Short-term Solution Research Articles

Implementation of Sharia Economic Law Principles in Overcoming the Economic Impact of the Palestinian Israeli Conflict

This study discusses the implementation of Sharia Economic Law principles in overcoming the economic impact of the prolonged Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This conflict has not only destroyed the economic infrastructure in Palestine, but has also led to social difficulties and prolonged political instability. Through a qualitative approach and case study method, this study explores the role of zakat and waqf as short-term and long-term solutions in the recovery of the Palestinian economy. The results of the study show that zakat plays an important role in meeting the basic needs of people affected by conflict, while waqf supports the development of social infrastructure such as schools and hospitals. However, the implementation of these principles is still faced with challenges, especially related to economic blockades and political instability. Therefore, it is necessary to increase Islamic financial literacy, strengthen regulations, and international cooperation to maximize the role of Sharia Economic Laws in economic recovery in conflict areas.

4-Years into the Pandemic Impacts: A Holistic Reflection and Educational Lessons Learnt in the Tourism and Agriculture Sectors

With the continual mutations of new variants in recent years, COVID-19 has adapted to coexist with humanity for decades to come. However, our understanding of the extent and longevity of the pandemic remains vague. Although the immediate repercussions of the pandemic on various sectors of the global economy still linger and could even last longer than was anticipated, four years into the pandemic provides an opportune time to examine key trends in research and strategies crucial to combating the effect in the long term. To that end, this study critically provides timely reflections on COVID-19’s impact on the tourism and agriculture industries highlighting their interdependence. It further examines key advancements, challenges, and prospects that have come to light during the pandemic era while reflecting on pre-, during-, and post-pandemic developments. Specifically, the review delves into the various dimensions and facets of these impacts, exploring how the pandemic affects the changing landscape in tourism and agriculture in the post-pandemic era, as well as the efficacy of the coping strategies. We proposed key novel strategies for ensuring the robustness of tourism and agriculture industries, integrating lessons from past crises into short-term, medium-term, and long-term solutions. It is worth noticing that the research outcomes align with the Sustainable Development Goals on sustainable production and consumption. The proposed strategies provide a solid foundation to fortify other industries in the face of subsequent crises of a similar kind. This review concludes by offering insightful perspectives on potential areas of investigation and recommendations during emergency crises.

Investigating inconsistencies regarding health equity in select World Health Organization texts: a critical discourse analysis of health promotion, social determinants of health, and urban health texts, 2008–2016

BackgroundScholarly critiques have demonstrated that the World Health Organization (WHO) approaches the concept of health equity inconsistently. For example, inconsistencies center around measuring health inequity across individuals versus groups; in approaches and goals sought in striving for health equity; and whether considerations around health equity prioritize socioeconomic status or also consider other social determinants of health. However, the significance of these contrasting approaches has yet to be assessed empirically.MethodsThis study employs critical discourse analysis to assess the WHO’s approaches to health equity in select health promotion, social determinants of health, and urban health texts from 2008 to 2016.ResultsWe find that the WHO: (i) usually measures health equity by comparing groups; (ii) explicitly specifies three approaches to health equity (although we identified additional implicit approaches in our analysis of WHO discourses); and (iii) considers health equity inconsistently both in terms of socioeconomic status and other social determinants of health, but socioeconomic status was given substantially more attention than other individual social determinants of health.ConclusionsThere is misalignment with the WHO’s stated approaches to tackle health inequity and its discourses around health equity. This incongruence increases the likelihood of pursuing short-term solutions and not sustainably addressing the root causes of health inequity. Critical discourse analysis’ focus on power allows for understanding why ‘radical’ approaches are not explicitly expressed to ensure that governments will be agreeable to addressing health inequity.

A comparative study of storage solutions on the biomechanical preservation of human saphenous veins

