Investigation of the role of grain boundary on the mechanical properties of metals

Abstract

Compression testing of micropillars was used to investigate the gain boundary effect on the strength of metals which is especially interesting in ultra fine grained and nanocrystalline metals. Single and bicrystal micropillars of different sizes and crystallographic orientations were fabricated using a focused ion beam system and the compression test was performed with a nanoindenter. A reduction of the pillar size as well as the introduction of a grain boundary results in an increase in the yield strength. The results show that the size and the orientation of different adjoining crystals in bicrystalline pillars have an obvious effect on dislocation nucleation and multiplication. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.