The influence of He bubble in strengthening of Copper

It is good to see that scientists are working hard to better evaluate the effect of He bubbles in metals and alloys!

Sharing a very interesting new article showing unequivocally the influence of He bubbles in the strengthening behavior of Copper! By using shock loading, Lear et al. discovered that He bubbles totally collapse, leaving monoatomic He behind, which then impedes deformation and embrittles the material. A significant work for the advancement of He bubbles influence on mechanical properties!

C.R. Lear et al. Transition in helium bubble strengthening of copper from quasi-static to dynamic deformation, Acta Materialia, 254, 118987, 2023.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.118987

On this context, we have also investigated before the influence of Ar bubbles in the mechanical behavior of WTaMoV refractory high-entropy alloys, showing that Ar bubbles also contribute to strengthening of the material.

M.A. Tunes and V.M. Vishnyakov. Microstructural origins of the high mechanical damage tolerance of NbTaMoW refractory high-entropy alloy thin films, Materials & Design, 170, 107692, 2019.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2019.107692

Not always He bubbles are detrimental for materials…