Room grain boundaries

The PTCR effect is complex and not fully understood in terms of the grain boundary states and stmcture. Both the PTCR effect and room temperature resistivities are also highly dependent on dopant type and ionic radius. Figure 11 (32) illustrates this dependence where comparison of the PTCR behavior and resistivity are made for near optimum concentrations of La ", Nd ", and ions separately substituted into BaTiO. As seen, lowest dopant concentration and room temperature resistivity are obtained for the larger radius cation (La " ), but thePTCR effect was sharpest for the smallest radius cation (Y " ), reflecting dual site occupancy of the Y " ion. 

Figures 11.2-11.6 show how the room temperature microstructure of carbon steels depends on the carbon content. The limiting case of pure iron (Fig. 11.2) is straightforward when yiron cools below 914°C a grains nucleate at y grain boundaries and the microstructure transforms to a. If we cool a steel of eutectoid composition (0.80 wt% C) below 723°C pearlite nodules nucleate at grain boundaries (Fig. 11.3) and the microstructure transforms to pearlite. If the steel contains less than 0.80% C (a hypoeutectoid steel) then the ystarts to transform as soon as the alloy enters the a+ yfield (Fig. 11.4). "Primary" a nucleates at y grain boundaries and grows as the steel is cooled from A3...

Sensitization temperatures (under -320°F). Room temperature embrittlement is nominal. and vessels. stabilized (Types 321,347) and extra low carbon (304 L, 316L) grades. into grain boundaries, with depletion of chromium in contiguous grain boundary areas. austenitic stainless steels. 

On cooling to room temperature after annealing, maraging steels transform completely to martensite. The as-annealed structure consists of packets of parallel lath-like martensite platelets arranged within a network of prior-austenite grain boundaries. The platelets have a high dislocation density but are not twinned. 

A1 will leave the grains to enter the grain boundaries, and w ill also in turn diffuse towards a reaction site, allowing the process to repeat itself until most or all of the Al has been consumed by the reaction. This theory is consistent with the observation that alloys made without In and Sn will not react at room temperatures. Ga without In and Sn remains solid at room temperature, and thus any alloy with solid gallium in its grain boundaries would not be able to provide a pathway to a reaction site for any ot the Al the alloy contains. 

It is noted, however, that both of the above CaF2 and Ti02 nanoceramics had some amount of porosity. This may account for an apparent soft behavior related to the superplastic deformation at low temperature, which does not yet reveal the plastic deformation characteristics in nanoceramics. Localized superplastic deformation under cyclic tensile fatigue tests was observed by Yan et al. on 3Y-TZP nanoceramics at room temperature [25], The micromechanism behind this phenomenon is argued to be essentially governed by grain-boundary diffusion. The contribution of dislocation slip might be in operation as a parallel mechanism to develop slip band-like microfeatures. 

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