Summary Background The seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) has reduced vaccine-type (VT) invasive pneumococcal disease but increases in non-vaccine-type (NVT) disease have varied ...between countries. We assess the effect of the PCV7 vaccination on VT and NVT disease in England and Wales. Methods The study cohort was the population of England and Wales from July, 2000, to June, 2010. We calculated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) to compare incidences of VT and NVT disease before (2000–06) and after (2009–10) the introduction of PCV7. We used data from the national surveillance database. Cases included in our analysis were restricted to those confirmed by culture linked with isolates referred for serotyping at the national reference centre by laboratories in England and Wales. We adjusted for potential bias from missing data (serotype and age of patient) and changes in case ascertainment rates during the study period. Findings 5809 cases of invasive pneumococcal disease were reported in 2009–10, giving an incidence of 10·6 per 100 000 population in 2009–10, which, when compared with the adjusted average annual incidence of 16·1 in 2000–06, gives an overall reduction of 34% (95% CI 28–39). VT disease decreased in all age groups, with reductions of 98% in individuals younger than 2 years and 81% in those aged 65 years or older. NVT disease increased by 68% in individuals younger than 2 years and 48% in those aged 65 years or older, giving an overall reduction in invasive pneumococcal disease of 56% in those younger than 2 years and 19% in those aged 65 years or older. After vaccine introduction, more NVT serotypes increased in frequency than decreased, which is consistent with vaccine-induced replacement. Key serotypes showing replacement were 7F, 19A, and 22F. Increases in NVT invasive pneumococcal disease were not associated with antimicrobial resistance. Interpretation Despite much serotype replacement, a substantial reduction in invasive pneumococcal disease in young children can be achieved with PCV7 vaccination, with some indirect benefit in older age groups. Further reductions should be achievable by use of higher valency vaccines. Robust surveillance data are needed to properly assess the epidemiological effect of multivalent pneumococcal disease vaccines. Funding Health Protection Agency.
Compared to decades-old theories of strengthening in dilute solid solutions, the mechanical behavior of concentrated solid solutions is relatively poorly understood. A special subset of these ...materials includes alloys in which the constituent elements are present in equal atomic proportions, including the high-entropy alloys of recent interest. A unique characteristic of equiatomic alloys is the absence of "solvent" and "solute" atoms, resulting in a breakdown of the textbook picture of dislocations moving through a solvent lattice and encountering discrete solute obstacles. To clarify the mechanical behavior of this interesting new class of materials, we investigate here a family of equiatomic binary, ternary and quaternary alloys based on the elements Fe, Ni, Co, Cr and Mn that were previously shown to be single-phase face-centered cubic (fcc) solid solutions. The alloys were arc-melted, drop-cast, homogenized, cold-rolled and recrystallized to produce equiaxed microstructures with comparable grain sizes. Tensile tests were performed at an engineering strain rate of 10-3 s-1 at temperatures in the range 77-673K. Unalloyed fcc Ni was processed similarly and tested for comparison. The flow stresses depend to varying degrees on temperature, with some (e.g. NiCoCr, NiCoCrMn and FeNiCoCr) exhibiting yield and ultimate strengths that increase strongly with decreasing temperature, while others (e.g. NiCo and Ni) exhibit very weak temperature dependencies. To better understand this behavior, the temperature dependencies of the yield strength and strain hardening were analyzed separately. Lattice friction appears to be the predominant component of the temperature-dependent yield stress, possibly because the Peierls barrier height decreases with increasing temperature due to a thermally induced increase of dislocation width. In the early stages of plastic flow (5-13% strain, depending on material), the temperature dependence of strain hardening is due mainly to the temperature dependence of the shear modulus. In all the equiatomic alloys, ductility and strength increase with decreasing temperature down to 77K.
