TY - JOUR A1 - Fareed, Adnan A1 - Rosalie, Julian A1 - Kar, Satyakam A1 - Fähler, Sebastian A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Small-scale functional fatigue of a Ni-Mn-Ga Heusler alloy N2 - Functional fatigue of shape-memory alloys is a considerable threat to the reliable service of actuation devices. Here, we demonstrate the essentially degradation-free cyclic phase-transformation behavior of Ni-Mn-Ga microcrystals up to one million stress-driven superelastic cycles. Cyclic dissipation amounts to about 1/5 of the bulk counterpart and remains unaffected during cycling, even after the introduction of dislocation structures via plastic straining. Plastic yielding and the transformation stress largely exceed the known bulk values. However, the transformation-stress is found to depend on plastic pre-straining, which suggests that the size-affected transformation stress is sensitive to the initial defect structure and that it can be tuned by a targeted introduction of dislocations. These findings demonstrate the high suitability of Ni-Mn-Ga as a robust shape-memory alloy in small-scale functional device engineering. KW - Superelasticity KW - Shape-memory alloys KW - Functional fatigue KW - Ni-Mn-Ga PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-600695 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2024.119988 VL - 274 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-60069 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Riechers, Birte A1 - Das, Amlan A1 - Dufresne, Eric A1 - Derlet, Peter M. A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Intermittent cluster dynamics and temporal fractional diffusion in a bulk metallic glass N2 - Glassy solids evolve towards lower-energy structural states by physical aging. This can be characterized by structural relaxation times, the assessment of which is essential for understanding the glass’ time-dependent property changes. Conducted over short times, a continuous increase of relaxation times with time is seen, suggesting a time-dependent dissipative transport mechanism. By focusing on micro-structural rearrangements at the atomic-scale, we demonstrate the emergence of sub-diffusive anomalous transport and therefore temporal fractional diffusion in a metallic glass, which we track via coherent x-ray scattering conducted over more than 300,000 s. At the longest probed decorrelation times, a transition from classical stretched exponential to a power-law behavior occurs, which in concert with atomistic simulations reveals collective and intermittent atomic motion. Our observations give a physical basis for classical stretched exponential relaxation behavior, uncover a new power-law governed collective transport regime for metallic glasses at long and practically relevant time-scales, and demonstrate a rich and highly non-monotonous aging response in a glassy solid, thereby challenging the common framework of homogeneous aging and atomic scale diffusion. KW - Glassy solids KW - Fractional diffusion KW - Coherent x-ray scattering PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-608015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50758-3 VL - 15 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-60801 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fareed, Adnan A1 - Rosalie, Julian A1 - Kumar, Sourabh A1 - Kar, S. A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Fähler, S. A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Constrained incipient phase transformation in Ni-Mn-Ga films: A small-scale design challenge N2 - Ni-Mn-Ga shape-memory alloys are promising candidates for large strain actuation and magnetocaloric cooling devices. In view of potential small-scale applications, we probe here nanomechanically the stress-induced austenite–martensite transition in single crystalline austenitic thin films as a function of temperature. In 0.5 μm thin films, a marked incipient phase transformation to martensite is observed during nanoindentation, leaving behind pockets of residual martensite after unloading. These nanomechanical instabilities occur irrespective of deformation rate and temperature, are Weibull distributed, and reveal large spatial variations in transformation stress. In contrast, at a larger film thickness of 2 μm fully reversible transformations occur, and mechanical loading remains entirely smooth. Ab-initio simulations demonstrate how an in-plane constraint can considerably increase the martensitic transformation stress, explaining the thickness-dependent nanomechanical behavior. These findings for a shape-memory Heusler alloy give insights into how reduced dimensions and constraints can lead to unexpectedly large transformation stresses that need to be considered in small-scale actuation design. KW - Shape-memory alloys KW - Nanoindentation KW - Incipient plasticity KW - NiMaGa PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-581422 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2023.112259 VL - 233 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-58142 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Zengquan A1 - Riechers, Birte A1 - Derlet, Peter M. A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Atomic cluster dynamics causes intermittent aging of metallic glasses N2 - In the past two decades, numerous relaxation or physical aging experiments of metallic glasses have revealed signatures of intermittent atomic-scale processes. Revealed via intensity cross-correlations from coherent scattering using X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS), the observed abrupt changes in the time-domain of atomic motion does not fit the picture of gradual slowing down of relaxation times and their origin continues to remain unclear. Using a binary Lennard-Jones model glass subjected to microsecond-long isotherms, we show here that temporally and spatially heterogeneous atomic-cluster activity at different length-scales drive the emergence of highly non-monotonous intensity cross-correlations. The simulated XPCS experiments reveal a variety of time-dependent intensity-cross correlations that, depending on both the structural evolution and the 𝑞-space sampling, give detailed insights into the possible structural origins of intermittent aging measured with XPCS. KW - Metallic glasses KW - Aging KW - Molecular dynamics KW - XPCS PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-595415 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2024.119730 SN - 1359-6454 VL - 267 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Elsevier B.V. CY - Amsterdam, Niederlande AN - OPUS4-59541 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fantin, Andrea A1 - Manzoni, Anna Maria A1 - Springer, H. A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Local lattice distortions and chemical short-range order in MoNbTaW N2 - Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) conducted on an equiatomic MoNbTaW bcc medium-entropy alloy that was annealed at 2273 K reveals unexpectedly small 1st and 2nd shell element-specific lattice distortions. An experimental size-mismatch parameter, δexp, is determined to be ca. 50% lower than the corresponding calculated value. Around W, short-range order (SRO) preferring 4d elements in the 1st and 2nd shells persists. A Nb-W ordering is found, which is reminiscent of ordering emerging at lower temperatures in the B2(Mo,W;Ta,Nb)- and B32(Nb,W)-phases. With high-temperature ordering preferences in fcc also foreshadowing low-temperature phase, these findings suggest a general feature of high-temperature SRO. KW - High Entropy Alloys KW - Short-range order KW - Lattice distortions KW - EXAFS PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-598164 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/21663831.2024.2326014 SN - 2166-3831 VL - 12 IS - 5 SP - 346 EP - 354 PB - Taylor & Francis AN - OPUS4-59816 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rashidi, Reza A1 - Riechers, Birte A1 - Rosalie, Julian A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Annealing-dependent elastic microstructure in a Zr-based metallic glass N2 - In this letter, we demonstrate the robust presence of an elastic microstructure in a Zr-based metallic glass (MG) with a characteristic length-scale of the order of 100 nm. This length scale increases systematically towards the MG surface in differently sized casts, whereas thermal relaxation homogenizes both the internal length-scale gradient and the magnitude of the elastic fluctuations. Strongest changes during relaxation arise in the stiffest parts of the elastic microstructure. These findings indicate that the elastic microstructure emerges due to cooling constraints and may therefore be a microstructural manifestation of the internal residual stresses that arise during MG-solidification. KW - Metallic glass KW - Heterogeneity KW - Elastic microstructure KW - Nanoindentation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-610962 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2024.116380 VL - 255 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - Elsevier B.V. CY - Amsterdam, Niederlande AN - OPUS4-61096 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rashidi, Reza A1 - Vaerst, Olivia A1 - Riechers, Birte A1 - Rösner, Harald A1 - Wilde, Gerhard A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Atomic-scale strain fluctuations as an origin for elastic microstructures in metallic glasses N2 - Metallic glasses (MGs) exhibit an elastic microstructure that spans from a few to hundreds of nanometers, the origin of which continues to remain poorly understood. Here we employ four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) on a Zr65Cu25Al10 (at. %) bulk MG. Mapping local diffraction patterns over representative areas also probed elastically with automated nanoindentation, two comparable correlation length scales have been identified. Specifically, local diffraction patterns are analyzed with respect to their ellipticity, revealing systematic fluctuations between positive and negative volumetric strains. A power spectrum analysis of the strain fluctuations returns a dominant length scale of the order of 100 nm, which is very much compatible with what elastic property mapping