SEM investigation of interfacial dislocations in nickel-base superalloys

Electrical, thermal and noise properties of platinum-carbon free-standing nanowires designed as nanoscale resistive thermal devices

Platinum-carbon (PtC) composite nanowires were fabricated using focused electron beam induced deposition and postprocessed, and their performance as a nanoscale resistive thermal device (RTD) was evaluated. Nanowires were free-standing and deposited on a dedicated substrate to eliminate the influence of the substrate itself and of the halo effect on the results. The PtC free-standing nanowires were postprocessed to lower their electrical resistance using electron beam irradiation and thermal annealing using Joule heat both separately and combined. Postprocessed PtC free-standing nanowires were characterized to evaluate their noise figure (NF) and thermal coefficients at the temperature range from 30 K to 80 °C. The thermal sensitivity of RTD was lowered with the reduced resistance but simultaneously the NF improved, especially with electron-beam irradiation. The temperature measurement resolution achievable with the PtC free-standing nanowires was 0.1 K in 1 kHz bandwidth.

Effect of Heat Treatments on the Microstructural Evolution of a Single Crystal High-Entropy Superalloy

The effect of solution heat treatment as well as primary and secondary aging treatment conditions on the microstructural evolution of a high-entropy superalloy was investigated. The as-cast sample shows coarsened γ′ precipitates and other extra phases at interdendrite region due to microsegregation. This microsegregation makes γ′ solvus unclear and decreases the solidus. After conducting the solution treatment determined in this study, primary aging conditions showing an aligned cubic γ′ phase at 1050 °C for 4 h and random spherical γ′ precipitates at 950 °C for 20 h in similar size were found. By using both samples, secondary aging conditions showing coarsened secondary γ′ precipitates and γ particles inside the γ′ precipitates at 800 °C for 20 h and fine secondary γ′ precipitates at 850 and 870 °C for 20 h were found.

Effects of Ion Energy and Density on the Plasma Etching-Induced Surface Area, Edge Electrical Field, and Multivacancies in MoSe2 Nanosheets for Enhancement of the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Plasma functionalization can increase the efficiency of MoSe₂ in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by providing multiple species but the interactions between the plasma and catalyst are not well understood. In this work, the effects of the ion energy and plasma density on the catalytic properties of MoSe₂ nanosheets are studied. The through-holes resulting from plasma etching and multi-vacancies induced by plasma-induced damage enhance the HER efficiency as exemplified by a small overpotential of 148 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 and Tafel slope of 51.6 mV dec^-1 after the plasma treatment using a power of 20 W. The interactions between the plasma and catalyst during etching and vacancies generation are evaluated by plasma simulation. Finite element and first-principles density functional theory calculations are also conducted and the results are consistent with the experimental results, indicating that the improved HER catalytic activity stems from the enhanced electric field and more active sites on the catalyst, and reduced bandgap and adsorption energy arising from the etched through-holes and vacancies, respectively. The results convey new fundamental knowledge about the plasma effects and means to enhance the efficiency of catalysts in water splitting as well insights into the design of high-performance HER catalysts.

Analysis of chemical changes and microstructure characterization during deformation in ferritic stainless steel

Uni- and biaxial tension deformation tests, with different degrees of deformation, have been done on AISI 430 (EN 1.4016) ferritic stainless steel samples, which had both different chemical compositions and had undergone different annealing treatments. The initial and deformed materials were characterized by using electron backscatter diffraction and backscatter electron imaging in a scanning electron microscope together with electron probe microanalysis. The correlation observed among the chemical compositions, annealing treatment, and strain level obtained after deformation is discussed.

Characterisation of the Structure of Single-Crystal Nickel-Base Superalloys

New experimental methods developed by the authors for characterisation of the structure of single-crystal nickel-base superalloys are presented: X-ray diffraction at defined areas of the dendritic structure, none destructive SEM investigation of ’-morphology changes for different creep stresses and times with one specimen, and high resolution SEM investigations of dislocations in the ’-interfaces. Application of these techniques allowed to obtain new results, e.g. about the mosaicity of dendritic subgrains, distribution of the ’-misfit within a single dendrite and kinetics of rafting during creep in the superalloy CMSX-4 in wide temperature and stress ranges.