Effect of dynamic recrystallization on the importance of grain-boundary sliding during creep

During creep of polycrystalline materials at elevated temperatures, a certain amount of the strain is accommodated by grain-boundary sliding (GBS). The relative importance of GBS depends on the stress and grain size and sometimes temperature. During high-strain deformation, dynamic recrystallization often occurs with the resultant grain size only related to the stress. In this situation the importance of GBS is then dependent only upon stress and sometimes temperature. In dynamically recrystallized Magnox Al80 deformed atT>0.8T _m, 16 to 23% of the imposed strain is accommodated by GBS. A comparison has been made between the experimental results and some theoretical models for the importance of GBS during creep, modified to take account of recrystallization. The best fit to the data is obtained with the modified form of Langdons model. Deformation mechanism maps constructed with this model suggest that dynamic recrystallization can cause a switch of mechanism from dislocation creep to dominant GBS at intermediate temperature (T<673 K) and low stress. Deformation mechanism maps have also been constructed for calcite based on the data of Schmidet al. These suggest that GBS is an important mechanism in calcite deformed under geological conditions.     

Superplastic power-law creep of Sn–40%Pb–2.5%Sb peritectic alloy

The power law-creep behavior of superplastic Sn–40Pb–2.5Sb alloys with different grain sizes has been investigated at room temperature. Stress exponent values for these alloys have been determined by indentation creep, conventional creep and uniaxial tension tests in order to evaluate the correspondence of indentation creep results with conventional tests. In all cases, the indentation results were in good agreement with each other and with those of the tensile and conventional creep tests. The average stress exponent values of about 2.6 and 3.0 corresponding to the strain rate sensitivity (SRS) indices of 0.33–0.39, depending on the grain size of the materials, indicate that the grain boundary sliding is the possible mechanism during creep deformation of Sn–Pb–Sb alloys. Within limits, the indentation tests are thus considered useful to acquire information on the creep behavior of small specimens of these soft tin–lead–antimony alloys at room temperature. It is also demonstrated that the indentation creep test provides a convenient method to measure SRS and thereby to assess the ability of a material to undergo superplastic deformation.     

Quantitative evaluation of high temperature deformation mechanisms: a specific microgrid extensometry technique coupled with EBSD analysis

A microgrid extensometry method has been developed and used to obtain information about intragranular and intergranular creep mechanisms. An oxide grid was deposited on a creep specimen using an electron lithography technique. This oxide grid offers high backscattered electron contrast and can withstand long duration creep tests under vacuum in the 700–850 °C range without degradation. Specific methods were used to measure in-plane displacements at the grid nodes or at the grain boundaries using correlation of grid images taken before and after the creep test. The local strain and grain boundary sliding (GBS) data were then calculated. Combined information about grain boundary crystallography and GBS has been obtained by superimposing the electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) map on the deformation maps. To illustrate the potential of this set of processes, two examples of application on a nickel-base disc superalloy are presented. The first one concerns the influence of the creep temperature on the local strain and the GBS. The second application quantitatively shows the influence of grain boundary character on GBS of this material.     

Grain-boundary sliding measurements in Al2O3 by machine vision photogrammetry

The nucleation, growth and coalescence of grain-boundary cavities is the primary damage mechanism observed during creep of structural ceramics. Furthermore, grain-boundary sliding (GBS) has been identified as the driving force process. Although the creep characteristics of structural ceramics have been extensively studied, very little is known about the details of GBS during creep and how GBS relates to cavitation kinetics. This paper presents the results of a study using a machine vision system to measure Mode II GBS displacements in a Lucalox Al₂O₃. Specifically, sliding displacements as large as 0.4 m were measured. The measured displacements indicate that some grain boundaries experienced shear strains and strain rates of 4200% and 2.3×10^–2 s^–1, respectively. The techniques utilized for these measurements are described in detail, and data gathered during a 2 1/2 h compressive creep test under a stress of 138 MPa at 1600 °C are presented and discussed.     

