Synchrotron Imaging and Diffraction Characterization of Advanced Materials

A special issue of Quantum Beam Science (ISSN 2412-382X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2018) | Viewed by 25904

Special Issue Editors

Center for Advancing Materials Performance from the Nanoscale (CAMP-Nano), State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Interests: synchrotron X-ray diffraction techniques; additive manufacturing; strain/stress analysis; plastic deformation; phase transformations; electron microscopy; strengthening mechanism; nanoscale mechanical testing

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Guest Editor
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Interests: synchrotron X-ray diffraction techniques; synchrotron imaging techniques; texture analysis; strain/stress analysis; X-ray micro and nanofocusing optics; phase transformations

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As new materials with novel properties are developed through techniques such as 3D printing, their characterization with current methods become ever more challenging. Many of these properties depend on microstructural tuning at the micron, nano, and atomic scale. The need for higher spatial resolution, as well as of in operando measurements has led in recent years to the development of new and drastic improvements of synchrotron diffraction and imaging techniques. This issue is aimed at giving an overview of current state-of-the-art synchrotron characterization techniques used to study these materials, such as Bragg coherent diffraction imaging, ptychography, Laue nanodiffraction, and diffraction contrast tomography.

Prof. Kai Chen
Dr. Nobumichi Tamura
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • synchrotron X-ray diffraction
  • synchrotron X-ray imaging
  • diffraction contrast
  • additive manufacturing
  • multiferroics
  • nano-structures
  • energy materials
  • micro/nano hardness
  • nano mechanics
  • multi-field coupled testing
  • cracking
  • grain orientations
  • grain/phase boundaries
  • strain/stress measurement 
  • strengthening mechanism
  • deformation mechanism 
  • phase transformations
  • dislocation motion
  • grain rotation
  • twinning

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 5211 KiB  
Article
3D Shape Analysis of Powder for Laser Beam Melting by Synchrotron X-ray CT
by Tobias Thiede, Tatiana Mishurova, Sergei Evsevleev, Itziar Serrano-Munoz, Christian Gollwitzer and Giovanni Bruno
Quantum Beam Sci. 2019, 3(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs3010003 - 19 Feb 2019
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4702
Abstract
The quality of components made by laser beam melting (LBM) additive manufacturing is naturally influenced by the quality of the powder bed. A packing density <1 and porosity inside the powder particles lead to intrinsic voids in the powder bed. Since the packing [...] Read more.
The quality of components made by laser beam melting (LBM) additive manufacturing is naturally influenced by the quality of the powder bed. A packing density <1 and porosity inside the powder particles lead to intrinsic voids in the powder bed. Since the packing density is determined by the particle size and shape distribution, the determination of these properties is of significant interest to assess the printing process. In this work, the size and shape distribution, the amount of the particle’s intrinsic porosity, as well as the packing density of micrometric powder used for LBM, have been investigated by means of synchrotron X-ray computed tomography (CT). Two different powder batches were investigated: Ti–6Al–4V produced by plasma atomization and stainless steel 316L produced by gas atomization. Plasma atomization particles were observed to be more spherical in terms of the mean anisotropy compared to particles produced by gas atomization. The two kinds of particles were comparable in size according to the equivalent diameter. The packing density was lower (i.e., the powder bed contained more voids in between particles) for the Ti–6Al–4V particles. The comparison of the tomographic results with laser diffraction, as another particle size measurement technique, proved to be in agreement. Full article
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13 pages, 2882 KiB  
Article
Stress Relaxation Related to Spontaneous Thin Film Buckling: Correlation between Finite Element Calculations and Micro Diffraction Analysis
by Haikun Jia, Shi Bin Wang, Nobumichi Tamura and Philippe Goudeau
Quantum Beam Sci. 2019, 3(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs3010001 - 20 Dec 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4184
Abstract
Compressive residual stresses generated during thin film deposition may lead to undesirable film damage, such as delamination, buckling, and flaking, ultimately leading to the failure of the device employing the film. Understanding the residual stress generation and role in these damage mechanisms is [...] Read more.
Compressive residual stresses generated during thin film deposition may lead to undesirable film damage, such as delamination, buckling, and flaking, ultimately leading to the failure of the device employing the film. Understanding the residual stress generation and role in these damage mechanisms is necessary to preserve thin film integrity and optimize its functional properties. Thin shell theory has been used for decades to predict buckling but the results have not yet been correlated with experimental data since the techniques used to measure stress in metallic films were not able to do so at the required micron scale until recently. Micro scanning X-ray diffraction now enables the direct mapping of the local stress of metallic films. In this paper, finite element method based on thin shell theory and synchrotron X-ray micro diffraction have been used to determine stress maps of thin film buckling patterns. Calculations of the stress distribution in the metallic films have been performed taking into account the buckling geometry determined from optical measurements. Stress distributions over gold blisters and tungsten wrinkles obtained with the two techniques are in fair agreement and allow for the accurate determination of the stress relaxation profile from the bottom to the top of the buckling, validating the thin shell theory model. Full article
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8 pages, 962 KiB  
Article
New Structural Insight into Interface-Controlled α–σ Phase Transformation in Fe-Cr Alloys
by Wael Al Khoury, Nobumichi Tamura, Guillaume Geandier and Philippe Goudeau
Quantum Beam Sci. 2018, 2(4), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs2040027 - 10 Dec 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2859
Abstract
Synchrotron Laue microdiffraction scanning is used for the ex situ study of the body-centered, cubic-to-tetragonal phase transformation that occurs in equiatomic polycrystalline Fe-Cr alloys at temperatures between 550 and 800 °C. Grain orientation and grain strains were scanned with a micron step resolution [...] Read more.
Synchrotron Laue microdiffraction scanning is used for the ex situ study of the body-centered, cubic-to-tetragonal phase transformation that occurs in equiatomic polycrystalline Fe-Cr alloys at temperatures between 550 and 800 °C. Grain orientation and grain strains were scanned with a micron step resolution after annealing at 700 °C for 12 h. Further microstructural details on the early stage of the transformation, and more particularly on the cubic-to-tetragonal phase interface, were achieved. Only the α and ordered σ phases were detected. The crystallographic relationships at the interface between the two phases did not follow the predicted rules; this result is discussed in relation to the measured microstrains. Full article
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9 pages, 1237 KiB  
Article
In Situ Coherent X-ray Diffraction during Three-Point Bending of a Au Nanowire: Visualization and Quantification
by Anton Davydok, Thomas W. Cornelius, Zhe Ren, Cedric Leclere, Gilbert Chahine, Tobias Schülli, Florian Lauraux, Gunther Richter and Olivier Thomas
Quantum Beam Sci. 2018, 2(4), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs2040024 - 13 Nov 2018
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3707
Abstract
The three-point bending behavior of a single Au nanowire deformed by an atomic force microscope was monitored by coherent X-ray diffraction using a sub-micrometer sized hard X-ray beam. Three-dimensional reciprocal-space maps were recorded before and after deformation by standard rocking curves and were [...] Read more.
The three-point bending behavior of a single Au nanowire deformed by an atomic force microscope was monitored by coherent X-ray diffraction using a sub-micrometer sized hard X-ray beam. Three-dimensional reciprocal-space maps were recorded before and after deformation by standard rocking curves and were measured by scanning the energy of the incident X-ray beam during deformation at different loading stages. The mechanical behavior of the nanowire was visualized in reciprocal space and a complex deformation mechanism is described. In addition to the expected bending of the nanowire, torsion was detected. Bending and torsion angles were quantified from the high-resolution diffraction data. Full article
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Review

