Critical Resolved Shear Stress Values Research Articles

Investigation of failure analysis on fatigue crack initiation influenced by critical resolved shear stress in X10CrMoVNb9-1 steel

This study investigates the influences of the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) values on calculating the number of cycles for the fatigue crack initiation cycle of X10CrMoVNb9-1 (P91) under cyclic loading conditions at room temperature while considering varied surface roughness on microstructure models. The micropillar compression test was utilized to calculate the CRSS values, incorporating the Schmid factor, the Frank–Read source together with the Hall–Petch effect, measuring the diameter of the micropillar after compression, and the Mlikota and Schmauder equation. Two primary microstructure surface roughness – plane surface roughness (PS) and surface roughness (SR) with an average of 1 µm – were generated using the Voronoi Tessellation (VT) method. Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations were conducted to identify different stress distributions across these artificial microstructures. These stress distributions were subsequently analyzed using the physics-based Tanaka-Mura model (TMM) to estimate the number of cycles for fatigue crack initiation at several stress amplitudes and six types of microstructure. The number of cycles varies significantly at lower stress amplitudes and convergence at higher stress amplitudes. The study of the CRSS of steel P91 offers a significant advancement in fatigue research, particularly with implications for power plants.

Strengthening mechanisms for microstructures containing unimodal and bimodal γ′ precipitates in ATI 718Plus

The influence of γ′ precipitate size distribution on the deformation mechanisms under tensile loading in ATI 718Plus was studied. A set of aging treatments within the temperature range of 720 °C–900 °C was performed on solution-treated samples to obtain various γ′ precipitate size distributions. Unimodal and bimodal γ′ precipitate size distributions were achieved through single-step and two-step aging sequences, respectively, and such microstructures were tensile tested to failure to assess their yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation-to-failure. Some of the tensile samples were interrupted after achieving 3–4 % plastic strain, and the deformed microstructures were examined using transmission electron microscopy to investigate the γ′ precipitate-dislocation interactions. For the unimodal γ′ precipitate size distribution samples with the smaller γ′ precipitates (radius ∼ 7 nm), dislocations sheared through the precipitates. Both dislocation loops and paired dislocations were observed for the microstructures containing larger γ′ precipitates (radius ∼ 24 nm). The microstructure containing a bimodal γ′ precipitate size distribution, which included average γ′ precipitate radii of ∼6 nm and ∼28 nm, exhibited shearing as the dominant deformation mechanism, and this microstructure exhibited the highest strength values. The experimental observations were rationalized based on the theoretically-calculated critical resolved shear stress values for shearing and looping and a modified model for predicting the yield strength for bimodal microstructures was introduced.

Effect of phase boundary on the critical resolved shear stress and dislocation behavior of dual-phase titanium alloy

Interphase boundary plays a dominant role in the mechanical properties of dual-phase titanium alloys, and therefore mechanistic understandings of the effect of phase boundary on the plasticity is significant to tailor the microstructure for desired performance. In this study, compression tests were conducted on the Ti-6Al-4V micro-pillars with a dual-phase lamellar structure and designated crystallographic orientation of pillars and the number of interphase boundaries in the pillars were achieved by elaborate processing, to reveal the interphase boundary and its quantity on the dislocation behavior and critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) of the alloy. Transmission electron microscopy was employed to characterize the dislocations and their interplay with interphase boundaries during compression. It is found that in the pillars oriented for prismatic 〈a3〉 slip, which represents the hard mode for dislocation transmission through the α/β phase boundary, the strain distribution in the pillars was significantly delocalized by introducing interphase boundaries. More dislocation slip bands are generated owing to the strengthening effect from the interphase boundaries during compression, which results in a more homogeneous strain distribution. Moreover, quantitative analyses of the contribution of interphase boundaries on the CRSS were performed, and the interphase strength for prismatic 〈a3〉 slip was experimentally determined to be ∼ 50 MPa. The effect of pillar size on the CRSS value was also assessed. Although the CRSS of the pillars increases when their size decreases, the size dependency becomes much less pronounced when more interphase boundaries are introduced into the pillars. The underlying mechanisms for these phenomena were discussed based on the experimental results and finite element modeling. These results provide some new insights into the plasticity and strengthening mechanism of Ti-6Al-4V alloy, which are also applicable to other dual-phase titanium alloys.

