High-content ductile coherent nanoprecipitates achieve ultrastrong high-entropy alloys.

Precipitation-hardening high-entropy alloys (PH-HEAs) with good strength-ductility balances are a promising candidate for advanced structural applications. However, current HEAs emphasize near-equiatomic initial compositions, which limit the increase of intermetallic precipitates that are closely related to the alloy strength. Here we present a strategy to design ultrastrong HEAs with high-content nanoprecipitates by phase separation, which can generate a near-equiatomic matrix in situ while forming strengthening phases, producing a PH-HEA regardless of the initial atomic ratio. Accordingly, we develop a non-equiatomic alloy that utilizes spinodal decomposition to create a low-misfit coherent nanostructure combining a near-equiatomic disordered face-centered-cubic (FCC) matrix with high-content ductile Ni3Al-type ordered nanoprecipitates. We find that this spinodal order-disorder nanostructure contributes to a strength increase of ~1.5 GPa (>560%) relative to the HEA without precipitation, achieving one of the highest tensile strength (1.9 GPa) among all bulk HEAs reported previously while retaining good ductility (>9%).

Synthesis of ZrB2 and ZrB2-SiC Powders Using a Sucrose-Containing System.

ZrB2 and ZrB2-SiC powders are synthesized by a sol-gel method from zirconium n-propoxide, tetraethyl orthosilicate (only for ZrB2-SiC), boric acid, and sucrose. After reduction at 1550 degrees C, both ZrB2 and ZrB2-SiC are unconsolidated, soft gray powders. The ZrB2-SiC particles have an equiaxed shape with a diameter of about 800 nm and a uniform size distribution. The SiC may be very finely distributed, because we barely find SiC among ZrB2 particles when using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), although both ZrB2 and SiC are identified by X-ray diffractometry (XRD).

Preparation of novel saw-toothed and riblike alpha-Si3N4 whiskers.

alpha-Si(3)N(4) whiskers with novel saw-toothed and riblike structures have been synthesized in a high yield by a carbothermal reduction and nitridation route. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and selected-area electron diffraction (SAED). The results show that the saw-toothed whiskers with one smooth surface and another toothlike surface have lengths about several tens of microns and widths in the range of 600-1200 nm. The riblike whiskers are composed of Si(3)N(4) rod-arrays, which grow closely packed perpendicular to the central axial whiskers with uniform diameter and length. The growth mechanism of the products can be considered as a combination of VS mechanism and secondary epitaxial nucleation process. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of the whiskers shows a strong blue light emission peak at 406 nm and a weak peak at 485 nm, suggesting their potential applications in light and electron emission devices.