A high-strength silicide phase in a stainless steel alloy designed for wear-resistant applications.

Hardfacing alloys provide strong, wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant coatings for extreme environments such as those within nuclear reactors. Here, we report an ultra-high-strength Fe-Cr-Ni silicide phase, named π-ferrosilicide, within a hardfacing Fe-based alloy. Electron diffraction tomography has allowed the determination of the atomic structure of this phase.

Comparison study of silicon carbide coatings produced at different deposition conditions with use of high temperature nanoindentation.

The elastic modulus and hardness of different silicon carbide (SiC) coatings in tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles were measured by in situ high temperature nanoindentation up to 500 °C. Three samples fabricated by different research institutions were compared. Due to varied fabrication parameters the samples exhibited different grain sizes and one contained some visible porosity.

Transgranular liquation cracking of grains in the semi-solid state.

Grain refinement via semi-solid deformation is desired to obtain superior mechanical properties of cast components. Using quantitative in situ synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy, we show an additional mechanism for the reduction of grain size, via liquation assisted transgranular cracking of semi-solid globular microstructures. Here we perform localized indentation of Al-15wt.