The morphology, chemical composition and formation mechanism of non-metallic inclusions in magnetic alloy of Fe-Co-Ni-Cu-Al-Ti-Hf system were investigated. These alloys are used in manufacturing single-crystal permanent magnets. Modern methods for the identification of non-metallic inclusions, as well as computer simulation of the processes of their formation by Thermo Calc software were used in the work. It was found that studied alloy contains (Ti, Hf)S titanium and hafnium sulfides, (Ti, Hf)2SC titanium and hafnium carbosulfides, Ti2O2S titanium oxisulfide, HfO2 hafnium oxide, and Al2O3 aluminum oxide. No titanium and hafnium nitrides were found in the alloy. The bulk of nonmetallic inclusions are (Ti, Hf)2SC carbosulfides and (Ti, Hf)S sulfides. All carbides and many oxides are within carbosulfides and sulfides. When the sulfur content in the alloy is no more than 0.2%, and carbon content does not exceed 0.03%, carbosulfides are formed in the solidification range of the alloy and has an faceted compact form. If the sulfur content in the alloy becomes more than 0.2% and carbon content more than 0.03%, the carbosulfide formation begins before the alloy solidification or at the beginning stages of solidification. In this case, carbosulfides are dendritic and coarse. Such carbosulfides actively float in the solidified melt and often come to the surface of the castings. In this case, specific surface defects are formed in single-crystal magnets, which are called sulfide stains. All titanium and hafnium sulfides are formed at the lower part of solidification range and have elongated shape.

The orientations of recrystallization nuclei and their adjacent as-deformed regions have been characterised in deformed single crystals of different metals (Ag, Cu, Cu-2%wt.Al and Cu-8%wt.Al) in which twinning and/or shear banding occur. {112}<111> oriented crystals of these metals have been compressed to different strains, then lightly annealed, and the crystallographic aspects of the recrystallization process along shear bands examined by local orientation measurement in TEM and SEM. The results clearly show the existence of a well-defined crystallographic relation between the local deformation substructure and the first recrystallized areas of uniform orientation. The first-formed nuclei always exhibit near 25–400(<111>–<112>) type misorientations, in the direction of highest growth, with respect to one of the two main groups of the deformation texture components. The rotation axes can be correlated with the slip plane normal of highest activity. As recrystallization proceeds, recrystallization twinning develops strongly and facilitates rapid growth; the first and higher generations of twins then tend to obscure the initial primary crystallographic relation between the shear bands and recrystallization nuclei .

The aim of the present work was to determine the influence of the microstructural evolution of copper single crystals with the initial orientations of <001> and <111> after cold drawing on their corrosion resistance. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electron backscattering diffraction were used to characterize the microstructural changes. To evaluate the corrosion resistance after deformation, open circuit potential, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and potentiodynamic polarization analyses were conducted. The microstructural observations showed the presence of dislocation cell structures and shear bands in deformed sample with initial orientation <001> single crystal, as well as a strongly-developed substructure in sample <111>. The material with initial orientation of <001> was more resistive in analyzed medium than material with the initial orientation of <111>.

A brief description of the innovative mathematical method for the prediction of CET – localization in solidifying copper and copper alloys’ ingots is presented. The method is to be preceded by the numerical simulation of both temperature field and thermal gradient filed. All typical structural zones were revealed within the copper and copper alloys’ massive ingots or rods manufactured by continuous casting. The role of thermal gradient direction for the single crystal core formation has been enlightened. The definition for the index describing proportion between volume fraction of the columnar structure and volume fraction of the equiaxed structure has been formulated by means of the interpretation of some features of the liquidus isotherm velocity course. An attempt has been undertaken to apply the developed mathematical method for the structural zones prediction in the rods solidifying under industrial conditions. An industrial application has been shown, that is, it was explained why the innovative rods should be assigned to the overhead conductors in the electric tractions.

Composition effect on electro-optic (EO) properties of a LiNbO₃ (LN) single-crystal has been investigated in a Li₂O-content range of 47.0–49.95 mol%. Some non-congruent LN crystals with different Li₂O-contents were prepared by performing Li-deficient or Li-rich vapour transport equilibration treatments on as-grown congruent LN crystals. Unclamped EO coefficients γ₁₃ and γ₃₃ of these samples were measured by a Mach–Zehnder interferometric method. The measurements show that in the Li-deficient regime both γ13 and γ33 increase by ∼8% as Li₂O-content decreases from the congruent 48.6 mol% to the 47.0 mol% in the Li-deficient regime. The feature is desired for the EO application of the Li-deficient crystal. In the near-stoichiometric regime, both γ₁₃ and γ₃₃ reveal a non-monotonic dependence. As the Li₂O-content increases from the 48.6 mol%, the EO coefficient decreases. Around Li₂O-content 49.5 mol%, a minimum is reached. After that, the EO coefficient recovers slowly. At the stoichiometric composition, it recovers to a value close to that at the congruent point. Comparison shows that different crystal growth methods give rise to different defect structure features and hence different composition effects.