Recent Progress of Synchrotron X-Ray Imaging and Diffraction on the Solidification and Deformation Behavior of Metallic Materials

Abstract

Characterizing the microstructure and deformation mechanism associated with the performances and properties of metallic materials is of great importance in understanding the microstructure-property relationship. The past few decades have witnessed the rapid development of characterization techniques from optical microscopy to electron microscopy, although these conventional methods are generally limited to the sample surface because of the intrinsic opaque nature of metallic materials. Advanced synchrotron radiation (SR) facilities can produce X-rays with strong penetrability and high spatiotemporal resolution, and thereby enabling the non-destructive visualization of full-field structural information in three dimensions. Tremendous endeavors were devoted to the 3rd generation SR over the past three decades, in which X-ray beams have been focused down to 100 nm. In this paper, recent progresses on SR-related characterization technologies were reviewed, with particular emphases on the fundamentals of synchrotron X-ray imaging and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, as well as their applications in the in situ observations of material preparation (e.g., in situ dendrite growth during solidification) and service under extreme environment (e.g., in situ mechanics). Future innovations toward next-generation SR and newly emerging SRbased technologies such as dark-field X-ray microscopy and Bragg coherent X-ray diffraction imaging were also advocated.

Synchrotron X‐ray Characterization Techniques for the Development of Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries

“…Synchrotron X‐ray diffraction (SXRD) obtain the diffraction pattern of materials, offering insights into their composition, internal atomic structure, phases, strain, and morphology. It has several advantages, including non‐destructiveness, no pollution, fast and high precision detection [28] . Due to the high photon flux and superior collimation provided by synchrotron light source, diffraction signals are usually more numerous and stronger than in laboratory XRD instrument, which facilitates in situ or operando studies to provide a deeper understanding of the crystal structure and phase transitions of crystalline materials during operation.…”

A quantitative study of thermal cycling along the build direction of Ti-6Al-4V produced by laser powder bed fusion

“…During past years, several in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and imaging experiments have been performed to study the microstructure evolution during metal 3D printing. The melt pool dynamics can be studied in detail by fast radiography experiments [26][27][28][29][30][31]. The evolution of the crystallographic phases, stress and temperature has been investigated by in situ X-ray diffraction [28,[32][33][34][35].…”

A Review of Large-Scale Simulations of Microstructural Evolution during Alloy Solidification

“…Reducing the trial and error of the manufacturing process, the simulations save time, providing a greater understanding of the microstructure and defect formation. Many advances in in situ X-ray observations of solidification have identified areas that can benefit from the large-scale realistic modeling of dendrites [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Lee and Hunt [11] first examined slabs of Al-Cu alloys for hydrogen pores in situ during directional solidification (DS).…”