Room-Temperature Plastic Deformation of Strontium Titanate Crystals Grown from Different Chemical Compositions
Oxide materials have the potential to exhibit superior mechanical properties in terms of high yield point, high melting point, and high chemical stability. Despite this, they are not widely used as a structural material due to their brittle nature. However, this study shows enhanced room-temperature plasticity of strontium titanate (SrTiO3) crystals through the control of the chemical composition. It is shown that the deformation behavior of SrTiO3 crystals at room temperature depends on the Sr/Ti ratio. It was found that flow stresses in deforming SrTiO3 crystals grown from a powder with the particular ratio of Sr/Ti = 1.04 are almost independent of the strain rate because of the high mobility of dislocations in such crystals. As a result, the SrTiO3 crystals can deform by dislocation slip up to a strain of more than 10%, even at a very high strain rate of 10% per second. It is thus demonstrated that SrTiO3 crystals can exhibit excellent plasticity when chemical composition in the crystal is properly controlled.
Direct observation of individual dislocation interaction processes with grain boundaries
In situ electron microscopy reveals the dynamic processes of individual dislocation interaction with grain boundaries. In deformation processes, the presence of grain boundaries has a crucial influence on dislocation behavior; these boundaries drastically change the mechanical properties of polycrystalline materials. It has been considered that grain boundaries act as effective barriers for dislocation glide, but the origin of this barrier-like behavior has been a matter of conjecture for many years. We directly observe how the motion of individual dislocations is impeded at well-defined high-angle and low-angle grain boundaries in SrTiO3, via in situ nanoindentation experiments inside a transmission electron microscope. Our in situ observations show that both the high-angle and low-angle grain boundaries impede dislocation glide across them and that the impediment of dislocation glide does not simply originate from the geometric effects; it arises as a result of the local structural stabilization effects at grain boundary cores as well, especially for low-angle grain boundaries. The present findings indicate that simultaneous consideration of both the geometric effects and the stabilization effects is necessary to quantitatively understand the dislocation impediment processes at grain boundaries.
Experimental investigation of the geotechnical properties and microstructure of lime-stabilized saline soils under freeze-thaw cycling
Abstract The Song-Nen Plain in northeastern China holds one of the three largest expanses of soda saline-alkali soil in the world. Due to its disadvantageous geotechnical properties, the saline soil in this area is unable to meet the needs of construction projects. This study evaluates the stabilizing effect of adding lime to such soils. Specifically, it investigates how the physicochemical and mechanical properties and microstructure of soda saline-alkali soil are altered by lime and how these changes are affected by both freeze-thaw cycling and the duration of curing. The results reveal that adding lime to saline soil transforms clay particles into sand and silt particles and causes the pore size distribution (PSD) to become bimodal, with small-pore and macropore populations. An increase in lime content leads to an increase in the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) but a gradual decrease in both the cation exchange capacity (CEC) and plastic index. Freeze-thaw cycles break up coarse particles and aggregate finer particles, increasing the diameter of macropores and decreasing the USC; however, the effect on specimens with >9% lime is negligible. It is further shown that the geotechnical properties of the soil change immediately after the addition of lime, indicating that the cation exchange reaction takes place very quickly. Furthermore, the pozzolanic reaction leads to an increase in the percentage of sand-sized particles and a decrease in porosity after 28 days of curing. Overall, these results indicate that it is feasible to use lime to improve the engineering properties of soda saline-alkali soil in this area.