse. A new concept was developed concerning the possibility of thermally activated blocking of superdislocations in the absence of external stresses. Some experiments with single crystals of Ni3(Al, Nb) were performed. They included no-load heating after preliminary low- or high-temperature deformation. It was found that the initial dislocation structure, which included curvilinear dislocations, transformed to a set of long rectilinear blocked superdislocations after no-load heating. The experimental results confirmed theoretical assumptions on the possibility of thermally activated transformations of superdislocations to indestructible barriers in the absence of external stresses.

Study of the structure of cobalt single crystals during the β → α transformation

Methods of metallography, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction have been used to study the specific features of the structure formation during the fcc → hcp transformation occurring under different thermokinetic conditions in a single crystal of cobalt. It is shown that only one of four possible versions of hcp-phase crystal orientations is predominantly realized upon the β → α transformation occurring in the single crystal at a low cooling rate (Vcool ∼ 1–2 K/min). It has been established that several cycles of slow heating to temperatures of 600, 800 and 1000°C and subsequent cooling of the single crystal do not increase the number of α-phase orientations. The restoration of the initial fcc-phase single-crystal orientation was observed after each heating cycle of the oriented sample, while after cooling the restoration of the preferred hcp-martensite orientation was observed; in this case, the quantity of the retained β phase fixed in the structure at room temperature increases with increasing number of cycles. After rapid quenching from 530°C into salt water (Vcool ∼ 600–700 K/min), α-phase crystals of all four possible orientations are formed in the structure. Upon high-temperature quenching from 1000°C, the volume of crystal is divided into packets each containing martensite plates of predominantly one orientation. The transformation-induced recrystallization of the cobalt pseudo-single crystal quenched in salt water has been observed during repeated heating to temperatures above the β → α transformation temperature.

Some features of the formation and destruction of dislocation barriers in intermetallic compounds: II. Observation of blocked superidislocations upon heating without stress

Experiments have been performed which reveal that heating in the absence of an external stress after a preliminary both low-temperature and high-temperature deformation of intermetallic compounds leads to a fundamental change in their dislocation structure. For the investigation, [251] single crystals of Ni3(Al, Nb) have been used. The low-temperature deformation was performed at −196°C; the high-temperature deformation, at 800°C. It has been found that the initial dislocation structure consisting of curvilinear dislocations was changed upon heating without a load by a set of rectilinear blocked dislocations. It has been shown that upon heating after a preliminary low-temperature deformation the barriers present in the structure belong to the cubic cross-slip plane, whereas upon heating after high-temperature deformation, to primary cubic slip planes. It has been found that the decisive effect on the blocking of superdislocations upon heating without stress comes from one of the dislocations that compose the superdislocation, namely, either a superpartial dislocation in the case of low-temperature deformation or a simple partial dislocation in the case of high-temperature deformation. The concept of the possibility of thermoactivated blocking of superdislocations in the absence of external stresses suggested in part I of this work [Phys. Met. Metallogr. 102, 61–68 (2006)] has been confirmed experimentally.

Fragmentation processes during explosion welding (review)

The fragmentation during explosion welding is briefly reviewed. Fragmentation of partitioning type (FPT), which consists in partitioning into particles that either fly away or join each other, is detected. FPT is an analog of the fragmentation during an explosion that was studied by Mott. In both cases, the flight of particles (fragments) takes place, and the integrity of the material is retained in FPT. FPT is a powerful channel for the dissipation of supplied energy, since the surface of flying particles has a large total area.

The first observation of dislocation blocking in pure metal without external stress

Self-blocking of c + a edge dislocations at second-order pyramidal slip in magnesium single crystals whose axis is parallel to the c axis has been found. Self-blocking is confirmed by the dislocation extension along a selected direction in the absence of external stress. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of (c + a) dislocations extended in the