Hongliang Zhang

• PhD
• Professor at Fudan University

Radiation-induced segregation is well known in metals, but has been rarely studied in ceramics. We discover that radiation can induce notable segregation of one of the constituent elements to grain boundaries in a ceramic, despite the fact that the ceramic forms a line compound and therefore has a strong thermodynamic driving force to resist off-st...

MAB phases are a new class of layered ternary materials that have already shown a number of outstanding properties. Here, we investigate defect evolution and radiation tolerance of two MAB phases, MoAlB and Fe2AlB2, using a combination of experimental characterization and first-principles calculations. We find that Fe2AlB2 is more tolerant to radia...

In metallic systems, increasing the density of interfaces has been shown to be a promising strategy for annealing defects introduced during irradiation. The role of interfaces during irradiation of ceramics is more unclear because of the complex defect energy landscape that exists in these materials. Here, we report the effects of interfaces on rad...

Porosity throughout the zirconium oxide films plays a crucial role in the corrosion behavior and oxidation kinetics of Zr alloys, as it likely provides pathways for oxidizing and hydriding species through the oxide. In addition, it is known that substrate texture can affect the corrosion rate, although the detailed mechanisms are unclear. In this w...

Traditionally, the formation of amorphous shear bands in crystalline materials has been undesirable, because shear bands can nucleate voids and act as precursors to fracture. They also form as a final stage of accumulated damage. Only recently were shear bands found to form in undefected crystals, where they serve as the primary driver of plasticit...

Pure tungsten (W) was irradiated by low-energy deuterium (D) at 335 and 500 K to investigate the effects of irradiation temperature on the concentration depth profiles (CDPs) of D-induced trapping sites and the retention behavior of D at these trapping sites. To quantify typical D trapping sites, a novel approach was developed by combining experime...

To precisely quantify the deuterium (D) concentration at significant depths and enhance the understanding of D distribution in zirconium (Zr) films, the proton elastic scattering cross-section of Zr was measured on an Au/Zr/Ti thin film. The measurement was conducted at laboratory angles of 165◦ and 170◦ over an energy range of 1.5–5.0 MeV. Non-Rut...

Diphthamide is a post-translationally modified histidine residue of eukaryotic TRANSLATION ELONGATION FACTOR 2 (eEF2) and the target of diphtheria toxin in human cells. In yeast and mammals, the 4Fe-4S cluster-containing proteins Dph1 and Dph2 catalyze the first biosynthetic step of diphthamide formation. Here we identify Arabidopsis thaliana DPH2...

In the study, we report an in situ corrosion and mass transport monitoring method developed using a radionuclide tracing technique for the corrosion study of 316L stainless steel (316L SS) in a NaCl–MgCl2 eutectic molten salt natural circulation loop. This method involves cyclotron irradiation of a small tube section with 16 MeV protons, later weld...

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation and corrosion can be coupled in non-trivial ways and such coupling is of critical importance for the performance of materials in extreme environments. However, the confluence of these phenomena and their collective impact remains underexplored. This study bridges this knowledge gap by presenting a thorough investigation o...

Tungsten (W), as a plasma-facing material, is subjected to high fluence plasma, resulting in both radiation damage and deuterium (D) retention. This study explores the blistering behavior and D supersaturated layers in both pre-damaged and undamaged W samples. To achieve a uniform damage profile similar to neutron irradiation, carbon (C) ions with...

Radiation and corrosion can be coupled to each other in non-trivial ways and such coupling is of critical importance for the performance of materials in extreme environments. However, it has been rarely studied in ceramics and therefore it is not well understood to what extent these two phenomena are coupled and by what mechanisms. Here, we discove...

Radiation-induced segregation (RIS) is one of the most dramatic changes that can occur at grain boundaries (GBs) during irradiation. In ceramics, RIS has been rarely studied and the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we used a combination of experiments and simulations to demonstrate RIS in TiB2. Specifically, we found that radiat...

In the study, we report an in situ corrosion and mass transport monitoring method developed using a radionuclide tracing technique for the corrosion study of 316L stainless steel (316L SS) in a NaCl-MgCl 2 eutectic molten salt natural circulation loop. This novel method involved cyclotron irradiation of a small tube section with 16 MeV protons, lat...

The current focus on the development of structural materials that can operate at temperatures beyond the current capability exposes materials to an extreme of enhanced oxidation attack. The emerging class of refractory multiple principal element alloys (RMPEA) offers superior structural performance at elevated temperature, but the alloys are suscep...

A Mo-Si-B based coating has been applied on a refractory multi-principal element alloy (RMPEA) using a two-step coating strategy and has endured more than 750 h of thermal cycling oxidation exposure between room temperature to 1300 • C with a minimal weight change. The formation of the Mo 5 SiB 2 diffusion barrier in the coating prevents the inward...