Storage solutions have a significant impact on the physiological properties of saphenous veins (SV), yet their effects on the biomechanics remained unclear. This study investigated how different storage solutions affect the biomechanical properties of SV. The goal was to find a solution that minimally impacts SV biomechanics, providing an effective method for SV preservation. A total of 108 SV samples (54 axial, 54 circumferential) were randomly divided into four groups: Baseline (tested within 24 h after surgical removal), and three stored for 72 h—sodium lactated ringer’s solution (SLR), physiological saline (PS), and Air. Uniaxial tensile experiments were performed, and differences in elastic modulus, maximum stress, and average stress–strain curves were evaluated. In the axial direction, the elastic modulus of SVs stored in SLR was significantly higher than in PS (7.21 ± 2.78 MPa vs. 3.90 ± 1.54 MPa, p = 0.009) and similar to Baseline (vs. 8.52 ± 3.43 MPa), while the PS group did not differ significantly from the Air group (3.90 ± 1.54 MPa vs. 2.50 ± 1.34 MPa, p > 0.99). The maximum stress in SLR was similar to Baseline (1.92 ± 0.82 MPa vs. 1.91 ± 0.58 MPa) and significantly higher than in PS (vs. 1.05 ± 0.56 MPa, p = 0.002). Similar trends could also be observed in the circumferential direction. PS significantly impairs the mechanical performance of SVs, while short-term storage in SLR can effectively preserve the biomechanical characteristics of SVs. SLR may be considered as an effective short-term storage solution for SV.

Re-imagining education in Haiti through a lens of de-coloniality

Purpose Scholars such as Hebblethwaite (2012) argue that societal elements like the pressure for students to learn French in Haiti are deeply rooted in colonial traditions which were originally intended to hinder long-term development and continue to do so within the country. The purpose of this paper is to widen the scope of Hebblethwaite’s discussion on language and question other social norms within educational institutions, which are having a negative impact on educational attainment. This purpose is accomplished by way of an empirical study of primary school education reform efforts in Haiti through a lens of de-coloniality as defined by Walter Mignolo (2005). Design/methodology/approach Given that this is an empirical study on education reform in Haiti, I have conducted this study solely through the analysis of literature and evidence from past work on education reform in Haiti and other countries with similar challenges. The body of the research is separated into two parts, and the first is a critical historical analysis of the context. The second is a comparative analysis of two different case studies on education reform projects that have occurred in Haiti. This will also be followed by a conclusive analysis of similar efforts in communities around the world. Findings This study demonstrates that primary school students, teachers and their communities in Haiti respond better to education development projects that place mother-tongue learning, grassroots community participation and culturally relevant pedagogy at the forefront of daily operational planning. These factors would play a key role in setting the foundation for students to be both productive Haitian citizens first and global citizens second. The literature reviewed also demonstrates that historically, education has focused far too heavily on models that work for or originate from the global north and not enough on building an education system tailored to Haiti. Research limitations/implications Since barriers such as societal norms need to be addressed through organic grassroots movements, which take time to be effective, reform from this perspective is better suited for the longer term than the shorter term. In the conclusion, this is considered to be a limitation when it comes to identifying short-term solutions to education, especially given that grassroots projects such as Buiga-Sunrise take time to establish winning practices that support self-sufficiency. Originality/value Literacy rates in Haiti for the year 2012 were around 48% for adults and 72% for youth (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2012). Not to mention that only 50% of children attend primary schools and 20% attend secondary schools (UNICEF Haiti, 2011, as cited in Jean-Marie and Sider, 2014). Such low educational attainment shows a need for greater access to education, and as much as the privatisation of schools is a significant barrier, as argued by Sider and Jean Marie, there are other impactful factors that remain to be addressed.

Power Converters for Green Hydrogen: State of the Art and Perspectives

This paper provides a comprehensive review and outlook on power converters devised for supplying polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers from photovoltaic sources. The produced hydrogen, known as green hydrogen, is a promising solution to mitigate the dependence on fossil fuels. The main topologies of power conversion systems are discussed and classified; a loss analysis emphasizes the issues concerning the electrolyzer supply. The attention is focused on power converters of rated power up to a tenth of a kW, since it is a promising field for a short-term solution implementing green hydrogen production as a decentralized. It is also encouraged by the proliferation of relatively cheap photovoltaic low-power plants. The main converters proposed by the literature in the last few years and realized for practical applications are analyzed, highlighting their key characteristics and focusing on the parameters useful for designers. Future perspectives are addressed concerning the availability of new wide-bandgap devices and hard-to-abate sectors with reference to the whole conversion chain.

Extrinsic Motivation vs. Intrinsic Motivation: Key Factors Influencing Farmers' Land Quality Protection Behavior in China.

