Strain Localized Regions Research Articles

Achieving high fatigue endurance of nanocrystalline Ni/Ni-W layered composites through thermally and mechanically-induced relaxations

Stabilizing non-equilibrium nanograin boundaries has been shown to enhance the strength of nanocrystalline metals. Nevertheless, a thorough comprehension of how these stable grain boundaries impact the fatigue behavior in nanocrystalline metallic layered composites with heterogeneous interfaces is currently lacking. Here, aiming to develop high-performance small components in microelectromechanical systems, we prepared nanocrystalline Ni/Ni-W layered composites that underwent various degrees of annealing treatment. Our results reveal that the Ni/Ni-W layered composites annealed at 200 °C exhibit significantly higher fatigue strength, surpassing that of the as-prepared composites by 40 % and the Pt-10 at.% Au alloy by 17 % which is one of the best candidates for the microelectromechanical systems switches at present. The enhanced fatigue strength is primarily attributed to the annealing-induced grain boundary relaxation and mechanically-induced structural relaxation. Grain boundary relaxation enhances the strength by improving GB stability, while the mechanically-induced structural relaxation results in the coarsening and expansion of triangular columnar grains towards the Ni-W layer during fatigue loading. As a result, the dispersive strain localized regions triggered by the triangular columnar grains undertook cyclic strain accumulation and weakened localized damage accumulation in Ni layers, and thus further improved the fatigue resistance. The finding of the underlying mechanisms may offer a promising approach for designing high-performance materials for microelectromechanical systems switches operating at elevated temperatures.

Influence of Various Processing Routes in Additive Manufacturing on Microstructure and Monotonic Properties of Pure Iron—A Review-like Study

Additive manufacturing processes have attracted broad attention in the last decades since the related freedom of design allows the manufacturing of parts with unique microstructures and unprecedented complexity in shape. Focusing on the properties of additively manufactured parts, major efforts are made to elaborate process-microstructure relationships. For instance, the inevitable thermal cycling within the process plays a significant role in microstructural evolution. Various driving forces contribute to the final grain size, boundary character, residual stress state, etc. In the present study, the properties of commercially pure iron processed on three different routes, i.e., hot rolling as a reference, electron powder bed fusion, and laser powder bed fusion, using different raw materials as well as process conditions, are compared. The manufacturing of the specimens led to five distinct microstructures, which differ significantly in terms of microstructural features and mechanical responses. Using optical and electron microscopy as well as transmission electron microscopy, the built specimens were explored in various states of a tensile test in order to reveal the microstructural evolution in the course of quasistatic loading. The grain size is found to be most influential in enhancing the material’s strength. Furthermore, substructures, i.e., low-angle grain boundaries, within the grains play an important role in terms of the homogeneity of strain distribution. On the contrary, high-angle grain boundaries are found to be regions of strain localization. In summary, a holistic macro-meso-micro-nano investigation is performed to evaluate the behavior of these specific microstructures.

Plastic deformation capacity obtained by the process of strain delocalization in Hf0.5Nb0.5Ta0.5Ti1.5Zr multi-principal-element alloy

Multi-principal element alloys (MPEAs) with body-centered-cubic (BCC) structures composed of elements of IVB, VB, and VIB usually exhibit high compressive strength and superior high-temperature performance. However, premature necking under tensile loading at ambient temperature limits their applications. Herein, we report the Hf0.5Nb0.5Ta0.5Ti1.5Zr MPEA with a single BCC phase, which performs considerable tensile plasticity by the process of strain delocalization. The formation of dispersed slip bands and two major strain localized regions suppress premature necking. The strain-localized region with a larger strain gradient realized strain delocalization during non-uniform deformation, resulting in considerable tensile plasticity (∼20%) with a yield strength of 922 MPa. Two dominated work hardening mechanisms were revealed. One is the geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) produced by non-uniform deformation which can coordinate deformation incompatibility, thus enhancing plastic deformation capability. The other is the lattice distortion which can provide an easy path for the cross slip of dislocations and realize strain delocalization. These two kinds of work-hardening mechanisms jointly contribute to the significant plastic deformation capacity of the Hf0.5Nb0.5Ta0.5Ti1.5Zr MPEA.

