Fuping Yuan

Bio: Fuping Yuan is an academic researcher from Chinese Academy of Sciences. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ultimate tensile strength & Strain hardening exponent. The author has an hindex of 27, co-authored 85 publications receiving 3353 citations. Previous affiliations of Fuping Yuan include Case Western Reserve University.

Heterogeneous lamella structure unites ultrafine-grain strength with coarse-grain ductility.

Abstract: Grain refinement can make conventional metals several times stronger, but this comes at dramatic loss of ductility. Here we report a heterogeneous lamella structure in Ti produced by asymmetric rolling and partial recrystallization that can produce an unprecedented property combination: as strong as ultrafine-grained metal and at the same time as ductile as conventional coarse-grained metal. It also has higher strain hardening than coarse-grained Ti, which was hitherto believed impossible. The heterogeneous lamella structure is characterized with soft micrograined lamellae embedded in hard ultrafine-grained lamella matrix. The unusual high strength is obtained with the assistance of high back stress developed from heterogeneous yielding, whereas the high ductility is attributed to back-stress hardening and dislocation hardening. The process discovered here is amenable to large-scale industrial production at low cost, and might be applicable to other metal systems.

Extraordinary strain hardening by gradient structure.

Abstract: Gradient structures have evolved over millions of years through natural selection and optimization in many biological systems such as bones and plant stems, where the structures change gradually from the surface to interior. The advantage of gradient structures is their maximization of physical and mechanical performance while minimizing material cost. Here we report that the gradient structure in engineering materials such as metals renders a unique extra strain hardening, which leads to high ductility. The grain-size gradient under uniaxial tension induces a macroscopic strain gradient and converts the applied uniaxial stress to multiaxial stresses due to the evolution of incompatible deformation along the gradient depth. Thereby the accumulation and interaction of dislocations are promoted, resulting in an extra strain hardening and an obvious strain hardening rate up-turn. Such extraordinary strain hardening, which is inherent to gradient structures and does not exist in homogeneous materials, provides a hitherto unknown strategy to develop strong and ductile materials by architecting heterogeneous nanostructures.

Back stress strengthening and strain hardening in gradient structure

Abstract: We report significant back stress strengthening and strain hardening in gradient structured (GS) interstitial-free (IF) steel. Back stress is long-range stress caused by the pileup of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs). A simple equation and a procedure are developed to calculate back stress basing on its formation physics from the tensile unloading–reloading hysteresis loop. The gradient structure has mechanical incompatibility due to its grain size gradient. This induces strain gradient, which needs to be accommodated by GNDs. Back stress not only raises the yield strength but also significantly enhances strain hardening to increase the ductility.Impact Statement: Gradient structure leads to high back stress hardening to increase strength and ductility. A physically sound equation is derived to calculate the back stress from an unloading/reloading hysteresis loop.

Dynamically reinforced heterogeneous grain structure prolongs ductility in a medium-entropy alloy with gigapascal yield strength

Abstract: Ductility, i.e., uniform strain achievable in uniaxial tension, diminishes for materials with very high yield strength. Even for the CrCoNi medium-entropy alloy (MEA), which has a simple face-centered cubic (FCC) structure that would bode well for high ductility, the fine grains processed to achieve gigapascal strength exhaust the strain hardening ability such that, after yielding, the uniform tensile strain is as low as ∼2%. Here we purposely deploy, in this MEA, a three-level heterogeneous grain structure (HGS) with grain sizes spanning the nanometer to micrometer range, imparting a high yield strength well in excess of 1 GPa. This heterogeneity results from this alloy's low stacking fault energy, which facilitates corner twins in recrystallization and stores deformation twins and stacking faults during tensile straining. After yielding, the elastoplastic transition through load transfer and strain partitioning among grains of different sizes leads to an upturn of the strain hardening rate, and, upon further tensile straining at room temperature, corner twins evolve into nanograins. This dynamically reinforced HGS leads to a sustainable strain hardening rate, a record-wide hysteresis loop in load-unload-reload stress-strain curve and hence high back stresses, and, consequently, a uniform tensile strain of 22%. As such, this HGS achieves, in a single-phase FCC alloy, a strength-ductility combination that would normally require heterogeneous microstructures such as in dual-phase steels.

Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular dynamics

Abstract: Three parallel algorithms for classical molecular dynamics are presented. The first assigns each processor a fixed subset of atoms; the second assigns each a fixed subset of inter-atomic forces to compute; the third assigns each a fixed spatial region. The algorithms are suitable for molecular dynamics models which can be difficult to parallelize efficiently—those with short-range forces where the neighbors of each atom change rapidly. They can be implemented on any distributed-memory parallel machine which allows for message-passing of data between independently executing processors. The algorithms are tested on a standard Lennard-Jones benchmark problem for system sizes ranging from 500 to 100,000,000 atoms on several parallel supercomputers--the nCUBE 2, Intel iPSC/860 and Paragon, and Cray T3D. Comparing the results to the fastest reported vectorized Cray Y-MP and C90 algorithm shows that the current generation of parallel machines is competitive with conventional vector supercomputers even for small problems. For large problems, the spatial algorithm achieves parallel efficiencies of 90% and a 1840-node Intel Paragon performs up to 165 faster than a single Cray C9O processor. Trade-offs between the three algorithms and guidelines for adapting them to more complex molecular dynamics simulations are also discussed.

Metastable high-entropy dual-phase alloys overcome the strength–ductility trade-off

Abstract: Metals have been mankind's most essential materials for thousands of years; however, their use is affected by ecological and economical concerns Alloys with higher strength and ductility could alleviate some of these concerns by reducing weight and improving energy efficiency However, most metallurgical mechanisms for increasing strength lead to ductility loss, an effect referred to as the strength-ductility trade-off Here we present a metastability-engineering strategy in which we design nanostructured, bulk high-entropy alloys with multiple compositionally equivalent high-entropy phases High-entropy alloys were originally proposed to benefit from phase stabilization through entropy maximization Yet here, motivated by recent work that relaxes the strict restrictions on high-entropy alloy compositions by demonstrating the weakness of this connection, the concept is overturned We decrease phase stability to achieve two key benefits: interface hardening due to a dual-phase microstructure (resulting from reduced thermal stability of the high-temperature phase); and transformation-induced hardening (resulting from the reduced mechanical stability of the room-temperature phase) This combines the best of two worlds: extensive hardening due to the decreased phase stability known from advanced steels and massive solid-solution strengthening of high-entropy alloys In our transformation-induced plasticity-assisted, dual-phase high-entropy alloy (TRIP-DP-HEA), these two contributions lead respectively to enhanced trans-grain and inter-grain slip resistance, and hence, increased strength Moreover, the increased strain hardening capacity that is enabled by dislocation hardening of the stable phase and transformation-induced hardening of the metastable phase produces increased ductility This combined increase in strength and ductility distinguishes the TRIP-DP-HEA alloy from other recently developed structural materials This metastability-engineering strategy should thus usefully guide design in the near-infinite compositional space of high-entropy alloys

High-entropy alloys

Abstract: Alloying has long been used to confer desirable properties to materials. Typically, it involves the addition of relatively small amounts of secondary elements to a primary element. For the past decade and a half, however, a new alloying strategy that involves the combination of multiple principal elements in high concentrations to create new materials called high-entropy alloys has been in vogue. The multi-dimensional compositional space that can be tackled with this approach is practically limitless, and only tiny regions have been investigated so far. Nevertheless, a few high-entropy alloys have already been shown to possess exceptional properties, exceeding those of conventional alloys, and other outstanding high-entropy alloys are likely to be discovered in the future. Here, we review recent progress in understanding the salient features of high-entropy alloys. Model alloys whose behaviour has been carefully investigated are highlighted and their fundamental properties and underlying elementary mechanisms discussed. We also address the vast compositional space that remains to be explored and outline fruitful ways to identify regions within this space where high-entropy alloys with potentially interesting properties may be lurking. High-entropy alloys have greatly expanded the compositional space for alloy design. In this Review, the authors discuss model high-entropy alloys with interesting properties, the physical mechanisms responsible for their behaviour and fruitful ways to probe and discover new materials in the vast compositional space that remains to be explored.