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Nano-lamellar materials with ultrahigh strengths and unusual physical properties are of technological importance for structural applications. However, these materials generally suffer from low tensile ductility, which severely limits their practical utility. Here we show that markedly enhanced tensile ductility can be achieved in coherent nano-lamellar alloys, which exhibit an unprecedented combination of over 2 GPa yield strength and 16% uniform tensile ductility. The ultrahigh strength originates mainly from the lamellar boundary strengthening, whereas the large ductility correlates to a progressive work-hardening mechanism regulated by the unique nano-lamellar architecture. The coherent lamellar boundaries facilitate the dislocation transmission, which eliminates the stress concentrations at the boundaries. Meanwhile, deformation-induced hierarchical stacking-fault networks and associated high-density Lomer-Cottrell locks enhance the work hardening response, leading to unusually large tensile ductilities. The coherent nano-lamellar strategy can potentially be applied to many other alloys and open new avenues for designing ultrastrong yet ductile materials for technological applications. Nano-lamellar materials with ultrahigh strengths are highly desirable for technological applications. Here the authors report a nanolamellar architecturing approach by utilizing coherent L12 structures to achieve ultrahigh strength and ductility in Ni-Fe-Co-Cr-Al-Ti multicomponent alloys.

High-performance refractory alloys with ultrahigh strength and ductility are in demand for a wide range of critical applications, such as plasma-facing components. However, it remains challenging to increase the strength of these alloys without seriously compromising their tensile ductility. Here, we put forward a strategy to “defeat” this trade-off in tungsten refractory high-entropy alloys by stepwise controllable coherent nanoprecipitations (SCCPs). The coherent interfaces of SCCPs facilitate the dislocation transmission and relieve the stress concentrations that can lead to premature crack initiation. As a consequence, our alloy displays an ultrahigh strength of 2.15 GPa with a tensile ductility of 15% at ambient temperature, with a high yield strength of 1.05 GPa at 800 °C. The SCCPs design concept may afford a means to develop a wide range of ultrahigh-strength metallic materials by providing a pathway for alloy design. Tungsten-based alloys with ultrahigh strength and ductility are in high demand for a wide range of applications, potentially for fusion reactors. Here the authors develop a tungsten refractory high-entropy alloy with high strength (~2.15 GPa) and sufficient ductility (~15%).

Simultaneous improvement of strength and conductivity is urgently demanded but challenging for bimetallic materials. Here we show by creating a self-assembled lamellar (SAL) architecture in W-Cu system, enhancement in strength and electrical conductivity is able to be achieved at the same time. The SAL architecture features alternately stacked Cu layers and W lamellae containing high-density dislocations. This unique layout not only enables predominant stress partitioning in the W phase, but also promotes hetero-deformation induced strengthening. In addition, the SAL architecture possesses strong crack-buffering effect and damage tolerance. Meanwhile, it provides continuous conducting channels for electrons and reduces interface scattering. As a result, a yield strength that doubles the value of the counterpart, an increased electrical conductivity, and a large plasticity were achieved simultaneously in the SAL W-Cu composite. This study proposes a flexible strategy of architecture design and an effective method for manufacturing bimetallic composites with excellent integrated properties. Simultaneous increase of mechanical and physical properties is highly desirable, but challenging for bimetallic materials. Here, the authors use W-Cu as an example to achieve both high strength and conductivity of the bimetal with a large plasticity by a self-assembled lamellar architecture.