Distorted dislocation cores and asymmetric glide resistances in titanium

The determination of Critical Resolved Shear Stress (CRSS) in titanium for basal, prismatic, and pyramidal slip-planes without empirical constants is presented by combining Density Functional Theory (DFT) and anisotropic elasticity. A new mechanism leading to tension-compression (T-C) asymmetry in the CRSS levels has been revealed for the first time. The conditions for this asymmetry are established, involving a complex interplay between the dislocation core-structure and core-advance behavior. The three conditions for T-C asymmetry that need to be simultaneously satisfied can be summarized as: (1) a medium stacking fault width, d, (3<d/bF<10, where bF is the magnitude of the Burgers vector of the full dislocation), (2) an asymmetric core-structure of the extended dislocation (ξ1≠ξ2, where ξ1 and ξ2 are the core-widths of the first and second partials, respectively), and (3) intermittent motion of the partials (Δd/bF≠0, where Δd is the magnitude of fluctuation in stacking fault width during intermittent motion). Pyramidal-slip in titanium satisfies all three conditions, resulting in significant T-C asymmetry. The CRSS theory considers a Wigner-Seitz (W-S) cell based domain area assigned to each lattice site for the calculations of core-energies accurately capturing the slip-plane lattice. The W-S based approach is essential due to the lower symmetry of the HCP crystal circumventing potential errors associated with the one-dimensional atomic-row approximation. Dislocation core structures are obtained for all the slip-systems in titanium showing significant distortion of the disregistry profile governing the core-advance behavior. The CRSS values predicted from the theory show agreement with the experimental CRSS levels reported in the literature.

Deformation mechanisms in the α phase of the Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo titanium alloy: In situ experiments and simulations

Titanium alloys are widely employed in aerospace applications due to an outstanding combination of properties. The variety of loading conditions and microstructures encountered in industrial components is urging the development of microstructure sensitive modeling capabilities. In particular, reliable predictions require a good knowledge of operating deformation mechanisms. The present study aims at providing a thorough characterization of deformation mechanisms in the near-α Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo alloy using experiments and simulations. The sequential activation of deformation mechanisms in the α phase was monitored in situ during a tensile test carried out in a scanning electron microscope using a combination of slip traces analysis and electron back-scattered diffraction. Basal slip is activated first, and prismatic slip activity, which proceeds at a higher macroscopic stress level, is needed for a significant creep/relaxation to occur. While little evidence of 〈a〉-type pyramidal slip was found, 〈c + a〉 pyramidal slip involved first-order pyramidal planes and operates at stress levels near or above the 0.2% proof stress. Atomic force microscopy characterization of the features of the different slip modes revealed that 〈a〉 slip is coarser and wavier than 〈c + a〉 slip. Twinning, which is usually neglected in such alloys within this strain regime, was observed to be slip stimulated at a plastic strain as low as 0.5%. Crystal plasticity parameters leading to an accurate simulation of the activation sequence of deformation mechanisms were then determined. For this purpose, critical resolved shear stress values were derived for the different slip and twinning modes using specific approaches and subsequently validated using crystal plasticity simulations based on fast-Fourier transforms.

On the inherent strength of Cr23C6 with the complex face-centered cubic D84 structure

The deformation behavior of single crystals of Cr23C6 with the complex D84 crystal structure based on the face-centered cubic lattice has been investigated by micropillar compression as a function of crystal orientation and specimen size at room temperature. For the first time, the {111}<1‾01> slip system is identified to be the only operative slip system. The 1/2<1‾01> dislocation dissociates into two partial dislocations with identical collinear Burgers vectors (b) as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The energy of the stacking fault bounded by two coupled partial dislocations with the b = 1/4<1‾01> is evaluated from their separation distances to be 840 mJ/m2. The critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) for {111}<1‾01> slip increases with the decrease in the specimen size, following the inverse power-law relationship with a relatively low exponent of ∼ -0.19. The room-temperature bulk CRSS value evaluated by extrapolating this inverse relationship to the specimen size of 20∼30 μm is 0.79 ± 0.15 GPa. The exact position of the slip plane among many different parallel {111} atomic planes and possible dislocation dissociations on the relevant slip planes are discussed based on the calculated generalized stacking fault energy (GSFE) curves. The inter-block layer slip is deduced to occur for {111}<1‾01> slip based on the TEM/STEM observations and the result of GSFE calculations. Finally, plausible atomic structures for stacking faults on (111) and coherent twin boundaries are discussed.