Equiatomic, face-centered-cubic, high- and medium-entropy alloys were arc melted, hot-rolled to produce recrystallized sheets, and tensile tested. The alloys having the compositions CrMnFeCoNi and ...CrFeCoNi exhibited a strong temperature-dependent decrease in strength with increasing temperature from −196 °C to 1000 °C, and a relatively weak strain-rate dependence (at 10−3 and 10−1 s−1). Ductility did not vary inversely with yield strength; rather, when strength doubled as the test temperature was decreased from room temperature to −196 °C, elongation to fracture increased by a factor of 1.5 to >60%. A high degree of work hardening, possibly due to deformation-induced nanotwinning, postpones the onset of necking and may be the reason for the ductility increase.
•First report of tensile properties of high- and medium-entropy alloys.•Strong temperature dependent yield strength unlike in pure FCC metals.•Ductility does not exhibit the usual inverse relationship with strength.•As strength doubles from 300 to 77 K, elongation increases by 1.5× to >60%.•High work hardening postpones necking instability and enhances ductility.
Elastic moduli of a set of equiatomic alloys (CrFeCoNi, CrCoNi, CrFeNi, FeCoNi, MnCoNi, MnFeNi, and CoNi), which are medium-entropy subsystems of the CrMnFeCoNi high-entropy alloy were determined as ...a function of temperature over the range 293 K–1000 K. Thermal expansion coefficients were determined for these alloys over the temperature range 100 K–673 K. All alloys were single-phase and had the face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal structure, except CrFeNi which is a two-phase alloy containing a small amount of body-centered cubic (BCC) precipitates in a FCC matrix. The temperature dependences of thermal expansion coefficients and elastic moduli obtained here are useful for quantifying fundamental aspects such as solid solution strengthening, and for structural analysis/design. Using the above results, the yield strengths reported in literature for these alloys were normalized by their shear moduli to reveal the influence of shear modulus on solid solution strengthening.
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•CrFeCoNi, CrCoNi, CrFeNi, FeCoNi, MnCoNi, MnFeNi and CoNi alloys were processed.•After recrystallization, all alloys are single-phase FCC, except CrFeNi (FCC+BCC).•All alloys are nearly untextured after recrystallization.•First report of the thermal expansion coefficient between 100 and 673 K.•Elastic moduli measured between 293 and 1000 K are reported for the first time.
High configurational entropies have been hypothesized to stabilize solid solutions in equiatomic, multi-element alloys which have attracted much attention recently as “high-entropy” alloys with ...potentially interesting properties. To evaluate the usefulness of configurational entropy as a predictor of single-phase (solid solution) stability, we prepared five new equiatomic, quinary alloys by replacing individual elements one at a time in a CoCrFeMnNi alloy that was previously shown to be single-phase 1. An implicit assumption here is that, if any one element is replaced by another, while keeping the total number of elements constant, the configurational entropy of the alloy is unchanged; therefore, the new alloys should also be single-phase. Additionally, the substitute elements that we chose, Ti for Co, Mo or V for Cr, V for Fe, and Cu for Ni, had the same room temperature crystal structure and comparable size/electronegativity as the elements being replaced to maximize solid solubility consistent with the Hume–Rothery rules. For comparison, the base CoCrFeMnNi alloy was also prepared. After three-day anneals at elevated temperatures, multiple phases were observed in all but the base CoCrFeMnNi alloy, suggesting that, by itself, configurational entropy is generally not able to override the competing driving forces that also govern phase stability. Thermodynamic analyses were carried out for each of the constituent binaries in the investigated alloys (Co–Cr, Fe–Ni, Mo–Mn, etc.). Our experimental results combined with the thermodynamic analyses suggest that, in general, enthalpy and non-configurational entropy have greater influences on phase stability in equiatomic, multi-component alloys. Only when the alloy microstructure is a single-phase, approximately ideal solid solution does the contribution of configurational entropy to the total Gibbs free energy become dominant. Thus, high configurational entropy provides a way to rationalize, after the fact, why a solid solution forms (if it forms), but it is not a useful a priori predictor of which of the so-called high-entropy alloys will form thermodynamically stable single-phase solid solutions.
