Geometrically Necessary Dislocation Density Research Articles

Effects of Strain Rate on the GND Characteristics of Deformed Polycrystalline Pure Copper

Geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) play a pivotal role in polycrystalline plastic deformation, with their characteristics notably affected by strain rate and other factors, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood yet. We investigate GND characteristics in pure copper polycrystals subjected to tensile deformation at varying strain rates (0.001 s−1, 800 s−1, 1500 s−1, 2500 s−1). EBSD analysis reveals a non-linear increase in global GND density with the strain rate rising, and a similar trend is also observed for local GND densities near the grain boundaries and that in the grain interiors. Furthermore, GND density decreases from the grain boundaries towards the grain interiors and this decline slows down at high strain rates. The origin of these trends is revealed by the connections between the GND characteristics and the behaviors of relevant microstructural components. The increase in grain boundary misorientations at higher strain rates promotes the increase of GND density near the grain boundaries. The denser distribution of dislocation cells, observed previously at high strain rates, is presumed to increase the GND density in the grain interiors and may also contribute to the slower decline in GND density near the grain boundaries. Additionally, grain refinement by higher strain rates also promotes the increase in total GND density. Further, the non-linear variation with respect to the strain rate, as well as the saturation at high strain rates, for grain boundary misorientations and grain sizes align well with the non-linear trend of GND density, consolidating the intimate connections between the characteristics of GNDs and the behaviors of these microstructure components.

Dislocation distribution, crystallographic texture evolution, and plastic inhomogeneity of Inconel 718 fabricated by laser powder‐bed fusion

Dislocation distribution, crystallographic texture evolution, and plastic inhomogeneity of Inconel 718 fabricated by laser powder‐bed fusion

Restraining geometrically-necessary dislocations to the active slip systems in a crystal plasticity-based finite element framework

Strain gradients have been cast in the form of geometrically-necessary dislocations (GND) to relate the length-scale dependence of strength and to determine potential sites for failure initiation. The literature contains various different incompatibility measures, the main ones being: the total form (∇×Fp), the rate form for large displacements (∇×γ̇anaFp), and the slip gradient form (∇γ̇a). Here these different approaches are compared rigorously for the first time. Obtaining GND densities when using the total form is a rank-deficit linear problem, solved by singular value decomposition (SVD) known as the Least Squares Minimization (L2 method). Alternative methods to find GND densities such as Karush-Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) optimization are also investigated. Both L2 and KKT method predict unrealistic GND densities on inactive slip systems leading to excessive strain hardening; even for a single crystal single slip case. Therefore, the restriction of GNDs to the active slip systems by using a threshold based on the total slip is found to be essential. This proposed restriction reveals relatively consistent results for various single crystal single slip cases including: simple shear, uniaxial tension, and four-point bending. In addition, the small numerical differences in the slip leads to large discrepancies in the flow stress due to error accumulation, even for strain-gradient-free uniaxial tension, hence a threshold for the GND density increment (2×102 m−2) is used in all models to avoid formation of artificial GND densities. Finally, the proposed method is applied to GND density evolution for a grain inside a polycrystal aggregate having a complex stress state. The total forms, that use the curl of the plastic deformation gradient, with the active slip system restriction giving the lowest incompatibility errors suggest them to be the most reliable GND measures.

Microstructural and mechanistic insights into the Tension-Compression asymmetry of rapidly solidified Fe-Cr alloys: A phase field and strain gradient plasticity study

Rapid solidification in Additively Manufactured (AM) metallic materials results in the development of significant microscale internal stresses, which are attributed to the printing induced dislocation substructures. The resulting backstress due to the Geometrically Necessary Dislocations (GNDs) is responsible for the observed Tension-Compression (TC) asymmetry. We propose a combined Phase Field (PF)-Strain Gradient J2 Plasticity (SGP) framework to investigate the TC asymmetry in such microstructures. The proposed PF model is an extension of Kobayashi’s dendritic growth framework, modified to account for the orientation-based anisotropy and multi-grain interaction effects. The SGP model has consideration for anisotropic temperature-dependent elasticity, dislocation strengthening, solid solution strengthening, along with GND-induced directional backstress. This model is employed to predict the solute segregation, dislocation substructure and backstress development during solidification and the post-solidification anisotropic mechanical properties in terms of the TC asymmetry of rapidly solidified Fe-Cr alloys. It is observed that higher thermal gradients (and hence, cooling rates) lead to higher magnitudes of solute segregation, GND density, and backstress. This also correlates with a corresponding increase in the predicted TC asymmetry. The results presented in this study point to the microstructural factors, such as dislocation substructure and solute segregation, and mechanistic factors, such as backstress, which may contribute to the development of TC asymmetry in rapidly solidified microstructures.

