This study considers the effect of various doses of electron irradiation on the crystal structure and properties of composite catalysts based on polyethylene terephthalate track-etched membranes and copper nanotubes. Copper nanotubes were obtained by electroless template synthesis and irradiated with electrons with 3.8 MeV energy in the dose range of 100–250 kGy in increments of 50 kGy. The original and irradiated samples of composites were investigated by X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The improved catalytic activity of composite membranes with copper nanotubes was demonstrated by the example of the reduction reaction of p-nitrophenol in the presence of sodium borohydride. Irradiation with electrons at doses of 100 and 150 kGy led to reaction rate constant increases by 35 and 59%, respectively, compared to the non-irradiated sample. This enhancing catalytic activity could be attributed to the changing of the crystallite size of copper, as well as the surface roughness of the composite membrane.

This article presents a study of changes in the microstructure of Hadfield steel depending on the tensile deformation and cold rolling with the strain/stress level. It has been established that the change in the “σ-ε” curve (at ε = 5%) is accompanied by a 1.5-times decrease in the strain-hardening coefficient. At ε = 0 to 5%, the structure contains dislocation loops, the interweaving of elongated dislocations, single-layer stacking faults. At ε = 5%, the structure contains multilayer stacking faults and mechanical microtwins. At ε > 5%, there is an intense microtwinning with no long dislocations and stacking faults. The most intense twinning develops in the range of deformation degrees of 5–20%, while the number of twins in the pack increases from 3–4 at ε = 10% to 6–8 at ε = 20%. When mechanical twinning is included, a cellular dislocation substructure begins to develop intensively. The cell size decreases from 700 nm at ε = 5% to 150 nm at ε = 40%. Twinning develops predominantly in systems with the largest Schmid factor and facilitates the dislocation glide. The results may be of interest to the researchers of the deformation processes of austenitic alloys.