Dislocations in Grain Boundary Regions: The Origin of Heterogeneous Microstrains in Nanocrystalline Materials

Nanocrystalline materials reveal excellent mechanical properties but the mechanism by which they deform is still debated. X-ray line broadening indicates the presence of large heterogeneous strains even when the average grain size is smaller than 10 nm. Although the primary sources of heterogeneous strains are dislocations, their direct observation in nanocrystalline materials is challenging. In order to identify the source of heterogeneous strains in nanocrystalline materials, we prepared Pd-10 pct Au specimens by inert gas condensation and applied high-pressure torsion (HPT) up to γ ≅ 21. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations are used to investigate the dislocation structure in the grain interiors and in the grain boundary (GB) regions in the as-prepared and HPT-deformed specimens. Our results show that most of the GBs contain lattice dislocations with high densities. The average dislocation densities determined by HRTEM and MD simulation are in good correlation with the values provided by X-ray line profile analysis. Strain distribution determined by MD simulation is shown to follow the Krivoglaz–Wilkens strain function of dislocations. Experiments, MD simulations, and theoretical analysis all prove that the sources of strain broadening in X-ray diffraction of nanocrystalline materials are lattice dislocations in the GB region. The results are discussed in terms of misfit dislocations emanating in the GB regions reducing elastic strain compatibility. The results provide fundamental new insight for understanding the role of GBs in plastic deformation in both nanograin and coarse grain materials of any grain size

X-ray line profile analysis of equal channel angular pressing processed Cu

The effect of equal channel angular pressing on the microstructure of copper samples was studied by X-ray line profile analysis. Pure Cu samples were processed by equal channel angular pressing with 3 passes in route A. Samples were taken from the vicinity of the channel intersection, and along a profile across the deformation zone, microhardness and XRD measurements were performed. For the high resolution line profile analysis of the diffraction spectra, convolutional-multiple-whole-profile CMWP method was applied, dislocation density and grain size were calculated, furthermore the density of twin boundaries were determined. Results show a rearrangement in the dislocations in the third pass leading to a rise in the density of twin boundaries

Dislocation structure in textured zirconium tensile-deformed along rolling and transverse directions determined by X-ray diffraction line profile analysis

Specimens of cold-rolled zirconium were tensile-deformed along the rolling (RD) and the transverse (TD) directions. The stress-strain curves revealed a strong texture dependence. High resolution X-ray line profile analysis was used to determine the prevailing active slip-systems in the specimens with different textures. The reflections in the X-ray diffraction patterns were separated into two groups. One group corresponds to the major and the other group to the random texture component, respectively. The dislocation densities, the subgrain size and the prevailing active slip-systems were evaluated by using the convolutional multiple whole profile (CMWP) procedure. These microstructure parameters were evaluated separately in the two groups of reflections corresponding to the two different texture components. Significant differences were found in both, the evolution of dislocation densities and the development of the fractions of and type slip systems in the RD and TD specimens during tensile deformation. The differences between the RD and TD stress-strain curves are discussed in terms of the differences of the microstructure evolution

Microstructure Characterization in Individual Texture Components by X-Ray Line Profile Analysis: Principles of the X-TEX Method and Practical Application to Tensile-Deformed Textured Ti

A novel X-ray diffraction-based method and computer program X-TEX has been developed to determine the microstructure in individual texture components of polycrystalline, textured materials. Two different approaches are presented. In the first one, based on the texture of the specimen, the X-TEX software provides optimized specimen orientations for X-ray diffraction experiments in which diffraction peaks consist of intensity contributions stemming from grain populations of separate texture components in the specimen. Texture-specific diffraction patterns can be created by putting such peaks together from different measurements into an artificial pattern for each texture component. In the second one, the X-TEX software can determine the intensity contributions of different texture components to diffraction peaks measured in a particular sample orientation. According to this, peaks belonging mainly to one of the present texture components are identified and grouped into the same quasi-phase during the evaluation procedure. The X-TEX method was applied and tested on tensile-deformed, textured, commercially pure titanium samples. The patterns were evaluated by the convolutional multiple whole profile (CMWP) procedure of line profile analysis for dislocation densities, dipole character, slip systems and subgrain size for three different texture components of the Ti specimens. Significant differences were found in the microstructure evolution in the two major and the random texture components. The dislocation densities were discussed by the Taylor model of work hardening

Comparison of Dislocation Structures in Cu Deformed at Strain Rates from Quasi-Static to Shock Loading Using X-ray Line Profile Analysis

Polycrystalline copper samples were deformed in the range of strain rate between ~10−3 and 107 s−1 using a material testing machine, split Hopkinson pressure bar and electric gun. The quasi-static and Hopkinson bar samples were compressed at the strains of 0.1 and 0.4, and the electric gun samples were compressed at the shock pressures of 19, 25, 35 and 49 GPa. The dislocation structure in the recovered samples was determined using high-resolution X-ray line profile analysis. Compared to the quasi-static and Hopkinson bar tests, different characteristics of the evolution of dislocation density and arrangement were found in the planar plate impacts of the electric gun. The correlation between the flow stresses and the dislocation densities in the samples was discussed using the Taylor equation