indicates. Annealing reduces the magnitude of the statistical strain fluctuations, without strongly affecting the associated fluctuation length scale. These findings demonstrate that atomic-scale strains are very likely the origin of the structurally unexpected large elastic fluctuations obtained in nanoscale contact mechanics experiments. KW - Metallic glass KW - 4D-STEM KW - Strain anisotropy KW - Nanoindentation KW - Elastic microstructure KW - Heterogeneities PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654991 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2026.121982 SN - 1359-6454 VL - 308 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-65499 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sänger, Johanna C. A1 - Riechers, Birte A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Maaß, Robert A1 - Günster, Jens T1 - Microplastic response of 2PP‐printed ceramics N2 - AbstractTwo‐photon polymerization (2PP) additive manufacturing (AM) utilizes feedstocks of ceramic nanoparticles of a few nanometers in diameter, enabling the fabrication of highly accurate technical ceramic design with structural details as small as 500 nm. The performance of these materials is expected to differ from conventional AM ceramics, as nanoparticles and three‐dimensional printing at high resolution introduce new microstructural aspects. This study applies 2PP‐AM of yttria‐stabilized zirconia to investigate the mechanical response behavior under compressive load, probing the influence of smallest structural units induced by the line packing during the printing process, design of sintered microblocks, and sintering temperature and thereby microstructure. We find a dissipative mechanical response enhanced by sintering at lower temperatures than conventional. The pursued 2PP‐AM approach yields a microstructured material with an increased number of grain boundaries that proposedly play a major role in facilitating energy dissipation within the here printed ceramic material. This microplastic response is further triggered by the filigree structures induced by hollow line packing at the order of the critical defect size of ceramics. Together, these unique aspects made accessible by the 2PP‐AM approach contribute to a heterogeneous nano‐ and microstructure, and hint toward opportunities for tailoring the mechanical response in future ceramic applications. KW - Manufacturing KW - Mechanical properties KW - Microstructure KW - Plasticity KW - Zirconia: yttria stabilized PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-605176 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.19849 SN - 1551-2916 VL - 107 IS - 10 SP - 6636 EP - 6645 PB - Wiley CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-60517 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rizzardi, Q. A1 - Derlet, P. M. A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Intermittent microplasticity in the presence of a complex microstructure N2 - We demonstrate the gradual shift from scale-free intermittent microplasticity to a scale-dependent behavior via the introduction of a variety of microstructural features within the Al-Cu binary alloy system. As long as the obstacles to dislocation motion remain shearable, the statistics of intermittent microplasticity has fat-tailed contributions. The introduction of incoherent precipitates leads to a complete transition from scale-free powerlaw scaling to an exponential and scale-dependent distribution. These results demonstrate how non-Gaussian interactions survive across different microstructures and further suggest that characteristic microstructural length scales and obstacle pinning-strengths are of secondary importance for the intermittency statistics, as long as dislocations can shear their local environment. KW - Scale-dependent behavior KW - Al-Cu binary alloy system PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.6.073602 SN - 2475-9953 VL - 6 IS - 7 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - American Physical Society AN - OPUS4-55387 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Derlet, P. A1 - Bocquet, H. A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Viscosity and transport in a model fragile metallic glass N2 - How thermally activated structural excitations quantitatively mediate transport and microplasticity in a model binary glass at the microsecond timescale is revealed using atomistic simulation. These local excitations, involving a stringlike sequence of atomic displacements, admit a far-field shear-stress signature and underlie the transport of free-volume and bond geometry. Such transport is found to correspond to the Evolution of a disclination network describing the spatial connectivity of topologically distinct bonding environments, demonstrating the important role of geometrical frustration in both glass structure and its underlying dynamics. KW - Metallic glass KW - Viscosity PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.125601 SN - 2475-9953 VL - 5 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park, MD AN - OPUS4-54152 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -