Evolution of the upper critical field and superconducting vortex phase with thickness in PLD-grown Ta fllms

High quality superconducting thin films are the basis for the application of superconducting devices. Here we report the fllm growth and superconducting properties of the Ta films. The films were grown by the pulsed laser deposition technique on the α-Al2O3 substrates. It is found that, with the increase of the fllm thickness from 20 nm to 61 nm, both the superconducting transition temperature Tc and residual resistance ratio RRR display an upward trend, while the upper critical field decreases monotonously in a wide temperature region. A clear anisotropic behavior is revealed by comparing the upper critical fields with two difierent orientations (H ⊥ film and H // film). The anisotropy parameter Γ is found to be as high as 20 for the sample with the thickness of 20 nm. The systematical evolution from two- to three-dimensional features for the superconductivity with the increase of fllm thickness is observed in the temperature dependent upper critical fleld data. Moreover, the vortex liquid region tends to expand with the increase of the fllm thickness.

Phase Transformations from Nanocrystalline to Amorphous (Zr70Ni25Al5)100-xWx (x; 0, 2, 10, 20, 35 at. %) and Subsequent Consolidation

Glasses, which date back to about 2500 BC, originated in Mesopotamia and were later brought to Egypt in approximately 1450 BC. In contrast to the long-range order materials (crystalline materials), the atoms and molecules of glasses, which are noncrystalline materials (short-range order) are not organized in a definite lattice pattern. Metallic glassy materials with amorphous structure, which are rather new members of the advanced materials family, were discovered in 1960. Due to their amorphous structure, metallic glassy alloys, particularly in the supercooled liquid region, behave differently when compared with crystalline alloys. They reveal unique and unusual mechanical, physical, and chemical characteristics that make them desirable materials for many advanced applications. Although metallic glasses can be produced using different techniques, many of these methods cannot be utilized to produce amorphous alloys when the system has high-melting temperature alloys (above 1500 °C) and/or is immiscible. As a result, such constraints may limit the ability to fabricate high-thermal stable metallic glassy families. The purpose of this research is to fabricate metallic glassy (Zr70Ni25Al5)100-xWx (x; 0, 2, 10, 20, and 35 at. %) by cold rolling the constituent powders and then mechanically alloying them in a high-energy ball mill. The as-prepared metallic glassy powders demonstrated high-thermal stability and glass forming ability, as evidenced by a broad supercooled liquid region and a high crystallization temperature. The glassy powders were then consolidated into full-dense bulk metallic glasses using a spark plasma sintering technique. This consolidation method did not result in the crystallization of the materials, as the consolidated buttons retained their short-range order fashion. Additionally, the current work demonstrated the capability of fabricating very large bulk metallic glassy buttons with diameters ranging from 20 to 50 mm. The results indicated that the microhardness of the synthesized metallic glassy alloys increased as the W concentration increased. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first time this metallic glassy system has been reported.

Development of measurement setup for thermal conductivity at high temperatures using the parallel hot-wire

An experimental setup is built to determine the thermal conductivity of a mixture of KNO3 and NaNO3 with a ratio of 54-46m% which is used in high temperature thermal storage systems. The measurement principle is based on the transient parallel hot-wire method which is described in the standards NBN B 62-202 and ISO 8892-2. The setup is designed to measure the thermal conductivity around the melting temperature (<300°C). Measurements within the liquid region show faulty results caused by natural convection within the sample. The measured thermal conductivity within the solid region is 0.5466-0.5529W/mK close to the melting point and 0.7174W/mK at room temperature, which shows a decreasing thermal conductivity with increasing temperature in the solid region.

Temperature Dependence of the γ/γ′ Interfacial Energy in Binary Ni–Al Alloys

Published data on the coarsening kinetics of γ′ (Ni3Al) precipitates in binary Ni–Al alloys aged at 12 temperatures ranging from 773 K to 1073 K are analyzed to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the temperature dependence of the γ/γ′ interfacial free energy, σ. The data are analyzed using equations of the trans-interface-diffusion-controlled (TIDC) theory of coarsening, with temporal exponent n = 2.4. The results show that σ decreases with increasing temperature, T. A linear empirical equation is fitted to the data on σvsT; it extrapolates to σ = 0 in the liquid region of the Ni–Al phase diagram, as it should do. A quantitative temperature-dependent transition radius, rtrans, is calculated; it depends on the product of the interface width and the ratio of the chemical diffusion coefficients in the γ phase and interface regions. Applying the TIDC coarsening equations to calculate σ is justified when the average radius, 〈r〉, satisfies the condition 〈r〉 < rtrans, which is valid for all the data used in the fit. The data on σvsT are compared with theoretical predictions. The results are discussed in the context of previous work, as well as with values of σ obtained through analyses using the equations of traditional LSW coarsening kinetics, n = 3.

Improve the Forming Ability of Al-Based Metallic Glass Under Ultrasonic Vibration at Room Temperature

In this work, a rapid and controllable ultrasonic vibration method for forming Al-based metallic glass at room temperature is proposed. This method can dramatically improve the forming ability of Al-based metallic glasses, which are virtually brittle at room temperature and have almost no supercooled liquid region at high temperatures. Under ultrasonic vibration, Al-based metallic glasses exhibited obvious plastic flow, with a maximum deformation degree up to 58% and an average deformation degree up to 43%. It is worth mentioning that no crystalline peaks were found on the X-ray diffraction patterns after deformation under ultrasonic vibration, and the mechanical properties remained the same as the primary sample. The present results provide a new approach for the deformation and forming of Al-based metallic glasses, which can significantly broaden their applications.