In this paper, the morphological transition from dendrite to symmetry-broken dendrite is investigated in the directional ;olidification of non-axially-oriented crystals using a quantitative phase-field model. The effects of pulling velocity and zrystal orientation on the morphological transition are investigated. The results indicate the orientation dependence of the ;ymmetry-broken double dendrites. A dendrite to symmetry-broken dendrite transition is found by varying the pulling telocity at different crystal orientations and the symmetry-broken multiple dendrites emerge as a transition state for the ;ymmetry-broken double dendrites. The state region during the transition can be well characterized through the variations ff the characteristic angle and the average primary dendritic spacing.
By using the Born-von Kfirmfin theory of lattice dynamics and the modified analytic embedded atom method, we reproduce the experimental results of the phonon dispersion in fcc metal Cu at zero pressure along three high symmetry directions and four oft-symmetry directions, and then simulate the phonon dispersion curves of Cu at high pressures of 50, 100, and 150 GPa. The results show that the shapes of dispersion curves at high pressures are very similar to that at zero pressure. All the vibration frequencies of Cu in all vibration branches at high pressures are larger than the results at zero pressure, and increase correspondingly as pressure reaches 50, 100, and 150 GPa sequentially. Moreover, on the basis of phonon dispersion, we calculate the values of specific heat of Cu at different pressures. The prediction of thermodynamic quantities lays a significant foundation for guiding and judging experiments of thermodynamic properties of solids under high pressures.
The stability range of primary spacing of the tilted dendritic arrays in directional solidification has been studied by quantitative phase-field simulations. Results show that both the real growth direction and morphological shapes of dendritic arrays change with the primary spacing for different misorientation angles(θ0). It has been found that the lower limit of primary spacing is independent of θ0, but the upper limit of primary spacing is strongly influenced by that. The two kinds of tertiary branching instabilities result in different behaviors of the variation of the upper limit with misorientation angle for different pulling velocities.
Morphological evolution of the solid-liquid interface near grain boundaries has been studied during directional solidification of succinonitrile-based transparent alloys (SCN-0.9wt%DCB). Experimental results show that the grain boundary provides the starting point of morphological instability of the solid-liquid interface. The initial perturbation near the grain boundary is significantly larger than other perturbations on the interface. The initial shape of the interface and the competition between the thermal direction and preferred crystalline orientations determine the subsequent growth pattern selections. The temporal variations of the curvature radius of cell/ridge tips near the grain boundary have also been studied when the instability occurs. This process is divided into three parts. As the pulling velocity increases, dendrites at the grain boundary grow in two different directions to form a bicrystal microstructure. Side branches on either side of the dendrite exhibit different growth patterns.
Based on density functional theory calculations, the electronic and magnetic properties oi Co-duped SnO are investigated. It is found that the spin-polarized state, with a magnetic moment of about 1.0 μB per Co-dopant, is more favorable in energy than the non-spin-polarized state. Moreover, the origin of the ferromagnetism in Co-doped SnO is found to be the double exchange mechanism. Our results indicate that Co-doped SnO is a possible candidate of the u-type snintronics material.
An oxygen-deficient SrTiO3/La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 heterojunction is fabricated on an SrTiO3 （001） substrate by a pulsed laser deposition method. The electrical characteristics of the heterojunction are studied systematically in a temperature range from 80 K to 300 K. The transport mechanism follows I ∝ exp （eV/nkT） under small forward bias, while it becomes space charge limited and follows I ∝ Vm（T） with 1.49〈 m 〈1.99 under high bias. Such a heterojunction also exhibits magnetoresistance （MR） effect. The absolute value of negative MR monotonically increases with temperature decreasing and reaches 26.7% at 80 K under H=0.7 T. Various factors, such as strain and oxygen deficiency play dominant roles in the characteristics.