At low homologous temperatures (down to cryogenic temperatures), the CrMnFeCoNi high-entropy alloy possesses good combination of strength, work hardening rate (WHR), ductility, and fracture ...toughness. To improve understanding of the deformation mechanisms responsible for its mechanical properties, tensile tests were performed at liquid nitrogen and room temperature (77 K and 293 K) and interrupted at different strains to quantify the evolution of microstructure by transmission electron microscopy. Dislocation densities, and twin widths, their spacings, and volume fractions were determined. Nanotwins were first observed after true strains of ∼7.4% at 77 K and ∼25% at 293 K; at lower strains, deformation occurs by dislocation plasticity. The tensile stress at which twinning occurs is 720 ± 30 MPa, roughly independent of temperature, from which we deduce a critical resolved shear stress for twinning of 235 ± 10 MPa. In the regime where deformation occurs by dislocation plasticity, the shear modulus normalized WHR decreases with increasing strain at both 77 K and 293 K. Beyond ∼7.4% true strain, the WHR at 77 K remains constant at a high value of G/30 because twinning is activated, which progressively introduces new interfaces in the microstructure. In contrast, the WHR at room temperature continues to decrease with increasing strain because twinning is not activated until much later (close to fracture). Thus, the enhanced strength-ductility combination at 77 K compared to 293 K is primarily due to twinning starting earlier in the deformation process and providing additional work hardening. Consistent with this, when tensile specimens were pre-strained at 77 K to introduce nanotwins, and subsequently tested at 293 K, flow stress and ductility both increased compared to specimens that were not pre-strained.
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•An FCC CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy (HEA) was cast and processed by swaging.•Recrystallization resulted in homogenous microstructure (grain size 15μm).•The HEA is nearly untextured after swaging ...(60% reduction) and recrystallization.•First report of the thermal expansion coefficient between 300 and 1270K.•Elastic moduli measured between 200 and 1000K are reported for the first time.
The equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi alloy is now regarded as a model face-centered cubic single-phase high-entropy alloy. Therefore, determination of its intrinsic properties such as the temperature dependencies of elastic moduli and thermal expansion coefficient are important to improve understanding of this new class of material. These temperature dependencies were measured over a large temperature range (200–1270K) in this study.
An equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy, which crystallizes in the face-centered cubic (fcc) crystal structure, was produced by arc melting and drop casting. The drop-cast ingots were ...homogenized, cold rolled and recrystallized to obtain single-phase microstructures with three different grain sizes in the range 4–160μm. Quasi-static tensile tests at an engineering strain rate of 10−3s−1 were then performed at temperatures between 77 and 1073K. Yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elongation to fracture all increased with decreasing temperature. During the initial stages of plasticity (up to ∼2% strain), deformation occurs by planar dislocation glide on the normal fcc slip system, {111}〈110〉, at all the temperatures and grain sizes investigated. Undissociated 1/2〈110〉 dislocations were observed, as were numerous stacking faults, which imply the dissociation of several of these dislocations into 1/6〈112〉 Shockley partials. At later stages (∼20% strain), nanoscale deformation twins were observed after interrupted tests at 77K, but not in specimens tested at room temperature, where plasticity occurred exclusively by the aforementioned dislocations which organized into cells. Deformation twinning, by continually introducing new interfaces and decreasing the mean free path of dislocations during tensile testing (“dynamic Hall–Petch”), produces a high degree of work hardening and a significant increase in the ultimate tensile strength. This increased work hardening prevents the early onset of necking instability and is a reason for the enhanced ductility observed at 77K. A second reason is that twinning can provide an additional deformation mode to accommodate plasticity. However, twinning cannot explain the increase in yield strength with decreasing temperature in our high-entropy alloy since it was not observed in the early stages of plastic deformation. Since strong temperature dependencies of yield strength are also seen in binary fcc solid solution alloys, it may be an inherent solute effect, which needs further study.
