title: Preparation and characterization of rare-earth bulks with controllable nanostructures.
abstract: The preparation and characterization of pure rare-earth-metal bulks with controllable nanostructures are reported in this paper. A novel 'oxygen-free' in situ synthesis technique that combines inert-gas condensation with spark plasma sintering (SPS) technology is proposed. Taking into account the special mechanisms of SPS consolidation and the scale effects of nanoparticles, we introduced practical procedures for preparing rare-earth bulks of amorphous, mixed amorphous and nanocrystals, and nanocrystalline microstructures, respectively. Compared with the conventional polycrystalline bulk, these nanostructured bulks exhibit substantially improved physical and mechanical properties. This technique enables comprehensive studies on the microstructures and properties of a large variety of nanostructured metallic materials that are highly reactive in the air.
authors: College of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100022, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xiaoyan
authors: X
authors: Song
authors: Jiuxing
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Erdong
authors: E
authors: Li
authors: Nianduan
authors: N
authors: Lu
authors: Fuxing
authors: F
authors: Yin