A model of strain hardening for stage IV based on lattice curvature induced dislocations and grain fragmentation

A new model is presented for the interpretation of the nearly linear Stage IV large strain hardening behavior observed in polycrystalline metals. The approach is based on the orientation change of the grains that induces a curvature of the crystallographic lattice and produces geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs). The GND density is dependent on grain size, the latter is decreasing in a reciprocal manner with plastic strain in Stage IV. The GNDs are added to the dislocation density present at the end of Stage III in the Taylor relation to obtain an analytical formula for the strain hardening behavior of the material. The model is applied to polycrystalline nickel, copper, and commercially pure aluminum and produced good agreement with experiments. As grain fragmentation is a common phenomenon of all metals during large strain at low temperature, this model explains the universal nature of Stage IV.

In-situ EBSD tensile revealing the evolution mechanism of high angle grain boundaries in Al–Zn–Mg alloy profile with heterogeneous structures

The evolution of grain boundary (GB) of an Al–Zn–Mg alloy profile with heterogeneous structures is studied based on in-situ EBSD tensile. This evolution is not only related to its grain boundary misorientation angle (GBMA) and slip transfer parameter (m'/(Δb/b)) but also to the behavior of the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) tensor in the deformation. The effect of GBMA and m'/(Δb/b) for three types of high angle grain boundary (HAGB) on GND density and back stress has been revealed. The increase of GND density is not obvious near the HAGBs with 45°–55° GBMA of neighboring coarse grains or neighboring fibrous grains. The optimal grain boundary for forming back stress is the HAGBs between coarse grain and fibrous grain, which has 35°–45° GBMA and a low m'/(Δb/b). The back stress is hard to form near these HAGBs with 25°–35° GBMA and a low m'/(Δb/b). Combined with the neighboring grain type, slip transfer and GBMA, the new criterion is proposed to predict GND behavior near HAGBs.

New insights on dislocation forming mechanism of nickel-based superalloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion

In this work, the forming mechanism of dislocation in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) built IN738LC alloy was elucidated by studying the intrinsic relationships between the density and distribution of dislocation and the orientation and size of dendrite. The substructures with different dislocation densities and cell spacings were customized by controlling solidification conditions, and analyzed by multi-scale characterizing methods. The results show that an increase in geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density from 1.48 × 1014 to 1.82 × 1014m−2 is accompanied by a decrease in cell spacing from 1046 nm to 640 nm as the solidification rate increases. However, the relationship between GND density and cell spacing doesn't follow Ashby's model. This indicates that GNDs are not entirely generated by thermal strain itself. On the other hand, the characterization results of cell structures show that a number of misfit dislocations are formed by the thermal strain induced deflection growth of the dendrites. These prove that the dislocations are comprehensively generated by thermal strain itself and dendritic deflection growth.

Structural insights into T1 precipitation and age hardening by Zn alloying for T6 treated Al–Cu–Li based alloys with a high Cu/Li ratio

T1 (Al2CuLi) nano-phase precipitation has been a major focus in developing new multi-microalloyed Al–Cu–Li alloys. Nevertheless, more understanding is required. This work investigated the effect of Zn alloying on the microstructure and mechanical properties of multi-element Al–Cu–Li alloys with a high Cu/Li ratio using a combination of advanced electron microscopy and first-principles calculations. Zn alloying (i) induced a higher density of geometrically-necessary dislocations after solid-solution treatment, which increased the T1 nucleation rate during the early aging stage; (ii) promoted T1 growth by substituting Al or Cu atoms in the T1 structure; and (iii) profoundly increased the aging kinetics, the age hardening response, and the strength. In addition, the co-segregation of Zn, Mg and Cu at the T1/Al interface helped to stabilize the fine T1 nano-platelets. These structural insights into T1 precipitation and age hardening by Zn alloying can help to guide the optimal design of high-performance Zn micro-alloyed multi-element Al–Cu–Li alloys.