Piuro Landslide: 3D Hydromechanical Numerical Modelling of the 1618 Event

The Piuro 1618 landslide represents a well-known case history of a large Alpine landslide. It destroyed the ancient village of Piuro (Italian Bregaglia Valley), renowned as an important trading center between the Mediterranean region and Northern Europe. The event had a significant impact among communities of all Alpine regions and was well documented by chronicles and paintings during subsequent decades. However, some aspects, such as the geometry reconstruction of the landslide body, the location of the landslide scarp, and its dynamics, remained undefined in previous studies, and a geomechanical characterization of the failure area is completely missing. Using field and laboratory analysis followed by stress–strain numerical modelling, this work develops a 3D conceptual geomechanical model of the slope considering its complex geological framework. The aim is to back-analyze the 1618 event, defining predisposing and triggering factors of the sliding event, and providing verifications on the geometry and location of the failure scar, as well as on the landslide dynamics. A coupled hydro-mechanical analysis with a 3D numerical approach is presented, assuming a rainfall scenario as a possible triggering factor. Simulated displacement and the development of a deep region of shear strain localization at a depth roughly corresponding to that of the detected Piuro sliding surface, allow us to highlight the mechanical role of geological elements outcropping along the slope and to validate the proposed scenario as a likely triggering factor for the 1618 event.

Micro-mechanisms of failure in nano-structured maraging steels characterised through in situ mechanical tests

High-pressure-torsion (HPT) processing introduces a large density of dislocations that form sub-grain boundaries within the refined nano-scale structure, leading to changes in precipitate morphology compared to hot-rolled maraging steels. The impact of such nanostructuring on the deformation and fracture micro-mechanisms is being reported for the first time using in situ characterization techniques along with transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography analysis, in this study. Digital image correlation has been used to quantify the full field strain maps in regions of severe strain localization as well as to determine the fracture toughness through critical crack tip opening displacements. It is seen that the phenomenon of planar slip leads to strain softening under uniaxial deformation and to crack branching under a triaxial stress state in hot rolled maraging steels. On the other hand, nano-structuring after HPT processing creates a large number of high angle grain boundaries as dislocation barriers, leading to strain hardening under uniaxial tension and nearly straight crack path with catastrophic fracture under triaxial stress state. Upon overaging, the hot-rolled sample shows signature of transformation induced plasticity under uniaxial tension, which is absent in the HPT processed overaged samples, owing to the finer reverted austenite grains containing higher Ni concentration in the latter. In the overaged fracture test samples of both the hot-rolled and HPT conditions, crack tips show a signature of strain induced transformation of the reverted austenite to martensite, due to the accompanying severe strain gradients. This leads to a higher fracture toughness even while achieving high strengths in the overaged conditions of the nanocrystalline HPT overaged samples. The results presented here will aid in design of suitable heat treatment or microstructure engineering of interface dominated nano-scale maraging steels with improved damage tolerance.

Microstructure evolution and shear band formation in an ultrafine-grained Ti–6Al–4V alloy during cold compression

It is generally accepted that dynamic recrystallization (DRX) is the result of shear banding in metallic materials. However, we observed the microstructure evolution in an ultrafine-grained Ti–6Al–4V alloy under quasi-static compression and found the formation of DRX induced micro shear bands at the initial stage of plastic deformation. It is of interest that the strain-localized regions experienced a two-step recrystallization process, thus resulting in the formation of refined dynamic recrystallized (DRX) grains in transition zones and nanograins in core regions of micro shear bands successively. It is suggested that the DRX taking place at local regions led to the strain softening, which subsequently accelerated the formation of micro shear bands. Micro shear bands nucleated, grew wider, multiplied and propagated by means of gradually consuming the DRX regions with the increase of local strains. Those micro shear bands are considered to contribute to synergetic plastic deformation in addition to dislocation slipping at lower strains, while some macro shear bands are regarded as the precursor of fracture at higher strains. Based on the observation results a new DRX mechanism of shear band was proposed. The experimental results in the present work can provide new evidences and novel insights of the shear-band formation, plastic deformation as well as failure mode in UFG alloys under quasi-static loading conditions.

