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Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Nanoparticle-induced unusual melting and solidification behaviours of metals
Chao Ma1,2, Lianyi Chen1,3, Chezheng Cao4
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
Abstract:
Effective control of melting and solidification behaviours of materials is significant for numerous applications. It has been a long-standing challenge to increase the melted zone (MZ) depth while shrinking the heat-affected zone (HAZ) size during local melting and solidification of materials. In this paper, nanoparticle-induced unusual melting and solidification behaviours of metals are reported that effectively solve this long-time dilemma. By introduction of Al2O3 nanoparticles, the MZ depth of Ni is increased by 68%, while the corresponding HAZ size is decreased by 67% in laser melting at a pulse energy of 0.18 mJ. The addition of SiC nanoparticles shows similar results. The discovery of the unusual melting and solidification of materials that contain nanoparticles will not only have impacts on existing melting and solidification manufacturing processes, such as laser welding and additive manufacturing, but also on other applications such as pharmaceutical processing and energy storage.
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