Nanostructure formation and thermal stability of nanophase materials prepared by mechanical means

Abstract

Abstract Mechanical attrition, mechanical alloying and other methods of extreme plastic deformation (high pressure torsion, equal channel angular pressing) have been developed as versatile alternatives to other physical and chemical processing routes in preparing nanophase materials. Here several examples are discussed including the deformation-induced nanophase formation in powder particles, in thin-foil sandwich structures and at the surface of alloys exposed to friction-induced wear, leading to the formation of nanocrystals and, in some cases, amorphous nanostructures. This opens exciting perspectives in preparing nanostructured materials with a number of different interface types in terms of structure (crystalline/crystalline, crystalline/amorphous) as well as atomic bond (metal/metal, metal/semiconductor, metal/ ceramic etc.). It is expected that the study of nanostructure formation by mechanical means in the future not only opens new processing routes for a variety of advanced nanophase materials but also improves the understanding of technologically relevant deformation processes on a nanoscopic level.