Diamond-like carbon (DLC) is a metastable form of amorphous carbon with significant sp3 bonding. DLC is a semiconductor with a high mechanical hardness, chemical inertness, and optical transparency. This review will describe the deposition methods, deposition mechanisms, characterisation methods, electronic structure, gap states, defects, doping, luminescence, field emission, mechanical properties and some applications of DLCs. The films have widespread applications as protective coatings in areas, such as magnetic storage disks, optical windows and micro-electromechanical devices (MEMs).

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Diamond-like amorphous carbon

Physics and phenomenology of strain hardening: the FCC case

[Lu, K.; Lu, L.] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Met Res, Shenyang Natl Lab Mat Sci, Shenyang 110016, Peoples R China. [Lu, L.; Suresh, S.] MIT, Sch Engn, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA.;Lu, K (reprint author), Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Met Res, Shenyang Natl Lab Mat Sci, Shenyang 110016, Peoples R China;lu@imr.ac.cn ssuresh@mit.edu

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Strengthening Materials by Engineering Coherent Internal Boundaries at the Nanoscale

An assessment of high voltage electron microscopy (HVEM). An invited review

This article presents an overview of the developments in stainless steels made since the 1990s. Some of the new applications that involve the use of stainless steel are also introduced. A brief introduction to the various classes of stainless steels, their precipitate phases and the status quo of their production around the globe is given first. The advances in a variety of subject areas that have been made recently will then be presented. These recent advances include (1) new findings on the various precipitate phases (the new J phase, new orientation relationships, new phase diagram for the Fe–Cr system, etc.); (2) new suggestions for the prevention/mitigation of the different problems and new methods for their detection/measurement and (3) new techniques for surface/bulk property enhancement (such as laser shot peening, grain boundary engineering and grain refinement). Recent developments in topics like phase prediction, stacking fault energy, superplasticity, metadynamic recrystallisation and the calculation of mechanical properties are introduced, too. In the end of this article, several new applications that involve the use of stainless steels are presented. Some of these are the use of austenitic stainless steels for signature authentication (magnetic recording), the utilisation of the cryogenic magnetic transition of the sigma phase for hot spot detection (the Sigmaplugs), the new Pt-enhanced radiopaque stainless steel (PERSS) coronary stents and stainless steel stents that may be used for magnetic drug targeting. Besides recent developments in conventional stainless steels, those in the high-nitrogen, low-Ni (or Ni-free) varieties are also introduced. These recent developments include new methods for attaining very high nitrogen contents, new guidelines for alloy design, the merits/demerits associated with high nitrogen contents, etc.

Recent developments in stainless steels

Structure and mechanical properties of Cu-X (X = Nb,Cr,Ni) nanolayered composites

Cryogenic treatment has been claimed to improve wear resistance of certain steels and has been implemented in cutting tools, autos, barrels etc. Although it has been confirmed that cryogenic treatment can improve the service life of tools, the underling mechanism remains unclear. In this paper, we studied the microstructure changes of M2 tool steel before and after cryogenic treatment. We found that cryogenic treatment can facilitate the formation of carbon clustering and increase the carbide density in the subsequent heat treatment, thus improving the wear resistance of steels.

Microstructure of cryogenic treated M2 tool steel

Enhanced hardening in Cu/330 stainless steel multilayers by nanoscale twinning

The transient oxidation of β-NiAl in air at 800 °C and 1100 °C has been studied using electron microscopy. The oxide scale consists predominatly of metastable Al2O3 phases. θ-Al2O3 is the major oxide phase within 10.0 hr of oxidation at 800 °C and 0.1 hr at 1100 °C. The scales form epitaxially on (001)β and (012)β specimens throughout the transient stage, whereas the degree of preferred oxide orientation decreases with oxidation time on (011)β and (111)β specimens. The orientation relationships reflect the small mismatch between parallel close-packed directions in the metal and in the cation sublattice of the oxides. The correlation of distinctive oxide surface morphologies with internal structural defects indicates the strong tendency of the Al2O3 scale to growvia short-circuit diffusion paths.

Transient oxidation of Single-Crystal β-NiAl

Magnetron-sputter-deposited austenitic 330 stainless steel (330 SS) films, several microns thick, were found to have a hardness ∼6.5 GPa, about an order of magnitude higher than bulk 330 SS. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that sputtered 330 SS coatings are heavily twinned on {111} with nanometer scale twin spacing. Molecular dynamics simulations show that, in the nanometer regime where plasticity is controlled by the motion of single rather than pile-ups of dislocations, twin boundaries are very strong obstacles to slip. These observations provide a new perspective to producing ultrahigh strength monolithic metals by utilizing growth twins with nanometer-scale spacing.

T. E. Mitchell

Papers

Structure and mechanical properties of Cu-X (X = Nb,Cr,Ni) nanolayered composites

Microstructure of cryogenic treated M2 tool steel

Enhanced hardening in Cu/330 stainless steel multilayers by nanoscale twinning

Transient oxidation of Single-Crystal β-NiAl

Nanoscale-twinning-induced strengthening in austenitic stainless steel thin films