The uniaxial ratcheting behaviors of several metals with different crystal structures or values of fault energy were observed by the stress-controlled cyclic tests at room temperature. The prescribed metals included 316L stainless steel, pure copper, pure aluminum, and ordinary 20 carbon steel. The effects of applied mean stress, stress amplitude and stress ratio on the uniaxial ratcheting were also investigated. The observations show that different crystal structures or values of fault energy result in more or less different ratcheting behaviors for the prescribed metals. The different ratcheting behaviors are partially caused by the variation of dislocation mobility.

BiIn/In₂O₃ composite dendritic nanocrystals were prepared by dispersing alloy droplets in paraffin oil. The morphology and structure of the alloy nanocrystals were characterized by means of a transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The composite nanocrystals have dendritic morphology, with an average diameter of 10 nm and lengths up to tens and even hundreds of nanometers; Tribological results indicate that the composite nanocrystals as oil additives have improving anti-wear ability, which is better than that of the corresponding monometallic particles. In addition, the lubricating mechanism of the composite nanocrystals was also discussed.

The machinability tests were conducted by using a YD-21 dynamometer on a CA6161A lathe. The experiments, conducted to determine the effect of free-cutting additives on machining characteristics of austenitic stainless steels, are presented. The results have shown that machinable inclusions were composed of MnS and CuO, and they might be also Ti4C2S2. The presence of Bi in the inclusion was detected by the atom map and electro-probe microanalysis (EPMA), which might be the most important factor to improve the machinability of austenitic stainless steels. The cutting forces for steel B were lower than those of steel A at various cutting speeds; the abrasion depth of the flank of the tool for steel B was less than that of the steel A in the case of the same cutting conditions. The machinability of austenitic stainless steel was visibly improved by adding free-cutting additives, such as sulfur, copper and bismuth, etc. Ultimate tensile, yield strength, and total elongation values of the free cutting austenitic stainless steel reach a satisfactory effect due to the addition of these free-cutting additives.

We demonstrate a simple method for preparation of large-area films of molybdenum trioxide (MoO₃) microbelts. It is found that such films may be grown on ITO glasses or silicon substrates at low temperatures by thermal evaporation deposition in air without using catalyst. Field emission measurements show that the turn-on field of the MoO₃ microbelts may be as low as 2.2 V/mm required to obtain a current density of 10 mA/cm². The combination of the simplicity of the growth method and the attractive field emission performance leads one to consider it as a potential low-cost technique for preparation of large-area field emission cold cathode material.

The open-cell Al foam core sandwiches (AFCSs) were successfully fabricated by using a specially designed Zn-Al-Cu based filler alloy via vibration aided liquid phase bonding method. The effects of the vibration on the bonding seam were investigated and the bonding strength between Al foam core and solid Al alloy face sheet was tested by shearing tests. The results show that vibration can significantly improve the quality of the bonding and the shearing strength of the bonding seam, which implies that this joining method has a good potential in practical applications.