Study on field electron emission characteristics and microstructure corrosion of titanium dominated by crystal orientation

Field electron emission (FEE) has significant applications in high-gradient accelerators, cold cathode electron sources, and high-power electronic devices. However, its microscopic mechanisms and the evolution of material microstructure remain unclear. This research focuses on pure titanium (TA2) wi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Quancai Zhang, Zhen Wang, Li’an Zhu, Ye Hua, Yicong Ye, Fayuan Li, Tao Yang, Fanzheng Zeng, Song Li, Shuxin Bai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:Materials & Design
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026412752500574X
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Summary:Field electron emission (FEE) has significant applications in high-gradient accelerators, cold cathode electron sources, and high-power electronic devices. However, its microscopic mechanisms and the evolution of material microstructure remain unclear. This research focuses on pure titanium (TA2) with different preferred orientations, combining FEE experimental tests, multi-scale Microstructural characterization, and first-principles calculations to systematically investigate the influence of grain orientation on field emission performance and microstructural evolution. FEE tests show that radial samples with preferential growth along the (0002) plane exhibit higher emission thresholds (240 kV/cm) and maximum sustainable voltages (460 kV/cm). Multi-scale characterization and first-principles calculations reveal that electrons preferentially emit from low work function crystal planes rather than grain boundaries or defects. Based on these findings, a “crystal orientation − phase transformation” model for FEE is proposed, elucidating the corrosion mechanism of titanium microstructure under FEE current, explaining processes such as dislocation generation and migration, phase transformation, and surface craters evolution. This crystal orientation dominated mechanism can be extended to other metallic materials, providing new insights for designing high-performance FEE materials.
ISSN:0264-1275