The FCC-structured equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy was produced by arc melting and drop casting. After homogenization, the drop-cast ingots were cold rolled to sheets with six different ...final thicknesses (thickness reductions of 21, 41, 61, 84, 92 and 96%). Samples were cut from the rolled sheets and annealed for 1 h at temperatures between 400 and 1000 °C. The recrystallization temperature was then determined as a function of cold work by means of scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction measurements. Additionally, Vickers indentation was performed on these samples. It was found that the microhardness first tends to increase slightly upon annealing below the recrystallization temperature but then drops steeply for higher annealing temperatures due to the onset of recrystallization. To study grain growth kinetics, samples that underwent 96% cold rolling were first recrystallized for 1 h at 800 °C, which is the lowest temperature at which complete recrystallization occurs, and then annealed at temperatures between 800 and 1150 °C for various times. The grain growth exponent was determined to be approximately n = 3, and the activation energy Q = 325 kJ/mol, both of which agree well with published values for this alloy. EBSD measurements were made in the as-recrystallized and grain growth samples to analyze the annealing twins. The density of annealing twins in the grain growth samples was found to depend only on grain size, i.e., it was independent of annealing temperature and time. No such correlation could be found for the as-recrystallized samples. These observations are discussed in the framework of existing theories for the formation of annealing twins.
•Recrystallization (RX) and grain growth (GG) after cold rolling were investigated.•Increasing cold work prior to RX leads to lower RX temperatures.•Increasing cold work prior to RX usually leads to smaller grains after RX.•Exponential GG was observed; best fitting obtained for n = 3 and Q = 325 kJ/mol.•Universal and linear relationship between twin fraction and grain size during GG.
The equiatomic high-entropy alloy FeNiCoCrMn is known to crystallize as a single phase with the face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal structure. To better understand this quinary solid solution alloy, we ...investigate various binary, ternary and quaternary alloys made from its constituent elements. Our goals are twofold: (i) to investigate which of these lower order systems also form solid solution alloys consisting of a single FCC phase, and (ii) to characterize their phase stability and recovery, recrystallization, and grain growth behaviors. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy with backscattered electron images showed that three of the five possible quaternaries (FeNiCoCr, FeNiCoMn and NiCoCrMn), five of the ten possible ternaries (FeNiCo, FeNiCr, FeNiMn, NiCoCr, and NiCoMn), and two of the ten possible binaries (FeNi and NiCo) were single-phase FCC solid solutions in the cast and homogenized condition, whereas the others either had different crystal structures or were multi-phase. The single-phase FCC quaternary, FeNiCoCr, along with its equiatomic ternary and binary subsidiaries, were selected for further investigations of phase stability and the thermomechanical processing needed to obtain equiaxed grain structures. Only four of these subsidiary alloys—two binaries (FeNi and NiCo) and two ternaries (FeNiCo and NiCoCr)—were found to be single-phase FCC after rolling at room temperature followed by annealing for 1 h at temperatures of 300–1100 °C. Pure Ni, which is FCC and one of the constituents of the quinary high-entropy alloy (FeNiCoCrMn), was also investigated for comparison with the higher order alloys. Among the materials investigated after thermomechanical processing (FeNiCoCr, FeNiCo, NiCoCr, FeNi, NiCo, and Ni), FeNiCo and Ni showed abnormal grain growth at relatively low annealing temperatures, while the other four showed normal grain growth behavior. The grain growth exponents for all five of the equiatomic alloys were found to be ∼0.25 (compared to ∼0.5 for unalloyed Ni), suggesting that solute drag may control grain growth in the alloys. For all five alloys, as well as for pure Ni, microhardness increases as the grain size decreases in a Hall-Petch type way. The ternary alloy NiCoCr was the hardest of the alloys investigated in this study, even when compared to the quaternary FeNiCoCr alloy. This suggests that solute hardening in equiatomic alloys depends not just on the number of alloying elements but also their type.
•Alloying element effects on mechanical properties/phase stability investigated.•Recrystallization/grain growth of binary-quaternary solid solutions investigated.•Solid solution formability does not increase with number of alloying elements.•Solid solution hardening does not increase with number of alloying elements.•The type not just the number of alloying elements needs to be taken into account.
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