The extraordinary mechanical performance of spider dragline silk is explained by its highly ordered microstructure and results from the sequences of its constituent proteins. This optimized microstructural organization simultaneously achieves high tensile strength and strain at breaking by taking advantage of weak molecular interactions. However, elucidating how the original design evolved over...

Since the bulk properties such as mechanical and functional properties of polycrystalline materials are strongly affected by microstructure, the control and optimization of the microstructure are essential to obtain desirable properties and to develop high performance polycrystalline materials. The application of external fields such as stress, electric and magnetic fields have been noticed as ...

We identify the sequence of microstructural changes that characterize the evolution of an attractive particulate gel under flow and discuss their implications on macroscopic rheology. Dissipative particle dynamics is used to monitor shear-driven evolution of a fabric tensor constructed from the ensemble spatial configuration of individual attractive constituents within the gel. By decomposing t...

Mctastable systems pose significant problems in both analysis and simulation. We discuss here the evolution of microstructure in a shape-memory alloy where energetic contributions from disparate scales play determining roles. This is a challenge for modelling since the finest length scales cannot be 'seen* at macroscopic level. We then provide a mechanism for kinetics that gives a different not...

The effect of rare earth (RE) elements, including Ce and La, on the sorption properties of Zr-Co getters was investigated in this work. The phase evolution, microstructural characteristics of getter powders were studied by means of X-ray diffraction method, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The nanostructured Zr3Co intermetallic compound has been...

Remodelling of biological tissue, due to changes in microstructure, is treated in the continuum mechanical setting. Microstructural change is expressed as an evolution of the reference configuration. This evolution is expressed as a point-to-point map from the reference configuration to a remodelled configuration. A “preferred” change in configuration is considered in the form of a globally inc...

In the present work microstructural evolution of A356 Aluminum alloy using an inclined cooling plate casting process for thixoforming feedstock production is investigated. The resultant microstructure was evaluated and compared with those of the same alloy produced by the conventional casting process, i.e. directly cast in the same mold without using an inclined cooling plate. It was found that...

In situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been extensively applied to study radiation effects in a wide variety of materials, such as metals, ceramics and semiconductors and is an indispensable tool in obtaining a fundamental understanding of energetic beam-matter interactions, damage events, and materials' behavior under intense radiation environments. In this article, in situ TEM obs...

One of the most challenging aspects of the microstructural evolution in polycrystalline materials is to understand the role of topological reconfigurations during coarsening. In this paper, we study these critical events in a one-dimensional grain-boundary system and a stochastic framework for modeling texture evolution. The model is based on a master equation derived from numerically determine...

The paper discusses the effect of semi-solid processing on the microstructural evolution and mechanical property of 304L stainless steel. For the study, steel specimens were part ially melted and cooled to room temperatures in different cooling medium. The effect of temperature, t ime and cooling medium on microstructural evolution was studied by using optical microscopy. It was found that melt...