Strain localization in titanium investigated via in situ digital image correlation with multiscale speckles

Strain localization in commercially pure titanium under uniaxial tension is investigated with in situ digital image correlation (DIC) at different length scales. Speckles in three different sizes are prepared on the surface of titanium specimens, referred to as microscale, mesoscale and macroscale speckles. The microscale and mesoscale speckles for scanning electron microscopy DIC analysis are fabricated by different electro-polishing procedures, and spray painting is used to prepare the macroscale speckles for the optical DIC measurement. Electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) characterization is conducted for the microscale speckle case. The strain fields obtained at different length scales combined with the microscale EBSD examination establish the relationship between microscale strain localization and macroscale strain concentration bands. Strain localization tends to form at grain boundaries and inside deformation twins, especially at the large-angle grain boundaries, and the amplitude and rate of strain accumulation at grain boundaries are higher than inside deformation twins. The microscale strain-localized regions dispersed at grain boundaries and within deformation twins present themselves as the strain concentration bands observed with the macroscale speckles, and both the strain localization regions and strain concentration bands are at ±45 ∘ with the tensile direction. • Speckles in three different sizes are fabricated by electro-polishing and spray painting. • Digital image correlation measurements over a wide length scales are achieved. • Microscale scattered strain-localized regions present themselves as strain concentration bands on macroscale. • Strain localization tends to form at the large-angle grain boundaries. • Amplitude and rate of strain accumulation at grain boundaries are higher than inside twins.

Mechanistically informed data-driven modeling of cyclic plasticity via artificial neural networks

A mechanistically informed data-driven approach is proposed to simulate the complex plastic behavior of microstructured/homogenized solids subjected to cyclic loading, especially to simulate the Masing effect. Our proposed approach avoids the complicated mathematical construction of an appropriate yield surface, and does not require a large amount of data for training, by virtue of its mechanistic character, which couples the methods and tools of data science to the principles of mechanics. Specifically, a data-processing method is herein advanced to extract specific internal variables that characterize cyclic plastic behavior, which cannot be measured directly via physical experiments. A yield surface, represented by an artificial neural network (ANN), is then trained by stress–strain data and the extracted internal variables. Finally, the ANN is integrated into a finite element computational framework to solve different boundary value problems (BVPs). Results for demonstrative examples are presented, which illustrate the effectiveness and the reliability of the proposed approach for solids containing voids and particles in their microstructure. Compared with direct numerical simulation (DNS), our approach seems to predict the average levels of stress and plastic strain under cyclic loading more efficiently, as well as the regions of strain localization. In addition, results for a homogenized three-dimensional truss structure demonstrate that our approach can accurately describe the evolution of key internal variables. Our mechanistic approach requires much less data than the general pure data-driven methods, which shows a possible computational efficiency compared with the pure data-driven approach. Limitations of our proposed approach are also discussed.

4D-XCT and Digital Volume Correlation of Flax Fibre Composites Under Compressive Load After Relaxation

In-situ testing capabilities of lab-scale industrial computed tomography are rapidly improving. In the present study, the compressive deformation behaviour of a flax fibre-reinforced epoxy composite is studied in an in-situ compression test with stepwise loading, during 3D imaging with X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT). The 3D volumes are processed with Digital Volume Correlation (DVC) to identify the deformation of each loading step. The natural variability of the flax texture served as an adequate speckle pattern for DVC. The precision and accuracy of the DVC were investigated prior to the analysis of the deformation volumes by digitally deforming the reference undeformed volume with a known strain of 2 %. The calculated global strain was in good agreement with the digitally applied strain. Subsequently, DVC was applied to the acquired reference and deformed volumes and the analysis was focused on the 3D strain field evolution between the consecutive loading steps. Strain localization regions were observed in the axial strain εzz and the in-plane strain εxx. In the subsequent loading steps, the onset of compressive fibre-kinking is observed as a rotating fibre inside the magnified strain region. The 3D strain field evolution allows for a better understanding of the deformation and failure mechanisms at the meso/micro-scale in natural fibre reinforced composites under compressive loads.

