Strain-induced Grain Research Articles

Texture and strain-induced abnormal grain growth in cryogenic friction stir processing of severely deformed aluminum alloy

Abnormal grain growth (AGG) phenomenon was observed during cryogenic friction stir processing (FSP) of a severely deformed 1050-aluminum. An ultrahigh cooling rate and a lower peak temperature ahead of the rotating tool along with the preliminarily stored strain within the base metal resulted in the AGG. This event was pronounced not only ahead of the FSP tool, but also in heat affected zone (HAZ). The abnormally grown grains were strain-free and they proceeded to grow beyond the high-angle grain boundaries evolved in the base metal. Also, the incident of AGG was simultaneous with the development of Cube and Goss texture components. The combined effects associated with the development of a dominant shear texture and the existence of strain-free grains in the base metal was found to be linked to the AGG. The base metal encompassed mainly deformed grains with the orientation close to the shear texture component B/B¯. However, other orientations such as θ-fiber texture were evident too. The observation of abnormally grown grains with orientations different from the dominant shear texture suggested the activation of texture-induced AGG. On the other hand, strain-induced grain boundary migration would be responsible for the AGG of a number of strain-free grains with orientations close to the dominant shear texture.

Grain-Refined Microstructure and Hard Surface Layer Produced by SMRGT Process for Improved Corrosion Behavior of Mg-3Al-1Zn Alloy

To improve the surface properties and performance, a grain-refined surface layer was produced on AZ31B Mg alloy by a newly developed surface nano-crystallization and hardening process called surface mechanical rolling grinding treatment (SMRGT). The grain size refinement and minimal surface hardening were confirmed by the microstructure observations, XRD results and microhardness tests and were attributed to the multipass small strain-induced plastic deformation of the material during the SMRGT process. A nano-grain surface layer (average grain size of ~ 100 nm) and a graded microhardness variation (average ~ 113 HV adjacent to surface) along the thickness direction were generated. The Ecorr values of the as-SMRGTed samples were − 1.43 ± 0.03 and − 1.42 ± 0.02 V, increasing by ~ 30-40 mV compared with the values of the as-received (AR) sample (− 1.46 ± 0.02 V), corresponding to icorr ranging from 3.0 × 10−5 to 1.0 × 10−5 and 5.0 × 10−6 A/cm2, respectively. Charge transfer resistance (Rct) increased from 93.4 to 292.4 and 578.3 Ω (~ 3-6 times) with the increasing number of SMRGT passes. The corrosion resistance improvement was attributed mainly to the dramatic strain-induced surface grain refinement and minimal surface hardening that give rise to a more smooth and densely packed surface state.

Deformation of feldspar at greenschist facies conditions – the record of mylonitic pegmatites from the Pfunderer Mountains, Eastern Alps

Abstract. Deformation microstructures of albitic plagioclase and K-feldspar were investigated in mylonitic pegmatites from the Austroalpine basement south of the western Tauern Window by polarized light microscopy, electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction to evaluate feldspar deformation mechanisms at greenschist facies conditions. The main mylonitic characteristics are alternating almost monophase quartz and albite layers, surrounding porphyroclasts of deformed feldspar and tourmaline. The dominant deformation microstructures of K-feldspar porphyroclasts are intragranular fractures at a high angle to the stretching lineation. The fractures are healed or sealed by polyphase aggregates of albite, K-feldspar, quartz and mica, which also occur along intragranular fractures of tourmaline and strain shadows around other porphyroclasts. These polyphase aggregates indicate dissolution–precipitation creep. K-feldspar porphyroclasts are partly replaced by albite characterized by a cuspate interface. This replacement is interpreted to take place by interface-coupled dissolution–precipitation driven by a solubility difference between K-feldspar and albite. Albite porphyroclasts are replaced at boundaries parallel to the foliation by fine-grained monophase albite aggregates of small strain-free new grains mixed with deformed fragments. Dislocation glide is indicated by bent and twinned albite porphyroclasts with internal misorientation. An indication of effective dislocation climb with dynamic recovery, for example, by the presence of subgrains, is systematically missing. We interpret the grain size reduction of albite to be the result of coupled dislocation glide and fracturing (low-temperature plasticity). Subsequent growth is by a combination of strain-induced grain boundary migration and formation of growth rims, resulting in an aspect ratio of albite with the long axis within the foliation. This strain-induced replacement by nucleation (associated dislocation glide and microfracturing) and subsequent growth is suggested to result in the observed monophase albite layers, probably together with granular flow. The associated quartz layers show characteristics of dislocation creep by the presence of subgrains, undulatory extinction and sutured grain boundaries. We identified two endmember matrix microstructures: (i) alternating layers of a few hundred micrometres' width, with isometric, fine-grained feldspar (on average 15 µm in diameter) and coarse-grained quartz (a few hundred micrometres in diameter), representing lower strain compared to (ii) alternating thin layers of some tens of micrometres' width composed of fine-grained quartz (<20 µm in diameter) and coarse elongated albite grains (long axis of a few tens of micrometres) defining the foliation, respectively. Our observations indicate that grain size reduction by strain-induced replacement of albite (associated dislocation glide and microfracturing) followed by growth and granular flow simultaneous with dislocation creep of quartz are playing the dominating role in formation of the mylonitic microstructure.

