Comparing EAM Potentials to Model Slip Transfer of Sequential Mixed Character Dislocations Across Two Symmetric Tilt Grain Boundaries in Ni

Abstract

Slip transfer via sequential pile-up dislocations across grain boundaries (GBs) plays an important role in plastic deformation in polycrystalline face-centered cubic (FCC) metals. In this work, large scale concurrent atomistic-continuum (CAC) method simulations are performed to address the slip transfer of mixed character dislocations across GBs in FCC Ni. Two symmetric tilt GBs, a Σ3{111} coherent twin boundary (CTB) and a Σ11{113} symmetric tilt GB (STGB), are investigated using five different fits to the embedded-atom method (EAM) interatomic potential to assess the variability of predicted dislocation-interface reaction. It is shown that for the Σ3 CTB, two of these potentials predict dislocation transmission while the other three predict dislocation absorption. In contrast, all five fits to the EAM potential predict that dislocations are absorbed by the Σ11 STGB. Simulation results are examined in terms of several slip transfer criteria in the literature, highlighting the complexity of dislocation/GB interactions and the significance of multiscale modeling of the slip transfer process.