HighlightsThe Sn and Sb incorporation boosts the electronic conductivity and lithium diffusivity of Si anodes, thereby reducing the stress due to lithium concentration gradient.The lithiation of modified electrode mimics isotropic solid solution reaction, rather than the original anisotropic two-phase reaction of Si, effectively weakening the stress concentration.The silicon-rich particles exhibit a capacity of over 1.9 Ah g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g−1 and maintain the excellent cyclic stability at 3 A g−1.Si is a promising anode material for Li ion batteries because of its high specific capacity, abundant reserve, and low cost. However, its rate performance and cycling stability are poor due to the severe particle pulverization during the lithiation/delithiation process. The high stress induced by the Li concentration gradient and anisotropic deformation is the main reason for the fracture of Si particles. Here we present a new stress mitigation strategy by uniformly distributing small amounts of Sn and Sb in Si micron-sized particles, which reduces the Li concentration gradient and realizes an isotropic lithiation/delithiation process. The Si8.5Sn0.5Sb microparticles (mean particle size: 8.22 μm) show over 6000-fold and tenfold improvements in electronic conductivity and Li diffusivity than Si particles, respectively. The discharge capacities of the Si8.5Sn0.5Sb microparticle anode after 100 cycles at 1.0 and 3.0 A g−1 are 1.62 and 1.19 Ah g−1, respectively, corresponding to a retention rate of 94.2% and 99.6%, respectively, relative to the capacity of the first cycle after activation. Multicomponent microparticle anodes containing Si, Sn, Sb, Ge and Ag prepared using the same method yields an ultra-low capacity decay rate of 0.02% per cycle for 1000 cycles at 1 A g−1, corroborating the proposed mechanism. The stress regulation mechanism enabled by the industry-compatible fabrication methods opens up enormous opportunities for low-cost and high-energy–density Li-ion batteries.

Yield strength and work hardening are two critical mechanical properties of metallic structural materials. However, increasing yield strength through conventional strengthening mechanisms often restricts further dislocation multiplications and interactions, which significantly reduces work hardening and poses a challenge to achieving an optimal balance between these properties in material design. Here, an innovative approach to simultaneously enhance both yield strength and work hardening in a heterostructured, nanoprecipitation‐strengthened alloy is reported. This alloy exhibits an exceptional combination of a yield strength exceeding 1.5 GPa and an ultrahigh work hardening rate of 6 GPa, resulting in an extremely high tensile strength of 2.2 GPa and a uniform ductility of 20%. The ultrahigh yield strength primarily stems from nanoprecipitates and ultrafine grains, while the exceptional work hardening mainly originates from hetero‐interface‐mediated twinning. The hetero‐deformation between the coarse‐grained and ultrafine‐grained regions results in dislocation pile‐ups and strain gradients near the interfaces, which provides the ultrahigh stress necessary to activate mechanical twinning, thereby substantially improving the work hardening and plastic deformation stability of the alloy. The hetero‐interface architecting strategy can potentially be applied to numerous other alloys, paving the way for designing novel materials with unprecedented mechanical properties for technological applications. This study presents a novel strategy for achieving exceptional work hardening in ultrahigh‐strength alloys by designing hierarchically heterogeneous dual‐phase (HHDP) structures, where hetero‐deformation‐induced strain gradients activate deformation twinning. The resulting alloy exhibits an unprecedented combination of ultrahigh yield strength (> 1.5 GPa) and outstanding work hardening rate (6 GPa), imparting a tensile strength of ≈2.2 GPa and a uniform ductility of ≈20%.

Soft magnetic high‐entropy alloy thin films (HEATFs) exhibit remarkable freedom of material‐structure design and physical‐property tailoring, as well as, high cut‐off frequencies and outstanding electrical resistivities, making them potential candidates for high‐frequency magnetic devices. In this study, a CoCrFeNi film with excellent soft magnetic properties is developed by forming a novel core–shell structure via native oxidation, with ferromagnetic elements Fe, Co, and Ni as the core and the Cr oxide as the shell layer. The core–shell structure enables a high saturation magnetization, enhances the electrical resistivity, and thus reduces the eddy‐current loss. For further optimizing the soft magnetic properties, O is deliberately introduced into the HEATFs, and the O‐incorporated HEATFs exhibit an electrical resistivity of 237 µΩ·cm, a saturation magnetization of 535 emu cm−3, and a coercivity of 23 A m−1. The factors that determine the ferromagnetism and coercivity of the CoCrFeNi‐based HEATFs are examined in detail by evaluating the microstructures, magnetic domains, chemical valency, and 3D microscopic compositional distributions of the prepared films. These results are anticipated to provide insights into the magnetic behaviors of soft magnetic HEATFs, as well as aid in the construction of a promising material‐design strategy for these unique materials. The CoCrFeNi film with excellent soft magnetic properties and high electrical resistivity is developed by forming a novel core–shell structure via native oxidation, with ferromagnetic elements Fe, Co, and Ni as the core and the Cr oxide as the shell layer. The Cr oxide weakens antiferromagnetic exchange interaction and increases the concentrations of ferromagnetic elements in the core.