The crowding effect of individual behavior motivation is a focal point in various disciplines, such as economics and social psychology. Understanding the motivation crowding effect in the context of pro-environmental behavior of farmers is crucial for formulating agricultural environmental policies. However, there is limited knowledge about the motivation crowding effect on farmers' land quality protection behavior, especially in developing countries. This study employs stratified regression models, propensity score matching models, seemingly unrelated regression models, and simple slope analysis methods to analyze the impact of extrinsic motivations (external incentives such as increasing farming income and production yield) and intrinsic motivations (internal drives such as personal satisfaction and responsibility) on farmers' land quality protection behavior, as well as the motivation crowding effect between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. The analysis is based on survey data from 1064 smallholder farmers in five provinces in China: Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Shaanxi, and Gansu. The results indicate that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations have a positive impact on farmers' land quality protection behavior. Notably, extrinsic motivation exhibits a crowding-out effect on intrinsic motivation, suggesting a motivation crowding effect. While promoting farmers' land quality protection behavior through economic incentives is a feasible short-term solution, it may not effectively foster the long-term formation of such behaviors. Given the current context of severe land pollution, alleviating this issue through economic incentives represents a short-term policy approach. Thus, transitioning from short-term to long-term solutions by enhancing farmers' intrinsic motivation to promote farmers' land quality protection behavior is essential for the government to consider in future land protection policy formulation.

Constructing climate change rentierism in Jordan

ABSTRACT Jordan is exceptionally vulnerable to climate change and has limited adaptive capacities. It is also a non-democratic state with an ubiquitous role for the monarchy that results in narratives that seek to promote the regime’s stability by securing external support in the form of ‘rents’. In this paper we examine how the government ‘rents out’ Jordan’s stability and its engagement with climate change initiatives to the international community through its unintentional use of fearmongering. Jordan’s vulnerability narrative, in particular, highlights its stabilising role in regional affairs (e.g. by hosting refugees from neighbouring countries) and attracts the support of external actors interested in its stability. While rent-seeking behaviour could serve as a short-term solution to the imminent threats imposed by climate change, it can also reinforce authoritarianism and divert attention away from long-term sustainable adaptation and mitigation activities.

The political economy of Hambantota port: unveiling the realities of debt trap diplomacy and BRI vision

ABSTRACT This paper aims to examine the political economy of the Hambantota Port project in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and how it was used (incorrectly) as a case study for Debt Trap Diplomacy (DTD). Our analysis shows that the port construction pre-dated the BRI and was a result of strong domestic electoral political incentives, not driven by the BRI. The Port lease, however, was motivated by domestic economic incentives as opposed to domestic political gains. Leasing Hambantota port to China was not a debt-equity swap and was a response to Sri Lanka’s external economic vulnerabilities and provided a short-term solution to foreign currency liquidity constraints and fiscal constraints. Although it was not driven by BRI plans, the port deal is portrayed as an example of DTD. We reconfirm the existing literature which argues that Hambantota port is not an example for DTD and provide documentary evidence to show that lease and loan were two different transactions and port lease was not an asset seizure. DTD narrative was largely driven by geopolitical rivalries and domestic political sentiments in US and India. Misinterpreting the Hambantota Port lease as a case study provided much-needed validation for the DTD narrative.

In the realm of microbiology, a quality stool sample is as valuable as gold

Abstract In the microbiology curriculum a section is dedicated to parasitology in both Undergraduate and Post-graduate. Due to Deworming programs, decrease in the detection of parasite ova/cyst detection in stool samples. In current times, many institutes don’t have various specimens (like blood, and stool) with the presence of parasites. They are demonstrating the parasites using either photographs or videos. India is endemic for malarial parasites and they be found in blood specimens. However, to find out various helminth ova, cysts or trophozoites in human stool specimens is much difficult. Without practice and training, students can’t be an expert in parasitology. Its paucity should not be a hindrance to adequate and sound training and short-term solutions should not be encouraged. It may be awkward to hear this, but lately a desired stool sample is the real gold in microbiology.

Micro-mechanical evaluations of adhesion properties for Cr-coated accident tolerant fuel cladding

The development of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding has been encouraged to satisfy increased nuclear safety demands under accident conditions since Fukushima accident. Coating techniques using oxidation-resistant materials, such as Cr and Al, on existing Zr-alloy claddings have been widely applied as short-term solutions. However, coating delamination due to poor adhesion may reduce its benefits, such as low waterside corrosion/oxidation rates and fretting resistance, which necessitates accurate evaluation of coating adhesion suitability. In this study, micro-mechanical tests, micro-cantilever bending test and surface and interfacial cutting analysis system test, were conducted to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate adhesion properties on a coated ATF cladding. In situ scanning electron microscopy-based micro-cantilever bending tests were performed using a pico-indenter equipped with a diamond flat tip. We present the results for magnetron-sputtered Cr-coated ATF claddings in detail. Micro-cantilever tests on the Cr-Zr interface revealed that deformation and failure primarily occurred in the Zr substrate, rather than at the interface. And the Cr-coated cladding showed highly adherent mechanical bonds, as evidenced by the interfacial strength and elastic modulus. SAICAS tests confirmed that peeling of the coating layer occurred only when the applied force exceeded the cutting force of the coating layer. The experimental results suggest that the Cr-coated cladding exhibited a sufficiently adherent mechanical bond to prevent delamination of the coating.

