Structural materials articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The transport behavior of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) remains unclear. Here, the authors explore the fundamentals of low-wear and high-conductivity refractory HEAs, examining the cocktail effect in conductivity, and highlight its potential applications in enhancing atomic-scale image resolution.

    • Cheng-Hsien Yeh
    • , Wen-Dung Hsu
    •  & Chuan-Feng Shih

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Frustrated magnetic systems typically have multiple ground state configurations. While such multistability is common in amorphous materials, periodic mechanical systems have long range elastic interactions that tend to lead to a long-range ordered ground state. Herein, Sirote-Katz, Shohat et al. introduce periodic mechanical systems that have many disordered metastable states.

    • Chaviva Sirote-Katz
    • , Dor Shohat
    •  & Yair Shokef

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Thermal fatigue frequently leads to failure in electronic solder joints. Here, the authors measure and quantitatively explain how microstructure affects thermal fatigue in a ball grid array package and propose optimum microstructures for thermal fatigue resistance.

    • J. W. Xian
    • , Y. L. Xu
    •  & C. M. Gourlay

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional material processing methods often suffer by strength-ductility trade-off. Here, the authors show high-pressure and high-temperature treatment can transform an eutectic high entropy alloy to having a hierarchical microstructure with simultaneous enhancements of strength and ductility.

    • Yao Tang
    • , Haikuo Wang
    •  & Haofei Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Granular materials exhibit yielding behaviors rather different from glasses that can be elastic. Here, Yuan et al. show a cross-over from creep to diffusive dynamics in three-dimensional granular systems under cyclic shear and that the relaxation process depends on the roughness of the constituent particles.

    • Ye Yuan
    • , Zhikun Zeng
    •  & Yujie Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Previous studies of the effects of strain on charge density waves have mostly focused on uniaxial strain. Here the authors use a biaxial-strain device to demonstrate switching of the charge density wave orientation, as well as a strong linear increase of the transition temperature while the gap seems to saturate.

    • A. Gallo–Frantz
    • , V. L. R. Jacques
    •  & D. Le Bolloc’h

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Hypersonic vehicles experience extreme temperatures, high heat fluxes, and aggressive oxidizing environments. Here, the authors highlight key materials design principles for critical vehicle areas and strategies for advancing laboratory-scale materials to flight-ready components.

    • Adam B. Peters
    • , Dajie Zhang
    •  & Suhas Eswarappa Prameela

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving facile grain microstructure control in metal additive manufacturing is essential for its advancement. Here, the authors present a powder-size driven melt pool engineering approach to control the grain morphology demonstrated by laser directed energy deposition and electron beam powder-bed fusion processes.

    • Shubham Chandra
    • , Chengcheng Wang
    •  & Xipeng Tan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In situ corrosion monitoring is essential to unveil corrosion mechanisms and safeguard materials’ health. Here, the authors develop a radionuclide tracing based in situ corrosion monitoring technique that can monitor corrosion attack depth and corrosion product transport in flowing molten salts.

    • Yafei Wang
    • , Aeli P. Olson
    •  & Adrien Couet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving a wide angular response in single layer acoustic metalenses is challenging. By leveraging perfect acoustic symmetry conversion, the authors realize an aberration free metalens with a wide field-of-hearing, up to 140 degrees.

    • Dongwoo Lee
    • , Beomseok Oh
    •  & Junsuk Rho

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The hydration of tricalcium aluminate is an important initial step in the structural build-up of Portland cement. Here the authors use ab initio and accelerated dynamics to describe the reactions and dynamics of this process at the molecular level.

    • Xing Ming
    • , Wen Si
    •  & Zongjin Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Direct ink writing of complex 3D gradient structures can be challenging due to inherent method limitations. Here, the authors report continuous diameter-adjustable filament by varying printing speed and height and enable extrusion 3D printers to produce complex gradient porous matters.

    • Huawei Qu
    • , Chongjian Gao
    •  & Changshun Ruan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    3D-printed glass holds great potential. However, it is challenging to control both the dimension and the resolution of the printed material. Here, authors present a one-photon 3D printing approach to produce high-performance fused silica glass with sub-micron resolution and millimetric dimensions.

    • Ziyong Li
    • , Yanwen Jia
    •  & Xiewen Wen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Knitted fabrics are prized for their stretchability, breathability, and long-wearability in everyday life. This study combines experiments and simulations to present a micromechanical approach to understanding the origin of the anisotropic elasticity of four canonical patterns of knitted fabrics.

    • Krishma Singal
    • , Michael S. Dimitriyev
    •  & Elisabetta A. Matsumoto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    To maximize composite reinforcing efficiency, a semi-infinite reinforcement should be aligned in the matrix. Here, the authors report a float-stacking strategy for graphene-PMMA laminate with precisely aligned monolayer graphene in a polymer matrix.

