An international team of researchers has identified a microscopic mechanism that enables experimental metal alloys to resist cracking and fracturing at extremely low temperatures, down to 253 degrees Celsius below zero, which could contribute to the development of more durable materials for use in aerospace, energy, and transportation industries.
Super mechanical properties
The ScienceDaily platform reported on Saturday that the study, led by researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK and the University of California, Berkeley in the US, in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was published in the Nature journal. It focused on the mechanical properties of two types of alloys based on niobium and titanium.
Experiments showed that the alloys maintained their ability to resist crack propagation at a temperature of 20 Kelvin, approximately 253 degrees Celsius below zero, without recording any significant shift towards brittle behavior at the lowest tested temperatures.
Crystal twinning mechanism
Metals typically become harder as temperatures drop, but this can make them more prone to fracturing due to their reduced ability to absorb stresses and deform around cracks, allowing cracks to propagate within the metal. The researchers explained that the studied alloys follow a different mechanism, as microscopic structures known as "crystal twins" form within their crystalline structure.
These structures, when reaching the boundaries between crystalline grains, help generate new crystalline defects known as "dislocations," allowing the metal to continue deforming and absorbing stresses instead of responding by cracking and breaking.
Future industrial applications
The researchers noted that the results could help design alloys capable of operating in extremely cold environments, including deep cooling systems, energy, transportation, and aerospace applications, especially components exposed to sharp thermal changes. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the behavior of metallic materials under harsh thermal conditions.
This opens the door to developing more durable alloys capable of withstanding extremely low temperatures, thereby supporting their use in various industrial and scientific applications.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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