Plastic deformation of single crystals of the equiatomic Cr-Fe-Co-Ni medium entropy alloy – A comparison with Cr-Mn-Fe-Co-Ni and Cr-Co-Ni alloys

The plastic deformation behavior of single crystals of the equiatomic Cr-Fe-Co-Ni medium-entropy alloy was investigated in compression and tension from 9 K to 1373 K. The critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) for {111}<11¯0> slip is 44–45 MPa at room temperature and does not exhibit significant tension-compression asymmetry. It increases rapidly with decreasing temperature but exhibits a dulling of the temperature dependence below 77 K due to the inertia effect. The 0 K CRSS was determined to be 200 MPa by extrapolating the temperature dependence of CRSS from above 77 K to lower temperatures. This CRSS value is higher than that of the equiatomic Cr-Mn-Fe-Co-Ni high-entropy alloy, 174 MPa, but lower than that of the equiatomic Cr-Co-Ni medium-entropy alloy, 225 MPa. The rank of CRSS at 0 K of the three equiatomic alloys is consistent with the prediction of some solid solution strengthening models. The stacking fault energy (SFE) of the Cr-Fe-Co-Ni is about 20 mJ/m2, which falls between those of the Cr-Mn-Fe-Co-Ni and Cr-Co-Ni alloys. Deformation twinning in the Cr-Fe-Co-Ni MEA occurs at a shear stress of 249 MPa on conjugate (1¯1¯1) planes in the form of Lüders deformation at 77 K. The relationship between twinning stress and SFE is not monotonic as previously believed, but displays a concave with a minimum twinning stress at an intermediate SFE value.

Role of Crystal Orientation in the Dynamic Strength of Magnesium Alloy AZ31B

The effect of grain orientation distribution on the dynamic strength of highly textured magnesium alloy AZ31B has been studied in a series of plate-impact experiments. Specimens with thicknesses between 0.45 mm and 2 mm were cut parallel and perpendicular to the material extrusion direction and shock loaded to impact stresses between 1.4 GPa and 3.4 GPa. The dynamic strength is found to be highly dependent on the loading direction, with loading along the extrusion direction exhibiting significantly higher Hugoniot elastic limits than the transverse direction, including a much slower precursor decay rate. Application of an orientation-based analysis framework shows that the yield point of the polycrystalline material can be predicted reasonably well from its grain orientation distribution, predicated upon the use of dynamic critical resolved shear stress values from single-crystal data modified by a fitted strengthening factor. It is shown that the strong dependence on loading orientation in Mg AZ31 is caused by the relative differences in slip system activity and the slip anisotropies inherent to the hexagonal close packed crystal structure.

Determination of critical resolved shear stresses associated with slips in pure Zn and Zn-Ag alloys via micro-pillar compression

The room-temperature plastic deformation behavior of pure Zn and Zn-Ag (0–2.2 at.%) biodegradable alloys has been investigated via uniaxial in situ micro-pillar compression tests performed within a scanning electron microscope. The critical resolved shear stresses (CRSS) were quantified as a function of micro-pillar diameter. The compression of single crystal micro-pillars was performed at various strain rates in carefully selected grains, the crystallographic orientation of which facilitates deformation either via basal 0001〈112¯0〉 or prismatic 101¯0〈112¯0〉 slip. The CRSS values increased with decreased micro-pillar diameter, revealing a more pronounced size effect in pure Zn deformed via basal slip. The observed solid solution strengthening effect in Zn-Ag alloys with increasing Ag content was associated with a CRSS increase from 26.6 MPa to 37.0 MPa (by ∼ 40 %) in the basal slip system and from 99.1 MPa to 188.4 MPa (by ∼ 104 %) in the prismatic slip system. The extraordinarily high CRSS values for basal slip activated in pure Zn and Zn-0.14Ag alloy compared to the solid solution strengthening model was attributed to the critically low dislocation density. In the Zn-Ag alloy with Ag content > 0.5 at.% higher dislocation densities are expected, which result in a more predictable plastic deformation behavior.

Three-dimensional crystal plasticity and HR-EBSD analysis of the local stress-strain fields induced during twin propagation and thickening in magnesium alloys

Present work focuses on analysis of the stress and strain fields inside and around the individual {10–12} twin in magnesium alloy. The 3D crystal plasticity model represents twin as an ellipsoidal inclusion surrounded by the matrix. Five different twin thicknesses and three different lateral twin lengths are used for stress/strain analysis. The simulations are complemented with experimental observations using high-resolution electron backscattered diffraction. The simulations and experiments show a similar distribution of the shear stress and the spatial activity of individual slip systems (basal, prismatic, pyramidal). Plasticity induced inside the twin is dominantly caused by the prismatic dislocations slip and does not influence twin back stress which is identical to pure elastic twin. The twin with larger lateral dimension requires lower equilibrium stress which suggests anisotropic twin propagation and increased thickness of such twins. The lateral twin propagation is mostly influenced by prismatic and pyramidal slip in the twin vicinity. The twin thickness can reach a maximal level that is driven by the critical resolved shear stress values for dislocation slip with the significant influence of basal slip.

