Grain boundary networks should play a dominant role in determining the mechanical properties of nanocrystalline metals. However, these networks are difficult to characterize and their response to deformation is incompletely understood. In this work, we study the grain boundary network of nanocrystalline Ni and explore whether it can be modified by plastic deformation.Mechanical cycling at room temperature did not lead to structural evolution, but elevated temperature cycling did alter the grain boundary network. In addition to mechanically-driven grain growth, mechanical cycling at 100 °C led to a 48% increase in Σ3 boundaries, determined with transmission Kikuchi diffraction. The extent of boundary modification was a function of the number of applied loading cycles and the testing temperature, with more cycles at higher temperatures leading to more special grain boundaries. The results presented here suggest a path to grain boundary engineering in nanocrystalline materials.

Pulsating cone-jets occur in a variety of electrostatic spraying and printing systems. This paper reports an experimental study of the pulsation frequency to reconcile two models based on a choked jet and an oscillating cone, respectively. The two regimes are demarcated by the ratio of the supplied flow rate (${Q}_{s} $) to the minimum flow rate (${Q}_{m} $) required for a steady Taylor cone-jet. When ${Q}_{s} \lesssim {Q}_{m} $, the electrohydrodynamic flow is choked at the nozzle because the intermittent jet, when on, emits mass at the minimum flow rate; the pulsation frequency in the choked jet regime is proportional to ${Q}_{s} / {Q}_{m} $. When ${Q}_{s} \gtrsim {Q}_{m} $, the Taylor cone anchored at the nozzle experiences a capillary oscillation analogous to the Rayleigh mode of a free drop; the pulsation frequency in the oscillating cone regime plateaus to the capillary oscillation frequency, which is independent of ${Q}_{s} / {Q}_{m} $.

The enhanced properties of grain boundary engineered metals are a result of their unique microstructures, which contain large clusters of twinned grains, called twin related domains. These large twin related domains in grain boundary engineered Ni were found to form through recrystallization. Orientation mapping showed that sparse nucleation and multiple twinning resulted in twin related domains containing hundreds of grains connected together in complex morphologies. A correlation was found between the size of the twin related domains and the overall twin boundary fraction. The same correlation was also observed in Cu and a Ni superalloy, showing that this is a general observation for grain boundary engineered microstructures. This finding can be understood through the topology of the twin related domains and an accompanying scaling relation is provided. The crystal orientations contained within each twin related domain were observed to depend on both the spatial correlation of twinning variants and the degree of branching in the twin boundary network. The results suggest a natural way of quantifying grain boundary engineered microstructures and provide a step toward making a closer connection between processing, microstructure, and performance.