Chemical Short-Range Ordering in Nanoprecipitates Modulates Planar Faults to Enhance Mechanical Properties
Nanoprecipitates strengthen metallic materials by impeding dislocation motion, but they often compromise ductility. This study introduces a novel strategy to address this challenge by incorporating atomic-scale chemical heterogeneity within nanoprecipitates. For the first time, pronounced short-range ordering (SRO) within L1<sub>2</sub>-ordered precipitates of the Co<sub>40</sub>Ni<sub>30</sub>Cr<sub>20</sub>Al<sub>5</sub>Ti<sub>4</sub>Ta<sub>1</sub> multi-principal element alloy is observed and confirmed, with its formation mechanism elucidated via density functional theory. Experimental and computational results show that the unique atomic configuration reshapes the energy landscape of planar defects, enhancing the strength and work-hardening capacity. The SRO structure elevates the critical shear stress for dislocation-mediated precipitate shearing while reducing the formation energy of superlattice intrinsic stacking faults, thereby promoting nucleation site formation. This work pioneers a method for modulating atomic-scale heterogeneity within ordered structures, advancing high-performance material design.
Authors
- Eiji Abe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3999-4383)
- Han Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1152-7575)
- Daisuke Egusa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5155-3276)
- Yuchi Cui
- Qiwei Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0980-3315)
- Xiaodong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4246-9267)
- Zhe Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9113-6362)
- Qing Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6815-1954)
- Gang Ji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2415-6275)
- Yixuan Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7857-8537)
- Yuto Ito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0998-7117)
- Tao Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7795-6081)
Institutions
- École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille (FR)
- City University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Metal Matrix Cast Composites (United States) (US)
- City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Research Institute (CN)
- Kunming Institute of Precious Metals (CN)
- Unité Matériaux et Transformations (FR)
- Nano and Advanced Materials Institute (CN)
- RE Hydrogen (United Kingdom) (GB)
- State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nano Letters
- Published
- 2025-04-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01602
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.07
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Aeronautical Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China