The Role of Temperature in the Stress–Strain Evolution of Alpine Rock-Slopes: Thermo-Mechanical Modelling of the Cimaganda Rockslide

AbstractIn this work, the thermo-mechanical stress–strain history of an Alpine slope is analyzed, with particular focus on the historical Cimaganda large landslide (Sondrio Province, Italy), which mobilized an estimated volume of 7.5 mm3 of rock material. Accurate geomorphological and geomechanical characterization involving field surveys and laboratory testing was carried out, leading to the development of a conceptual model of the slope. A thermo-mechanical semi-coupled approach was developed, considering both glacial debuttressing and thermo-mechanical effects due to gradual exposure of the slope to atmospheric conditions and paleo-temperature redistribution resulting from the Last Glacial Maximum deglaciation. A 2D distinct-element numerical approach was adopted, supported by a 2D finite-element analysis to simulate heat diffusion over the Valley cross-section. Modelling results allow to simulate the general evolution of the Cimaganda rock-slope and to highlight the significance of thermal processes in preparing rock-slope instabilities. While the mechanical effect of ice thickness reduction alone brings about moderate rock mass damage, the introduction of temperature couplings results in a substantial increase of damage, representing a significant factor controlling the stress–strain evolution of the slope. Simulated displacement and the development of a deep region of shear strain localization at a depth roughly corresponding to that of the detected Cimaganda sliding surface, allow to highlight the significance of temperature influence in preparing the rock-slope to instability.

Observing non-uniform, non-Lüders yielding in a cold-rolled medium manganese steel with digital image correlation

Abstract Digital image correlation (DIC) techniques were used to evaluate strain distributions along tensile gage lengths immediately after yielding of a medium manganese steel (7 wt% Mn) in samples cold rolled in the range of 1–6 pct. With an increase in cold work, DIC confirmed that the yielding behavior transitioned from nucleation and propagation of a single localized deformation zone (Lüders band) to uniform deformation, that is, no evidence of strain localization. At intermediate amounts of cold work, a unique yielding behavior was evident where the initially-low positive strain hardening rate increased with tensile strain until conventional strain hardening (i.e., decrease in strain hardening rate with strain). The intermediate yielding behavior was associated with the development of multiple non‑propagating regions of strain localization, an observation not previously evident without the use of DIC.

In-situ investigation of plasticity in a Ti-Al-V-Fe (α+β) alloy: Slip mechanisms, strain localization, and partitioning

As one of the representative characteristics of plastic deformation, microstructural plastic strain inhomogeneity has triggered a broad interest in uncovering the corresponding deformation micro-mechanisms. (α+β) titanium alloys enable fruitful mechanistic explorations of this dependency, since: (i) the plastic anisotropy of the α-phase drives distinctive dislocation gliding and/or mechanical twinning modes for plastic strain accommodation; and (ii) deformation transferability between α/β phase boundaries strongly relies on both microstructural and structural parameters. The present work carried out in a Ti-Al-V-Fe (α+β) alloy is an in-situ mechanistic study, aiming to elucidate the critical deformation micro-mechanisms that are responsible for strain localization, partitioning, as well as damage inception processes. It is revealed through statistical analysis of the in-situ strain mapping results that a moderate partitioning trend exists between α- and β-phases, and that the present alloy is characterized by the eminent strain localization bands that develop at the early stage of plastic straining. Deformation micro-mechanisms including texture-facilitated prismatic 〈a〉 slip activation together with the near-ideal slip transfer conditions across the α/β phase boundaries are found to be predominant in the strain localization regions. The combination of postmortem and in-situ damage analyses confirm the dominant role of these long-range strain localization bands in expediting surface cracking events.