Micromechanical properties of low-carbon martensitic stainless steel by microtensile experiments

This paper presents a detailed experimental approach to extract the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) and the saturation stress of the elementary constituents of the microstructure of quenched S41500 martensitic stainless steel by conducting various microscopy observations and microtensile testing. To the authors' knowledge, the direct extraction of micromechanical properties of a single martensite variant by tensile testing has never been performed. However, the literature does propose studies that measured the mechanical properties of the bulk or small volumes containing a few variants. In this work, a particular attention is dedicated to the preparation of the specimens from the macro to the microscale, where final machining of test specimens was made using a Gallium Focused Ion Beam (Ga-FIB). In the present work, the CRSSs of {110}, {211} and {123} plane-related slip systems were directly measured. The post-experiment analysis showed no significant difference between the slip resistance of those planes. To relate this effort with previous work, a comparison with results from the literature was made using a similar testing procedure in lath martensite, revealing similar values of CRSS. The slip resistance saturation was also measured on different slip systems, and the data suggest a very similar hardening behavior for most of the samples tested. Finally, cross-slip remains, in this alloy, a very potent mechanism to reduce the strain hardening that can arise from clusters of nanoparticles observed by TEM.

Critical Shape for the Growth of Grain Boundary Twin Embryos in Mg and Mg Alloys: Crystal Plasticity Modeling

Application of polycrystalline hexagonal close packed (HCP) metals in engineering designs has been constrained by their anisotropic responses due to twinning and limited plasticity. In deformation, twins most often initiate at grain boundaries (GBs), and thicken and propagate across the grain. In this work, the GB twin embryos in Mg and Mg alloys, and the conditions that influence their propagation are investigated. Using a micromechanical crystal plasticity model, the role of embryo shape on the driving forces prevailing at the embryo boundaries that could support its expansion is studied. The modeled embryos are either planar, extending more in the shear direction than normal to the twin plane, or equiaxed. Results show that the thinner the embryo, the greater the driving forces for both thickening and forward propagation. Alloys with low prismatic-to-basal critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) ratios promote embryo thickening and large CRSS values for the slip mode that primarily accommodates the twin shear encourage propagation. The neighboring grains with orientations that enable local accommodation of the embryo twin shear by pyramidal slip promote forward propagation but have little effect on thickening. When two like embryos lie along the same GB, their paired interaction promotes forward propagation but hinders thickening.

Plastic deformation of bulk and micropillar single crystals of Mo5Si3 with the tetragonal D8m structure

The plastic deformation behavior of single crystals of Mo5Si3 with the tetragonal D8m structure has been investigated in compression as a function of crystal orientation and temperature (1200–1500°C) in the bulk form and as a function of crystal orientation and specimen size at room temperature in the micropillar form. The slip system of {112¯}<111> is identified to be the only one that operates at high temperatures above 1200°C in bulk crystals, while any plastic flow is not detected at room temperature in micropillar crystals. The critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) for {112¯}<111> slip at room temperature estimated from the extrapolation of the temperature dependence of CRSS obtained for bulk crystals is considerably higher than fracture stresses obtained for micropillar crystals, indicating that the room-temperature brittleness is due in principle to the difficulty in dislocation motion arising from the very high CRSS value. The value of fracture toughness evaluated with a chevron-notched micro-beam specimen with a notch plane parallel to (001) is 1.54 MPa•m1/2, which is comparable to those reported for other transition-metal (TM) silicides of the TM5Si3-type. The selection of {112¯} slip plane and the dissociation of the 1/2<111> dislocation on the slip plane are discussed based on generalized stacking fault energy (GSFE) curves theoretically calculated by first-principles calculations.

