TY - JOUR A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Ni, H.C. A1 - Chakraborty, A. A1 - Ghassemi-Armaki, H. A1 - Zuo, J.M. A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Segregation-induced grain-boundary precipitation during early stages of liquid-metal embrittlement of an advanced high-strength steel N2 - Liquid-metal embrittlement (LME) of galvanized (Zn-coated) advanced high-strength steels is a long-known problem in materials science. Here we reveal the initial microstructural processes underneath the Zn-coating that lead to LME-microcrack initiation in the steel substrate. We track the microstructural evolution during the first tens of milliseconds and find pronounced signatures of Fe-Zn intermetallic precipitation in both ferrite grain boundaries and at internal ferrite-oxide phase boundaries. In concert with novel CALPHAD-integrated density-based thermodynamic modelling, we demonstrate that Zn-rich intermetallic phase-nucleation can occur at markedly low processing temperatures due to a segregation transition. We show that a small Znenrichment caused by Zn bulk-diffusion during the initial temperature rise in a joining process is sufficient to induce the segregation transition and subsequent nucleation of Fe-Zn intermetallic grain-boundary phases, which the experiments link to crack initiation sites. These findings direct focus onto LME-controlling microstructural and thermodynamic phenomena at temperatures below the ductility trough and the austenite formation temperature. KW - Resistance spot welding KW - Liquid-metal embrittlement KW - Steels KW - Grain boundaries PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-581067 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.119243 VL - 259 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Elsevier Ltd AN - OPUS4-58106 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Wallis, Theophilus A1 - Maaß, Robert A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza T1 - Thermodynamics of grain boundary segregation transition and their relevance for liquid metal embrittlement in Fe-Zn system N2 - Grain boundaries (GBs) are common sites of failure in polycrystalline materials. Recently, a massive Zn segregation transition at Fe GBs was discovered and shown to act as a potent precursor of liquid metal embrittlement (LME) in the Fe-Zn system (Kamachali et al., Scripta Materialia 238 (2024) 115758). In this study, we elaborate on how temperature, GB type and the chemo-structurally coupled phase decomposition at the GB impact this segregation transition. CALPHAD and atomistic simulation data were utilized as inputs to conduct quantitative density-based thermodynamic modeling and phase-field simulations across various GBs, alloy compositions, and temperatures. We reveal that once the segregation transition becomes possible, the GB structural variation stabilizes spinodally formed Zn-rich phases within the GB region, with a higher tendency in disordered GBs. GB phase diagrams were constructed to identify and analyze the range of critical temperatures and alloy compositions associated with the segregation transition. The phase diagrams reveal that the miscibility gap for more disordered GB expands and, although the segregation transition is inevitable and occurs for all GBs, the barrier to triggering it is lower for more disordered GBs. Based on our thermodynamic analyses, potential processing modifications and GB engineering strategies for mitigating segregation-induced LME are thoroughly discussed. KW - Thermodynamics KW - Phase-Field Modelling KW - Steels PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-634145 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121134 SN - 1359-6454 VL - 296 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier BV AN - OPUS4-63414 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, C. A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Strain-dependent shear-band structure in a Zr-based bulk metallic glass N2 - This work presents strong evidence for structural damage accumulation as a function of shear strain admitted by shear bands in a Zr-based bulk metallic glass. Analyzing the shear-band structure of shear- band segments that experienced shear strains covering four orders of magnitude with high-angle annular dark field transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) reveals strongly scattered data with on overall trend of increasing local volume dilatation with increasing shear strain. Locally, however, a variety of trends is observed, which underlines the strong heterogeneity of structural damage in shear bands in metallic glasses. KW - Transmission electron microscopy KW - Metallic glass KW - Shear bands KW - Shear-band structure KW - Shear strain PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2020.08.030 VL - 190 SP - 75 EP - 79 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-52454 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shimada, Y. A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Yoshida, K. A1 - Sato, M. A1 - Chen, J. A1 - Du, Y. A1 - Inoue, K. A1 - Maaß, Robert A1 - Nagai, Y. A1 - Konno, T. T1 - In situ thermal annealing transmission electron microscopy of irradiation induced Fe nanoparticle precipitation in Fe–Si alloy N2 - The typical experimental conditions inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM), such as ultra-high vacuum, high-energy electron irradiation, and surface effects of ultrathin TEM specimens, can be the origin of unexpected microstructural changes compared with that of bulk material during in situ thermal-annealing experiments. In