A thermo-mechanical numerical approach for the analysis of a historical rockslide in the Italian Alps

In this work, a thermo-mechanical (TM) numerical approach is presented and applied to investigate the stress-strain evolution of an alpine rock-slope located in the Central Italian Alps (Sondrio Province). Along the “Cimaganda” slope a massive rockslide event occurred around 900 A.D. mobilizing an estimated volume of 7.5 Mm3 of material, and reaching the bottom of the valley. Interest in this historic event was raised again in recent times, as a new rockslide took place in 2012, mobilizing 20.000 m3 of rock material and blocking the SS36 National Road.To understand the general evolution of the Cimaganda rock slope, the recent geomorphological history of the Valley (post Last Glacial Maximum) was considered. In particular, to explore how glacial loading and unloading, associated with thermo-mechanical processes can promote rock mass damage, a 2D DEM numerical approach was adopted, calibrated upon the collected experimental and field data, and supported by a 2D FEM analysis to simulate transient heat diffusion over the Valley cross-section due to ice retreat and paleo-temperature evolution. Results show a clear relation between TM stresses and the occurrence of rock-mass damage and slip propagation along discontinuities. Simulated displacement and the development of a deep region of shear strain localization, allow to highlight the significance of temperature influence in preparing the rock slope to instability.

Localized deformation inside the Lüders front of a medium manganese steel

Medium manganese steels are promising alloys for highly demanding sheet steel applications. However, cold-rolled intercritically annealed ultrafine-grained dual-phase medium manganese steels exhibit Lüders banding, which is detrimental for the mechanical properties and for the surface finish after forming. Therefore, it is essential to prevent the formation of Lüders bands. To achieve this, it is crucial to understand the underlying micromechanisms of their formation and propagation. While the nucleation of Lüders bands was studied before in these alloys, understanding of their propagation is lacking. Here, we use electron channelling contrast imaging, with a resolution of ~8 nm to examine the defect populations within and across the Lüders front. While macroscopic digital image correlation shows a uniform strain gradient across the Lüders front, quasi in-situ tensile tests in combination with microscopic electron channelling contrast imaging investigations reveal strain localized regions (termed plastic zones) within the Lüders front. These plastic zones are aligned with the macroscopic Lüders front and parallel in nature, with less deformed regions sandwiched between them. Additionally, it is observed that the size and distribution of the plastic zones are affected by the mechanical stability of austenite. We further demonstrate the role of strain partitioning between the austenite and ferrite (austenite being the softer phase) in the formation of the plastic zones.

Finite element implementation and application of a sand model in micropolar theory

In traditional finite element failure analyses of geotechnical structures, the micro grain rotations cannot be modelled and numerical solutions are mesh dependent. In this study, a user element including rotational degree of freedom has been developed based on micropolar theory (Cosserat theory), then an enhanced non-associated sand model is calibrated with laboratory data and used to model the plane strain tests. The simulated results demonstrate the polarized model is able to model reasonably the sand behavior as well as the grain rotations in the localized region. What’s more, with this enhanced model, the mesh independent numerical solutions in terms of mechanical responses, shear bands thickness and orientations have been obtained.Article highlightsIn failure analysis of geostructures, significant rotations of soil grains have been observed to occur in the strain localized regions, but the current commercial Finite Element tools cannot model the micro rotations. Therefore, a user defined element must be developed to include the rotational degree of freedom. The micropolar approach is proven to be effective to model the grain rations in present paper. More suitable than other classical soil or sand constitutive models, the selected non-associated sand model in present paper is capable of describing well the contraction and shear dilatancy behaviors of sand. Then the model has been enhanced by means of micropolar technique, in this way, the reasonable strain localization phenomena in laboratory tests could be predicted well.There are always the mesh dependent problems for traditional simulations of the strain localization phenomena in finite element analysis. It can be found in present paper that the mesh independent numerical solutions are obtained by means of micropolar technique. Furthermore, the micropolar approach can obviously improve convergence difficulties in finite element analyses.

Three-dimensional crystal plasticity simulations using peridynamics theory and experimental comparison

A three-dimensional (3D) peridynamics (PD) model of crystal plasticity (CP) is presented for predicting the fine-scale localization in polycrystalline microstructures undergoing elastoplastic deformation. Microscale data from electron microscopy and digital image correlation have indicated that slip localizations arise early in deformation and act as precursors to mechanical failure and fracture. However, classical numerical approaches such as crystal plasticity finite element methods (CPFEM) are generally unable to predict the emergence and distribution of such localizations. Alternatively, the PD formulation has attracted significant attention for its unique treatment of deformation in the presence of high strain gradient fields. In this paper, a mesh-free non-ordinary state-based PD technique is developed for simulating the elasto-plastic deformation of 3D polycrystalline aggregates of a magnesium alloy. This work presents the details of 3D polycrystal plasticity modeling using PD theory with experimental and CPFEM comparisons. The results from this model are validated against published experimental data for the stress-strain response and texture evolution. The crystal plasticity peridynamic (CPPD) models are successful in simulating grain averaged strains seen in the experiment and depict well-resolved regions of strain localization.

