Stimulation of capillarity-driven grain boundary migration during sliding

Zinc bicrystals with originally flat 89° symmetric tilt boundary tilted at ∼45° to the tensile direction were strained at high temperature. The operation of crystallographic slip in both grains was suppressed by orientation of basal planes parallel and perpendicular to the tensile axis. The boundary migrated under the action of curvature driving force making its inclination angle close to 70° with respect to the lateral free surface. In the case of annealing with no load applied, a small boundary migration was observed at the edges of the sample. Initiation of grain-boundary sliding significantly increases the amount of boundary migration. It has been established that sliding can increase the reduced boundary mobility by more than an order of magnitude. Askar D. Mirzakhojaev—on leave from FSU-NHMFL, Tallahassee, FL 32310, USA.     

Mesoscale deformation mechanisms in relation with slip and grain boundary sliding in TA15 titanium alloy during tensile deformation

Revealing the mesoscale deformation mechanisms of titanium alloy with tri-modal microstructure is of great significance to improve its mechanical properties.In ...     

Surface and interior measurements of grain boundary sliding during creep

Measurements of grain boundary sliding have been made on polycrystalline specimens of Magnox AL80, a magnesium-0.78 wt% aluminium alloy, at successive strains during creep at 200° C under a stress of 2800 psi. Three independent methods were used to determine the strain due to sliding ( _gb) at the surface and two to determine _gbin the interior of the specimens. The one direct method of measuring _gbin the interior used oxide markers introduced by extruding a composite billet. The values of _gbobtained from the offsets in these interior markers were found to agree with those given by the three sets of measurements made on the surface, but not with those from the indirect method for the interior which relies on the measurement of grain strain via grain shape changes.     

Application of electron beam lithography to study microcreep deformation and grain boundary sliding

Electron beam lithography has been employed to study microcreep deformation and grain boundary sliding in pure copper. Fine electron-sensitive microgrids of an alloy of palladium and gold were developed on the surface of rectangular specimens. Interrupted creep tests were carried out at 723 K at two stress levels in an argon atmosphere. Creep strain and grain boundary sliding were determined by forming Moire fringes in a scanning electron microscope as well as from the displacement of the grid lines. Local distribution of creep strain inside the grains was found to be non-uniform. Grain boundary sliding exhibited a wavy behaviour.     

The role of partial grain boundary dislocations in grain boundary sliding and coupled grain boundary motion

We study the process of grain boundary sliding through the motion of grain boundary dislocations, utilizing molecular dynamics and embedded atom method (EAM) interatomic potentials. For a Σ = 5 [001]{310} symmetrical tilt boundary in bcc Fe, the sliding process was found to occur through the nucleation and glide of partial grain boundary dislocations, with a secondary grain boundary structure playing an important role in the sliding process. While the homogeneous nucleation of these grain boundary dislocations requires shear strain levels higher than 7%, preexisting grain boundary dislocations are shown to glide at applied shear levels of 1.5%. The glide of the dislocations results in coupled motion of the boundary in the directions parallel and perpendicular to itself. Finally, interstitial impurities and vacancies were introduced in the grain boundary to study the effects on the sliding resistance of the boundary. While vacancies and H interstitials act as preferred nucleation sites, C interstitials do not. Both hydrogen and C interstitials stop dislocation glide whereas vacancies do not. A detailed study of the dynamic properties of these dislocations is also presented.     

A constitutive model of nanocrystalline metals based on competing grain boundary and grain interior deformation mechanisms

In this work, a viscoplastic constitutive model for nanocrystalline metals is presented. The model is based on competing grain boundary and grain interior deformation mechanisms. In particular, inelastic deformations caused by grain boundary diffusion, grain boundary sliding and dislocation activities are considered. Effects of pressure on the grain boundary diffusion and sliding mechanisms are taken into account. Furthermore, the influence of grain size distribution on macroscopic response is studied. The model is shown to capture the fundamental mechanical characteristics of nanocrystalline metals. These include grain size dependence of the strength, i.e., both the traditional and the inverse Hall–Petch effects, the tension–compression asymmetry and the enhanced rate sensitivity.     

Strain driven grain boundary sliding and/or rotation during tensile deformation of ultrafine grained C–Mn steel

Abstract

The microstructure evolution of ultrafine grained C–Mn steel during tensile deformation was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. The surface morphologies and orientation imaging micrographs at different locations near the fractures were discussed. No obvious evident work hardening was identified and partially attributed to the strain driven grain boundary motion of grain rotation and/or grain boundary sliding, especially at the initial stage, while the dislocation activities gradually participate in as deformation proceeds.     