Anticoagulation control challenges in patients with rheumatic heart disease and mechanical heart valves operated at a cardiac surgery center in a low-income country

Abstract Background Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) prevalence is very high in many low-income countries and valve replacement surgery can sometimes be the only available therapeutic strategy for the affected patients. Mechanical valves require lifelong anticoagulation and this can be very challenging in many poor countries where several barriers to effective anticoagulation monitoring and management are faced. Methods This is a retrospective study on 145 patients with RHD who underwent valve replacement surgery at a cardiac surgery center (CSC) in a low-income country between 2001 and 2022. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of anticoagulation treatment to prevent thromboembolic events in patients with RHD with mechanical valves. The patients’ information such as social and demographic data, clinical features, surgical data and international normalized ratio (INR) records were collected and analyzed. Descriptive statistics were applied to the data and expressed as mean with standard deviation or simple frequencies and percentages. Results The mean age of the operated patients was 25.9 years (± 12.6) and 60% of them were female. Most of the patients (54%) were able to monitor their anticoagulation at the center and 8.2% of them monitored it in other hospitals. Three percent (3%) of the patients use a portable device to monitor their INR. These devices are provided by the CSC to help patients that live in distant provinces and are unable to go to the capital regularly. The device is held by one patient that is a focal point and helps monitor the INR of the other patients living in the same province. The INR results are communicated to the CSC by telephone text message. Seven percent (7%) of the operated patients haven’t monitored their INR for more than one year and 24.8% of them were lost to follow-up. Sixty-four percent (64%) of the patients who monitor their INR at the center have an optimal control of their anticoagulation therapy. Most of the patients that were lost to follow-up (N=20) and most of the patients that haven’t checked their INR for more than one year (N=7) are patients who had aortic valve replacements. At least 20% of the patients that live in capital of the country and close to the CSC don’t monitor their anticoagulation regularly. Conclusion The surgical outcomes in RHD patients who undergo mitral valve repair are usually satisfactory. However, valve replacement is often the only feasible alternative and anticoagulation monitoring and management in these patients can become a serious problem especially to those coming from areas with limited resources. Illiteracy and poverty play a major role as barriers to effective monitoring of anticoagulation therapy. Efforts must be made to increase access to facilities where INR can be monitored. Our experience showed us that providing portable devices for INR monitoring to the patients living in remote areas can be a favorable short-term solution.

SOUTH SUMATRA LRT (LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT) DEVELOPMENT PROJECT GOVERNANCE STUDY

The South Sumatra Light Rail Transit (LRT) is a short-term solution to welcome the 2018 Asian Games, but also as a long-term strategic step to overcome the transportation problem in Palembang, Indonesia. This research aims to understand the effectiveness of project governance and the obstacles faced in the implementation of the project. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, direct observation at the project site, and document studies involving various official reports and regulations related to project governance. Data analysis was carried out by coding and identifying the main themes, then compared with international governance standards, namely ISO 21500:2012 and ISO 21502:2020, to assess the extent to which the project's governance was in accordance with applicable standards. The findings are expected to provide recommendations for improving project governance in infrastructure development across Indonesia, ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and with minimal social impact.

Energy and Water Interventions That Contribute to the Climate-Proofing of Buildings on Multiple Scales: A Literature Review

In the framework of planning and designing resilient housing under a changing climate, the present study constitutes a comprehensive literature review exploring climate-proofing solutions for the built environment concerning energy supply and water availability. This study delved into a multitude of sources that included scientific papers and reports and European Union guidelines and tools. The identified solutions covered building, urban, and territorial scales. The hazards of interest included heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, earthquakes, wildfires, and storms. Several types of solutions were found (e.g., nature-based, education/capacity-building, engineering/built environment, etc.) with different times of application and timescales of action (e.g., defensive measures, short-term solutions, long-term adaptive, etc.). The maturity of the identified solutions was assessed based on the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and Societal Readiness Level (SRL). Moreover, each solution’s contribution to climate mitigation was investigated. The solutions were assessed in terms of self-sustainability and other key criteria, namely, effectiveness, contribution to resilience maturity and climate change mitigation, adaptive nature, financing access, risk reduction, and social cohesion. In total, 85 energy and water solutions were determined from the desk review analysis and 67 (30 for the energy sector and 37 for the water sector) solutions were finally retained and proposed.

