Influence of grain boundaries on deformation and fracture of metallic materials at high temperature. I. Deformation

Grain boundaries have long held a special significance to ceramicists. In part, this has been because it has been impossible until now to actually observe the boundaries themselves. Just as important, however, is the fact that the grain boundaries and their environs have a determing influence on both the mechanisms by which powder compaction occurs during fabrication, and on the overall mechanical properties of the material. One area where the grain boundary plays a particularly important role is in the high temperature strength of hot-pressed ceramics. This is a subject of current interest as extensive efforts are being made to develop ceramics, such as silicon nitride alloys, for high temperature structural applications. In this presentation we describe how the techniques of lattice fringe imaging have made it possible to study the grain boundaries in a number of refractory ceramics, and illustrate some of the findings.

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Observation of secondary slip systems in tungsten bicrystals

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100112361 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

pp. 478-479

Author(s):

J. R. Fekete ◽

R. Gibala

Keyword(s):

Stress Field ◽

Grain Boundaries ◽

Deformation Behavior ◽

Stress Axis ◽

Polycrystalline Materials ◽

Slip Systems ◽

Metallic Materials ◽

Twist Boundary ◽

Secondary Slip ◽

Plane Normal

The deformation behavior of metallic materials is modified by the presence of grain boundaries. When polycrystalline materials are deformed, additional stresses over and above those externally imposed on the material are induced. These stresses result from the constraint of the grain boundaries on the deformation of incompatible grains. This incompatibility can be elastic or plastic in nature. One of the mechanisms by which these stresses can be relieved is the activation of secondary slip systems. Secondary slip systems have been shown to relieve elastic and plastic compatibility stresses. The deformation of tungsten bicrystals is interesting, due to the elastic isotropy of the material, which implies that the entire compatibility stress field will exist due to plastic incompatibility. The work described here shows TEM observations of the activation of secondary slip in tungsten bicrystals with a [110] twist boundary oriented with the plane normal parallel to the stress axis.

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Electron energy loss near edge structures of intermetallic alloys and grain boundaries in NiAl

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100165070 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 54 ◽

pp. 522-523

Author(s):

G.A. Botton ◽

C.J. Humphreys

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Transition Metal ◽

Energy Loss ◽

Grain Boundaries ◽

Industrial Applications ◽

Edge Structure ◽

Structural Applications ◽

Yield Behaviour ◽

Late Transition ◽

Metal Aluminides

Transition metal aluminides are of great potential interest for high temperature structural applications. Although these materials exhibit good mechanical properties at high temperature, their use in industrial applications is often limited by their intrinsic room temperature brittleness. Whilst this particular yield behaviour is directly related to the defect structure, the properties of the defects (in particular the mobility of dislocations and the slip system on which these dislocations move) are ultimately determined by the electronic structure and bonding in these materials. The lack of ductility has been attributed, at least in part, to the mixed bonding character (metallic and covalent) as inferred from ab-initio calculations. In this work, we analyse energy loss spectra and discuss the features of the near edge structure in terms of the relevant electronic states in order to compare the predictions on bonding directly with spectroscopic experiments. In this process, we compare spectra of late transition metal (TM) to early TM aluminides (FeAl and TiAl) to assess whether differences in bonding can also be detected. This information is then discussed in terms of bonding changes at grain boundaries in NiAl.

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