Advances in Alloys and Intermetallic Compounds

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystalline Metals and Alloys".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 8943

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Rudjer Bošković Institute, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: density functional theory (DFT); computational materials science; electronic structure; magnetism; intermetallic compounds; metal hydrides; energy storage and conversion

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Guest Editor
Institute of Solid State Physics, Vienna University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Austria
Interests: materials synthesis; crystal growth; solid state chemistry; thermoelectric properties; phase diagrams; intermetallic

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Alloys and intermetallic compounds (including hydrides, nitrides, and carbides) represent an important and wide area of scientific interest due to their variety of properties and possible applications. The range of different properties of alloys and intermetallics includes magnetic (type of magnetic order, metamagnetism, magnetocrystalline anisotropy, etc.), mechanical, thermoelectric, optical, and superconducting properties making them suitable for practical applications in the field of energy storage and conversion (metal hydrides (hydrogen storage, battery materials), magnetocaloric effect, thermoelectric effect, etc.) and other applications (magnetic recording, structural applications, catalysis, etc.).

The present Special Issue will include papers on various properties of alloys and intermetallic compounds. It is expected that proposed manuscripts will include experimental approaches (preparation, various characterization methods, etc.), theoretical approaches (density functional theory, interatomic potentials, crystal structure prediction, CALPHAD method, etc.), or a combination of both.

Dr. Goran I. Miletić
Prof. Dr. Andrey Prokofiev
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Alloys and intermetallic compounds
  • Energy storage and conversion
  • Crystal structure
  • Electronic properties
  • Magnetic properties 
  • Thermoelectric effect
  • Phase diagrams
  • Catalysis
  • Electronic structure
  • Theoretical modeling 
  • Density functional theory

