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The radiation instability of thermally stable nanocrystalline platinum gold

  • Metals & corrosion
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Abstract

Recent experimentally validated alloy design theories have demonstrated nanocrystalline binary alloys that are stable against thermally induced grain growth. An open question is whether such thermal stability also translates to stability under irradiation. In this study, we investigate the response to heavy ion irradiation of a nanocrystalline platinum gold alloy that is known to be thermally stable from previous studies. Heavy ion irradiation was conducted at both room temperature and elevated temperatures on films of nanocrystalline platinum and platinum gold. Using scanning/transmission electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy and automated crystallographic orientation mapping, we observe substantial grain growth in the irradiated area compared to the controlled area beyond the range of heavy ions, as well as compositional redistribution under these conditions, and discuss mechanisms underpinning this instability. These findings highlight that grain boundary stability against one external stimulus, such as heat, does not always translate into grain boundary stability under other stimuli, such as displacement damage.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Drs. S.M. Foiles, D. Monti, J.E. Nathaniel II, R. Dingreville, B. L. Boyce, P. Bellon, C. Daniels, and Mr. D.L. Buller, for helpful discussions and assistance. R.S., C.M.B., D.L.M., and K.H. are supported at Sandia National Laboratories by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Materials Science and Engineering Division. F. A. and Y. M. were supported through the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering Division under Award No. DE-SC0022980. This work was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. DOE or the United States Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Material, Physical, and Chemical Sciences Center, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, USA

    Ryan Schoell, Christopher M. Barr, David P. Adams & Khalid Hattar

  2. Energy Nanomaterials Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, USA

    Douglas L. Medlin

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    Yasir Mahmood & Fadi Abdeljawad

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    Fadi Abdeljawad

  5. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA

    Fadi Abdeljawad

  6. Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee –Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Khalid Hattar

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  1. Ryan Schoell
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  5. Yasir Mahmood
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Contributions

Ryan Schoell contributed to data curation, formal analysis, investigation, visualization, writing—original draft preparation, and writing—review and editing. Chris Barr was involved in conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, visualization, and writing—review and editing. Douglas Medlin contributed to data curation, formal analysis, investigation, visualization, and writing—reviewing and editing. Dave Adams was involved in resources and writing—review and editing. Yasir Mahmood contributed to formal analysis and writing—review and editing, and provided software. Fadi Abdeljawad was involved in formal analysis, writing—original draft preparation, and writing—review and editing, and provided software. Khalid Hattar contributed to conceptualization, funding acquisition, methodology, project administration, resources, supervision, writing—original draft preparation, and writing—review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Khalid Hattar.

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Schoell, R., Barr, C.M., Medlin, D.L. et al. The radiation instability of thermally stable nanocrystalline platinum gold. J Mater Sci 59, 11497–11509 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09837-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09837-5

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