Traditionally, the formation of amorphous shear bands (SBs) in crystalline materials has been undesirable, because SBs can nucleate voids and act as precursors to fracture. They also form as a final stage of accumulated damage. Only recently SBs were found to form in undefected crystals, where they serve as the primary driver of plasticity without...

Future nuclear reactors and advanced power generators require materials with good stability and damage tolerance under harsh conditions, including high temperatures and high-dose radiation. Ti3SiC2 MAX phase has good physical properties and mechanical strength. It can remain crystalline under serious microstructure damage due to the nanolaminate st...

Future salt reactors like the Fluoride-salt-cooled-High Temperature Reactor require varying material flavors. Graphite is required for neutron moderation and potential fuel forms, while structural metals are required for containment. Studies show graphite/metal interactions exist when both materials share a salt medium. These interactions may accel...

Silicon carbide nanowires (SiC NWs) exhibit promising features to allow solution-processable electronics to be deployed in harsh environments. By utilizing a nanoscale form of SiC, we were able to disperse the material into liquid solvents, while maintaining the resilience of bulk SiC. This letter reports the fabrication of SiC NW Schottky diodes....

Refractory multiple-principal-element alloys (RMPEAs) are promising structural materials to enable increased power efficiency in high-temperature oxidation environments, but the oxidation behavior and microstructures of the oxides, especially at the beginning of the oxidation, have received limited attention. The oxidation mechanism in an equimolar...

The isothermal and cyclic oxidation behavior of Mo-6Si-12B-(1, 2, 4, 8)Al samples was investigated from 800 to 1300℃. With increasing Al content, the isothermal oxidation resistance is enhanced and the pesting behavior is suppressed at 800℃. The Mo-6Si-12B-4Al alloy with an oxide layer of both an alumino-borosilicate glasses and mullite has the bes...

Diphthamide, a post-translationally modified histidine residue of eukaryotic TRANSLATION ELONGATION FACTOR2 (eEF2), is the human host cell-sensitizing target of diphtheria toxin. Diphthamide biosynthesis depends on the 4Fe-4S-cluster protein Dph1 catalyzing the first committed step, as well as Dph2 to Dph7, in yeast and mammals. Here we show that d...

We have investigated the radiation tolerance of Cr-B binaries and Cr-Al-B ternary MAB phases using a combination of ab initio calculations and experiments. One key discovery is that Cr3AlB4 has excellent resistance to radiation-induced amorphization, and therefore it is a promising material for applications in extreme environments. We also demonstr...

Refractory multiple-principal-element alloys (RMPEAs) are promising structural materials to enable increased power efficiency in high-temperature oxidation environments, but the oxidation behavior and microstructures ofmthe oxides, especially at the beginning of the oxidation, have received limited attention. The oxidation mechanism in an equimolar...

Transition metal borides, which are three-dimensional (3D) layered materials containing covalently bonded B networks, have shown a number of excellent properties, such as radiation resistance and the ability to act as a diffusion barrier in integrated circuits. However, defect behavior, which controls many of the materials’ properties, has remained...

A new family of ternary nano-laminated compounds, MAB phases, are studied as a promising class of neutron shielding materials for applications within fusion reactors. The shielding capacity against high-energy neutrons was evaluated, and the damage tolerance of MoAlB against Si⁺ irradiation was investigated over the temperature range of RT- 600 °C....

Ion irradiation has long been used as a surrogate for neutron irradiation experiments which are comparatively slower, more expensive, and often can leave materials activated and difficult to handle post-irradiation. However, with the growing use of combinatorial synthesis methods and high-throughput, automated characterization techniques, ion irrad...

Ti2AlC film can be used as a protective coating for fuel cladding materials and structural materials in nuclear reactors. However, the related radiation damage and the helium (He) effects have not been well understood. In this work, the He radiation effects on Ti2AlC thin films, deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering, were studied. In addition...

Refractory-metal-based alloys are a potential replacement of current nickel-based superalloys due to their excellent mechanical strength at extremely high temperatures. However, severe oxidation in a high-temperature working environment limits their application. To address this challenge, a two-step coating process (including a Mo precoat and a Si-...

We investigated hardness and tribological properties of ultra-fine grain (UFG) aluminum samples prepared by accumulative rolling bonding (ARB) and by physical vapor deposition (PVD). We have found wear-induced grain refinement in this material for the first time and we have identified a transition from grain growth to grain refinement as a function...

Grain refinement is a promising strategy for improving wearWear resistance of metals, but in Al, previous studies have often shown undesirable wear-induced grain growth. Here, we investigated tribological properties and microstructural evolutionMicrostructural evolution during sliding of ultra-fine grainUltra-Fine Grains (UFG) (UFG) aluminumAluminu...

In this study, the microstructure changes of Ti3SiC2 MAX phase material induced by helium irradiation and evolution with a sequence of different helium irradiation doses of 5E15, 1E16, 5E16 and 1E17cm-2 at room temperature (RT) were characterized with grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) and Raman spectra analysis. The irradiation damage pro...