    • Seung-Il Kim
    • , Ji-Yun Moon
    •  & Jae-Hyun Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Authors control heat transfer through twisting moiré conductive thermal metasurface, showcasing the potential for manipulating thermal conductivity and temperature gradients with imitated magic angles, thereby realizing multifunctional thermal metadevices.

    • Huagen Li
    • , Dong Wang
    •  & Cheng-Wei Qiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Continuous industrialization and human activities have led to severe water quality deterioration. Here, a structure-function integrated system is developed by Douglas fir wood inspired metamaterial catalysts with robust and high throughput water purification performances.

    • Lei Zhang
    • , Hanwen Liu
    •  & Jian Lu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnitude of the ideal strength achievable in experiments for metals remains to be known. Here, the authors show that the spall strength of Cu50Zr50 amorphous alloy exceeds the E/10 limit at extreme strain rates, showing the void nucleation and growth as the primary failure mechanism.

    • Wenqing Zhu
    • , Zhi Li
    •  & Xiaoding Wei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Porosity is a key issue in additive manufacturing (AM). Here, the authors reveal the bubble evolution mechanisms including formation, coalescence, pushing, growth, entrainment, escape, and entrapment during directed energy deposition AM using in situ X-ray imaging and multiphysics modelling.

    • Kai Zhang
    • , Yunhui Chen
    •  & Peter D. Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Soft composite solids are building blocks for many functional and biological materials, yet it remains challenging to predict their mechanical properties. Zhao et al. propose a criticality framework to connect the mechanics to the critical behaviour near the shear-jamming transition of the dispersed inclusions.

    • Yiqiu Zhao
    • , Haitao Hu
    •  & Qin Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Development of high-performance, comfortable and sustainable air filters is challenging. Here, authors design an ultrathin, ultralight dual scale fiber mat composed of true nanofibers and submicron-fibers to integrate the high protection, thermal wet comfort and save raw materials.

    • Yuchen Yang
    • , Xiangshun Li
    •  & Yuekun Lai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Precise synthesis of Intermetallic compounds and understanding of the structure-performance correlation are highly desirable in catalysis. Here, the authors develop a general method to synthesize up to six BiPd intermetallic compounds and study the mechanism toward the electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction reaction.

    • Wenjin Guo
    • , Guangfang Li
    •  & Rong Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High and medium-entropy alloys have shown excellent mechanical performance, yet the role of short-range order (SRO) on these properties has been unclear. Here, the authors demonstrate that the reduction of SRO by deformation leads to rejuvenation, explaining their remarkable damage tolerance.

    • Yang Yang
    • , Sheng Yin
    •  & Andrew M. Minor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Little is known about how the states in glass are connected to each other. Here, the authors perform molecular dynamics simulation of relaxation in a prototypical metallic glass to show that the energy barriers separating these states are very low, and even be overcome by quantum fluctuations.

    • Leo Zella
    • , Jaeyun Moon
    •  & Takeshi Egami

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Copper produced by laser additive manufacturing often faces challenges with either low strength or low conductivity. Here, the authors present a design strategy to introduce uniformly dispersed nanoprecipitates during solidification, enhancing the strength while maintaining high conductivity.

    • Yingang Liu
    • , Jingqi Zhang
    •  & Ming-Xing Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors introduce a method for non-destructive testing based on circularly polarized ultrasound in solids, enabled by metamaterials, allows for detecting internal defects regardless of their orientation. This innovation will redefine ultrasonic non-destructive examination.

    • Jeseung Lee
    • , Minwoo “Joshua” Kweun
    •  & Yoon Young Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Kinks define boundaries between distinct configurations of a material. Here, the authors reveal the emergence of propagating kinks in purely dissipative kirigami and show that such structures can shape-change into different textures depending on how fast they are stretched enabling basic mechanical tasks.

    • Shahram Janbaz
    •  & Corentin Coulais

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phosphor-glass composites can serve as efficient and stable photonic converters, but their synthesis generally requires harsh and time-consuming procedures. Here, the authors report an alternative synthesis route that requires only a few seconds and is based on particle self-stabilization.

    • Yongsheng Sun
    • , Yuzhen Wang
    •  & Zhiguo Xia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Developing superior structural materials has been challenging because of the inherent conflict between their strength and toughness. Here, the authors use 3D-printing to produce a high-entropy alloy with a microstructure resembling nano-bridged honeycomb structure with good strength and toughness.

    • Punit Kumar
    • , Sheng Huang
    •  & Robert O. Ritchie

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