Origins of HDI stress in copper–brass laminates with dual-heterostructured interfaces

In this work, a copper–brass hetero-laminate with dual-heterostructured interfaces was fabricated by diffusion welding in combination with cold deformation and annealing. These dual-heterostructured interfaces possess the characteristics of both gradient interface and sharp interface. The evolutions of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) and local strains near these dual-heterostructured interfaces were investigated by in-situ and quasi in-situ tests. By employing a constitutive model, the evolutions of GND density and the HDI synergistic strengthening mechanism were systematically explored. The results demonstrated that the distribution of GNDs and local strains near the coarse/fine-grained interface exhibited a gradient feature, without any obvious concentrations of GNDs and strains, which can be attributed to the transition effect of the gradient interface. Furthermore, the density of sample-scale GNDs accumulated near the coarse/fine-grained interface was found to be at least one order of magnitude lower than that of grain-scale GNDs accumulated near grain boundaries. Both the constitutive model and experimental results confirmed that grain-scale GNDs serve as the primary origins of significant HDI stress, rather than the sample-scale GNDs.

Estimating dislocation density from electron backscatter diffraction data for an AZ31/Mg-0.6Gd hybrid alloy fabricated by high-pressure torsion

ABSTRACT The Geometrically Necessary Dislocation (GND) density was estimated from Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) data for an AZ31/Mg-0.6Gd (wt.%) hybrid material fabricated by high-pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature through an equivalent strain range of ϵeq = 0.3–144 using Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) and the Nye tensor approaches. The results show that generally the GND densities are significant at the beginning of the deformation (ϵeq = 0.3) and decrease in both alloys when ϵeq increases. The Mg-0.6Gd alloy exhibits a lower GND density due to rapid dynamic recrystallization. These results were compared to the GND densities measured in AZ31 and Mg-0.6Gd mono-materials processed separately by HPT under the same experimental conditions. In these mono-materials the GND densities increase with increasing equivalent strain up to 7 and then decrease with further straining. The Mg-0.6Gd and AZ31 regions of the hybrid material exhibit higher GND densities than the mono-materials particularly at low strain where the disc thickness and the bonding of the AZ31/Mg-0.6Gd interfaces cause more deformation heterogeneity in the hybrid material. It is shown that the GND density evolution as a function of ϵeq has the same tendency for the KAM and the Nye approaches but the average values are significantly higher with the Nye approach. An analysis suggests that the Nye approach overestimates the GND density of the Mg-based alloys.

Effect of deformation heterogeneity on development of geometrically necessary dislocation density in heterogeneous-structured CrMnFeCoNi high-entropy alloy

Heterogeneous-structured high-entropy alloys (HEAs) overcome strength-ductility trade-off, demonstrating potential for a wide range of applications in aerospace, defense and military fields. In this work, the evolution of geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density in a heterogeneous-structured CrMnFeCoNi HEA is investigated at different strains. This HEA consists of fine- and coarse-grained domains. GND density measurements are performed using electron backscatter diffraction. GND density increases significantly in the fine-grained domains while increases slightly in the coarse-grained domains. The disparity of GND density between the coarse and fine grains indicates a distinct deformation gradient, which is related to back-stress strengthening. At 7% strain, the GND density in the fine-grained domains reaches parity with that in the coarse-grained domains, indicating a transition from single slip to multiple slip. The local misorientation distributions are described by a lognormal function.