Elucidation of interface joining mechanism during friction stir welding through Cu/Cu-10Zn interfacial observations

A butt friction stir welding (FSW) process was performed on Cu and Cu-10Zn plates. Microstructural evolution along the Cu/Cu-10Zn interface retained in the FSW joint was systematically investigated in order to clarify the interface joining mechanism during the FSW. The initial joining interface is completely unbonded and has lots of large oxides distributed on it. The initial large oxides are then fragmented into small particles and the oxide layers initially formed on the interface are ruptured, which produces fresh surfaces on both the Cu and Cu-10Zn sides. The fresh surfaces are then joined at an atomic level under a compressive force perpendicular to the interface, while the small oxide particles are still dispersed on the interface with voids formed around the particles. A strain-induced grain boundary migration driven by the stored energy difference associated with the dislocation density difference will occur, which assists to extinguish the voids retained beside the oxide particles. Finally, a sound interface joining without oxide particles and large voids remaining on the interface is obtained during the FSW.

Plastic strain-induced grain boundary migration (SIBM) in pure aluminum: SEM in-situ and AFM examinations

Plastic strain induced grain boundary migration (SIBM) is investigated by means of in-situ SEM experiments and AFM surface observations in the case of 4N pure aluminum. The study focuses on two polycrystalline samples obtained through different thermo-mechanical treatments that provide different initial (grain size and orientation) microstructures with different evolutions during heating. A total of 77 grain boundaries (GBs) were characterized from both samples. Evaluation of GB displacements was allowed by determining fixed points on initial and final EBSD maps and marks from thermal grooving along GB contours. Some sub-surface final examinations ensured the surface ones being pretty well representative of the bulk behaviour. The GB displacements were related to their geometry and to their initially available migration driving force P, the two main contributions of which were estimated. The boundary curvature contribution Pc is estimated from SEM observations and the so-called "stored energy" contribution PΔρ (that results from the differential of dislocation densities Δρ across the boundary) is estimated using a crystal plasticity modeling within a homogenization scheme for aggregates validated on slip trace identifications from AFM observations. The resulting driving force P, related to the GB velocity V through the widely used law V=MP is compared with the observed displacement during a finite annealing time. Additional effects as thermal grooving and triple junction pinning or pulling are also discussed from complementary SEM and AFM observations of some typical GBs. Some evidences of GB out-of-plane displacements possibly contributing to the migration process are also commented. The quite extensive set of data regarding grain orientation, GB misorientation and curvature, intracrystalline slip activity and evolution during heating constitutes references for future comparisons with mesoscale simulations.

Role of Precipitates in Recrystallization Mechanisms of Nb-Mo Microalloyed Steel

Recrystallization behavior of a Nb-Mo microalloyed steel has been investigated using double-hit compression tests. A suitable reheating temperature and soaking time were established for the complete dissolution of the microalloying precipitates prior to hot deformation. The influence of hot deformation conditions on the flow behavior and the effect of alloying elements, Nb in particular, on austenite recrystallization kinetics are highlighted. The strain-induced precipitation has been found to play an important role in hindering recrystallization kinetics. Post-deformation microstructural analysis indicates that strain-induced grain boundary migration (SIMB) is one of the mechanisms for the formation of recrystallized grains. Retardation of recrystallization has been explained by estimating pinning force of Nb(C, N) precipitates and recrystallization driving force at 1000 °C, which is in good agreement with the experimental observations in the present study as well as other reported data. The study brings out a better understanding on the influence of strain-induced precipitates on recrystallization behavior.

