Magnesium alloys are attracting increasing research interests due to their low density, high specific strength, good machinability and availability as compared to other structural materials. However, the deformation and failure mechanisms of nanocrystalline (nc) Mg alloys have not been well understood. In this work, the deformation behaviour of nc Mg–5Al alloys was investigated using compressio...

We analyze the possibility of the formation of a magnetic-field-induced insulating state in a two-dimensional granular superconductor with relatively strong intergranular coupling and show that such a state appears in a model with spatial variations of the single-grain critical magnetic field. This model describes realistic granular samples with a dispersion in grain sizes and explains the mech...

In recent years it has become possible to study the properties of nanocrystalline metals through atomic-scale simulations of systems with realistic grain sizes. A brief overview of the main results is given, such as the observation of a reverse Hall-Petch effect — a softening of the metal when the grain size is reduced. The limitations of computer simulations are discussed, with a particular fo...

This study investigated the effect of nanograins size on the R-phase transformation of a nanocrystalline Ti-50.2at%Ni alloy. The nanometric grain size was created by severe cold deformation and low temperature anneal. It was found that in the recrystallized state, nanograin sizes (<100 nm) was effective in suppressing the B2→B19’ martensitic transformation and revealing the B2↔R transformation....