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12 pages, 1998 KiB  
Review
Grain Rotation in Plastic Deformation
by Bin Chen, Linli Zhu, Yunchang Xin and Jialin Lei
Quantum Beam Sci. 2019, 3(3), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs3030017 - 26 Jul 2019
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5362
Abstract
The plastic deformation behaviors of crystalline materials are usually determined by lattice dislocations. Below a certain particle or grain size, focus is placed on the grain-boundary-mediated mechanisms (e.g., grain rotation, grain boundary sliding, and diffusion), which has been observed during recrystallization, grain growth, [...] Read more.
The plastic deformation behaviors of crystalline materials are usually determined by lattice dislocations. Below a certain particle or grain size, focus is placed on the grain-boundary-mediated mechanisms (e.g., grain rotation, grain boundary sliding, and diffusion), which has been observed during recrystallization, grain growth, and plastic deformation. However, the underlying mechanisms of grain rotation remain to be studied. In this article, we review the theoretical models, molecular dynamics simulations, and experimental investigations on grain rotation. The development of in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray characterization methods for probing grain boundary processes during plastic deformation provides a better understanding of the mechanisms of grain rotation. Especially, the ability to acquire high-quality X-ray diffraction patterns from individual nanograins is expected to find broad applications in various fields such as physics, chemistry, materials science, and nanoscience. Full article
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16 pages, 9039 KiB  
Review
3D Visualized Characterization of Fracture Behavior of Structural Metals Using Synchrotron Radiation Computed Microtomography
by Chao Xu, Meng Huang, Hao Wu, Kesong Miao, Guangze Tang, Honglan Xie, Tiqiao Xiao, Huijun Kang, Tongmin Wang, Lin Geng and Guohua Fan
Quantum Beam Sci. 2019, 3(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs3010005 - 1 Mar 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4353
Abstract
Synchrotron radiation computed micro-tomography (SR-μCT) is a non-destructive characterization method in materials science, which provides the quantitative reconstruction of a three-dimension (3D) volume image with spatial resolution of sub-micrometer level. The recent progress in brilliance and flux of synchrotron radiation source has enabled [...] Read more.
Synchrotron radiation computed micro-tomography (SR-μCT) is a non-destructive characterization method in materials science, which provides the quantitative reconstruction of a three-dimension (3D) volume image with spatial resolution of sub-micrometer level. The recent progress in brilliance and flux of synchrotron radiation source has enabled the fast investigation of the inner microstructure of metal matrix composites without complex sample preparation. The 3D reconstruction can quantitatively describe the phase distribution as well as voids/cracks formation and propagation in structural metals, which provides a powerful tool to investigate the deformation and fracture processes. Here, we present an overview of recent work using SR-μCT, on the applications in structural metals. Full article
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