ʻĀina as resilience: mapping community networks and collaborative care in Hawaiʻi

This article examines the growth of Indigenous grassroots community groups across Hawaiʻi, whose efforts are pivotal to place-based climate change resilience and community well-being. Instead of focusing on specific ecosystem resilience actions, it highlights the people and places that make this movement of community organizations resilient, leveraging both social and cultural strengths to adapt to climate impacts. For many Indigenous peoples, climate change is not new; adaptation has already been integral to relationships between environment and culture. These changes require culturally responsive approaches, not short-term engineering solutions such as coastal hardening or stream channelization. A collaboration between a grassroots artist mapping initiative (‘ĀINAVIS) and a university’s community-based research project (‘ĀINA KUPU), this study utilizes a novel data index compiled using publicly available information to inform a series of in-depth student interviews with community groups across Hawai‘i whose mission, vision, and work are dedicated to caring for ‘āina. We find that these “ʻĀina Organizations” articulate climate resilience in multi-faceted and culturally grounded ways, maintaining reciprocal and mutual relationships with ʻāina, the Hawaiian term for land meaning “that which feeds.” Facing various challenges and needing different systems of support, our work maps the dynamic adaptability of ‘āina expressed through community networks of collaborative care with emphasis on the importance of intergenerational knowledge and genealogical connection to place shared and passed onto future generations. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of working on ‘āina as an exercise of Indigenous sovereignty, expanding climate resilience with cultural practice and social justice as both outcome and process of climate change adaptation.

Sociodemographic factors and dog ownership practices that perpetuate the roaming of owned dogs in selected urban and rural settings in Uganda

ABSTRACT We analyzed dog care practices among 1,006 owners in urban and rural areas in Uganda to identify the root causes of roaming. The dog owners were mostly male, aged 20–39 years, and low-income earners. Each household in urban areas had an average of 2.36 dogs (SD 3.35), and 2.35 dogs (SD 2.18) in rural areas. We determined that 16.1% of urban dogs and 29.4% of rural dogs roamed during the day, with numbers rising to 26.0% and 65.2% at night (p < 0.001), due to dogs being released at night for security purposes. Key drivers of roaming included inadequate confinement, particularly the lack of a secure enclosure around homes, underfeeding and abandonment. These issues were linked to poverty, low education and poor attitudes. Our findings provide a foundation for developing tailored strategies to control free-roaming dogs (FRD) in Uganda. Short-term solutions include implementing fines for owners who allow their dogs to roam, subsidized dog sterilization, and public education programs. Long-term strategies should involve policies on dog ownership, registration, breeding, and research to develop evidence-based control measures for FRD.

The Public Debt Conundrum: Unpacking Its Effects on Nigeria’s Economic Progress

The study assessed the effect of public debt on economic progress in Nigeria from 1986 to 2022. It investigates the connections among gross domestic product growth rate which is used to measure economic progress, domestic debt, external debt, gross capital formation and exchange rate to throw light on their effect on the path of economic progress of Nigeria. Employing ARDL method, with data sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and World Bank Development Indicators. Findings reveals that domestic debt and external debt had a positive insignificant short-term effect on Nigeria’s economic progress and both domestic and external debt have an adverse effect on Nigeria’s economic progress in the long term. Also, gross capital formation had an adverse insignificant effect both in the short and long term, exchange rate had a negative insignificant short-term effect, but its long run effect was positive and significant on Nigeria’s economic progress. A long run cointegrating equilibrium relationship was established among the variables in the study. Based on the findings, the study recommends among others that policy makers should manage debt prudently, avoid over reliance on debt as it is only a short-term solution, boost revenue generation and capital formation to drive economic progress and manage exchange rate properly to avoid fluctuations as it has potential to boost Nigeria long-term economic progress.