Initializing intragranular residual stresses within statistically equivalent microstructures for crystal plasticity simulations

We propose a mechanics framework to compute intragranular or type III residual stress within a polycrystalline aggregate for which experimental characterization of residual stress is unknown. The framework is built upon the inter-relationship between intragranular misorientation (IGM), geometrically necessary dislocation (GND), and long-range internal stress. Given a spatial distribution of IGM, we first calculate the spatial distribution of GND density; subsequently, we calculate the internal stress and strain fields due to the GND distribution. For demonstration, we consider a synthetic microstructure of a hexagonal close-packed material, namely Ti-7Al, wherein the grain size and orientation distributions are statistically equivalent to the distributions obtained via experimental characterization. We refer to this microstructure as a statistically equivalent microstructure (SEM). In an SEM, each grain is usually treated as a pristine crystal and therefore, the SEM contains no IGM. We propose a technique to introduce IGM within the SEM and, subsequently, calculate the GND density and residual stress distributions in a consistent manner. In the process, we ensure that statistical distributions of the IGM and residual strain within the SEM are statistically equivalent to the same obtained from the experimental characterization of Ti-7Al. While establishing statistically equivalent residual stress, the thermal effects during processing of Ti-7Al are implicitly taken into account. Next, we perform crystal plasticity finite element simulations to demonstrate the implications of the initialization of IGM and type III residual stress. Although the IGM and residual stress are related, the results suggest that the type III residual stress initialization has a much more pronounced effect on microplasticity-driven damage mechanisms, such as high cycle fatigue, even within a well-annealed material such as Ti-7Al, thereby emphasizing the need for its initialization for microstructure-sensitive fatigue analysis. Finally, we demonstrate that initializing thermally induced residual stress within Ti-7Al SEM through a cooling simulation, accounting for the anisotropic nature of the coefficient of thermal expansion, yields a grain-averaged residual stress distribution statistically similar to that obtained from our framework and is a special case of the type II residual stress implementation.

Excellent cryogenic mechanical properties of a novel medium-entropy alloy via vanadium-doping and hetero-grain/precipitation engineering

A novel vanadium-doped f.c.c. medium-entropy alloy (MEA) Ni42.4Co24.3Cr24.3Al3Ti3V3 was designed to achieve excellent cryogenic mechanical properties. The vanadium was added in order to increase the temperature-dependent friction stress, and aging of the MEA, which had been given a homogenization anneal at 1150 °C followed by cold-rolling to 80% reduction, at 700–900 °C was used both to produce partial recrystallization and precipitate L12 nanoparticles. Aging produced a heterogeneous microstructure composed of fine, soft recrystallized grains surrounded by harder, relatively-large non-recrystallized grains, containing L12-precipitates. Increasing the aging temperature from 700 °C to 900 °C promoted V partitioning into the f.c.c. matrix with the partitioning coefficient increasing from 0.8 to 1.9; the grain size increasing from 2.3 μm to 4.6 μm; an increase in the precipitate size from 10.5 nm to 80.0 nm; a reduction in the residual geometrically-necessary dislocation (GND) density from 9.0 × 1014 m−2 to 2.8 × 1014 m−2; and a decrease in the volume fraction of precipitates fraction from 28% to 14%. All three aged MEAs showed extraordinary cryogenic mechanical properties with an increase in the aging temperature resulting in an increase in strength but a decrease in ductility, viz, a yield strength (YS) of 1929 MPa, an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 2147 MPa, and an elongation to failure (ε) of 6.6% at 700 °C, YS ∼ 1735 MPa, UTS ∼ 1976 MPa, ε ∼ 9.0% at 800 °C, and YS ∼ 1274 MPa, UTS ∼ 1694 MPa, ε ∼ 24.8% at 900 °C. The dislocation back stress rose progressively with increasing strain and was invariably higher than the effective stress, accounting for 51–59% of the flow stress i.e. the back stress played a dominant role in the ultrahigh flow stress. Increasing the aging temperature also produced a greater abundance of nanoscale deformation twins, stacking faults, and dislocation networks, which are responsible for excellent strain hardening capacity and greater ductility. After deformation, the density of low-angle grain boundaries increased by 3–6 times to 0.6–1.3 μm/μm2, and the GND density increased by 4–6 times to 1.2–2.0 × 1015 m−2.

