The influence of polycrystal grain size on several mechanical properties of materials

The ductile-brittle transition, hardness, fatigue, and creep behavior of polycrystalline materials are known to be influenced under certain conditions by the polycrystal grain size. These properties have been correlated, historically, with the material stress-strain behavior. The (Hall-Petch) stress-grain size relations are useful for describing the complete stress-strain behavior for polycrystals and, therefore, these relations provide a reference for understanding the manner in which these other properties should also depend on the grain size. In some cases, the grain size dependence of a particular property follows directly from this connection.