this paper, we report on the microstructural changes of a Fe–15%Si alloy during in situ TEM annealing, where, in its bulk form, it exhibits an ordering transformation from D03 to B2 at 650 °C. Using a heating-pot type double tilt holder with a proportional–integral–differential control system, we observed the precipitation of α-Fe both at the sample surface and inside the sample. Surface precipitates formed via surface diffusion are markedly large, several tens of nm, whereas precipitates inside the specimen, which are surrounded by Fe-poor regions, reach a maximum size of 20 nm. This unexpected microstructural evolution could be attributed to vacancies on Si sites, which are induced due to high-energy electron irradiation before heating, as well as enhanced thermal diffusion of Fe atoms. KW - In situ thermal-annealing experiment KW - Microstructural changes of a Fe Si alloy KW - Microstructural evolution PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0070471 SN - 0021-8979 VL - 131 IS - 16 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - AIP Publishing AN - OPUS4-54728 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Nishijima, M. A1 - Kiguchi, T. A1 - Konno, T. T1 - Crystal structure characterization of martensite of Cu–Zn–Al ternary alloy by spherical aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy N2 - The crystal structure of martensite in Cu-27at.%Zn-9.0 at.%Al alloy has been studied by using sphericalaberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and geometrical phase analysis (GPA) to examine possible changes in atomic rearrangements during martensitic transformation of this ternary system. Observation along [100]M zone axis is suitable for examining a chemical order of the martensite, and showed that, despite the non-stoichiometry of the alloy, atomic columns containing Al atoms are imaged and distinguished from the others. On the other hand, observation along [010]M zone axis directly revealed that the parent and martensitic phases possess L21 and 18R (21) structures, respectively. These observations suggested that the martensite retained the local chemical order of the parent phase without shuffling before and after the transformation. GPA revealed that the interface between the two phases was coherent with tilting of the basal plane approximately 6◦ across the boundary, which makes otherwise large inclination small during the martensitic transformation. KW - Shape-memory alloys KW - Martensitic transformation KW - Martensitic structure KW - Electron microscopy, transmission PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intermet.2021.107286 SN - 0966-9795 VL - 137 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-53076 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Mancias, J. A1 - Gan, B. A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Evidence of room-temperature shear-deformation in a Cu-Al intermetallic N2 - Lamellar eutectics are known to evidence plastic shear in otherwise brittle intermetallics, if the lamella spacing is small enough. Here we pursue this idea of confined plasticity in intermetallics further and demonstrate room-temperature shear-deformation in a two-phase CuAl 2 -CuAl intermetallic nano- composite. The presence of a phase with a 3-fold symmetry is also revealed after deformation. Simula- tion of transmission electron microscopy images shows this to be monoclinic CuAl. These observations are made in the deformation zone underneath locations of nanoindents, of which the force-displacement curves exhibit an unusual response of continuously increasing pop-in sizes with load. KW - Nanoindentation KW - Intermetallic KW - Nano-composite KW - Shear bands KW - Plasticity PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2020.08.033 VL - 190 SP - 126 EP - 130 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-52455 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kar, S. A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Lünser, K. A1 - Woodcock, Th. G. A1 - Nielsch, K. A1 - Reith, H. A1 - Maaß, Robert A1 - Fähler, S. T1 - Growth Twins and Premartensite Microstructure in Epitaxial Ni-Mn-Ga Films N2 - Magnetic shape memory alloys have been examined intensively due to their multifunctionality and multitude of physical phenomena. For both areas, epitaxial films are promising since the absence of grain boundaries is beneficial for applications in microsystems and they also allow to understand the influence of a reduced dimension on the physical effects. Despite many efforts on epitaxial films, two particular aspects remain open. First, it is not clear how to keep epitaxial growth up to high film thickness, which is required for most microsystems. Second, it is unknown how the microstructure of premartensite, a precursor state during the martensitic transformation, manifests in films and differs from that in bulk. Here, we focus on micrometer-thick austenitic Ni-Mn-Ga films and explain two distinct microstructural features by combining high-resolution electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods. First, we identify pyramid-shaped defects, which originate from {1 1 1} growth twinning and cause the breakdown of epitaxial growth. We show that a sufficiently thick Cr buffer layer prevents this breakdown and allows epitaxial growth up to a thickness of at least 4 μm. Second, premartensite exhibits a hierarchical microstructure in epitaxial films. The reduced dimension of films results in variant selection and regions with distinct premartensite variants, unlike its microstructure in bulk. KW - Alloy KW - Epitaxial films KW - Hierarchical microstructure Premartensite KW - Twinning KW - Magnetic shape memory PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.118902 SN - 1359-6454 VL - 252 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-57301 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza A1 - Wallis, Theophilus A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Saikia, U. A1 - Ahmadian, A. A1 - Liebscher, C. A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Giant segregation transition as origin of liquid metal embrittlement in the Fe-Zn system N2 - A giant Zn segregation transition is revealed using CALPHAD-integrated density-based modeling of segregation into Fe grain boundaries (GBs). The results show that above a threshold of only a few atomic percent Zn in the alloy, a substantial amount of up to 60 at.