Phys.org February 8, 2023
Single crystalline materials have the potential to exhibit superior performance because they exclude grain boundaries, which increase susceptibility to creep, oxidation, and corrosion, and make thermal and electronic transport inefficient. However, single crystal properties vary significantly with crystallographic orientation, making the ability to control the orientation critical for their use in applications. The complex nature of crystal nucleation and growth processes makes such control challenging. A team of researchers in the US (Texas A&M University, University of Virginia, Argonne National Laboratory) has developed a new crystal reorientation mechanism that results in abrupt and massive orientation changes in bulk single crystalline and oligocrystalline alloys via solid state thermal processing. They demonstrated this method in two alloy systems, FeMnAlNi and CuAlMn, and achieved repeated, massive orientation changes in the solid state. According to the researchers their findings offer a new strategy for manipulating the orientation of large single crystals on demand to take advantage of their superior and highly anisotropic properties… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Graphical abstract. Credit: Acta Materialia, Volume 242, 1 January 2023, 118465