Role of boundaries in control of deformation rate and strength of crystalline materials

Abstract

Plastic deformation of crystalline materials is not controlled by interaction among free dislocations only, but the interaction of free dislocations with internal boundaries. i) Low-angle boundaries: Modeling of deformation of pure materials with conventional grain size on the basis of structure evolution indicates that low-angle boundaries act as obstacles of free dislocations. The migration of the low-angle boundaries constitutes an essential recovery process determining the deformation resistance in the steady state. ii) High-angle boundaries: Severe plastic deformation transforms low-angle boundaries into high-angle ones. They differ in obstacle and recovery characteristics from low-angle boundaries, which explains the special properties of ultrafine-grained and nanocrystalline materials with regard to strength, strain rate sensitivity and ductility. iii) Phase boundaries in Ni-base superalloys enhance the strengthening by hard phases with strengthening by dense dislocation networks serving to reduce coherency stresses. It is concluded that internal boundaries play a crucial role in controlling the evolution of structure and strength in crystalline materials. © (2009) Trans Tech Publications.