Metals and alloys articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deformation of soft colloidal crystals lead to work hardening, similar to that seen in the deformation of metals.

    • Seongsoo Kim
    • , Ilya Svetlizky
    •  & Frans Spaepen

  • Article |

    We successfully rebuild an approximate void-free additive manufacturing microstructure in Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy by the development of a void-free additive manufacturing processing technique through an understanding of the asynchronism of phase transformation and grain growth.

    • Zhan Qu
    • , Zhenjun Zhang
    •  & Zhefeng Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Red mud is shown to yield green steel through fossil-free hydrogen-plasma-based reduction, a simple and fast method involving rapid liquid-state reduction, chemical partitioning, and density-driven and viscosity-driven separation.

    • Matic Jovičević-Klug
    • , Isnaldi R. Souza Filho
    •  & Dierk Raabe

  • Article |

    A HfNbTiVAl10 alloy shows tensile ductility and ultrahigh yield strength from the addition of aluminium to a HfNbTiV alloy, resulting in a negative mixing enthalpy solid solution, which promotes strength and favours formation of hierarchical chemical fluctuations.

    • Zibing An
    • , Ang Li
    •  & Xiaodong Han

  • Article |

    A plasma set-up consisting of a pair of carbon-fibre-tip-enhanced electrodes enables the generation of a uniform, ultra-high temperature and stable plasma (up to 8,000  K) at atmospheric pressure using a combination of vertically oriented long and short carbon fibres.

    • Hua Xie
    • , Ning Liu
    •  & Liangbing Hu

  • Article |

    We report that fatigue cracks in pure metals can undergo intrinsic self-healing; they were observed to heal by crack flank cold welding induced by local stress state and grain boundary migration.

    • Christopher M. Barr
    • , Ta Duong
    •  & Brad L. Boyce

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Combining alloy design with additive manufacturing process design creates α–β titanium–oxygen–iron alloys that are both strong and ductile, with the potential to revitalize off-grade sponge titanium and thereby reduce the carbon footprint of the titanium industry.

    • Tingting Song
    • , Zibin Chen
    •  & Ma Qian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors develop a new oxide-dispersion-strengthened NiCoCr-based alloy using a model-driven alloy design approach and laser-based additive manufacturing, showing how such designs can provide superior compositions using far fewer resources than previous methods.

    • Timothy M. Smith
    • , Christopher A. Kantzos
    •  & John W. Lawson

  • Article |

    An additive manufacturing technique that infuses 3D printed hydrogels with metallic precursors leads to metallic micromaterials, providing new opportunities for the fabrication of energy materials, micro-electromechanical systems and biomedical devices.

    • Max A. Saccone
    • , Rebecca A. Gallivan
    •  & Julia R. Greer

  • Article |

    Observations by transmission electron microscopy of deforming niobium and tungsten at low temperature shows that anomalous slip in body-centred cubic metals arises from the unusually high mobility of multi-junctions, which is a source of softening.

    • Daniel Caillard
    • , Baptiste Bienvenu
    •  & Emmanuel Clouet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Atom-scale analysis of hydrogen and other elements at the grain boundaries of a 7xxx aluminium alloy shows that co-segregation of elements favours grain boundary decohesion, and that hydrogen embrittlement is prevented by strong partitioning into the second-phase particles.

    • Huan Zhao
    • , Poulami Chakraborty
    •  & Dierk Raabe

  • Article |

    A chemically complex alloy that exhibits a high elastic strain limit and low internal friction is described; it also has an Elinvar effect (invariant elastic modulus) over a large temperature range, up to 627 °C.

    • Q. F. He
    • , J. G. Wang
    •  & Y. Yang

  • Article |

    A framework for selective sulfidation is proposed for the practical separation and enrichment of numerous metallic elements, to enable environmentally and economically sustainable metal processing.

    • Caspar Stinn
    •  & Antoine Allanore

  • Article |

    Bulk ultrafine-grained steel is prepared by an approach that involves the rapid production of coherent, disordered nanoprecipitates, which restrict grain growth but do not interfere with twinning or dislocation motion, resulting in high strength and ductility.

    • Junheng Gao
    • , Suihe Jiang
    •  & W. Mark Rainforth

  • Article |

    A Damascus-like steel consisting of alternating hard and soft layers is created by using a laser additive manufacturing technique and digital control of the processing parameters.

    • Philipp Kürnsteiner
    • , Markus Benjamin Wilms
    •  & Dierk Raabe

  • Article |

    Atomic-resolution observations combined with simulations show that grain boundaries within elemental copper undergo temperature-induced solid-state phase transformation to different structures; grain boundary phases can also coexist and are kinetically trapped structures.

