Direct Observation of Two-Dimensional Grain Boundary Sliding and Switching in ODS Ferritic Steel

Abstract

High-temperature tensile deformation was performed using an oxide-dispersionstrengthened (ODS) ferritic steel,, which has grain structure largely elongated and aligned in one direction, in the perpendicular direction. In the superplastic region II, two-dimensional grain boundary sliding (GBS) was achieved, in which the material did not shrink in the grain-axis direction and grain-boundary steps appeared only in the surface perpendicular to the grain axis. In this condition, a classical grain switching event was observed. Using kernel average misorientation maps drawn with SEM/EBSD, dominant deformation mechanisms and accommodation processes for GBS were examined in the different regions. Cooperative grain boundary sliding, in which only some of grain boundaries slide, was also observed.