Mechanical Behaviour of Nanocrystalline Copper Related to Grain-boundary Structure

2002 ◽  
Vol 727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Champion ◽  
P. Langlois ◽  
S. Guérin-Mailly ◽  
C. Langlois ◽  
M. J. Hÿtch

AbstractUnderstanding the mechanical behaviour of metallic nanostructures is a key issue for their development. On the one hand, knowledge of the plastic behaviour at various temperatures is essential to control the synthesis, forming, and machining of such materials. Equally, a clear understanding of atomic and mesoscopic mechanisms, involving defects and their interactions, is essential for the control of ageing and functional properties. Regarding plastic deformation at room temperature, there is now evidence for unusual behaviour in nanostructured metals. In addition to high resistance and ductility, tensile testing reveals peculiar elasto-plastic deformation. Such behaviour was initially attributed to grain-boundary sliding. However, intergranular areas (including triple junctions) may possess special properties compared to their microcrystalline counterparts. For example, low activation energies have been measured for grain-boundary diffusion and it has been observed that grain-boundaries may act as dislocation sources and nucleation sites for deformation twinning.In this paper, we report on analysis on bulk copper nanostructures. Grain-boundaries are studied, by cross-correlating information from mechanical tensile testing and structural analysis, including X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Macroscopic bulk specimens (with grain size of about 80 nm) are prepared by powder metallurgy techniques, modified to fit to the special properties of nanocrystalline powders. Processing includes coldisostatic pressing, sintering and differential extrusion. The powders used (grain size of 40 nm) are synthesised by evaporation and cryo-condensation of a metallic vapour within liquid nitrogen. Results on mechanical testing and structural analysis will be reported. Emphasis will be placed on the structure of grain-boundaries (type of grain-boundary, grain-boundary thickness) studied by TEM and high resolution TEM image analysed using the geometric phase technique. The nanostructure was revealed to be consist in agglomerate of nano-size grains separated by low angle grain-boundaries. Agglomerates are themselves separerated by general high angle boundaries. These observations will then be related to the unusual mechanical true stress-true strain curves of the metallic nanostructures.

1991 ◽  
Vol 238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas E. Meyers ◽  
Alan J. Ardell

ABSTRACTThe results of our initial efforts at measuring the fracture strengths of grain boundaries In Ni3Al using a miniaturized disk-bend test are presented. The samples tested were 3 mm in diameter and between 150 and 300 μm thick. An Ingot of directlonally-solidlfled, boron-free Ni3Al containing 24% Al was annealed between 1300 and 1350 °C to induce grain growth, producing many grain boundaries In excess of 1.5 mm in length. Specimens were cut from these In such a way that one long grain boundary was located near a diameter of the specimen. The relative orientations of the grains on either side of the boundary were determined from electron channeling patterns. Low-angle boundaries are so strong they do not fracture; Instead the samples deform In a completely ductile manner. High-angle boundaries always fracture, but only after considerable plastic deformation of the two grains flanking them. Fracture is Indicated by a load drop in the load vs. displacement curves. A method involving extrapolation of the elastic portion of these curves to the displacement at fracture is used to estimate the fracture stresses. This procedure yields consistent values of the fracture strengths of high-angle boundaries. The measured stresses are large (∼2 to 3 GPa), but considerably smaller than those required for the fracture of special boundaries, as predicted by computer simulations. No correlation was found between the fracture stresses or loads and the geometry of the high-angle boundaries, many of which are close to, but deviate from, coincident site lattice orientations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (3) ◽  
pp. 77-85
Author(s):  
K. M. Borysovska ◽  
◽  
N. M. Marchenko ◽  
Yu. M. Podrezov ◽  
S. O. Firstov ◽  
...  

The (DD) method was used to model the formation of the plastic zone of the top of the cracks in polycrystalline molybdenum. Special attention was paid to take into account the interaction of dislocations in the plastic zone with grain boundaries. Structural sensitivity of fracture toughness was analyzed under brittle-ductile condition. Simulations were performed for a range of grain sizes from 400 to 100 μm, at which a sudden increase in fracture toughness with a decrease of grain size was experimentally shown. We calculated the value of K1c taking into account the shielding action of dislocations. The position of all dislocations in the plastic zone at fracture moment was calculated. Based on these data, we obtained the dependences of dislocation density on the distance from the crack tip thereby confirming significant influence of the grain boundaries on plastic zone formation. At large grain sizes, when the plastic zone does not touch the boundary, the distribution of dislocations remained unchanged. As grains reduce their size to size of the plastic zone, they start formating a dislocation pile – up near the boundaries. Dislocations on plastic zone move slightly toward the crack tip, but the density of dislocations in the middle of the grain remains unchanged, and fracture toughness remains almost unchanged. Further reduction of the grain size leads to the Frank-Reed source activation on the grain boundary Forming dislocation pile-up of the neighbor grains. Its stress concentration acts on dislocations of the first grain and causes redistribution of plastic zone dislocations. If the reduction in grain size is not enough to form a strong pile-up, density of dislocations on plastic zone increases slightly and crack resistance increases a few percent. Further reduction of grains promotes strong pile-up, dislocations move to crack tip, and its density on plastic zone increases. Crack is shielded and fracture toughness increases sharply. The calculation showed that the fracture toughness jump is observed at grain sizes of 100—150 μm, in good agreement with the experiment. Keywords: dislocation dynamics simulation, molybdenum, fracture toughness, grain size, plastic zone, brittle-ductile transition.


Author(s):  
Ryo Kikuchi ◽  
Shujiro Suzuki ◽  
Ken Suzuki

Abstract Ni-based superalloys with excellent high temperature strength have been used in advanced thermal power plants. It was found that grain boundary cracking is caused in the alloy under creep-fatigue loading due to the degradation of the crystallinity of grain boundaries and the grain boundary cracking degrades the lifetime of the alloy drastically. In order to clarify the mechanism of intergranular cracking, in this research, static and dynamic strains were applied to a bicrystal structure of the alloy perpendicularly to the grain boundary using molecular dynamics analysis. In addition, the effect of the accumulation of vacancies in the area with high-density of dislocations on the strength of the bicrystal structure was analysed. It was found that the fracture mode of the bicrystal structure changed from ductile transgranular fracture to brittle intergranular one as strong functions of the combination of Schmid factor of the two grains and the density of defects around the grain boundary. The local heavy plastic deformation occurred around the grain boundary with large difference in Schmid factor between nearby grains and the diffusion of the newly grown dislocations and vacancies was suppressed by the large strain field due to the large mismatch of the crystallographic orientation between the grains. The accumulation of vacancies accelerated the local plastic deformation around the grain boundary. Therefore, the mechanism of the acceleration of intergranular cracking under creep-fatigue loading was successfully clarified by MD analysis.


Metals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1533
Author(s):  
Haichao Zhang ◽  
Xufeng Wang ◽  
Huirong Li ◽  
Changqing Li ◽  
Yungang Li

The molecular dynamics (MD) method was used to simulate and calculate the segregation energy and cohesive energy of Cu atoms at the Σ3{111}(110) and Σ3{112}(110) grain boundaries, and the tensile properties of the BCC-Fe crystal, with the grain boundaries containing coherent Cu clusters of different sizes (a diameter of 10 Å, 15 Å and 20 Å). The results showed that Cu atoms will spontaneously segregate towards the grain boundaries and tend to exist in the form of large-sized, low-density Cu clusters at the grain boundaries. When Cu cluster exists at the Σ3{111}(110) grain boundary, the increase in the size of the Cu cluster leads to an increase in the probability of vacancy formation inside the Cu cluster during the tensile process, weakening the breaking strength of the crystal. When the Cu cluster exists at the Σ3{112}(110) grain boundary, the Cu cluster with a diameter of 10 Å will reduce the strain hardening strength of the crystal, but the plastic deformation ability of the crystal will not be affected, and the existence of Cu clusters with a diameter of 15 Å and 20 Å will suppress the structural phase transformation of the crystal, and significantly decrease the plastic deformation ability of the crystal, thereby resulting in embrittlement of the crystal.


Solid Earth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 1193-1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Gilgannon ◽  
Florian Fusseis ◽  
Luca Menegon ◽  
Klaus Regenauer-Lieb ◽  
Jim Buckman

Abstract. Establishing models for the formation of well-mixed polyphase domains in ultramylonites is difficult because the effects of large strains and thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical feedbacks can obscure the transient phenomena that may be responsible for domain production. We use scanning electron microscopy and nanotomography to offer critical insights into how the microstructure of a highly deformed quartzo-feldspathic ultramylonite evolved. The dispersal of monomineralic quartz domains in the ultramylonite is interpreted to be the result of the emergence of synkinematic pores, called creep cavities. The cavities can be considered the product of two distinct mechanisms that formed hierarchically: Zener–Stroh cracking and viscous grain-boundary sliding. In initially thick and coherent quartz ribbons deforming by grain-size-insensitive creep, cavities were generated by the Zener–Stroh mechanism on grain boundaries aligned with the YZ plane of finite strain. The opening of creep cavities promoted the ingress of fluids to sites of low stress. The local addition of a fluid lowered the adhesion and cohesion of grain boundaries and promoted viscous grain-boundary sliding. With the increased contribution of viscous grain-boundary sliding, a second population of cavities formed to accommodate strain incompatibilities. Ultimately, the emergence of creep cavities is interpreted to be responsible for the transition of quartz domains from a grain-size-insensitive to a grain-size-sensitive rheology.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramos A. Mitsuo ◽  
Martínez F. Elizabeth ◽  
Negrete S. Jesús ◽  
Torres-Villaseñor G.