Ti3SiC2 is a potential structural material for nuclear reactor applications. However, He irradiation effects in this material are not well understood, especially at high temperatures. Here, we compare the effects of He irradiation in Ti3SiC2 at room temperature (RT) and at 750 {\deg}C. Irradiation at 750 {\deg}C was found to lead to extremely elong...

MAB phases are a new class of layered ternary materials that have already shown a number of outstanding properties. Here, we investigate defect evolution and radiation tolerance of two MAB phases, MoAlB and Fe2AlB2, using a combination of experimental characterization and first-principles calculations. We find that Fe2AlB2 is more tolerant to radia...

Ti3SiC2 is a potential structural material for nuclear reactor applications. However, He irradiation effects in this material are not well understood, especially at high temperatures. Here, we compare the effects of He irradiation in Ti3SiC2 at room temperature (RT) and at 750 °C. Irradiation at 750 °C was found to lead to extremely elongated He bu...

Formation of thin amorphous shear bands has been recently shown to enable plastic flow in crystalline SmCo5 in the absence of dislocations. To bring insights into the criteria for when this mechanism can be active, here we analyze energetics and atomic structure of deformation-induced shear bands in SmCo5. We find that the formation energy of amorp...

In nanocomposites, improved mechanical performance is critically linked to understanding and controlling interfacial properties. In the work reported here, ion implantation is introduced as a new method for tailoring the complex nanoscale interfaces between multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and a ceramic matrix. The results show that surface laye...

Dislocation activity is critical to ductility and the mechanical strength of metals. Dislocations are the primary drivers of plastic deformation, and their interactions with each other and with other microstructural features such as grain boundaries (GBs) lead to strengthening of metals. In general, suppressing dislocation activity leads to brittle...

LiMnPO4 cathode material has a high voltage platform and matches the existing electrolyte window, and thus researchers are constantly shifting their focus from LiFePO4 to LiMnPO4. However, LiMnPO4 has lower electron (ion) conductivity than LiFePO4, and besides, its delithiated phase MnPO4 will suffer thermal decomposition at lower temperatures more...

The effects of helium (He) irradiation on Ti2AlC at different temperatures were studied in this work. He irradiation at room temperature (RT) induced severe lattice distortion and caused serious cracks in the samples. During He irradiation, Ti-Al bonds were easily broken and He atoms tended to accumulate at basal planes forming microcracks after ir...

Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are evolutionarily ancient ubiquitous protein cofactors which have mostly catalytic functions but can also have structural roles. In Arabidopsis thaliana, we presently know a total of 124 Fe-S metalloproteins that are encoded in the genome. Fe-S clusters are highly sensitive to oxidation. Therefore, we hypothesized that...

Deuterated carbon-silicon layers co-deposited on graphite and silicon substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering in pure D2 plasma were produced to study deuterium trapping and characteristics of the C-Si layers. The C-Si co-deposited layers were examined by ion beam analysis (IBA), Raman spectroscopy (RS), infrared absorption (IR) spectros...

TiH2 and yttrium-doped TiH2 alloy films with different helium concentrations prepared by magnetron sputtering were investigated using ion beam analysis (IBA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal helium desorption spectrometry (THDS), positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) and nanoindentation techniques. It was found that through increasing the conce...

The radiation damage response of Ti3SiC2 irradiated by 110keV helium ions at room temperature (RT), the subsequent evolution of damage including helium bubble growth as a function of annealing temperatures are investigated using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), Raman spectroscopy and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). In addition...

In this study, the microstructure changes of Ti3SiC2 MAX phase material induced by helium irradiation and evolution with a sequence of different helium irradiation doses of 5 × 10¹⁵, 1 × 10¹⁶, 5 × 10¹⁶ and 1 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻² at room temperature (RT) were characterized with grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) and Raman spectra analysis. The irrad...

Cr2AlC thin films are deposited on MgO (100) and Al2O3 (0001) substrates with reactive radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering for the first time. Single phase Cr2AlC films are synthesized at a substrate temperature of 480 °C and deposition power of 70W, with a preferred orientation. The film is polycrystalline with a dense microstructure. The pr...

We have deposited phase-pure Ti2AlC and Ti3AlC thin films directly on MgO (100) substrates by reactive radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering above 600 °C for the first time. As-deposited films were characterized with grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Single-phase...

The elastic recoil cross section for 1H(12C, 1H)12C was determined at a recoil angle of 30° over an incident carbon energy range from 4.0 to 8.0 MeV. The thin solid film target Pd/TiHx/Si used for cross section measurement was prepared by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering. The measured cross-section data are compared with records available i...

In this paper, the differential cross-section for forward recoiling 1H with 4He ions has been determined in the energy range of 1.6–6.0 MeV at a laboratory angle of 30°. A film of ∼54 nm TiHx on the Si substrate with an overlayer of ∼7 nm Ta on the TiHx foil was used as the target, and hydrogen loss of the target due to ion bombardment can be fully...