    • Thorsten Meiners
    • , Timofey Frolov
    •  & Christian H. Liebscher

  • Review Article |

    Structural metals enable improved energy efficiency through their reduced mass, higher thermal stability and better mechanical properties; here, methods of improving the sustainability of structural metals, from recycling to contaminant tolerance, are described.

    • Dierk Raabe
    • , C. Cem Tasan
    •  & Elsa A. Olivetti

  • Letter |

    In copper components containing highly oriented nanotwins, correlated ‘necklace’ dislocations moving back and forth offer an unusually fatigue-resistant response to engineering stress.

    • Qingsong Pan
    • , Haofei Zhou
    •  & Lei Lu

  • Letter |

    The limits of dislocation-mediated metal plasticity are studied by using in situ computational microscopy to reduce the enormous amount of data from fully dynamic atomistic simulations into a manageable form.

    • Luis A. Zepeda-Ruiz
    • , Alexander Stukowski
    •  & Vasily V. Bulatov

  • Letter |

    Zirconium nanoparticles introduced into aluminium alloy powders control solidification during 3D printing, enabling the production of crack-free materials with strengths comparable to the corresponding wrought material.

    • John H. Martin
    • , Brennan D. Yahata
    •  & Tresa M. Pollock

  • Letter |

    Combining the benefits of nanocrystals with those of amorphous metallic glasses leads to a dual-phase material—comprising sub-10-nanometre-sized nanocrystalline grains embedded in amorphous glassy shells—that exhibits a strength approaching the ideal theoretical limit.

    • Ge Wu
    • , Ka-Cheung Chan
    •  & Jian Lu

  • Letter |

    An alloy design strategy that aims for phase metastability, rather than phase stability, is described that will lead to the development of transformation-induced plasticity-assisted, dual-phase high-entropy alloys, which exhibit a rare combined increase in strength and ductility.

    • Zhiming Li
    • , Konda Gokuldoss Pradeep
    •  & Cemal Cem Tasan

  • Article |

    Practical applications of magnesium as a lightweight structural metal are limited by its high work hardening, low ductility and fracture at very low strains; now molecular dynamics simulations reveal the origins of these problems and offer a route to design magnesium alloys with improved mechanical properties.

    • Zhaoxuan Wu
    •  & W. A. Curtin

  • Letter |

    This study shows that metallic glasses can be rejuvenated (taken to higher energy states with more plasticity) by thermally cycling them at relatively low temperatures (well below the glass transition temperature); this is attributed to the effect of intrinsic structural inhomogeneities in the glassy state, which translate into localized internal strains as the temperature is cycled and the different regions expand and contract by different amounts.

    • S. V. Ketov
    • , Y. H. Sun
    •  & A. L. Greer

  • Letter |

    Alloying steel with aluminium improves the material’s strength-to-weight ratio, but the resulting formation of brittle intermetallic compounds within the steel matrix reduces its ductility; here the morphology and distribution of the intermetallic precipitates are controlled to alleviate this problem.

    • Sang-Heon Kim
    • , Hansoo Kim
    •  & Nack J. Kim

  • Letter |

    The enhanced reversibility (stable transition temperature even at high strain under a solid-to-solid phase transition), low hysteresis and unusual riverine microstructure (ranging through thermal cycles) of the martensitic material Zn45Au30Cu25 makes it attractive for applications from eco-friendly fridges to medical sensors.

    • Yintao Song
    • , Xian Chen
    •  & Richard D. James

  • Letter |

    Molten oxide electrolysis is considered a promising route for extractive metallurgy with much reduced carbon dioxide emissions relative to traditional routes; now a new chromium-based alloy has been developed for use as an oxygen evolving anode that remains stable in the high-temperature corrosive conditions found during iron production via electrolysis.

    • Antoine Allanore
    • , Lan Yin
    •  & Donald R. Sadoway

  • Outlook |

    Throughout history, gold has been prized around the world and eagerly sought. But where does it come from, and where does it all go? By Neil Savage.

    • Neil Savage

  • Outlook |

    The same property that gives stained glass windows their sublime beauty is being crafted in the latest nanophotonic technologies, says Anatoly V. Zayats.

    • Anatoly V. Zayats

  • Outlook |

    Invisibly small particles of gold can be used to manipulate the properties of light.

    • Neil Savage

  • Outlook |

    Gold can speed up a multitude of chemical reactions — so why isn't it widely used in industry?

    • Mark Peplow

  • Outlook |

    High gold prices are making it worthwhile to look for gold in some unusual places.

    • Brian Owens

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