Atomistic simulations and theoretical modeling of dislocation slip and yield response of industrial tantalum alloys

Dislocation core structure, critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) and mobility of ½<111> screw and edge dislocations in BCC Ta-8%W alloy was studied using molecular statics and dynamics simulations at 5 and 300 K. Two EAM potentials are available to study the Ta-W system - Johnson-Zhou and Chen potentials. Both potentials give good estimates of edge dislocation mobility in Ta and Ta-8%W. However, the Johnson-Zhou potential predicts a considerably higher CRSS for screw dislocations in pure Ta as compared to experiments. Thus, only the Chen potential is used to study solid solution strengthening in Ta-8%W alloy. The CRSS for Ta-8%W alloy with Chen potential was estimated to be 600 MPa and 300 MPa for screw dislocations at 5 and 300 K, respectively. Edge dislocations exhibit twinning-anti twinning asymmetry in CRSS given the asymmetry in atomic disregistry and dislocation misfit across the glide plane. The simulation results for screw and edge dislocation mobility were found to be in good agreement with the CRSS values from the analytical model of Rao and Suzuki for screw dislocations and the model of Maresca and Curtin for edge dislocations. The study of stability and expansion of shear dislocation loops revealed that theoretical results for loop stabilizing stress from Scattergood and Bacon's equation agreed with results from direct atomistic simulations. The current work predicts that screw dislocations control the experimental yield behavior of the Ta-8at%W alloy at all temperatures. The CRSS for Ta-8%W alloy is a result of solid solution strengthening due to randomly dispersed W solutes in Ta.

Slip activity during low-stress cold creep deformation in a near-α titanium alloy

Near-α titanium alloys are known to be susceptible to cold dwell fatigue (CDF) debit, which has been linked to the occurrence of cold creep during high-load dwell times superimposed onto low cycle fatigue loading. In order to shed new light on the deformation mechanisms during cold dwell and to understand better the role of the microstructure, two different bimodal microstructures (fine and coarse transformation product) of TIMETAL®834 were investigated at stress levels below the 0.2% proof stress using a combination of grain orientation mapping and in-situ electron microscopy imaging. This enabled in-depth analysis of 2D slip patterns and slip system activity using High-Resolution Digital Image Correlation (HRDIC), showing that in both microstructures basal slip is initially the dominant slip mode before prismatic slip activity increases approaching the 0.2% proof stress. Comparing the two constituents in the bimodal microstructure, first slip bands are localised predominantly in primary α grains, indicating higher strength of secondary α colonies, particularly for finer transformation products. During 10 min load holds at stresses below 0.2% proof stress, more plastic strain and longer connected slip traces across several grains were observed in the sample with coarse transformation product, indicating higher susceptibility to cold creep deformation.Full-field crystal deformation modelling was used to determine local stresses in individual grains at the onset of plasticity and test the hypothesis that the dominance of basal slip at low-stress levels can be explained by the elastic anisotropy in Ti alloys. While consideration of elastic anisotropy increased resolved shear stress (RSS) values for basal slip relative to prismatic slip, it did not unambiguously explain the early activation of basal slip. Furthermore, thermal residual stresses at the crystal level, due to the anisotropy of coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE), were included in the simulation, which created a wider spread of the RSS data but did not preferentially promote high RSS values for grains well aligned for basal slip. In the absence of an unambiguous conclusion, it is hypothesised that basal slip might display lower critical resolved shear stress values than typically reported but high work hardening rates compared to prismatic slip.

Dislocation structures in a Ti–6Al–4V alloy subjected to cyclic tensile deformation

The present work investigates dislocation structures developed within both the α and β phase of a Ti–6Al–4V alloy undergoing cyclic tensile straining. The cyclic loading-unloading was performed using the stress levels of 830 and 580 MPa (R∼0.7) at a strain rate of 2 × 10-3 s-1 to 15125 cycles, as part of a synchrotron in-situ experiment. The macroscopic yield stress was about 950 MPa. The dislocation arrangement, type and density were studied post-mortem employing transmission electron microscopy, together with the automatic determination of crystal lattice orientations via precession nanobeam diffraction. The deformation took place exclusively through dislocation slip and no presence of deformation twins was detected within either of the studied phases. The α phase dislocation structure displayed some similarity to that reported for monotonic deformation and no evidence of the formation of regular planar dislocation networks, proposed in the literature, has been found. The prevalent deformation modes were prismatic and basal glide, based on the experimentally determined Burgers vectors together with the global Schmid factor and reported critical resolved shear stress values. The <a>-type dislocations observed after deformation generally possessed a large screw component, with most of them being of a pure screw type. There were also some <c+a> dislocations present within the α phase and these typically displayed a mixed character. Dislocation Burgers vectors present after straining within the β phase frequently deviated from the Schmid factor rule and these dislocations were often wavy and largely possessed a significant screw component.