Microstructure and mechanical performance tailoring of Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloy fabricated by selective laser melting after post heat treatment

The poor ductility of the selective laser melting (SLM)-fabricated parts may lead to the limitation of its applications. Therefore, in the present work, four types of post heat treatments of SLM-proceeded Ti-13Nb-13Zr were performed to tailor the microstructure and mechanical performances. In the super-transus heat treatment, the morphologies of grains are transformed from columnar to equiaxed because of the strain-induced grain boundary migration mechanism (SIBM), while in the sub-transus process, the columnar β grains are remained. In the water quenching process, high resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that the collapse of the partial layers in the (110) planes and [111] direction results in the original stacking sequence from …ABCABC… to a new stacking sequence …AB’AB’… and an w structure is formed, resulting in the highest ultimate (1155 ± 30 MPa), yield strength (874 ± 30 MPa) and unfortunately the lowest ductility (2.3 ± 0.2%). In the air cooling process, as the heat temperature declines from 750 °C to 650 °C, the electron back-scattered diffraction results show that the coarse and irregular α grains with strong {0001} and {211¯0} orientations are gradually transformed into fine acicular α crystals with the dominated {0001} orientation. In this condition, the residual stresses were released and the fine microstructure was largely retained, thus the high yield strength is maintained (799 ± 10 MPa) and the ductility is improved (7.2 ± 0.3%).

Deformation at low and high stress-loading rates

In an extensional shear zone in the Talea Ori, Crete, quartz veins occur in high-pressure low-temperature metamorphic sediments at sites of dilation along shear band boundaries, kink band boundaries and boudin necks. Bent elongate grains grown epitactically from the host rock with abundant fluid inclusion trails parallel to the vein wall indicate vein formation by crack-seal increments during dissolution-precipitation creep of the host rock. The presence of sutured high-angle grain boundaries and subgrains shows that temperatures were sufficiently high for recovery and strain-induced grain boundary migration, i.e. higher than 300–350 °C, close to peak metamorphic conditions. The generally low amount of strain accumulated by dislocation creep in quartz of the host rock and most veins indicates low bulk stress conditions of a few tens of MPa on a long term. The time scale of stress-loading to cause cyclic cracking and sealing is assumed to be lower than the Maxwell relaxation time of the metasediments undergoing dissolution-precipitation creep at high strain rates (10−10 s−1 to 10−9 s−1), which is on the order of hundred years. In contrast, some veins discordant or concordant to the foliation show heterogeneous quartz microstructures with micro-shear zones, sub-basal deformation lamellae, short-wavelength undulatory extinction and recrystallized grains restricted to high strain zones. These microstructures indicate dislocation glide-controlled crystal-plastic deformation (low-temperature plasticity) at transient high stresses of a few hundred MPa with subsequent recovery and strain-induced grain boundary migration at relaxing stresses and temperatures of at least 300–350 °C. High differential stresses in rocks at greenschist-facies conditions that relieve stress by creep on the long term, requires fast stress-loading rates, presumably by seismic activity in the overlying upper crust. The time scale for stress loading is controlled by the duration of the slip event along a fault, i.e. a few seconds to minutes. This study demonstrates that microstructures can distinguish between deformation at internal low stress-loading rates (to tens of MPa on a time scale of hundred years) and high (coseismic) stress-loading rates to a few hundred MPa on a time scale of minutes.

Hot Deformation Behavior of a Ti-40Al-10V Alloy with Quenching-Tempering Microstructure.

In this study, a Ti-40Al-10V alloy with quenching-tempering microstructure was prepared and was characterized by ultra-large β/B2 grains and submicrocrystalline γ laths within it. A definite Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation was identified between the β/B2 and γ phase. Isothermal compression tests were performed to examine the hot deformation behavior at various temperatures and strain rates. Based on the hyperbolic-sine equation, the deformation kinetics of the alloy were characterized by unexpectedly high activation energy (384 kJ/mol) and low stress exponent (2.25). For all the deformed samples, continuous dynamic recrystallization intensively occurred in the β matrix, accompanied by the simultaneous rotation of the γ laths. Moreover, a preferential orientation of <100>β and <111>γ parallel to the compression axis was observed for β and γ phase, respectively. With the decreasing strain rates, the grain boundary/interface sliding gradually became prominent, which resulted in some superplastic deformation features, e.g., intensive strain-induced grain growth and interface migration, enhancing “wetting” of the γ grain boundaries, continuous weakening/vanishing of the local texture, etc. Meanwhile, the temperature played an insignificant role in the hot deformation behavior. The deformation mechanism was discussed in detail based on the microstructural observations and deformation kinetics.

