On the Processing Pathway Dependence of Microstructure Evolution during Severe Plastic Deformation: Nickel as a Case Example

Abstract

Severe plastic deformation (SPD) encompasses various deformation pathways with rather different processing conditions, although seemingly small changes of the initial state of a material or of its impurity content can have a strong impact on the evolution of the microstructure and the associated properties acquired by SPD processing. For analyzing the impact of the processing conditions including the temperature as well as the strain path on the microstructure evolution, nickel has been selected as a model system. Systematic variations of the relevant processing parameters has been facilitated and the resulting materials have been analyzed concerning their microstructures, defects, and also concerning specific kinetic features associated with the grain boundaries after SPD processing.