Mechanical properties and fracture behavior in copper-brass heterostructured fibers

Inspired by natural structures like bamboo and bone, the incorporation of heterogeneous fibrous structure plays a significant role in skillfully optimizing their mechanical properties. A set of copper-brass heterostructured fibers has been successfully designed and fabricated by a novel strategy, named DRA (diffusion welding, rotary swaging and annealing). This leads to a significant improvement in the synergy between strength and ductility, which can be attributed to the HDI (hetero-deformation induced) hardening effect caused by the high density of hetero-interfaces. The experimental results found that once the GND (geometrically necessary dislocations) density around the hetero-interface reaches the saturation, some GNDs can spread into the adjacent copper and brass zones to alleviate partial stress concentration. The presence of four-sides interfaces in the fibrous composite restricts the dislocation storage capacity of individual fiber, thereby abundant GNDs accumulating near the hetero-interface to produce significant stress concentration and HDI stress. Simultaneously, the severe stress concentration promotes the initiation and propagation of micro-cracks at the hetero-interfaces. These results lead to a more significant HDI hardening while a faster decrease in the work hardening rate of the hetero-fiber during the later stage of tension. Our findings have significantly enhanced our understanding of the deformation mechanism of heterostructured materials. Additionally, this innovative structural design strategy has proven to be highly valuable in the development of heterostructured materials with substantial potential for various applications.

Delineating dislocation structures and residual stresses in additively manufactured alloys

Dislocation structures and residual stresses have tremendous impact over the properties of alloys produced by fusion-based additive manufacturing (AM) processes. Yet, their origin is still unclear. We quantify and map, for the first time, the spatial distribution of dislocations, including those classified as geometrically necessary dislocations (GND), lattice strains, and type-III residual stresses in body-centered cubic (BCC) Ti-42Nb alloy and face-centered cubic (FCC) stainless steel (SS) 316L using a combination of electron channeling contrast imaging and cross correlation-based electron backscatter diffraction. Our findings reveal distinct residual stresses, lattice strains, and dislocation arrangement along cell walls in both alloys. In particular, Ti-42Nb demonstrates no GND network in cell walls, while SS316L exhibits a high GND density. We show that the Ti-42Nb alloy primarily accommodates solidification strains and cooling stresses elastically while SS316L accommodates them by elasto-plastic deformation and builds GNDs. Our work establishes relationships between dislocations and residual stresses in BCC and FCC LPBF alloys and highlights that not all LPBF-manufactured materials contain a dense dislocation network in their microstructures. These findings can also be extended to other AM alloys, therefore enabling a better control over their properties and performance.

Achieving high strength-ductility synergy in Mg-6Sn-3Zn-0.3Zr (wt.%) alloy via a combination of casting, pre-treatment and hot extrusion

Achieving the strength-ductility synergy in Mg alloys is a gigantic challenge, especially in rare-earth-free Mg alloys. In this study, a new Mg-Sn-Zn-Zr alloy with high ultimate tensile strength (∼284–326 MPa) without sacrificing elongation-to-failure (∼22.1–27.6%) was developed by utilizing casting, pre-treatment and hot extrusion. Strong random rather than basal texture is observed both in as-cast and pre-treatment samples. Subsequently, the strong texture is effectively weakened via hot extrusion whilst remaining random. More importantly, after hot extrusion, the grain sizes of as-cast and pre-treatment samples were significantly refined down to about 10 µm. Examination of as-extruded microstructures of the alloy reveals that the grain refinement is highly associated with the particle stimulated nucleation (PSN) and continuous/discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (C/DDRX) mechanisms. Moreover, the results suggest that the combination of pre-treatment and hot extrusion not only promotes multiplication of geometrically-necessary dislocations (GNDs) but enhances dynamic precipitation, which boosts the formation of fine and homogenous precipitates. Based on the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED), the precipitates are Mg2Sn phases. Furthermore, the main orientation relationship identified by high resolution TEM (HRTEM) between Mg2Sn phases and α-Mg matrix could be described as (111)Mg2Sn or (220)Mg2Sn ∥ (0001)Mg with a coherent interface. The refined grains size, ultra-fine precipitates and high density of GNDs would substantially contribute to the enhancement of the strength and the corresponding contributions are calculated to be ∼183–185 MPa, ∼30.9–38 MPa and ∼14.2–31.7 MPa, respectively. Besides, texture weakening or randomizing, grain refinement and coherent interfaces are mainly responsible for the high ductility. The current study can provide beneficial insights into the development of high-performance rare-earth-free Mg alloys with favorable microstructure via a combination of casting, pre-treatment and hot extrusion processing.