Microstructure and Texture Development in Alpha-Brass Using Repetitive Thermomechanical Processing

Repetitive thermomechanical processing (TMP) has been applied to evaluate the effect of compression strain and temperature on microstructure and texture development in an alpha-brass alloy. Two TMP schemes were employed using four cycles of low-strain compression (ε = 0.15) and annealing, and two cycles of medium-strain compression (ε = 0.3) and annealing. Compression tests were conducted at 25, 250, and −100 °C, while annealing was made at 670 °C for 10 min. Examination by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) indicated that the low-strain scheme was capable to increase the fraction of Σ3n boundaries (n = 1, 2, and 3) with increasing cycles, producing maximum fraction of 68%. For medium-strain scheme, a drop in the fraction of Σ3n boundaries occurred in cycle 2. Reducing compression temperature lowered the fraction of Σ3n boundaries for low-strain scheme, while it enhanced the formation of Σ3n boundaries for medium-strain scheme. Annealing textures showed that 〈101〉 compression fiber was strongly retained for samples processed by small-strain scheme, while weakening of 〈101〉 fiber accompanied by the formation of 〈111〉 recrystallization fiber occurred for the medium-strain scheme. The results indicate that the increase in strain energy stored during compression, via increasing strain and/or decreasing deformation temperature, is responsible to favor recrystallization twinning over strain-induced grain boundary migration (SIBM). Both mechanisms are important for the formation of Σ3n boundaries. Yet, SIBM is thought to strongly promote regeneration of Σ3n boundaries at higher TMP cycles. This is consistent with the development of microstructure and texture using small-strain scheme.

Constrained groove pressing, cold-rolling, and post-deformation isothermal annealing: Consequences of their synergy on material behavior

Stress-relieved Al-Mn-Si specimens were constrained groove pressed (CGPed) and in the following, cold-rolled under different strains of 0.47, 0.8 and 1.27. Dual strained sheets were isothermally heat treated at 150, 250, and 350 °C. Microstructure survey revealed that generated shear-bands by CGP acted as talent sites for further strain-induced grain boundary migration (SIGBM) during annealing. SEM micrographs pointed out that coarse particles (1 μm <) had not preferential positions within the aluminum matrix and often comminuted into fine dispersoids (0.5 μm >) under heavy strains. Assessment of the softening fraction (Rrec) depicted that greater accumulated strains along with higher post-annealing temperatures accelerated the thermal recovery and hence, reduced the Rrec. Tensile testing was performed repeatedly while fluctuation range for obtained stress-strain curves for each specimen as a criterion of structural uniformity was considered. It was found that post-deformation treatment of severely deformed sheets at 250 °C supplied maximum structural uniformity due to perfect restoration and evolution of inhomogeneity agents such as shear-bands, and precipitates within the matrix. In this regard, processing route contained cold-rolling by 0.8 strain of two-pass CGPed specimen and subsequent annealing at 350 °C ascertained to be an adequate combination of deformation and heat treatment with respect to achievement of the maximum uniform elongation (UE) of 22.96% and contribution of uniform deformation energy (UD) in total mechanically absorbed energy equal to 84.18% that provided the optimal formability for the applied alloy. Fracture analysis was performed by fracture angle measurement and SEM fractography. Thermal annealing of CGPed sheet at 150 and 250 °C declined its fracture angle from 55° to 50° and 46.5°, respectively. However, annealing at 350 °C changed the dominant fracture mode from shear to necking by incidence of fibrous morphology and enhanced the angle to 61°. Likewise, it was revealed that in spite of fracture angle increment by rolling reduction, post-rolling prevented the necking fracture in CGPed sheet treated at 350 °C and this might be shifted to higher temperatures.

A new observation of strain-induced grain boundary serration and its underlying mechanism in a Ni–20Cr binary model alloy

The formation of serrated grain boundaries and its mechanism correlated with straining exerted on grain boundaries were investigated in a Ni–20Cr binary model alloy. This model alloy is a full solid-solution which is deliberately free of carbon and aluminum to exclude precipitation of second phase. A special heat treatment involving slow cooling was used to promote grain boundary serration, which is known to enhance creep properties by decreasing interfacial free energy. No sign of serration could be observed for the Ni–20Cr model alloy, as expected. However, we found that a compressive 5% strain hold applied during slow cooling successfully induced grain boundary serration. The compressive 5% strain hold generated dislocations near the grain boundary, which promoted Cr enrichment near and at the grain boundary. To dismiss the effect of dislocations, straining was removed and the solutionizing temperature was increased in order to promote Cr enrichment near and at grain boundaries by means of vacancy-assisted diffusion of Cr atoms from the bulk to grain boundaries during slow cooling. Significant grain boundary serration was again observed. Atom probe tomography analyses showed that the serrated grain boundary with a wide width of ~10nm was enriched with Cr atoms, as much as 87 at.%, while the γ matrix only contained 34 at.%. First-principles calculations showed that the strain energy necessary for the onset of grain boundary serration is lower than 0.97kJ/mol.