Emergence of micro-galvanic corrosion in plastically deformed austenitic stainless steels

Localized plastic deformation has been observed to render nuclear reactor components more susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC). However, it is not fully clear how localized strain impacts corrosion (oxidation) behavior. Herein, the surface reactivity and corrosion behavior of 304 L stainless steel specimens, deformed to different strain levels, was analyzed using advanced multimodal and multiscale methods. For the first time, we observed that localized deformation regions, e.g., deformation bands and α’-martensite featured smaller Volta potentials than the parent austenite matrix. This resulted in the establishment of localized corrosion potential gradients and the emergence of accelerated microscale galvanic corrosion. Particularly, regions that featured higher dislocation concentrations were more reactive on account of the reduction in the activation energy of corrosion due to the stored energy. The superposition of surface reactivity and strain distributions reveals that, SCC cracking is expected to initiate in regions of strain localization wherein micro-galvanic corrosion is favored.

Dynamic failure mechanism of copper foil in laser dynamic flexible forming

Abstract Laser dynamic flexible forming (LDFF) is a novel high velocity forming (HVF) technology, in which the foil metal is loaded by laser shock wave. Strain localization is readily to occur around the bulge edge, which will result in the ultimate dynamic failure. In this work, the microstructures before and after dynamic fracture are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to investigate the dynamic failure mechanism. The plastic deformation regions of copper foil are composed of shock compression, strain localization and bulge. Microstructure refinement was observed in three different plastic deformation regions, particularly, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) occurs in the strain localization and bulge regions. In bulge region, extremely thin secondary twins in the twin/matrix (T/M) lamellae are formed. The microstructure features in the strain localization region show that superplastic flow of material exists until fracture, which may be due to DRX and subsequent grain boundary sliding (GBS) of the recrystallized grains. The grain coarsening in strain localization region may degrade the material flowing ability which results in the dynamic fracture.

Structure Transformation of Dispersionstrengthened Vanadium Alloys under Conditions of High-Pressure Torsion and Room-Temperature Tensile Deformation

A comparative study of the features of microstructure transformation in dispersion strengthened vanadium alloys of the V–Me(Cr, W)–Zr system under conditions of deformation by torsion under pressure and tension at room temperature is carried out. It is found out that suppression of dislocation plasticity in the high-strength state favors the formation of an anisotropic submicrocrystalline structure both during torsion deformation and in the region of strain localization in the case of tension at room temperature. It is shown that one of the main mechanisms of crystal fragmentation under these conditions is a dislocation-disclination mechanism, whose realization requires structural states with nonzero values of the curvature rotor or a high continual density of disclinations.

Deformation mechanisms of Si-doped diamond-like carbon films under uniaxial tension conditions

Element-doped diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been fabricated to achieve excellent mechanical properties but their elastic/plastic deformation mechanisms are unclear due to experimental limitations in characterizing the deformation process. This study investigates the deformation mechanisms of Si-doped DLC films by simulating their uniaxial tensile tests. It is found that these films show many strain-localized regions under tensile deformations. The coordination number (CN) of Si atoms in such regions decreases even with a small tensile strain. The sp3-sp2 bonding transition of C atoms also happen in these regions with a large tensile strain. As a result, these regions show highly-degraded structures with weak mechanical strength and can be regarded as the defects in the Si-DLC films. In this case, the tensile forces are mainly undertaken by the networks formed of both sp3C atoms and Si atoms with large CN, and hence such networks can be regarded as backbones of Si-DLC films. Their fracture finally initiates in the strain-localized regions. Furthermore, Si-DLC films with an increased Si content show large fraction of sp3C atoms but still exhibit a decreased strength due to the rapid presence of strain-localized regions.