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Influence and comparison of contaminate partitioning on nanocrystalline stability in sputter-deposited and ball-milled Cu–Zr alloys

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Abstract

Ascertaining the mechanism(s) of nanocrystalline stability is a critical need in revealing how specific alloys retard grain growth. Often significant debate exists concerning such mechanisms, even in the same alloy. Here, we compare two processing methods—high-energy ball milling and thin film deposition—in the fabrication and subsequent two-step annealing (500 °C/24 h followed by a temperature ramp to 900 °C whereupon the sample was held for 1 min and quenched) for nanocrystalline Cu–Zr. Using precession electron diffraction (PED) and atom probe tomography (APT), the grain stability and secondary phase content was quantified. The milled powder sample revealed that the Zr solute was largely in an oxide/carbide state after milling with no significant change upon annealing. In contrast, the thin film sample showed nearly all elemental Zr upon deposition but significant oxidation after the vacuum anneal. The significant uptake of oxygen is contributed to the high surface area-to-volume ratio of the film coupled with columnar grains that were enriched in elemental Zr in the as-deposited state. Furthermore, upon sputter deposition, many of these boundaries were vitrified which was lost upon annealing. These glassy boundaries were not observed by PED of the powders. The consequence of when the solute reacts with contaminate species is discussed in relation to nanocrystalline and microstructural stability. The use of Zener pinning predicted grain sizes, based on the quantification of the secondary phase particulates measured by APT, are given to better ascertain their contribution to nanocrystalline stability.

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Acknowledgements

XZ and GBT gratefully acknowledge NSF-DMR-1709803 for support of this research, which involved the characterization and analysis of the APT datasets. JS, CG, and TJR acknowledge the U.S. Army Research Office under Grant W911NF-16-1-0369 for the specimens and technical discussion. LL recognizes US National Science Foundation under Grant CMMI 17-0267 for technical discussion in the implication of the findings on phase stability. The UA Central Analytical Facility is recognized for additional assistance and access to the microscopes used in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Xuyang Zhou, David Tweddle, Lin Li & Gregory B. Thompson

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Jennifer D. Schuler, Charlette M. Grigorian & Timothy J. Rupert

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  1. Xuyang Zhou
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Correspondence to Gregory B. Thompson.

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Appendix

Appendix

The appendix section provides additional information concerning the sampling sizes for the grain size analysis of each of the samples. Referring to Table 2, the number of grains were randomly reduced to determine if the error and/or average value changed. This has been plotted for the average value, and its standard deviation, in Fig. 14, with the cumulative area fractions in Fig. 15.

Figure 14
figure 14

Plot of average grain size and one standard deviation by the random reduction of grain sizes from the total number of grain counted given in Table 2. Note the relative invariance of the average and error, indicating that the grain size deviation about the average is intrinsic to the processed microstructure and not a result of low counting statistics

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Figure 15
figure 15

Cumulative area fraction maps with a random reduction of the counted grain sizes given in Table 2. This absent or near modest changes with reduced number of counted grains confirms that the standard deviation about the averaged reported in the paper and in Fig. 14 is intrinsic to the processed microstructure and not a result of low counting statistics

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Zhou, X., Schuler, J.D., Grigorian, C.M. et al. Influence and comparison of contaminate partitioning on nanocrystalline stability in sputter-deposited and ball-milled Cu–Zr alloys. J Mater Sci 55, 16758–16779 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05135-y

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