Mrs Bulletin最新文献

This article highlights the applications of integrated unified phase-field methods in guiding the design of high-performance engineering alloys and the optimization of manufacturing processes within an integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) framework. By combining macro process data, solidification, precipitation, and recrystallization conditions, phase-field modeling is used to predict the precipitation, segregation, and crack tendency of NbC as the crack source in austenitic stainless steels, thereby optimizing casting parameters and improving the product qualification rate from 40% to more than 80%. Phase-field modeling is also used to reveal the internal microstructure evolution of Mg–Li-based alloys during spinodal phase separation and help design the Mg–Li–Al alloy with an ultrahigh specific strength (470–500 kN m kg⁻¹) surpassing all engineering alloys. Phase-field simulations of dendritic growth incorporating macro-temperature field and shrinkage defects in solidification allow us to adjust the casting process parameters for optimizing the alloy and casting’s mechanical properties.

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The phase-field method has become the main computational technique for modeling and predicting the microstructure evolution in materials science and engineering. Its versatility and ability to capture complex microstructure phenomena under different processing conditions make it a valuable tool for researchers and engineers in advancing our understanding and engineering of materials microstructures and properties. This issue of MRS Bulletin is focused on a few recent success stories of applying the phase-field method to understanding, discovering, and designing mesoscale structures and for guiding the design of experiments to optimize properties or discover new phenomena or functionalities. We hope this issue will inspire increasing future focus on utilizing the phase-field method to guide experimental synthesis and characterization for desirable properties.

Graphical Abstract

The perovskite heterostructure is a novel semiconducting building block that contains multiple spatially organized functionalities within individual particles. The structurally tunable organic ligands in a two-dimensional (2D) perovskite heterostructure play a central role enhancing the stability and affecting the optical properties. Here, we report the synthesis of ligand-variant 2D perovskite lateral heterostructure nanocrystals, based on the sequential solvent evaporation strategy. The fabricated 2D perovskite heterostructures can tolerate large lattice mismatch in the vertical orientation as much as 16.5 percent. The synthesis strategy can be expanded to various combinations of ligands and halides, yielding a clear interface and tailorable electronic structure. This work presents an important step to further the understanding of the interfacial structure of the 2D perovskite heterostructure and the design of perovskite nanodevices with tailored optoelectronic properties.

The phase-field method has been extensively applied to predicting the domain structures and their responses to external fields and understanding experimentally observed domain states under different electromechanical conditions in ferroelectric heterostructures. This article highlights the successful examples of phase-field applications in guiding the design of relaxor ferroelectric ceramics and crystals with record-high piezoelectricity and the discovery of simultaneous high light transparency and piezoelectricity of relaxor ferroelectric crystals for a wide range of biomedical, robotics, and optoelectronics applications.

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