Atomic-scale mechanisms of stress-controlled nanocrystal nucleation in amorphous alloys
Abstract
Stress annealing offers a powerful route to control nanocrystallization in amorphous alloys, yet the atomic-scale mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we reveal that tensile stress significantly increases the density of preordered Cu clusters and induces their anisotropic alignment along the stress direction. These clusters act as preferential nucleation sites for Fe–Si nanocrystals, promoting directional growth and resulting in pronounced structural anisotropy. In the stress-annealed samples, the parallel-to-perpendicular cluster orientation ratio reaches 1.86, confirming the strong directional influence of applied stress. This stress-mediated enhancement of nucleation, coupled with suppression of isotropic crystal growth, leads to refined grains and controllable nanocrystallization pathways. These results provide critical atomic-scale insights into stress-directed microstructural evolution and establish a fundamental basis for engineering the nanocrystallization of amorphous alloys through stress-based processing.
Article Details
Journal Info
Applied Physics Letters
American Institute of Physics
Authors (10)
Xiaozhen Fan
College of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University 1 , Jinhua 321004,
Yanjun Qin
College of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University 1 , Jinhua 321004,
Jingui Li
College of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University 1 , Jinhua 321004,
Wenzhong Li
Yibin Liu
State Key Laboratory of Metabolism and Regulation in Complex Organisms, College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Taikang Center for Life and Medical Sciences
Ziyue Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine and Offspring Health, Key Laboratory of Infection Immunity and Disease Intervention of Shandong Province, Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of Ministry of Education, Shandong University
Jianqiang Zhang
Zhenghang Wei
College of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University 1 , Jinhua 321004,
Huiqun Ye
College of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University 1 , Jinhua 321004,
Yunzhang Fang
College of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University 1 , Jinhua 321004,