The Measurement of Compressive Creep Deformation and Damage Mechanisms in a Single-Phase Alumina Part I Grain boundary sliding

Grain boundary sliding (GBS) has been hypothesized to act as the primary driving force for the nucleation and growth of grain boundary cavities in ceramics undergoing creep. In addition, GBS is often a major mode of deformation during high-temperature creep. This paper demonstrates the importance of GBS with mode II GBS measurements performed using a stereoimaging technique on a single-phase alumina tested under constant compressive stresses of 70 and 140 MPa at 1600 °C. Measurements were taken at constant time intervals during creep. The results support previous observations that GBS is stochastic and history independent. GBS displacements at given time intervals are shown to fit a Wiebull distribution. During steady-state creep, GBS displacements increased linearly with time at a constant sliding rate of 6.0 × 10–5 m s–1 at 70 MPa and 1.3 × 10–4 m s–1 at 140 MPa. Also, an average of 67% of the grain boundaries exhibited measurable sliding throughout the creep life of the 140 MPa test. Results of the GBS measurements are used to modify an existing creep model describing stochastic GBS. In part II of this paper [1], the GBS measurements reported are related to the associated creep cavitation measured in specimens tested under identical conditions.     

Information on deformation mechanisms in nanocrystalline Pd–10% Au inferred from texture analysis

There is still a lack of understanding of deformation mechanisms in nanocrystalline (nc) materials. Studies on microstructures formed in nc Pd–10% Au (grain size about 15 nm) after high pressure torsion revealed signatures of various deformation processes as cooperative grain boundary sliding (GBS), shear banding, dislocation slip and twinning. In order to estimate contributions of these processes to total strain, a comparison was made between torsion textures formed in nc and coarse grained (cg) samples after identical shear strain. The textures were measured with synchrotron radiation. Intensities of characteristic components of the shear texture are two times stronger in the cg sample than in the nc one, indicating that dislocation slip is less significant in the nc sample. It is proposed that numerous planes of cooperative GBS revealed by TEM contribute to plasticity of nc alloy.     

Intercrystalline cracking,grain-boundary sliding,and delayed elasticity at high temperatures

The hypothesis of an interrelation between grain-boundary sliding and delayed elasticity in polycrystalline materials at high homologous temperatures is used to investigate the conditions conducive to microcracking. It is known that a material may exhibit cracking activity on attaining a critical delayed-elastic strain corresponding to a critical grainboundary sliding displacement. Experimental data on ice at temperatures >0.9T _m are used to verify this concept. The new criterion is then extended to develop simple, selfconsistent equations describing the interdependence of stress, strain, time, temperature, and grain size in predicting the onset of structural degradation due to microcracking and hence possible failure by fracture or rupture. The merit of the theory lies in its ability to forecast explicitly a large number of commonly observed high-temperature phenomena, including superplasticity, brittle-ductile transition, and the stress and temperature dependence of the apparent activation energy for fracture. One derivation makes it clear that cracking occurs when a critical stress depending only on temperature (and independent of grain size) is exceeded. The near constancy of fracture strain in the quasi brittle range can also be predicted     

Grain boundary sliding behaviour of copper and alpha brass at intermediate temperatures

The role of grain boundary sliding in copper and Cu-30% Zn in the temperature range 0.50 to 0.72T _m, whereT _m is the absolute melting point of the material, is examined. First, sliding data obtained on these materials are presented. These results indicate that the stress exponent for sliding,n _gbs, is similar to that for lattice deformation, while the activation energy for sliding,Q _gbs, varies between about 0·5Q _c and 1.6Q _c, whereQ _c is the activation energy for creep. Next, a comparison of the published values ofQ _gbs for bicrystals and polycrystals suggests that grain boundary sliding in polycrystalline materials requires the accommodation of the sliding process, whereas in bicrystals, the absence of triple points and other grain boundaries results in intrinsic sliding. Finally, several models proposed for grain boundary sliding are discussed, and it is shown that they do not account for the observed results on copper and alpha brass. A phenomenological model is proposed, where it is assumed that grain boundary sliding results from the glide of dislocations on secondary slip planes.     

