University of Science and Technology Beijing

About: University of Science and Technology Beijing is a education organization based out in Beijing, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Microstructure & Alloy. The organization has 41558 authors who have published 44473 publications receiving 623229 citations. The organization is also known as: Beijing Steel and Iron Institute.

High-performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials

Abstract: Thermoelectric effects enable direct conversion between thermal and electrical energy and provide an alternative route for power generation and refrigeration. Over the past ten years, the exploration of high-performance thermoelectric materials has attracted great attention from both an academic research perspective and with a view to industrial applications. This review summarizes the progress that has been made in recent years in developing thermoelectric materials with a high dimensionless figure of merits (ZT) and the related fabrication processes for producing nanostuctured materials. The challenge to develop thermoelectric materials with superior performance is to tailor the interconnected thermoelectric physical parameters — electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity — for a crystalline system. Nanostructures provide a chance to disconnect the linkage between thermal and electrical transport by introducing some new scattering mechanisms. Recent improvements in thermoelectric efficiency appear to be dominated by efforts to reduce the lattice thermal conductivity through nanostructural design. The materials focused in this review include Bi–Te alloys, skutterudite compounds, Ag–Pb–Sb–Te quaternary systems, half-Heusler compounds and some high-ZT oxides. Possible future strategies for developing thermoelectric materials are also discussed.

Ce3+-Doped garnet phosphors: composition modification, luminescence properties and applications.

Abstract: Garnets have the general formula of A3B2C3O12 and form a wide range of inorganic compounds, occurring both naturally (gemstones) and synthetically. Their physical and chemical properties are closely related to the structure and composition. In particular, Ce3+-doped garnet phosphors have a long history and are widely applied, ranging from flying spot cameras, lasers and phosphors in fluorescent tubes to more recent applications in white light LEDs, as afterglow materials and scintillators for medical imaging. Garnet phosphors are unique in their tunability of the luminescence properties through variations in the {A}, [B] and (C) cation sublattice. The flexibility in phosphor composition and the tunable luminescence properties rely on design and synthesis strategies for new garnet compositions with tailor-made luminescence properties. It is the aim of this review to discuss the variation in luminescence properties of Ce3+-doped garnet materials in relation to the applications. This review will provide insight into the relation between crystal chemistry and luminescence for the important class of Ce3+-doped garnet phosphors. It will summarize previous research on the structural design and optical properties of garnet phosphors and also discuss future research opportunities in this field.

Ultrastrong steel via minimal lattice misfit and high-density nanoprecipitation

Abstract: Next-generation high-performance structural materials are required for lightweight design strategies and advanced energy applications. Maraging steels, combining a martensite matrix with nanoprecipitates, are a class of high-strength materials with the potential for matching these demands. Their outstanding strength originates from semi-coherent precipitates, which unavoidably exhibit a heterogeneous distribution that creates large coherency strains, which in turn may promote crack initiation under load. Here we report a counterintuitive strategy for the design of ultrastrong steel alloys by high-density nanoprecipitation with minimal lattice misfit. We found that these highly dispersed, fully coherent precipitates (that is, the crystal lattice of the precipitates is almost the same as that of the surrounding matrix), showing very low lattice misfit with the matrix and high anti-phase boundary energy, strengthen alloys without sacrificing ductility. Such low lattice misfit (0.03 ± 0.04 per cent) decreases the nucleation barrier for precipitation, thus enabling and stabilizing nanoprecipitates with an extremely high number density (more than 1024 per cubic metre) and small size (about 2.7 ± 0.2 nanometres). The minimized elastic misfit strain around the particles does not contribute much to the dislocation interaction, which is typically needed for strength increase. Instead, our strengthening mechanism exploits the chemical ordering effect that creates backstresses (the forces opposing deformation) when precipitates are cut by dislocations. We create a class of steels, strengthened by Ni(Al,Fe) precipitates, with a strength of up to 2.2 gigapascals and good ductility (about 8.2 per cent). The chemical composition of the precipitates enables a substantial reduction in cost compared to conventional maraging steels owing to the replacement of the essential but high-cost alloying elements cobalt and titanium with inexpensive and lightweight aluminium. Strengthening of this class of steel alloy is based on minimal lattice misfit to achieve maximal precipitate dispersion and high cutting stress (the stress required for dislocations to cut through coherent precipitates and thus produce plastic deformation), and we envisage that this lattice misfit design concept may be applied to many other metallic alloys.

Evading the strength–ductility trade-off dilemma in steel through gradient hierarchical nanotwins

Abstract: The strength-ductility trade-off has been a long-standing dilemma in materials science. This has limited the potential of many structural materials, steels in particular. Here we report a way of enhancing the strength of twinning-induced plasticity steel at no ductility trade-off. After applying torsion to cylindrical twinning-induced plasticity steel samples to generate a gradient nanotwinned structure along the radial direction, we find that the yielding strength of the material can be doubled at no reduction in ductility. It is shown that this evasion of strength-ductility trade-off is due to the formation of a gradient hierarchical nanotwinned structure during pre-torsion and subsequent tensile deformation. A series of finite element simulations based on crystal plasticity are performed to understand why the gradient twin structure can cause strengthening and ductility retention, and how sequential torsion and tension lead to the observed hierarchical nanotwinned structure through activation of different twinning systems.