The evolution of persistent slip bands in copper single crystals

Abstract

The transformation of the so-called matrix structure into persistent slip bands (PSBs) during the fatigue of copper single crystals has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). By cyclic pre-deformation a saturated, hard matrix structure was established which is not capable of further hardening. A sudden increase of the applied amplitude of the resolved plastic shear strain initiated the transformation of the matrix structure into PSBs. The number of deformation cycles with enlarged amplitude of resolved plastic shear strain was increased from experiment to experiment in order to obtain crystals with PSBs in consecutive stages of evolution. Surface observations indicated strain localization well before first fragments of the typical ladder-like dislocation pattern of PSBs could be identified in the bulk. From our experiments, we conclude that the transformation from the matrix structure into PSBs very likely starts from the centers of the veins which exhibit small dislocation-poor, soft areas. These areas are enclosed by a harder shell, where a high dislocation density is maintained and which may develop into first dislocation walls. During the evolution of PSBs the frequency distribution of the wall spacings narrows. This indicates that a shift of dislocation walls (1–2 nm/cycle) plays an important role in establishing the typical regular ladder-like dislocation pattern of well-developed PSBs.