The Measurement of Compressive Creep Deformation and Damage Mechanisms in a Single-Phase Alumina Part II Correlation of creep cavitation and grain boundary sliding

It has been theorized that stochastic grain boundary sliding (GBS) is the primary driving force for the nucleation, growth, and coalescence of cavities located on the grain boundaries of polycrystalline ceramics undergoing creep. This paper reports on the results of co-ordinated measurements of both GBS and creep cavitation during the creep of a single-phase alumina. Constant compressive stress creep experiments were performed at a temperature of 1600 °C, and stress levels of 70, 100, and 140 MPa. Small angle neutron scattering measurements (SANS) show that cavities nucleate continuously due to creep at all three stress levels, and that since negligible cavity growth was measured, creep cavitation appears to be ruled by a nucleation rather than a growth process. Also, at a constant creep temperature, the number and volume of cavities measured was observed to decrease with a decrease in the applied stress. GBS displacements reported in Part 1 of this paper [1] are related to the number of cavities nucleated per unit volume and shown to relate directly, thereby providing experimental evidence that GBS may act as the driving force for creep cavitation.     

Measurements of spacing of sliding grain boundaries

The spacing of grain boundaries at which grain boundary sliding (GBS) had occurred during superplastic (SP) deformation was determined by measuring the length of segments of marker lines inscribed on the pre-polished surface in Pb-62%Sn after superplastic deformation in shear. Statistical distribution of this segment length (L) was bimodal at low strain levels, but became unimodal at high strain levels. The concept of cooperative GBS, i.e. sliding of groups of grains as an entity, has been invoked to explain the evaluation of the L-distribution with strain. This investigation suggests that the real spacing of sliding grain boundaries should be taken into account for modelling of SP flow.On leave from Ufa Aviation Institute, Ufa 450025, Russia.     

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.     

Microstructural aspects of non-homogeneity of grain-boundary sliding

Direct observation in the scanning electron microscope of grain-boundary sliding (GBS) in Pb-62%Sn eutectic alloy, superplastically deformed in shear, showed non-uniformity of GBS. Such non-homogeneity of GBS reveals itself as sliding of large grain blocks with dimensions of tens of grain size and sliding of grain groups with dimensions of a few (four to eight) grain size. Sliding of large blocks of grains is a result of the sliding of grains as an entity along grain boundaries of former dendritic boundaries. The sliding of grain groups is due to the cooperative manner of GBS. Experimentally observed size of the grain groups can be explained from the view point of cooperative GBS, caused by glide of cellular dislocations.     

Application of a model for grain boundary sliding to high temperature flow of carrara marble

It has been demonstrated that grain boundary sliding may contribute up to 50 percent of the total strain during experimental, high temperature deformation of Carrara Marble (Schmid, Paterson and Boland, 1980), yet the creep behavior was characterized by a high stress exponent and an apparent thermal dependence related to volume diffusion of carbon in calcite. By adopting the model of Gifkins (1976, 1977) for dislocation accommodated grain boundary sliding, incorporating Nabarro's model of creep by climbing edge dislocations (Weertman, 1975) and using the experimentally determined relationship between stress and subgrain (recrystallized grain) size, a model is developed which fits the high temperature creep data very well. In effect, the model assumes that deformation occurs by a combination of climb of edge dislocations and dislocation accommodated grain boundary sliding. It is shown that the model can be easily and reasonably extended to include creep by climb-controlled dislocation glide.     

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].     

An evaluation of the grain-boundary sliding contribution to creep deformation in polycrystalline alumina

The occurrence of grain-boundary sliding during creep in fine grained alumina was examined by inscribing marker lines on the tensile surfaces of specimens, prior to testing in four-point bending mode. There was considerable microstructural evidence for the occurrence of grainboundary sliding and grain rotation during creep deformation. Experimental measurements of the offsets in the marker lines at grain boundaries reveal that the grain-boundary sliding contribution to the total strain during creep deformation is 70 ± 6.2%. The extensive grain boundary sliding observed, together with the other mechanical properties, suggests that polycrystalline alumina exhibits superplastic characteristics. Several possible rate controlling mechanisms are examined critically in light of the present results and it is concluded that creep occurs either by an independent grain-boundary sliding mechanism or by an interface controlled diffusion mechanism.     

Effect of grain size on the primary and secondary creep behavior of Sn–3 wt.% Bi alloy

The effect of grain size as well as creep temperature on the primary and secondary creep parameters of Sn–3 wt.% Bi alloy has been studied. It was found that the creep parameters α, β, and έ _s were decreased with increasing grain size. This was explained in view of the dislocation interaction with the defects and different inclusions in the matrix. For both the primary and secondary creep, the activation energies estimated indicate that the rate-controlling mechanism is the grain boundary-sliding mechanism.     

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.     

Effect of dopants on alumina grain boundary sliding: implications for creep inhibition

We investigate by means of periodic density functional theory the mechanism of grain boundary sliding along the α-alumina Σ11 tilt grain boundary. We identify minimum and maximum energy structures along a preferential sliding pathway for the pure grain boundary, as well as for grain boundaries doped with a series of early transition metals, as well as barium, gadolinium, and neodymium. We predict that the segregation of those dopants results in a considerable increase in the grain boundary sliding barrier. Grain boundary sliding occurs by a series of bond breaking and forming across the grain boundary. Our results suggest that the presence of large cations inhibits the regeneration of bonds during sliding, which results in a decrease in total number of bonds across the grain boundary interface, thereby raising the barrier to sliding. Trends in predicted grain boundary sliding energies are in good agreement with recently measured creep activation energies in polycrystalline alumina, lending further credence to the notion that grain boundary sliding plays a dominant role in alumina creep.     

Uniaxial creep behavior of nanostructured, solution and dispersion hardened V-1.4Y-7W-9Mo-0.7TiC with different grain sizes

Nanostructured vanadium (V) alloys are expected to exhibit high performance under neutron irradiation environments. However, their ultra-fine or refined grains cause significant decrease in flow stress at high temperatures due to grain boundary sliding (GBS), which is the major concern for their high-temperature structural applications such as future fusion reactors. The contribution of GBS to plastic deformation is known to depend strongly on grain size (GS) and may give more significant influence on long-time creep test results than on short-time tensile test results. In order to improve the creep resistance through elucidation of the effect of GS on the uniaxial creep behavior of nanostructured V alloys, a solution and dispersion hardened V alloy, V-1.4Y-7W-9Mo-0.7TiC (in wt%), with GSs from 0.58 to 2.16 μm was developed by mechanical alloying and HIP processes, followed by annealing at 1473-1773 K, and creep tested at 1073 K and 250 MPa in vacuum. It is shown that the creep resistance of V-1.4Y-7W-9Mo-0.7TiC increases monotonically with GS: The creep life for the alloy with 2.16 μm in GS is as long as 114 h, which is longer by factors of 2-30 than those for the other finer grained alloys and by two orders than that for coarse-grained V-4Cr-4Ti (Nifs heat2, GS: 17.8 μm) that is a primary candidate material for fusion reactor structural applications. The minimum (steady state) creep rate decreases with increasing GS as ?_s ∝ (1/?)³, where ?_s is the steady state creep rate and ? is the grain diameter. The observed superior creep resistance of V-1.4Y-7W-9Mo-0.7TiC is discussed in terms of GS effects on dislocation glide/climb, GBS, and strain hardening capability enhanced by solution and dispersion hardening.     

Combined effects of thin-section size, grain size and cavities on the high temperature creep fracture properties of a nickel-base superalloy

The creep fracture characteristics of a conventionally cast (CC) MAR-M 002 superalloy, controlled by the grain-boundary diffusion mechanism, have been investigated at various specimen section-sizes D, and grain sizes, d. It is observed that the creep rupture strain (or ductility, R, is controlled by the D2/(nGl) ratio, where nG is the number of grains per cross-section of specimen and l is the half-cavity spacing, at the creep conditions (900° C/ 300MPa). A rapid improvement in creep rupture life can be made by reducing the (dC/d)/D ratio [ or, equivalently, the (dCnG)/D2 ratio] below a critical value ( 100×10-8 10m-1), where dC is the cavity size. The thin-section size dependent creep rupture life, tR/D, and creep rupture strain, R/D, are explained on the basis of grain boundary sliding (GBS) and creep crack growth (CCG) behaviour of the alloy. R/D and tR/D can be improved by reducing the GBS rate. A large improvement in tR/D can be achieved by reducing the GBS and CCG rates below the critical values of these rates by reducing the crack size through increasing the grain size above a critical value. (Above a critical grain size value the crack size becomes so small that, as a result, a large increment of tR is achieved.)