The Rhetoric of Healthcare and the Moral Debate About Theatre-Funded Hospitals in Early Modern Spain

While early modern Spain may seem a world away, it is an extremely rich and relevant context for gaining a better understanding of the Rhetoric of Health, specifically the power of metaphor, in the related spheres of policy-making and public debate. It was a time and place in which the urban populace’s physical well-being depended upon the fortunes of theatrical performances due to a system of alms for hospitals driven by ticket receipts. Anti-theatricalists argued that the immoral nature of theatrical performances made them spiritually and medically detrimental to society. Pro-theatricalists argued that plays were always a public good on balance because they raised much-needed funds for hospitals. Instead of producing a conflict between morality and public health, each side reinforced their connection until the two topics became nearly inseparable in the sphere of public debate. While pro-theatricalists mainly stayed with their arguments about funding hospitals, anti-theatricalists developed a new strategy of literalising the metaphor of theatre as a “plague of the republic” and arguing that immoral entertainment brought literal disease to the populace as a punishment from God. This exemplifies Stephen Pender’s observation of how, in an early modern medical context, “Rhetoric as a way of perceiving probabilities and adjusting one’s argument to the audience and circumstance offers a model of ethical action and interaction”. This article is organised chronologically to track specific adjustments to a specific public-health debate that rely upon moral metaphors of medicine. Each side wrangled over these metaphors in an effort to break a deadlock in a public-health policy debate with entertainment, finance, and morality at its centre. By the end of the seventeenth century, anti-theatricalists finally found their best rhetorical weapon in the literalisation of the “plague of the republic” metaphor, but it only offered a short-term solution to banning theatre contingent upon the ebb and flow of epidemics. Simultaneously, the finance structure of funding hospitals began to erase the role of hospitals from the longstanding debate about the morality of public theatre. The case of early modern Spain provides valuable lessons about the power of metaphor in the Rhetoric of Healthcare that are still applicable today.

Trends in Injectable Biomaterials for Vocal Fold Regeneration and Long-Term Augmentation.

Human vocal folds (VF), a pair of small, soft tissues in the larynx, have a layered mucosal structure with unique mechanical strength to support high-level tissue deformation by phonation. Severe pathological changes to VF have causes including surgery, trauma, age-related atrophy, and radiation, and lead to partial or complete communication loss and difficulty in breathing and swallowing. VF glottal insufficiency requires injectable VF biomaterials such as hyaluronan, calcium hydroxyapatite, and autologous fat to augment VF functions. Although these biomaterials provide an effective short-term solution, significant variations in patient response and requirements of repeat reinjection remain notable challenges in clinical practice. Tissue engineering strategies have been actively explored in the search of an injectable biomaterial that possesses the capacity to match native tissue's material properties while promoting permanent tissue regeneration. This review aims to assess the current status of biomaterial development in VF tissue engineering. The focus will be on examining state-of-the-art techniques including modification with bioactive molecules, cell encapsulation, composite materials, as well as, in situ crosslinking with click chemistry. We will discuss potential opportunities that can further leverage these engineering techniques in the advancement of VF injectable biomaterials.

Enhancing strength-ductility synergy in metastable β-Ti alloys through β-subgrains-mediated hierarchical α-precipitation

Titanium alloys can achieve ultrahigh strength through precipitation hardening of secondary α-phase (αs) from β-matrix but often compromise ductility due to the conventional strength-ductility trade-off. In this study, a new strategy based on β-subgrains-mediated hierarchical α-precipitation is devised to balance the conflict in Ti-6Al-2Mo-4Cr-2Fe (wt.%) alloy through a unique combination of hot rolling, short-term solid solution, and aging treatment, i.e., RSST+A. Tensile testing reveals that the RSST+A samples exhibit ultrahigh strength of ∼1581 MPa and decent ductility of ∼8.4 %, surpassing ∼1060 MPa and ∼2.7 % of the corresponding RSST counterparts without final aging treatment. This remarkable strengthening and counterintuitive ductilizing is attributed to the architecting of β-subgrains-mediated hierarchical α-precipitates as a result of our specific processing approach. The designed short-term solution introduces abundant β subgrains that are transformed from the retained intensive dislocations during hot rolling. The β subgrain boundaries subsequently promote a dramatic precipitation of α allotriomorphs (αGB) and Widmanstätten side-plates (αWGB), which effectively subdivides β grains into numerous tiny independent deformation units. Consequently, plastic strain is uniformly partitioned into a large number of small aged β subgrains during tension, which strongly impedes strain localization that would typically occur across multiple β subgrains in the fashion of long straight slip bands in the case of the RSST samples. Furthermore, the hierarchical α structure also postpones uncontrollable cracking even when structural damage occurs at the last stage of straining. These findings demonstrate that appropriately manipulating microstructure through elaborately designing processing routes enables unexpectedly ductilizing high-strength titanium alloys in the precipitation-hardening state.