% Zn can segregate to the GB. We found that the amount of segregation abruptly increases with decreasing temperature, while the Zn content in the alloy required for triggering the segregation transition decreases. Direct evidence of the Zn segregation transition is obtained using high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Base on the model, we trace the origin of the segregation transition back to the low cohesive energy of Zn and a miscibility gap in Fe-Zn GB, arising from the magnetic ordering effect, which is confirmed by ab-initio calculations. We also show that the massive Zn segregation resulting from the segregation transition greatly assists with liquid wetting and reduces the work of separation along the GB. The current predictions suggest that control over Zn segregation, by both alloy design and optimizing the galvanization and welding processes, may offer preventive strategies against liquid metal embrittlement. KW - CALPHAD KW - Microstructure Design KW - Grain boundary engineering KW - Steels KW - Density-based Model KW - Segregation Engineering PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-584292 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2023.115758 SN - 1359-6462 SN - 1872-8456 VL - 238 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-58429 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kar, Satyakam A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Nielsch, Kornelius A1 - Reith, Heiko A1 - Maaß, Robert A1 - Fähler, Sebastian T1 - Multiferroic Microstructure Created from Invariant Line Constraint N2 - Ferroic materials enable a multitude of emerging applications, and optimum functional properties are achieved when ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties are coupled to a first‐order ferroelastic transition. In bulk materials, this first‐order transition involves an invariant habit plane, connecting coexisting phases: austenite and martensite. Theory predicts that this plane should converge to a line in thin films, but experimental evidence is missing. Here, the martensitic and magnetic microstructure of a freestanding epitaxial magnetic shape memory film is analyzed. It is shown that the martensite microstructure is determined by an invariant line constraint using lattice parameters of both phases as the only input. This line constraint explains most of the observable features, which differ fundamentally from bulk and constrained films. Furthermore, this finite‐size effect creates a remarkable checkerboard magnetic domain pattern through multiferroic coupling. The findings highlight the decisive role of finite‐size effects in multiferroics. KW - Epitaxial films KW - Finite-size effects KW - Multiferroics KW - Martensite KW - Magnetic shape memory alloys PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-637910 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202416638 SN - 1616-301X VL - 35 IS - 10 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-63791 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Yuan, R. A1 - Chakraborty, A. A1 - Ghassemi-Armaki, H. A1 - Zuo, J. M. A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Early stages of liquid-metal embrittlement in an advanced high-strength steel N2 - Grain-boundary degradation via liquid-metal embrittlement (LME) is a prominent and long-standing failure process in next generation advanced high-strength steels. Here we reveal, well ahead of the crack tip, the presences of nano-scale grains of intermetallic phases in Zn-infiltrated but uncracked grain boundaries with scanning- and 4D transmission electron microscopy. Instead of the often-reported Znrich Fe-Zn intermetallics, the nano-scale phase in the uncracked infiltrated grain boundaries is identified as the G-phase, and its presence reveals the local enhancement of strain heterogeneities in the grain boundary network. Based on these observations, we argue that intermetallic phase formation is not occurring after cracking and subsequent liquid Zn infiltration but is instead one of the primary nanoscopic drivers for grain-boundary weakening and crack initiation. These findings shift the focus of LME from micro- and meso-scale crack investigations to the very early stages immediately following Zn diffusion, after which secondary phase nucleation and growth emerge as the root-cause for failure. KW - Advanced high strength steels KW - Liquid metal embrittlement KW - Transmission electron microscopy KW - 4-Dimensional scanning transmission KW - electron microscopy PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-539716 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtadv.2021.100196 SN - 2590-0498 VL - 13 IS - 196 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-53971 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -