Atomistic processes of surface-diffusion-induced abnormal softening in nanoscale metallic crystals

Ultrahigh surface-to-volume ratio in nanoscale materials, could dramatically facilitate mass transport, leading to surface-mediated diffusion similar to Coble-type creep in polycrystalline materials. Unfortunately, the Coble creep is just a conceptual model, and the associated physical mechanisms of mass transport have never been revealed at atomic scale. Akin to the ambiguities in Coble creep, atomic surface diffusion in nanoscale crystals remains largely unclear, especially when mediating yielding and plastic flow. Here, by using in situ nanomechanical testing under high-resolution transmission electron microscope, we find that the diffusion-assisted dislocation nucleation induces the transition from a normal to an inverse Hall-Petch-like relation of the strength-size dependence and the surface-creep leads to the abnormal softening in flow stress with the reduction in size of nanoscale silver, contrary to the classical “alternating dislocation starvation” behavior in nanoscale platinum. This work provides insights into the atomic-scale mechanisms of diffusion-mediated deformation in nanoscale materials, and impact on the design for ultrasmall-sized nanomechanical devices.

Shift of Creep Mechanism in Nanocrystalline NiAl Alloy

We have examined the effects of temperature, stress, and grain size on the creep process including creep strain, crystal structure, dislocations and diffusions of nanocrystalline NiAl alloy through molecular dynamics simulations. A smaller grain size accelerates the creep process due to the large volume fraction of grain boundaries. Higher temperatures and stress levels also speed up this process in terms of dislocation changes and atom diffusion. In both primary creep and steady-state creep stages, atomic diffusion at the grain boundary could be seen and the dislocation density increased gradually, indicating that the creep mechanism at these stages is Coble creep controlled by grain boundary diffusion while accompanied by dislocation nucleation. When the model enters the tertiary creep stage, it can be observed that the diffusion of atoms in the grain boundary and in the crystal and the dislocation density gradually decreases, implying that the creep mechanisms at this stage are Coble creep, controlled by grain boundary diffusion, and Nabarro–Herring creep, controlled by lattice diffusion.

A Model of Enhanced Strain Rate Sensitivity in Nanocrystalline and Ultrafine-Grained Metals

A model is suggested that describes enhanced strain rate sensitivity of nanocrystalline and ultrafine-grained metals. Within the model, plastic deformation of such metals incorporates dislocation transmission across grain boundaries (GBs) in the stress fields of dislocation pileups, the emission of individual dislocations from GBs as well as GB sliding accommodated by GB dislocation climb and/or Coble creep. The model predicts a strong increase in the strain rate sensitivity and a decrease in the activation volume with decreasing grain size, in accord with experimental data.We also considered the effect of GB sliding and Coble creep on the anomalous dependence of the activation volume on temperature observed in nanocrystalline Ni. It is demonstrated that although an account for GB sliding and Coble creep leads to the appearance of cusps in the temperature dependence of the activation volume, these mechanisms alone cannot be responsible for the observed anomalous dependence of the activation volume on temperature.

The Development of Superplasticity and Deformation Mechanism Maps in an Ultrafine-Grained Magnesium Alloy

Magnesium alloys with refined grain structure are often superplastic at elevated temperatures with maximum elongations up to more than 1000%. The superplastic behavior of this material agrees with deformation by grain boundary sliding. Dislocation climb becomes the rate controlling mechanism at higher stresses but the rate controlling mechanism at lower stresses is not fully documented. This report examines the development of superplasticity in a magnesium ZK60 alloy and shows that an increase in stress exponent and decrease in elongation takes place at low stresses. Deformation mechanism maps are constructed considering Regions I, II and III and Coble creep.