The anisotropy in the fatigue behavior of rolled Mg–3Al–1Zn alloy between the rolling direction and normal direction to the rolling plane was investigated. The {10-12} twinning–detwinning characteristics were found to play key roles in the anisotropic fatigue deformation behavior by inducing a change in the predominant plastic deformation mechanism, which controlled the flow stress and finally influenced the fatigue resistance by generating mean stress. Energy-based approach was successfully used to describe anisotropic fatigue life behavior.

In situ investigation of the interfacial reaction in the Sn/Cu thin film during aging, and reflow was carried out by synchrotron radiation with high intensity and high resolution of x-ray. With this technique, the phase transformation and evolution of the Sn/Cu thin film during heat treatment can be directly and continuously investigated. Moreover, the information for coefficient of thermal expansion in intermetallic compounds was also evaluated by this approach.

Interatomic potentials are constructed for eight representative binary metal systems covering various structural combinations and thermodynamic characteristics. On the basis of the constructed interatomic potentials, molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the physical origin of metallic glass formation is the crystalline lattice collapsing while solute atoms are exceeding the critical value, thus determining two critical solid solubilities for the system. For a binary metal system, the composition range bounded by the two determined critical solid solubilities is therefore defined as its intrinsic glass-forming range, or quantitative glass-forming ability.

Fracture surfaces of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses of various compositions tested in the as-cast and annealed conditions were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. The tougher samples have shown highly jagged patterns at the beginning stage of crack propagation, and the length and roughness of this jagged pattern correlate well with the measured fracture toughness values. These jagged patterns, the main source of energy dissipation in the sample, are attributed to the formation of shear bands inside the sample. This observation provides strong evidence of significant “plastic zone” screening at the crack tip.

In this paper, the influence of tarnishing film-induced stress and tarnishing film-induced brittle cracking on stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) of brass in Mattsson’s solution are investigated using hydrogen charging. Results showed that the SCC susceptibility of brass in Mattsson’s solution increased with the increase of tarnishing film-induced tensile stress. Also, the film-induced brittle cracking showed little effect on SCC susceptibility. From the results obtained, an improved SCC mechanism is proposed to explain the role of the tarnishing film-induced stress and the film-induced brittle cracking in SCC of brass in Mattsson’s solution. It seems that the film-induced brittle cracking is responsible for crack initiation of ductile brass. Also, the SCC susceptibility of brass in Mattsson’s solution was controlled by the growth rate of tarnishing film. Hydrogen enhanced the SCC susceptibility, which can be ascribed to the fact that hydrogen facilitates the tarnishing film growth.

Interfacial reactions in Bi/Ni, Sn/Co, and Sn/Te systems that exhibit unique cruciform pattern formation are investigated. Different from the couples examined in the past, the solid substrates, Ni, Co, and Te, are placed outside the couples while constituents of low melting temperature, Bi and Sn, are placed in the center. With interfacial reactions proceeding in these couples, the reaction products grow inwardly at reentrant corners, and shrinking of the reaction layer at the corner is observed. As a result of the volumetric changes caused by interfacial reactions, stresses are built up in the couples, and stress-intensified locations are found at reentrant corners. The built-up stresses alter the diffusion rates and thus retard the reaction at the corners. Instead of forming cruciform patterns, the inner reactant is of flat shuriken shape after reactions.