Effects of Building Directions on Microstructure, Impurity Elements and Mechanical Properties of NiTi Alloys Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion.

For NiTi alloys prepared by the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), changes in the building directions will directly change the preferred orientation and thus directly affect the smart properties, such as superelasticity, as well as change the distribution state of defects and impurity elements to affect the phase transformation behaviour, which in turn affects the smart properties at different temperatures. In this study, the relationship between impurity elements, the building directions, and functional properties; the effects of building directions on the crystallographic anisotropy; phase composition; superelastic properties; microhardness; geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density; and impurity element content of NiTi SMAs fabricated by LPBF were systematically studied. Three building directions measured from the substrate, namely, 0°, 45° and 90°, were selected, and three sets of cylindrical samples were fabricated with the same process parameters. Along the building direction, a strong <100>//vertical direction (VD) texture was formed for all the samples. Because of the difference in transformation temperature, when tested at 15 °C, the sample with the 45° orientation possessed the highest strain recovery of 3.2%. When tested at the austenite phase transformation finish temperature (Af)+10 °C, the 90° sample had the highest strain recovery of 5.83% and a strain recovery rate of 83.3%. The sample with the 90° orientation presented the highest microhardness, which was attributed to its high dislocation density. Meanwhile, different building directions had an effect on the contents of O, C, and N impurity elements, which affected the transformation temperature by changing the Ni/Ti ratio. This study innovatively studied the impurity element content and GND densities of compressive samples with three building directions, providing theoretical guidance for LPBFed NiTi SMA structural parts.

Multiscale microstructural consideration of enhanced shear strength in TiAl intermetallic/K4169 alloy composite joints prepared by vacuum brazing with (Ti, Zr)-Ni-based amorphous filler metal

TiAl intermetallic could be used to replace Ni-based alloy in assemblies to generate excellent specific strength. A (Ti,Zr)-Ni-based amorphous filler metal Ti21.25Zr25Ni25Cu18.75 (at.%) was designed using a cluster-plus-glue-atom model to successfully vacuum braze K4169 and TiAl bimetallic assemblies. At various brazing temperatures and holding time, the quantitative relationships between lattice distortion, grain boundary, dislocation density, and hardness, elastic modulus, shear strength of the joints were investigated. Meanwhile, the fracture mechanism of the joints was revealed. The brazed seam mainly consisted of solid diffusion reaction layers (Zones I and III) and filler metal residue zone (Zone II). When the brazing temperature increased to 1030 °C, grain refinement occurred in the brazed seam. Zone I was primarily composed of (Ni)ss[0-11]+TiNi[011]/(Cr,Fe,Ni)ss[0-11]/(Ti,Zr)Ni[0-1-1]+(Cr,Fe,Ni)ss[0-11]. The (Ti,Zr)(Ni,Cu)[001] and (Ti,Zr)(Ni,Cu)[101] intermetallic compound-based solid solutions were formed in Zone II. And the lattice distortion of (Ti,Zr)(Ni,Cu)[101] and (Ti,Zr)(Ni,Cu)[001] was 32.05% and 14.82%, respectively. As a result, the proportion of low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) and deformed grains in Zone II rose to 38.6% and 38.7%. In Zones I and III, the proportion of LAGBs reduced to 8% and 3.4%, respectively. As the holding time increased, the long-range diffusion of Al in Zone II caused the (Ti,Zr)(Ni,Cu)[001] with cubic structure to transform into (Ti,Zr)(Ni,Cu,Al)[00-1] with hexagonal crystal system structure, where the lattice distortion was 4.42% and 10.49% for a and c. At 1030 °C/10 min, the average geometrically necessary dislocation densities (GNDs) in Zones I, II and III were 9.87 × 1014 m−2, 8.55 × 1014 m−2 and 11.4 × 1014 m−2, respectively. Therefore, the shear strength of joints reached 322 MPa due to the lattice distortion, dislocation strengthening and fine grain strengthening. Meanwhile, the plastic and brittle hard phases were generated in Zone II and displayed a mechanical interlocking structure that contributed to the performance of the joint. Both (Ti,Zr)(Ni,Cu)[001] and (Ti,Zr)(Ni,Cu)[101] in Zone II formed along different low-index cleavage planes during transgranular fracture. The cracks initiated in this region extended to the interface between Zones I and II and exhibited bimodal grain characteristics.