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2536 KiB  
Article
The Mechanical Properties and Elastic Anisotropy of η′-Cu6Sn5 and Cu3Sn Intermetallic Compounds
by Chao Ding, Jian Wang, Tianhan Liu, Hongbo Qin, Daoguo Yang and Guoqi Zhang
Crystals 2021, 11(12), 1562; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11121562 - 14 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2199
Abstract
Full intermetallic compound (IMC) solder joints present fascinating advantages in high-temperature applications. In this study, the mechanical properties and elastic anisotropy of η′-Cu6Sn5 and Cu3Sn intermetallic compounds were investigated using first-principles calculations. The values of single-crystal elastic constants, [...] Read more.
Full intermetallic compound (IMC) solder joints present fascinating advantages in high-temperature applications. In this study, the mechanical properties and elastic anisotropy of η′-Cu6Sn5 and Cu3Sn intermetallic compounds were investigated using first-principles calculations. The values of single-crystal elastic constants, the elastic (E), shear (G), and bulk (B) moduli, and Poisson’s ratio (ν) were identified. In addition, the two values of G/B and ν indicated that the two IMCs were ductile materials. The elastic anisotropy of η′-Cu6Sn5 was found to be higher than Cu3Sn by calculating the universal anisotropic index. Furthermore, an interesting discovery was that the above two types of monocrystalline IMC exhibited mechanical anisotropic behavior. Specifically, the anisotropic degree of E and B complied with the following relationship: η′-Cu6Sn5 > Cu3Sn; however, the relationship was Cu3Sn > η′-Cu6Sn5 for the G. It is noted that the anisotropic degree of E and G was similar for the two IMCs. In addition, the anisotropy of the B was higher than the G and E, respectively, for η′-Cu6Sn5; however, in the case of Cu3Sn, the anisotropic degree of B, G, and E was similar. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Alloys and Intermetallic Compounds)
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10 pages, 6999 KiB  
Article
Performance of Carbide Alloy Compounds in Carbon Doped MoNbTaW
by Congyan Zhang, Uttam Bhandari, Jialin Lei, Congyuan Zeng, Shengmin Guo, Hyunjoo Choi, Seungjin Nam, Jinyuan Yan, Shizhong Yang and Feng Gao
Crystals 2021, 11(9), 1073; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11091073 - 04 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1911
Abstract
In this work, the performance of the carbon doped compositionally complex alloy (CCA) MoNbTaW was studied under ambient and high pressure and high temperature conditions. TaC and NbC carbides were formed when a large concentration of carbon was introduced while synthesizing the MoNbTaW [...] Read more.
In this work, the performance of the carbon doped compositionally complex alloy (CCA) MoNbTaW was studied under ambient and high pressure and high temperature conditions. TaC and NbC carbides were formed when a large concentration of carbon was introduced while synthesizing the MoNbTaW alloy. Both FCC carbides and BCC CCA phases were detected in the sample compound at room temperature, in which the BCC phase was believed to have only refractory elements MoNbTaW while FCC carbide came from TaC and NbC. Carbides in the carbon doped MoNbTaW alloy were very stable since no phase transition was obtained even under 3.1 GPa and 870 °C by employing the resistor-heating diamond anvil cell (DAC) synchrotron X-ray diffraction technique. Via in situ examination, this study confirms the stability of carbides and MoNbTaW in the carbon doped CCA even under high pressure and high temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Alloys and Intermetallic Compounds)
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16 pages, 7709 KiB  
Article
Automatic Identification and Quantitative Characterization of Primary Dendrite Microstructure Based on Machine Learning
by Weihao Wan, Dongling Li, Haizhou Wang, Lei Zhao, Xuejing Shen, Dandan Sun, Jingyang Chen and Chengbo Xiao
Crystals 2021, 11(9), 1060; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11091060 - 02 Sep 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2293
Abstract
Dendrites are important microstructures in single-crystal superalloys. The distribution of dendrites is closely related to the heat treatment process and mechanical properties of single-crystal superalloys. The primary dendrite arm spacing (PDAS) is an important length scale to describe the distribution of dendrites. In [...] Read more.
Dendrites are important microstructures in single-crystal superalloys. The distribution of dendrites is closely related to the heat treatment process and mechanical properties of single-crystal superalloys. The primary dendrite arm spacing (PDAS) is an important length scale to describe the distribution of dendrites. In this work, the second-generation single crystal superalloy HT901 with a diameter of 15 mm was imaged under a metallurgical microscope. An automatic dendrite core identification and full-field quantitative statistical analysis method is proposed to automatically detect the dendrite core and calculate the local PDAS. The Faster R-CNN algorithm combined with test time augmentation (TTA) technology is used to automatically identify the dendrite cores. The local multi-directional algorithm combined with Voronoi tessellation is used to determine the local nearest neighbor dendrite and calculate the local PDAS and coordination number. The accuracy of using Faster R-CNN combined with TTA to detect the dendrite core of HT901 reaches 98.4%, which is 15.9% higher than using Faster R-CNN alone. The algorithm calculates the local PDAS of all dendrites in H901 and captures the Gaussian distribution of the local PDAS. The average PDAS determined by the Gaussian distribution is 415 μm, which is only a small difference from the average spacing λ¯ (420 μm) calculated by the traditional method. The technology analyzes the relationship between the local PDAS and the distance from the center of the sample. The local PDAS near the center of HT901 are larger than those near the edge. The results suggests that the method enables the rapid, accurate and quantitative dendritic distribution characterization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Alloys and Intermetallic Compounds)
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18 pages, 8363 KiB  
Article
Modelling the Effect of Cu Content on the Microstructure and Vickers Microhardness of Sn-9Zn Binary Eutectic Alloy Using an Artificial Neural Network
by Heba Y. Zahran, Hany Nazmy Soliman, Alaa F. Abd El-Rehim and Doaa M. Habashy
Crystals 2021, 11(5), 481; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11050481 - 26 Apr 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1776
Abstract
The present study aims to clarify the impact of Cu addition and aging conditions on the microstructure development and mechanical properties of Sn-9Zn binary eutectic alloy. The Sn-9Zn alloys with varying Cu content (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 wt.%) were fabricated by [...] Read more.
The present study aims to clarify the impact of Cu addition and aging conditions on the microstructure development and mechanical properties of Sn-9Zn binary eutectic alloy. The Sn-9Zn alloys with varying Cu content (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 wt.%) were fabricated by permanent mold casting. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques were utilized to investigate the influence of Cu concentration on the microstructure of pre-aged Sn-9Zn-Cu alloys. The main phases are the primary β-Sn phase, eutectic α-Zn/β-Sn phases, and γ-Cu5Zn8/η-Cu6Sn5/ε-Cu3Sn intermetallic compounds. Vickers microhardness values of Sn-9Zn alloys increased with additions of 1 and 2 wt.% Cu. When the concentration of Cu exceeds 2 wt.%, the values of microhardness declined. Besides, the increase in the aging temperature caused a decrease in the microhardness values for all the investigated alloys. The variations in the microhardness values with Cu content and/or aging temperature were interpreted on the basis of development, growth, and dissolution of formed phases. The alterations of the lattice strain, dislocation density, average crystallite size, and stacking fault probability were evaluated from the XRD profiles of the investigated alloys. Their changes with Cu content and/or aging temperature agree well with the Vickers hardness results. An artificial neural network (ANN) model was employed to simulate and predict the Vickers microhardness of the present alloys. To check the adequacy of the ANN model, the calculated results were compared with experimental data. The results confirm the high ability of the ANN model for simulating and predicting the Vickers microhardness profile for the investigated alloys. Moreover, an equation describing the experimental results was obtained mathematically depending on the ANN model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Alloys and Intermetallic Compounds)
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