Microstructure and Texture Evolution in Temper Rolled Fe-Si Steels with New System Nano-Inhibitors Under the Dynamic Annealing Conditions

AbstractThis work investigates the microstructure and texture evolution in grain-oriented electrotechnical steel with a new inhibition system based on vanadium carbides nano-particles. The novel approach for the preparation of this steel with appropriate final magnetic properties combines not only nanoinhibitors based on the vanadium carbides precipitations but also includes straininduced grain growth mechanism in combination with dynamic continuous annealing during the secondary recrystallization. The experimental grain-oriented steel with proposed new chemical composition was prepared in laboratory conditions. The texture analysis has shown that suggested procedure led the formation of sufficiently strong {110}&lt;001&gt; Goss texture during the short time period of a final annealing process, which is comparable to that obtained in the conventionally treated grain-oriented steels.

The Relevance of Grain Dissection for Grain Size Reduction in Polar Ice: Insights from Numerical Models and Ice Core Microstructure Analysis

The flow of ice depends on the properties of the aggregate of individual ice crystals, such as grain size or lattice orientation distributions. Therefore, an understanding of the processes controlling ice micro-dynamics is needed to ultimately develop a physically based macroscopic ice flow law. We investigated the relevance of the process of grain dissection as a grain-size-modifying process in natural ice. For that purpose, we performed numerical multi-process microstructure modelling and analysed microstructure and crystallographic orientation maps from natural deep ice-core samples from the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project. Full crystallographic orientations measured by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) have been used together with c-axis orientations using an optical technique (Fabric Analyser). Grain dissection is a feature of strain-induced grain boundary migration. During grain dissection, grain boundaries bulge into a neighbouring grain in an area of high dislocation energy and merge with the opposite grain boundary. This splits the high dislocation-energy grain into two parts, effectively decreasing the local grain size. Currently, grain size reduction in ice is thought to be achieved by either the progressive transformation from dislocation walls into new high-angle grain boundaries, called subgrain rotation or polygonisation, or bulging nucleation that is assisted by subgrain rotation. Both our time-resolved numerical modelling and NEEM ice core samples show that grain dissection is a common mechanism during ice deformation and can provide an efficient process to reduce grain sizes and counter-act dynamic grain-growth in addition to polygonisation or bulging nucleation. Thus, our results show that solely strain-induced boundary migration, in absence of subgrain rotation, can reduce grain sizes in polar ice, in particular if strain energy gradients are high. We describe the microstructural characteristics that can be used to identify grain dissection in natural microstructures.

In situ EBSD observation of grain boundary character distribution evolution during thermomechanical process used for grain boundary engineering of 304 austenitic stainless steel

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was used to examine the microstructural evolution in a one-step thermomechanically processed 304 austenitic stainless steel specimen during the thermomechanical process of grain boundary engineering. Solution-treated materials were cold-rolled to 3% reduction and subsequently annealed at 1220K for different annealing times. The EBSD observation of the specimen showed an increase in the frequency of coincident site lattice (CSL) boundaries and a decrease in the percolation probability of random boundaries. Additionally, the specimen exhibited heterogeneous growth of clusters of grains that contained a high frequency of CSL boundaries. These clusters of grains were developed in the entire observed area by strain-induced grain growth according to the results of grain orientation spread analysis. The details of the growth of the clusters and the disconnection of random boundaries were successfully observed in situ using EBSD and a heating stage. The frequency of CSL boundaries increased with the growth of the clusters. Disconnection of random boundaries between the clusters was achieved by the formation of annealing twins through the impingement of the growing clusters during the thermomechanical process. Twin variant selection to introduce CSL boundaries into a random boundary network was observed by the in situ EBSD observation.

