Assessment of Internal Stresses Using Dislocation Dipole Heights in Cyclically Deformed [001] Copper Single Crystals

There have been a number of studies on dipole separations in cyclically deformed FCC single crystals in single slip while there are no such studies in multiple slip. The dipole heights provide insight into the presence of long-range internal stresses (LRIS). In this study, we investigated how LRIS compare with the single slip studies through measuring the dislocation of dipole heights. [001] oriented copper single crystals were cyclically deformed in strain-control to saturation at ambient temperature. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirms a labyrinth dislocation microstructure with high dislocation density walls and low dislocation density channels. The maximum dipole heights under the saturation stress were approximately independent of location, being nearly equal in the walls and within the channels. This, by itself, supports a uniform stress across the microstructure and low long-range internal stresses. The maximum value for dipole heights suggests dipole strengths (local stresses) that are about a factor of 2.4 higher than the applied stress based on the usual athermal equations. Considering the small “extra” stress that may be provided by tripoles or small dislocation pile-ups, a nearly homogenous stress distribution with only small internal stresses may be present, which is consistent with the observation of uniform dipole height across the heterogeneous dislocation microstructure. This observation that the stress state appears to be homogenous and higher than the applied stress has also been reported in the case of cyclically deformed metals in single slip.

Effect of Sample Size and Crystal Orientation on the Fatigue Behaviour of Single Crystalline Microbeams

Beam deflection experiments were used to systematically examine size effects on the low cyclic fatigue (LCF) deformation behaviour of micro-sized bending beams of copper (Cu) single crystals oriented for single slip, critical and coplanar double slip. We present cyclic hardening curves and fatigue surface roughness, as well as dislocations structures of the micro-sized beams with sizes between 1 and 15 µm. A clear crystal orientation and size effect on the cyclic hardening curves, surface roughness, and the dislocation microstructures were observed. Based on the experimental results, the fatigue damage in single slip orientations clearly decreased with decreasing the sample size, however, below a critical size regime, the surface damage suddenly increases. Additionally, samples with sizes larger than 5 µm clearly revealed, besides PSBs-like structures, the emergence of kink bands leading to larger surface roughness in comparison to the smaller ones. Fatigue surface damages in microcrystals oriented for critical double slip became more prevalent compared to single slip orientations. Quantitatively, the correlation of the fatigue surface damage was also demonstrated with the formation of PSBs-like structures.