The influence of a threshold stress for grain boundary sliding on constitutive response of polycrystalline Al during high temperature deformation

A continuum polycrystal plasticity model was used to estimate the influence of a threshold stress for grain boundary sliding on the relationship between macroscopic flow stress and strain rate for the aluminum alloy AA5083 when subjected to plane strain uniaxial tension at 450 °C. Under these conditions, AA5083 deforms by dislocation glide at strain rates exceeding 0.001 s⁻¹, and by grain boundary sliding at lower strain rates. The stress–strain rate response can be approximated by , where A and n depend on grain size and strain rate. We find that a threshold stress less or equal to 4 MPa has only a small influence on flow stress and stress exponent n in the dislocation creep regime (a threshold stress of 2 MPa increases n from 4.2 to 4.5), but substantially increases both flow stress and stress exponent in the grain boundary sliding regime (a threshold stress of 2 MPa increases n from 1.5 to 2.7). In addition, when the threshold stress is included, our model predicts stress versus strain rate behavior that is in good agreement with experimental measurements reported by Kulas et al. [M.A. Kulas, W.P. Green, E.M. Taleff, P.E. Krajewski, T.R. McNelley, Metall. Mater. Trans. A 36 (2005) 1249].     

The activation areas for grain boundary sliding

The activation areas for grain boundary sliding in Al, Pb, Sn, Zn, and Cu are compared with those for creep in the same materials. It is found that the activation area-stress relation for grain boundary sliding is similar to that for creep. This observation is consistent with a dislocation or ledge mechanism of grain boundary sliding.     

Mesoscopic grain boundary sliding as the rate controlling process for high strain rate superplastic deformation

Important features observed during high strain rate superplastic deformation are enumerated. Starting from the premise that the phenomenon of structural superplasticity in different classes of materials results when grain boundary sliding that develops to a mesoscopic scale (defined to be of the order of a grain diameter or more) controls the rate of flow, the particular case of high strain rate superplasticity is explained. The rate equation developed is validated using experimental results concerning 5 alloy systems in which an ultra-fine grain size is developed by thermomechanical processing and retained in a similar condition during superplastic deformation by fine, grain boundary pinning particles and 3 alloy composites in which the volume fraction of the reinforcing constituent is significant (15–25%). It is demonstrated that the analysis results in estimates for the externally measured strain rates that are within a factor of two, in addition to providing a physically meaningful free energy of activation for the rate controlling process. This approach explains superplastic flow in different classes of materials in terms of a single rate controlling mechanism of deformation, viz., mesoscopic grain boundary sliding, with the help of a few constants that have the same values for all systems. The system-dependent variables of threshold stress needed for the onset of mesoscopic boundary sliding and free energy of activation are obtained directly from superplasticity stress–strain rate data, without external inputs.     

Atomistic simulation of grain boundary sliding and migration

Interatomic potentials using Embedded Atom Method (EAM) are used in conjunction with molecular statics and dynamics calculations to study the sliding and migration of [1 1 0] symmetric tilt grain boundaries (STGB) in aluminum, under both applied displacement and force conditions. For equilibrium grain boundaries (without applied displacements and forces), three low energy configurations (corresponding to three twin structures) are found in the [1 1 0] STGB structures when grain boundary energies at 0 K are computed as a function of grain misorientation angle. Pure grain boundary sliding (GBS) without migration is simulated by applying external displacement. When forces are applied, the energy barriers are reduced consequent to the fact that grain boundary sliding of STGB is always coupled with migration. The propensity for pure GBS is evaluated by computing the energy associated with incremental equilibrium configurations during the sliding process and compared to the case when sliding is accompanied by migration. The magnitude of the energy barriers is found to be much higher in pure GBS than when migration accompanies sliding. Relations between the applied force, internal stress field, and displacement field are established and the role of grain boundary structure on the deformation process are examined. It is found that the GBS displacement is proportional to applied force, GB energy, and time.     

Grain size, grain boundary sliding, and grain boundary interaction effects on nanocrystalline behavior

A dislocation–density grain boundary (GB) interaction scheme, a GB misorientation dependent dislocation–density relation, and a grain boundary sliding (GBS) model are presented to account for the behavior of nanocrystalline aggregates with grain sizes ranging from 25 nm to 200 nm. These schemes are coupled to a dislocation–density multiple slip crystalline plasticity formulation and specialized finite element algorithms to predict the response of nanocrystalline aggregates. These schemes are based on slip system compatibility, local resolved shear stresses, and immobile and mobile dislocation–density evolution. A conservation law for dislocation–densities is used to balance dislocation–density absorption, transmission and emission from the GB. The relation between yield stresses and grain sizes is consistent with the Hall–Petch relation. The results also indicate that GB sliding and grain-size effects affect crack behavior by local dislocation–density and slip evolution at critical GBs. Furthermore, the predictions indicate that GBS increases with decreasing grain sizes, and results in lower normal stresses in critical locations. Hence, GBS may offset strength increases associated with decreases in grain size.