Grain Size Evolution Model of TB6 Titanium Alloys During β Process

Grain size evolution of TB6 titanium alloy during β process, which take into account the static grain growth, strain-induced grain growth and DRX-induced grain refinement, is modeled according to the deformation mechanism and driving forces. The material constants arising in the model has been determined from the experimental data of DRX grain sizes of the alloy deformed at the temperature of 1273K-1373K and strain rate of 0.001s-1-1s-1. Good agreement between the experimental data and the calculated results has been achieved.

Dynamic recrystallization in nanocrystalline AZ31 Mg-alloy

A nanocrystalline surface layer of AZ31 Mg alloy was fabricated successfully by sliding friction treatment. The microstructure was characterized by a transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In the process of plastic strain-induced grain refinement, the nucleation and growth of new grains as well as grain split are all observed. These experimental phenomena indicate that discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (dDRX) and continuous dynamic recrystallization (cDRX) are responsible for grain refinement of Mg nanocrystallites. Further analysis reveals that stored strain energy (SSE) plays a critical role in the grain refinement mechanisms (dDRX or cDRX): high SSE facilitates dDRX and low SSE conduces to cDRX.

Dynamic recrystallization behavior of Fe–20Cr–30Ni–0.6Nb–2Al–Mo alloy

Single-pass compression tests of an alumina-forming austenite (AFA) alloy (Fe–20Cr–30Ni–0.6Nb–2Al–Mo) were performed using a Gleeble-3500 thermal–mechanical simulator. By combining techniques of electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior of the alloy at temperatures of 950–1100 °C and strain rates of 0.01–1.00 s−1 was investigated. The regression method was adopted to determine the thermal deformation activation energy and apparent stress index and to construct a thermal deformation constitutive model. Results reveal that the flow stress is strongly dependent on temperature and strain rate and it increases with temperature decreasing and strain rate increasing. The DRX phenomenon occurs more easily at comparably higher deformation temperatures and lower strain rates. Based on the method for solving the inflection point via cubic polynomial fitting of strain hardening rate (θ) versus strain (e) curves, the ratio of critical strain (ec) to peak strain (ep) during DRX was precisely predicted. The nucleation mechanisms of DRX during thermal deformation mainly include the strain-induced grain boundary (GB) migration, grain fragmentation, and subgrain coalescence.

Annealing behavior of a cast Mg-Gd-Y-Zr alloy with necklace fine grains developed under hot deformation

The microstructure and texture development of a cast Mg-Gd-Y-Zr alloy during hot deformation and subsequent annealing were investigated by optical microscopy (OM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) technology. Initial microstructures with partially and fully developed new fine grains (NFGs), separately attended by continuous or interrupted hot forging, were various mixed grain structures composed of NFGs in necklace and retained coarse grains. It is shown that, during annealing, the development of grain size can be divided into three stages: i.e. an incubation of grain growth, a rapid coarsening and a normal grain growth. After a long time annealing of over 104 ks at 693K, the average grain size for samples continuous compressed to ε=1.2 and those interrupted compressed to ε=1.6 were close. Moreover, orientations of such strain-induced fine grains were relatively randomly distributed, leading to a weakened basal texture, while the basal plane of retained coarse grains were perpendicular to the forging direction. Such texture even became weaker during subsequent annealing. The results show that the development of necklace NFGs during hot deformation can be effective for homogeneous grain refinement under subsequent annealing.

Effects of Pressure and Number of Turns on Microstructural Homogeneity Developed in High-Pressure Double Torsion

With electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, we study the rate of grain refinement and the uniformity in the evolution of microstructure in commercial purity Cu samples during high-pressure double torsion (HPDT). We aim to identify the processing conditions that would produce a microstructure that is both refined and uniform across the sample in grain size, texture, and intra-granular misorientation with minimal energy input. Two processing variables, pressure and number of turns, are probed. To provide a reference for HPDT, the investigation is also carried out using the standard high-pressure torsion (HPT) technique. For both processes, grain sizes decrease with the number of turns and applied pressure. Under pressure of 600 MPa and 4 torsional turns, HPDT provided a more homogeneous grain structure than HPT. Likewise, we also demonstrate that for the same processing condition, HPDT again produces the more homogeneous grain structure. It is found that a more homogeneous grain structure is achieved after doubling number of turns than doubling the pressure amount to 1.2 GPa. However, the rate of grain refinement substantially increases with doubling the pressure. Considering these results, the HPDT process, compared to HPT, takes better advantage of the role that high pressure plays in shear strain-induced grain refinement and homogenizing the microstructure. Last, analysis of the applied work finds that the least amount of work required for achieving fine and homogeneous microstructure occurs when the applied pressure is maximized and number of turns is minimized.