ABSTRACTZinalco alloy (Zn-21mass%Al-2mass%Cu) specimens were deformed superplastically with a strain rate (ε) of 1×10-3 s-1 at homologous temperature (TH) of 0.68 (5 ). It was observed neck formation that indicate nonhomegeneus deformation. Grain size and grain boundaries misorientation changes, due superplastic deformation, were characterized by Orientation Imagining Microscopy (OIM) technique. It was studied three regions in deformed specimens and the results were compared with the results for a specimen without deformation. Average grain size of 1 mm was observed in non-deformed specimen and a fraction of 82% for grain boundary misorientation angles with a grain boundaries angles between 15° and 55° was found. For deformed specimen, the fraction of angles between 15° and 55° was decreced to average value of 75% and fractions of low angle (<5°) and high angle (>55°) misorientations were 10% and 15% respectively. The grain size and high fraction of grain boundary misorientation angles between 15° and 55° observed in the alloy without deformation, are favorable for grain rotation and grain boundary sliding (GBS) procces. The changes observed in the fraction of favorable grain boundary angles during superplastic deformation, shown that the superplastic capacity of Zinalco was reduced with the deformation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 81-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilya A. Ovid’ko

AbstractThis article discusses the experiments, computer simulations, and theoretical models addressing the conventional and specific mechanisms of plastic deformation in nanocrystalline metallic materials. Particular attention is devoted to the competition between lattice dislocation slip and specific deformation mechanisms mediated by grain boundaries as well as its sensitivity to grain size and other parameters of nanocrystalline metallic structures.


2007 ◽  
Vol 558-559 ◽  
pp. 675-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lasar S. Shvindlerman ◽  
Günter Gottstein

Three recent investigations in the field of thermodynamics of grain boundaries and grain boundary junctions are presented. 1. The grain boundary excess free volume (BFV) along with the surface tension belongs to the major thermodynamic properties of grain boundaries. A special technique, recently developed, makes it possible to measure the BFV for practically any grain boundary and provides a way of estimating the grain boundary excess free volume for grain boundaries of different classes with rather high accuracy. The experimental values of the BFV measured for different grain boundaries are compared and discussed. 2. A new approach will be presented that makes it possible to correctly measure the grain boundary triple line tension. For this the topography at an equilibrated triple junction was measured by atomic force microscopy. Preliminary results of grain boundary triple line energy measurements are presented. 3. The problem is discussed whether it is possible to achieve an equilibrium grain size during grain growth in single phase alloys. Various approaches to the problem are considered. It is shown that the most realistic possibility to stabilize the grain size in a polycrystal is by impurities with negative grain boundary adsorption.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (10) ◽  
pp. 1836
Author(s):  
М.Ю. Гуткин ◽  
Т.А. Латынина ◽  
Т.С. Орлова ◽  
Н.В. Скиба

A theoretical model is proposed that describes the mechanism of hardening of ultrafine-grained aluminum, obtained by severe plastic torsion deformation, after low-temperature annealing. In the framework of the model, hardening is realized due to the sequential transformation of the grain-boundary dislocation structure. In particular, plastic deformation occurs through the emission of lattice dislocations from triple junctions of grain boundaries containing pile-ups of grain-boundary dislocations, the subsequent sliding of lattice dislocations in the bulk of the grain, and the formation of walls of grain-boundary dislocations climbing along opposite grain boundaries. The energy characteristics and critical stresses for the emission of lattice dislocations are calculated. The theoretical dependences of the flow stress on the plastic deformation are plotted, which show good qualitative and quantitative agreement with experimental data.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 6966
Author(s):  
Qian Li ◽  
Jiayong Zhang ◽  
Huayuan Tang ◽  
Hongwu Zhang ◽  
Hongfei Ye ◽  
...  

Based on molecular dynamics simulations, the creep behaviors of nanocrystalline Ni before and after the segregation of Mo atoms at grain boundaries are comparatively investigated with the influences of external stress, grain size, temperature, and the concentration of Mo atoms taken into consideration. The results show that the creep strain rate of nanocrystalline Ni decreases significantly after the segregation of Mo atoms at grain boundaries due to the increase of the activation energy. The creep mechanisms corresponding to low, medium, and high stress states are respectively diffusion, grain boundary slip and dislocation activities based on the analysis of stress exponent and grain size exponent for both pure Ni and segregated Ni-Mo samples. Importantly, the influence of external stress and grain size on the creep strain rate of segregated Ni-Mo samples agrees well with the classical Bird-Dorn-Mukherjee model. The results also show that segregation has little effect on the creep process dominated by lattice diffusion. However, it can effectively reduce the strain rate of the creep deformation dominated by grain boundary behaviors and dislocation activities, where the creep rate decreases when increasing the concentration of Mo atoms at grain boundaries within a certain range.


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