Quantifying the Uncertainty of Critical Resolved Shear Stress Values Derived from Nano-Indentation in Hexagonal Ti Alloys

Quantifying the Uncertainty of Critical Resolved Shear Stress Values Derived from Nano-Indentation in Hexagonal Ti Alloys

Room-temperature deformation of single crystals of transition-metal disilicides (TMSi2) with the C11b (TM = Mo) and C40 (TM = V, Cr, Nb and Ta) structures investigated by micropillar compression

The room-temperature deformation behavior of single crystals of transition-metal (TM) disilicides with the tetragonal C11b (TM=Mo) and hexagonal C40 (TM = V, Cr, Nb and Ta) structures has been investigated by micropillar compression as a function of specimen size, paying special attention to the deformation behavior of the equivalent slip ({110}<1¯11> and (0001)<21¯1¯0>, respectively for the two structures). In contrast to bulk single crystals, in which high temperature at least exceeding 400 °C is usually needed for the operation of the equivalent slip, plastic flow is observed by the operation of the equivalent slip at room temperature for all these TM disilicides in the micropillar form. The critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) value exhibits the ‘smaller is stronger’ behavior following an inverse power-law relationship for all these TM disilicides. The bulk CRSS values at room temperature estimated from the specimen size dependence are 620 ± 40, 240 ± 20, 1,440 ± 10, 640 ± 20 and 1,300 ± 30 MPa for MoSi2, VSi2, CrSi2, NbSi2 and TaSi2, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that the equivalent slip at room temperature occurs by a conventional shear mechanism for all TM disilicides, indicating the change in deformation mechanism from synchroshear in bulk to conventional shear in micropillars occurs in CrSi2 with decreasing temperature.

Understanding the role of local texture variation on slip activity in a two-phase titanium alloy

During plastic deformation of engineering alloys with a hcp crystal structure, slip systems with different critical resolved shear stresses can be activated. In the case of two-phase titanium alloys such as Ti-6Al-4V, it is well established that various a→ and c→+a→ type slip systems can be activated in the α-phase, which dominates this alloy. However, their relative likelihood is less well established particularly when comparing prismatic a→ and basal a→ slip which are known to have similar critical resolved shear stress values. By combining EBSD-based grain orientation mapping and high-resolution digital image correlation, grain specific shear strain mapping and Burgers vector direction analysis was carried out after small levels of plasticity in two differently microtextured Ti-6Al-4V samples. This enabled the different types of strain heterogeneity and strain patterns to be linked to the underlying microstructure and microtexture. The detailed analysis shows that the dominance of a particular a→ type slip mode greatly varies with the local texture and that shear strain patterns extend across many grains when soft macrozones (clusters of similarly orientated grains) are present. The work highlights that the relative displacement ratio analysis significantly improves slip trace analysis in hcp crystals by reducing the cases of ambiguous solutions and that grain neighbourhood can have a greater impact on slip system activation than Schmid factor.

Manipulating deformation mechanisms with Y alloying of Mg

The effect of Y concentration on the slip and twinning mechanisms in binary Mg–Y alloys are investigated using transmission electron microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction, and visco-plastic self-consistent polycrystal constitutive modeling. Four concentrations of Y are studied in hot-rolled and recrystallized sheet material. The materials were deformed in tension and compression in the rolling direction and compression in the normal direction in order to invoke distinct proportions of slip and twin mechanisms with each test. Within the single crystal hardening model used in polycrystal modeling, a slip-twin interaction law is introduced to account for dislocation density reductions due to dislocation absorption during twin boundary migration. We show that increasing Y concentration reduces the intensities of both the initial and deformation textures. During deformation, the plastic anisotropy in yield stress, the tension-compression asymmetry, and amount of 101‾2⟨1‾011⟩ twinning is shown to decrease with increasing Y. For each alloy, the model identifies a single set of material parameters that successfully reproduced all measured stress-strain curves and achieved agreement with measured deformation textures and twin area fractions. Transcending texture effects, the model interpretation of the flow responses suggests that increased concentrations of Y increase the critical resolved shear stress for basal slip but have negligible effects on the other slip modes. The reduced plastic anisotropy with increases in Y is explained by a concomitant decrease in the prismatic-to-pyramidal slip critical resolved shear stress ratio. The model suggests that their nearly equivalent critical resolved shear stress values lead to the enhanced non-basal activity of Mg–Y alloys, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. The calculations suggest that beyond any texture differences, this reduction in twinning can be attributed to a slightly increased resistance for 101‾2⟨1‾011⟩ twin propagation, particularly in the binary with the highest Y content.