Case 14860

Prediction of Stable Nanocrystalline Binary Alloys

Keywords:

Nanocrystalline metals and alloys, grain boundary, phase separation, binary alloys

Applications:

Processing technology adapted to produce metals with controlled nanocrystalline structures to achieve desired alloy characteristics.

Problem:

Need for general framework to design new nanocrystalline alloys that are stable against both grain growth and phase separation, both critical to commercialization of products with long lifetimes.

Technology:

This invention presents the first model for the design of nanocrystalline alloys that are stable against both grain growth and phase separation. This model can be used to identify many viable alloy systems that can be made in a stable nanocrystalline form. The model generates a nanocrystalline phase behavior map that can predict the existence of a stable nanoscaled microstructure in phase-separating binary alloys.

Advantages:
  • Can be used for a full range of concentrations
  • Has been applied to over 500 binary systems
  • Few materials parameters are required for the use of the model

Inventors:
  • Professor Chris Schuh(Department of Material Science and Engineering)
  • Heather Murdoch (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT)

Intellectual Property:

PCT Patent Application PCT/US2012/028811 filed 3/12/2012

Publications:

Last revised: April 20, 2012

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