Quasi in-situ investigation on kinking behavior of Fe-Cr-Al alloy during thermal compression

As a rare plastic deformation mechanism, kinking has attracted substantial attention because of its additional softening effect on the matrix and its heterogeneous refinement on the original grains. However, the details of kinking deformation and the influence of crystal orientation on itself have not been sufficiently elucidated yet, thereby resulting in inadequate microstructure optimization associated with kinking. In this work, the kinking formation process in Fe-Cr-Al alloy during thermal compression deformation has been investigated by using quasi in-situ electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). By employing the average Schmid factor (Average-SF) model, the influence of crystal orientation on kinking behavior is predicted accurately. The results suggest that the softening effect of kinking on the matrix can be attributed to the fact that the nucleation of pre kink bands (pre-KBs, misorientation <15°) leads to a pronounced reduction in geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) density within them. Besides, the ripening behavior of pre-KBs is closely associated with the variation of GNDs density and the overall slip activation capability of the matrix, and is essentially dependent on crystal orientation. The harder the crystal orientation, the smaller the Average-SF, the higher the increment rate of GNDs density, the larger the ripening rate pre-KBs. Under equivalent strain, orientations close to 〈111〉// compression direction (CD) have the highest probability of forming mature KBs with high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs, >15°), whereas KBs in those close to 〈001〉//CD almost always remain as pre-KBs with low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs).

A comparison of thermo-mechanically-treated and electron-beam-welded strong, ductile medium-entropy alloy: Microstructural evolution and deformation mechanisms

The microstructure, room-temperature deformation mechanisms, and weldability of the medium-entropy alloy (MEA) NiCoVAl0.2 have been investigated. Defect-free welded joints have been produced with good mechanical properties, indicating excellent weldability. The microstructure consists of f.c.c. grains containing many b.c.c. Ni2VAl (Ni26.1Co33.5V27.8Al12.6) and few σ-type precipitates (Ni15.5Co21.3V62.7Al0.5). Decreasing the aging temperature from 1100 °C to 900 °C, produced a higher area fraction of Ni2VAl precipitates (8 → 25%), much smaller L21 precipitates (7.2 → 1.4 μm), finer grains (17.1 → 2.4 μm), and presence of σ-type precipitate, resulting in simultaneous improvements in both the strength and ductility for both the thermo-mechanically treated (TMT) and electron beam welded (EBWed) MEA. The TMT MEA shows an excellent combination of strength (YS∼993 MPa, UTS∼1478 MPa) and ductility (30.3%), while the EBWed MEA shows slightly lower strength (YS∼822 MPa, UTS∼1194 MPa) and significantly reduced ductility (12.3%), i.e. a YS, UTS, and ductility of 83%, 81%, and 41%, respectively, of those of the TMT MEA. With increasing strain, both low-angle grain boundaries and geometrically-necessary dislocation (GND) densities increased. The TMT MEA has a higher GND density (1.6 × 1015 m−2) than the 9.1 × 1014 m−2 of EBWed MEA after strained to fracture. For both the TMT and EBWed MEA aged at 900 °C, the deformation was accommodated by dislocation slip, dislocation looping around precipitates, and nano-twinning. However, for both the TMT and EBWed MEA aged at 1100 °C, more abundant deformation twinning and an fcc→hcp shear transformation appeared, which may originate from a lower stacking fault energy due to differences in the f.c.c. matrix composition.