TY - JOUR A1 - Hachet, G. A1 - Wei, S. A1 - Tehranchi, Ali A1 - Dong, X. A1 - Lestang, J. A1 - Zhang, A. A1 - Sun, B. A1 - Zaefferer, S. A1 - Gault, B. A1 - Ponge, D. A1 - Raabe, D. ED - Tehranchi, Ali T1 - Protection of metal interfaces against hydrogen-assisted cracking N2 - Enabling a hydrogen economy requires the development of materials resistant to hydrogen embrittlement (HE). More than 100 years of research have led to several mechanisms and models describing how hydrogen interacts with lattice defects and leads to mechanical property degradation. However, solutions to protect materials from hydrogen are still scarce. Here, we investigate the role of interstitial solutes in protecting critical crystalline defects sensitive to hydrogen. Ab initio calculations show that boron and carbon in solid solutions at grain boundaries can efficiently prevent hydrogen segregation. We then realized this interface protection concept on martensitic steel, a material strongly prone to HE, by doping the most sensitive interfaces with different concentrations of boron and carbon. These segregations, in addition to stress relaxations, critically reduce the hydrogen ingress by half, leading to an unprecedented resistance against HE. This tailored interstitial segregation strategy can be extended to other metallic materials susceptible to hydrogen-induced interfacial failure. KW - Hydrogen embrittlement KW - interstitial PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-650881 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67310-6 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-65088 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ahmadian, A. A1 - Scheiber, D. A1 - Zhou, X. A1 - Gault, B. A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza A1 - Romaner, L. A1 - Ecker, W. A1 - Dehm, G. A1 - Liebscher, C. H. T1 - Interstitial segregation has the potential to mitigate liquid metal embrittlement in iron N2 - The embrittlement of metallic alloys by liquid metals leads to catastrophic material failure and severely impacts their structural integrity. The weakening of grain boundaries by the ingress of liquid metal and preceding segregation in the solid are thought to promote early fracture. However, the potential of balancing between the segregation of cohesion-enhancing interstitial solutes and embrittling elements inducing grain boundary decohesion is not understood. Here, we unveil the mechanisms of how boron segregation mitigates the detrimental effects of the prime embrittler, zinc, in a Σ5 [0 0 1] tilt grain boundary in α −Fe (4 at.% Al). Zinc forms nanoscale segregation patterns inducing structurally and compositionally complex grain boundary states. Ab-initio simulations reveal that boron hinders zinc segregation and compensates for the zinc induced loss in grain boundary cohesion. Our work sheds new light on how interstitial solutes intimately modify grain boundaries, thereby opening pathways to use them as dopants for preventing disastrous material failure. KW - Materials Modelling KW - Liquid Metal Embrittlement KW - Alloy Safety KW - CALPHAD KW - Microstructure Design PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-573576 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202211796 SN - 0935-9648 IS - e2211796 PB - Wiley online library AN - OPUS4-57357 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhou, X. A1 - Wei, Y. A1 - Kühbach, M. A1 - Zhao, H. A1 - Vogel, F. A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza A1 - Thompson, G. B. A1 - Raabe, D. A1 - Gault, B. T1 - Revealing in-plane grain boundary composition features through machine learning from atom probe tomography data N2 - Grain boundaries (GBs) are planar lattice defects that govern the properties of many types of polycrystalline materials. Hence, their structures have been investigated in great detail. However, much less is known about their chemical features, owing to the experimental difficulties to probe these features at the atomic length scale inside bulk material specimens. Atom probe tomography (APT) is a tool capable of accomplishing this task, with an ability to quantify chemical characteristics at near-atomic scale. Using APT data sets, we present here a machine-learning-based approach for the automated quantification of chemical features of GBs. We trained a convolutional neural network (CNN) using twenty thousand synthesized images of grain interiors, GBs, or triple junctions. Such a trained CNN automatically detects the locations of GBs from APT data. Those GBs are then subjected to compositional mapping and analysis, including revealing their in-plane chemical decoration patterns. We applied this approach to experimentally obtained APT data sets pertaining to three case studies, namely, Ni-P, Pt-Au, and Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys. In the first case, we extracted GB specific segregation features as a function of misorientation and coincidence site lattice character. Secondly, we revealed interfacial excesses and in-plane chemical features that could not have been found by standard compositional analyses. Lastly, we tracked the temporal evolution of chemical decoration from early-stage solute GB segregation in the dilute limit to interfacial phase separation, characterized by the evolution of complex composition patterns. This machine-learning-based approach provides quantitative, unbiased, and automated access to GB chemical analyses, serving as an enabling tool for new discoveries related to interface thermodynamics, kinetics, and the associated chemistry-structure-property relations. KW - Machine learning KW - Digitalization KW - Alloy microstructure PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-543049 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.117633 SN - 1359-6454 VL - 226 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-54304 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza A1 - da Silva, A. A1 - McEniry, E. A1 - Gault, B. A1 - Neugebauer, J. A1 - Raabe, D. T1 - Segregation-assisted spinodal and transient spinodal phase separation at grain boundaries N2 - Segregation to grain boundaries affects their cohesion, corrosion, and embrittlement and plays a critical role in heterogeneous nucleation. In order to quantitatively study segregation and low-dimensional phase separation at grain boundaries, here, we apply a density-based phase-field model. The current model describes the grain-boundary thermodynamic properties based on available bulk thermodynamic data, while the grain-boundary-density profile is obtained using atomistic simulations. To benchmark the performance of the model, Mn grain-boundary segregation in the Fe–Mn system is studied. 3D simulation results are compared against atom probe tomography measurements conducted for three alloy compositions. We show that a continuous increase in the alloy composition results in a discontinuous jump in the segregation isotherm. The jump corresponds to a spinodal Phase separation at grain boundary. For alloy compositions above the jump, we reveal an interfacial transient spinodal phase separation. The transient spinodal phenomenon opens opportunities for knowledge-based microstructure design through the chemical manipulation of grain boundaries. The proposed density-based model provides a powerful tool to study thermodynamics and kinetics of segregation and phase changes at grain boundaries. KW - Grain Boundary Spinodal KW - Densty-based Thermodynamics KW - Microstrucrue Design PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-519497 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-020-00456-7 VL - 6 IS - 1 SP - 191 PB - Nature AN - OPUS4-51949 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -