Deformation twinning in nanocrystalline materials

Nanocrystalline (nc) materials can be defined as solids with grain sizes in the range of 1-100 nm. Contrary to coarse-grained metals, which become more difficult to twin with decreasing grain size, nanocrystalline face-centered-cubic (fcc) metals become easier to twin with decreasing grain size, reaching a maximum twinning probability, and then become more difficult to twin when the grain size decreases further, i.e. exhibiting an inverse grain-size effect on twinning. Molecular dynamics simulations and experimental observations have revealed that the mechanisms of deformation twinning in nanocrystalline metals are different from those in their coarse-grained counterparts. Consequently, there are several types of deformation twins that are observed in nanocrystalline materials, but not in coarse-grained metals. It has also been reported that deformation twinning can be utilized to enhance the strength and ductility of nanocrystalline materials. This paper reviews all aspects of deformation twinning in nanocrystalline metals, including deformation twins observed by molecular dynamics simulations and experiments, twinning mechanisms, factors affecting the twinning, analytical models on the nucleation and growth of deformation twins, interactions between twins and dislocations, and the effects of twins on mechanical and other properties. It is the authors’ intention for this review paper to serve not only as a valuable reference for researchers in the field of nanocrystalline metals and alloys, but also as a textbook for the education of graduate students.     

Deformation defects in nanocrystalline nickel

Defects induced by plastic deformation in electrodeposited, fully dense nanocrystalline (nc) Ni with an average grain size of 25 nm have been characterized by means of high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The nc Ni was deformed under uniaxial tension at liquid-nitrogen temperature. Trapped full dislocations were observed in the grain interior and near the grain boundaries. In particular, these dislocations preferred to exist in the form of dipoles. Deformation twinning was confirmed in nc grains and the most proficient mechanism is the heterogeneous nucleation via emission of partial dislocations from the grain boundaries.     

Effects of grain size on compressive behaviour in ultrafine grained pure Mg processed by equal channel angular pressing at room temperature

Ultrafine-grained pure magnesium with an average grain size of 0.8 μm was produced by refining coarse-grained (980 μm) ingot by multi-pass equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at room temperature with the application of a back pressure. The compressive deformation behaviour at room temperature depended on grain size, with deformation twinning and associated work hardening observed in coarse-grained Mg, but absent in the ultrafine grained material as decreasing grain size raised the stress for twinning above that for dislocation slip. The ultrafine grained Mg showed good plasticity with prolonged constant stress after some initial strain hardening.     

纳米结构金属位错的研究进展

综述了国内外近年来对纳米结构金属位错的研究,包括位错的基本特征、研究方法以及定量分析.由于晶粒尺寸的减小,全位错的形成和运动变得困难甚至不可能,纳米结构金属更容易生成不全位错.在高分辨TEM图像观察实验中发现了大量孪晶或层错,也证实了不全位错的存在.着重讨论了晶界发射不全位错的形核、增殖以及在塑性变形过程中所起的作用.研究了纳米结构金属中的位错动力学,采用分子动力学模拟和高分辨透射电镜方法从不同层面上揭示了位错的形核、增殖、运动以及相互作用等过程.最后简单介绍了位错柏氏矢量以及密度的相关定量分析,其相关参数的表征对进一步弄清纳米结构金属的塑性变形机制具有重要意义.     

Atomic-scale dissecting the formation mechanism of gradient nanostructured layer on Mg alloy processed by a novel high-speed machining technique

Severe plastic deformation(SPD)-induced gradient nanostructured(GNS)metallic materials exhibit supe-rior mechanical performance,especially the high strength and good ductility.In this study,a novel high-speed machining SPD technique,namely single point diamond turning(SPDT),was developed to produce effectively the GNS layer on the hexagonal close-packed(HCP)structural Mg alloy.The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations and atomistic molecular dynamics sim-ulations were mainly performed to atomic-scale dissect the grain refinement process and corresponding plastic deformation mechanisms of the GNS layer.It was found that the grain refinement process for the formation of the GNS Mg alloy layer consists of elongated coarse grains,lamellar fine grains with deformation-induced-tension twins and contraction twins,ultrafine grains,and nanograins with the grain size of～70 nm along the direction from the inner matrix to surface.Specifically,experiment results and atomistic simulations reveal that these deformation twins are formed by gliding twinning partial dis-locations that are dissociated from the lattice dislocations piled up at grain boundaries.The corresponding deformation mechanisms were evidenced to transit from the deformation twinning to dislocation slip when the grain size was below 2.45 μm.Moreover,the Hall-Petch relationship plot and the surface equivalent stress along the gradient direction estimated by finite element analysis for the SPDT process were incorporated to quantitatively elucidate the transition of deformation mechanisms during the grain refinement process.Our findings have implications for the development of the facile SPD technique to construct high strength-ductility heterogeneous GNS metals,especially for the HCP metals.     

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.     

Current Progress of Mechanical Properties of Metals with Nano-scale Twins

Focus on face-centered cubic （fcc） metals with nano-scale twins lamellar structure, this paper presents a brief overview of the recent progress made in improving mechanical properties, including strength, ductility, work hardening, strain rate sensitivities, and in mechanistically understanding the underling deformation mechanisms. Significant developments have been achieved in nano-twinned fcc metals with a combination of high strength and considerable ductility at the same time, enhanced work hardening ability and enhanced rate sensitivity. The findings elucidate the role of interactions between dislocations and twin boundaries （TBs） and their contribution to the origin of outstanding properties. The computer simulation analysis accounts for high plastic anisotropy and rate sensitivity anisotropy by treating TBs as internal interfaces and allowing special slip geometry arrangements that involve soft and hard modes of deformation. Parallel to the novel mechanical behaviors of the nano-twinned materials, the investigation and developments of nanocrystalline materials are also discussed in this overview for comparing the contribution of grain boundaries/TBs and grain size/twin lamellar spacing to the properties. The recent advances in the experimental and computational studies of plastic deformation of the fcc metals with nano-scale twin lamellar structures provide insights into the possible means of optimizing comprehensive mechanical properties through interfacial engineering.     

Tensile deformation behavior of high manganese austenitic steel: The role of grain size

The tensile deformation behavior and microstructural evolutions of twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steel with the chemical composition of Fe–31Mn–3Al–3Si and average grain sizes in the range of 2.1–72.6 μm have been analyzed. For each grain size, the Hollomon analysis and also the Crussard–Jaoul (C–J) analysis as an alternative method to describe the work hardening behavior were investigated. The results indicated that the optimum mechanical properties as a function of work hardening capacity can be obtained by changing the grain size. The microstructural observations showed that the pile-ups of planar dislocations are necessary for triggering the mechanical twinning and grain refinement suppresses the mechanical twinning in TWIP steel. Furthermore, the mechanical twinning increases with increasing applied strain. As a result, a high instantaneous work hardening due to the mechanical twin boundaries enhances the uniform elongation. The contribution from the strain of twinning and hardening due to an increase in the hardness of the twinned regions (i.e., the Basinski mechanism) may be also useful in achieving the high strength–ductility in TWIP steels.     

Flow mechanisms in ultrafine-grained metals with an emphasis on superplasticity

An analysis was conducted to examine the flow behavior of ultrafine-grained (UFG) metals produced by severe plastic deformation (SPD) processing in equal-channel angular pressing. The results reveal two distinct types of behavior. At elevated temperatures, the analysis shows that superplastic flow is accurately described by the theoretical mechanism developed for coarse-grained metals so that flow in UFG materials may be interpreted using conventional flow mechanisms. By contrast, localized small-scale grain boundary sliding is observed during deformation at low temperatures and this is attributed to the movement of extrinsic dislocations in the non-equilibrium grain boundaries produced by SPD processing.     

Plastic deformation of bcc metal thin foils without dislocation

Heavy plastic deformation of fcc metal thin foils to fracture has been found recently to proceed without involving dislocations, and it results in the formation of high density of vacancy clusters. Thin foil specimens of bcc metals such as V and Mo were plastically deformed to fracture in in situ elongation experiments under an electron microscope. Morphology of thinning and fracture was found to be similar to fcc metals, and no dislocation was observed during heavy deformation. Electron diffraction analysis at the tip of a crack during deformation confirmed a large elastic deformation of up to 5%. Unlike in fcc metal thin foil specimens, point defect clusters were not observed near fractured tips. This difference is attributed to the difference in vacancy reaction, though the deformation in bcc metals without dislocation most likely does produce vacancies.     

Electron backscatter diffraction observations of twinning–detwinning evolution in a magnesium alloy subjected to large strain amplitude cyclic loading

An extruded ZK60 magnesium alloy was subjected to fully-reversed strain-controlled cyclic loading at a strain amplitude of 4.0% in the extrusion direction in ambient air. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analyses were conducted on samples taken from companion specimens terminated at different loading cycles to study the twinning–detwinning process and the evolution of the twin structures at different stages of cyclic deformation. It is observed that the twin nucleation sites are increased whereas twin growth/shrinkage is inhibited due to repeated twinning–detwinning. The enhanced twin nucleation sites are responsible for the observed increase in the number of twin lamellae and the increased twin volume fraction with loading cycles. Cyclic loading enhances formation of compression and double twins which do not result in immediate fracture of the material. With increasing number of loading cycles, more and larger sized residual tension twin lamellae can be detected by EBSD, but the total volume fraction of the residual twins is trivial.     

Grain boundary sliding and accommodation mechanisms during superplastic deformation of ZK40 alloy processed by ECAP

Controlling mechanism during superplastic deformation of ZK40 alloy processed by ECAP was identified. Effects of twinning and dynamic strain ageing (DSA) on superplasticity were analyzed. Amplitude in stress oscillation was correlated with solute atom concentration theoretically. Twinning can be an enhancing factor in grain boundary sliding and DSA had apparent influence on stress fluctuation; they were accommodation mechanisms for superplastic deformation through grain reorientation and interaction between solute atoms and dislocations, respectively. The interaction between mobile and forest dislocations played a dominant role for the occurrence of DSA, when dislocation density was relatively low in large grains. The effect of DSA became more active with increasing temperature, although grain boundary sliding (GBS) was the controlling mechanism throughout the whole process of superplastic deformation under elevated temperatures.     

Multiaxial fatigue of extruded ZK60 magnesium alloy

Multiaxial monotonic and cyclic behaviors of ZK60‐T5 magnesium extrusion are investigated. Strain‐controlled tests were performed at standard laboratory condition with fully reversed straining. Twinning‐detwinning deformation plays an important role in the cyclic axial behavior for tests that were performed under strain amplitudes higher than 0.4%. However, the hysteresis loop for the 0.4% was found symmetric and no sign of twinning‐detwinning deformation was observed. On the contrary, the cyclic shear behavior was found to be similar to conventional alloys and no significant asymmetric or twinning‐detwinning deformations were observed. The multiaxial fatigue tests suggest that multiaxiality and nonproportionality are not detrimental to fatigue life. Three multiaxial fatigue damage models were used: Smith‐Watson‐Topper, Fatemi‐Socie, and Jahed‐Varvani. While Fatemi‐Socie and Jahed‐Varvani models show comparable estimation, Smith‐Watson‐Topper overestimates shear and nonproportional lives.     

Texture evolution in equal-channel angular extrusion

The focus of this article is texture development in metals of fcc, bcc, and hcp crystal structure processed by a severe plastic deformation (SPD) technique called equal-channel angular extrusion (ECAE) or equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP). The ECAE process involves very large plastic strains and is well known for its ability to refine the grain size of a polycrystalline metal to submicron or even nano-size lengthscales depending on the material. During this process, the texture also changes substantially. While the strength, microstructure and formability of ECAE-deformed metals have received much attention, texture evolution and its connection with these properties have not. In this article, we cover a multitude of factors that can influence texture evolution, such as applied strain path, die geometry, processing conditions, deformation inhomogeneities, accumulated strain, crystal structure, material plastic behavior, initial texture, dynamic recrystallization, substructure, and deformation twinning. We evaluate current constitutive models for texture evolution based on the physics they include and their agreement with measurements. Last, we discuss the influence of texture on post-processed mechanical response, plastic anisotropy, and grain refinement, properties which have made ECAE, as well as other SPD processes, attractive. It is our intent to make SPD researchers aware of the importance of texture development in SPD and provide the background, guidance, and methodologies necessary for incorporating texture analyses in their studies.     

Effect of crystal lattice and degree of dispersion of alloy constituents on the resistance to damage due to abrasive wear

Abrasive wear tests carried out under industrial conditions on facing plates of dies for pressing refractory parts showed that the structure of alloys has a substantial effect on their wear resistance. The first stage of the disintegration of an alloy in abrasive wear is the formation of submicroscopic cracks due to interaction of dislocations in two intersecting slip planes. From the standpoint of energy considerations, this interaction of dislocations occurs more readily in bcc than in fcc metals. It was established that a body-centered cubic lattice has a lower resistance to plastic formation so that the degree of plastic deformation preceding fracture is smaller in bcc than in fcc metals.     

Positron annihilation study of vacancy-type defects in high-speed deformed Ni, Cu and Fe

Vacancies and vacancy clusters in Ni, Cu, and Fe induced by high- and low-speed deformations are studied systematically by positron annihilation techniques and are compared with those induced by the conventional-rolling. To clarify the nature of the defects, the experimental results are compared with our superimposed-atomic-charge calculations of the positron lifetimes in the vacancy clusters as a function of their size. It is found that the deformation-induced defects in the fcc and bcc metals are significantly distinct. In the fcc metals of Ni and Cu, monovacancies with high number densities are induced by the high- and low-speed deformations and by heavy conventional-rolling (>10% in Ni and >40% in Cu). Vacancy clusters are observed after the high- and low-speed deformation for Ni and after the conventional-rolling for Cu. On the contrary, dislocations and vacancy clusters are introduced in bcc Fe regardless of the type or degree of deformation.     

Effects of transformation twin on Hall–Petch relationship in MnCu alloy

A new constitutive model based on the deformation mechanisms was developed for both bcc and fcc nanocrystalline metals over a wide strain rate range. Nanocrystalline metals were treated as composites consisting of grain interior and grain boundary phases, and the deformation mechanisms and physically based constitutive relations of grain interior and grain boundary phases over a wide strain rate range were analyzed and determined for both fcc and bcc nanocrystalline metals. Based on our recently established phase mixture method, a new mechanical model was built to calculate the stress–strain relations of nanocrystalline metals over a wide strain rate range; and the grain size and porosity effect was considered in the developed model, the predictions keep in good agreements with various experimental data in small plastic strain range, where uniform deformation can be assumed. Further discussion was presented for calculation results and relative experimental observations.     

Effect of stress-induced grain growth during room temperature tensile deformation on ductility in nanocrystalline metals

In the present study defect-free nanocrystalline (nc) Ni-Co alloys with the Co content ranging from 2.4–59.3% (wt.%) were prepared by pulse electrodeposition. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that only a single face-centred cubic solid solution is formed for each alloy and that the grain size reduces monotonically with increasing Co content, which is consistent with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. In the nc Ni-Co alloys, both the ultimate tensile strength and the elongation to failure increase as the Co content increases. The TEM observations reveal that stress-induced grain growth during tensile deformation is significantly suppressed for the nc Ni-Co alloys rich in Co in sharp contrast to those poor in Co. We believe that sufficient solutes could effectively pin grain boundaries making grain boundary motions (e.g. grain boundary migration and/or grain rotation) during deformation more difficult. Thus, stress-induced grain growth is greatly suppressed. At the same time, shear banding plasticity instability is correspondingly delayed leading to the enhanced ductility.     

Microstructural evolution and microhardness variations in a Cu–36Zn–2Pb alloy processed by high-pressure torsion

A coarse-grained Cu–36Zn–2Pb alloy with an initial grain size of ~54 μm was processed by high-pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature under an applied pressure of 6.0 GPa through 1–10 turns, and the evolution of microstructure and microhardness was investigated. Analysis by X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that in HPT processing the β′-phase transforms to an α-phase and a {111} texture is formed. Microscopic examination showed that dislocations were first formed at equivalent strains of not more than ~25 and when the equivalent strain increased to ~40 there was evidence for twins and secondary twinning. Fine grains were formed with an increase in equivalent strain to ~100 and with further straining these refined grains acted as precursors for additional grain refinement. The refined equiaxed grain size was ~250 nm after HPT through an equivalent strain of ~100 and the results show the microhardness reached a saturation value of ~220 Hv.     

Deformation mechanisms in nanotwinned metal nanopillars

Nanotwinned metals are attractive in many applications because they simultaneously demonstrate high strength and high ductility, characteristics that are usually thought to be mutually exclusive. However, most nanotwinned metals are produced in polycrystalline forms and therefore contain randomly oriented twin and grain boundaries making it difficult to determine the origins of their useful mechanical properties. Here, we report the fabrication of arrays of vertically aligned copper nanopillars that contain a very high density of periodic twin boundaries and no grain boundaries or other microstructural features. We use tension experiments, transmission electron microscopy and atomistic simulations to investigate the influence of diameter, twin-boundary spacing and twin-boundary orientation on the mechanical responses of individual nanopillars. We observe a brittle-to-ductile transition in samples with orthogonally oriented twin boundaries as the twin-boundary spacing decreases below a critical value (～3-4?nm for copper). We also find that nanopillars with slanted twin boundaries deform via shear offsets and significant detwinning. The ability to decouple nanotwins from other microstructural features should lead to an improved understanding of the mechanical properties of nanotwinned metals.