Multi‐principal‐element alloys (MPEAs) have gained widespread popularity due to the efficient synergetic regulation of mechanical and functional properties in a huge compositional space. Here, novel O‐enhanced BCC Zr‐Hf‐Ti‐Nb MPEAs with prominent mechanical and damping properties are developed by the composition formula of (Zr,Hf,Ti) 15 Nb 3 . The Zr 14 TiNb 3 and Zr 8 Hf 6 TiNb 3 alloys possess low BCC‐β structural stability. While the Zr 8 Hf 4 Ti 3 Nb 3 alloy has a much higher BCC‐β stability, as evidenced by the fact that only few α'' and ω precipitates appear in 1.8 at% oxygen‐added alloy. This alloy exhibits an optimal mechanical property with a higher yield strength ( σ YS = 1000 MPa) and larger ductility ( ε = 15.1%), which is ascribed to the formation of O‐rich clusters in BCC matrix. Moreover, these oxygen‐free and ‐added alloys exhibit an excellent damping capacity due to their low Young's modulus ( E < 70 GPa), as exemplified with a peak value of (tan δ ) max = 0.02 for 1.8 at% oxygen‐added alloy. Notably, the damping characteristics are prominent over a wide temperature range (550–800 K), which derives from the occurrence of multiple separated oxygen‐rich clusters. The present findings provide an avenue to enhance mechanical and functional performances of high‐temperature damping alloys.

This paper presents the SEM micrographs for the three-point bending fracture surfaces of Zr-based, Ce-based and Mg-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), which show the dimple structures in the three kinds of BMGs. The shapes of the giant plastic deformation domain on the fracture surface are similar but the sizes are different. The fracture toughness K C and the dimple structure size of the Zr-based BMG are both the largest, and those of the Mg-based BMG are the smallest. The fracture toughness K C and the dimple structure size of the Ce-based BMG are between those of the Zr-based and the Mg-based BMG. Through analyzing the data of different fracture toughnesses of the BMGs, we find that the plastic zone width follows w = ( K C / σ Y ) 2 /(6π).

Glass formation, mechanical and magnetic properties of the Fe 76− x C 7.0 Si 3.3 B 5.0 P 8.7 Mo x ( x =0, 1 at.%, 3 at.% and 5 at.%) alloys prepared using an industrial Fe-P master alloy have been studied. With the substitution of Mo for Fe, glass-forming ability (GFA) was significantly enhanced and fully amorphous rods with a diameter of up to 5 mm were produced in the alloy with 3% Mo. The Mo-containing amorphous alloys also exhibited high fracture strength of 3635–3881 MPa and excellent magnetic properties including a high saturation magnetization of 1.10–1.41 T, a high Curie temperature and a low coercive force. The unique combination of high GFA, high fracture strength and excellent magnetic properties make the newly developed bulk metallic glasses viable for practical engineering applications.

High-performance materials that exhibit a robust strength-ductility synergy across cryogenic to high temperatures are essential for aerospace applications, yet achieving this combination remains a significant challenge in materials development. Here, we report that remarkable mechanical properties across a broad temperature range can be achieved in bimodal harmonic-architectured (BHA) alloys. In this architecture, spherical precipitates stabilize coarse-grained cores, while lamellar precipitates facilitate selective recrystallization, resulting in a reproducible necklace-like topology. This engineered microstructure delivers exceptional mechanical performance from -196 °C to 700 °C, consistently achieving yield strengths of 1-2 GPa and ductilities exceeding 10% throughout the entire temperature spectrum. Quantitative analysis reveals that precipitation and grain-boundary strengthening are the primary contributors to strength at all temperatures, whereas the contribution of dislocation hardening decreases progressively with increasing temperature. The deformation mechanisms exhibit temperature-adaptive cooperation: dislocation forests and nanotwins enhance deformation at cryogenic temperatures, dislocation-precipitate interactions dominate plasticity at ambient conditions, and interfacial back-stress accommodation ensures coordinated deformation of bimodal grains at elevated temperatures. This adaptive synergy effectively suppresses both cryogenic embrittlement and high-temperature softening, establishing a robust structural foundation for broad service applicability. The BHA engineering offers a versatile pathway for developing next-generation alloys with superior properties required for wide-temperature applications.