In situ observations of compressive behaviour of aluminium foams by local tomography using high-resolution X-rays

We have investigated the compressive behaviour of closed-cell aluminium foams using a high-resolution X-ray CT. The microstructures of cell walls or Plateau borders in the foams were visualized in 3D using the local tomography technique which is a high-resolution CT method to reconstruct a region of interest within a large sample. The shapes and the 3D distribution of micropores, particles, and regions of solute segregation in the foams are evaluated, comparing the cell walls with the Plateau borders. Under compressive loads, the damage behaviour of such microstructures has been observed using an in situ test rig. It is found that the microcracks were mainly initiated from the cell walls and the micropores with large diameters were also damaged. The crack initiation sites are classified from the results. In addition, a method for non-destructive characterization of elastic and plastic deformation in the foams, which is called a 3D microstructure gauge (MG) method, is presented. Thousands of micropores as markers on each load were automatically matched by the information of those volumes and surface areas. The local strain mapping by the MG indicates that the edges of the micropores with large diameters have large strain under compression and this is consistent with the crack analyses.     

梯度泡沫铝的各向异性压溃力学行为

功能梯度泡沫金属因其密度连续变化,在轴向受压时可提供稳定增长的反馈载荷。然而当前研究多局限于其纵向压缩力学响应,考虑到实际应用中可能出现的横向冲击,基于低速冲击实验,考察梯度泡沫铝轴向和横向压缩力学响应的异同,并采用数字图像相关技术和数值模拟方法研究其宏细观压溃机制。结果表明:(1)在力学性能上,相比于纵向压缩加载的梯度泡沫铝,横向压缩加载下具有更高的抗压强度,而平台应力、致密化应变和能量吸收效果低于纵向压缩;(2)在失效变形模式上,纵向压缩变形模式为变形带渐进式压缩,而横向压缩变形模式的变形带则随机出现在试样的各个位置;(3)横向压缩下梯度泡沫铝致密化应变和比吸能的减小是由高孔隙率区的胞孔利用率降低导致的;(4)构建的弹性-塑性硬化-刚性模型能够较准确地描述梯度泡沫铝的纵向压缩力学行为。研究结果可为梯度泡沫金属在爆炸冲击结构防护工程中的设计提供理论参考。     

Uniaxial deformation of nanotwinned nanotubes in body-centered cubic tungsten

We perform large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to delve into tensile and compressive loading of nanotubes containing {112} nanoscale twins in body-centered cubic tungsten, as a function of wall thickness, twin boundary spacing, and strain rate. Solid nanopillars without the interior hollow and/or nanotubes without the nanoscale twins are also investigated as references. Our findings demonstrate that both stress-strain response and deformation behavior of nanotwinned nanotubes and nanopillars exhibit a strong tension-compression asymmetry. The yielding of the nanotwinned nanotubes with thick walls is governed by dislocation nucleation from the twin boundary/surface intersections. With a small wall thickness, however, the failure of the nanotwinned nanotubes is dominated by crack formation and buckling under tensile and compressive loading, respectively. In addition, the strain rate effect, which is more pronounced in compressive loading than in tensile loading, increases with a decreasing twin boundary spacing.     

Deformation behaviour of body centered cubic iron nanopillars containing coherent twin boundaries

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to understand the role of twin boundaries on deformation behaviour of body-centred cubic (BCC) iron (Fe) nanopillars. The twin boundaries varying from 1 to 5 providing twin boundary spacing in the range 8.5–2.8 nm were introduced perpendicular to the loading direction. The simulation results indicated that the twin boundaries in BCC Fe play a contrasting role during deformation under tensile and compressive loadings. During tensile deformation, a large reduction in yield stress was observed in twinned nanopillars compared to perfect nanopillar. However, the yield stress exhibited only marginal variation with respect to twin boundary spacing. On the contrary, a decrease in yield stress with increase in twin boundary spacing was obtained during compressive deformation. This contrasting behaviour originates from difference in operating mechanisms during yielding and subsequent plastic deformation. It has been observed that the deformation under tensile loading was dominated mainly by twin growth mechanism. On the other hand, the deformation was dominated by nucleation and slip of full dislocations under compressive loading. The twin boundaries offer a strong repulsive force on full dislocations resulting in the yield stress dependence on twin boundary spacing. The occurrence of twin–twin interaction during tensile deformation and dislocation–twin interaction during compressive deformation has been discussed.     

复合应力下泡沫铝屈服行为实验研究

 采用ARCAN双轴加载装置和材料实验机（INSTRON 5544）,对相对密度为8.5%的闭孔泡沫铝（Alporas）进行了不同应变率下的双轴加载实验。在宏观等效应变率为7.0×10^-3~1.0×10^-1 s^-1范围内测得实验屈服面,并与泡沫金属的3种屈服准则进行了比较。比较结果表明：在主应力空间下,实验屈服面与Miller和Deshpande-Fleck屈服准则吻合较好,Gibson屈服准则过小估计了测试泡沫铝的实验屈服面;被测泡沫铝的实验屈服面在宏观等效应变率7.0×10^-3~1.0×10^-1 s^-1范围内对应变率不敏感。     

Compressive characteristics of single walled carbon nanotube with water interactions investigated by using molecular dynamics simulation

The elastic properties of single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) with surrounding water interactions are studied using molecular dynamics simulation technique. The compressive loading characteristic of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a fluidic medium such as water is critical for its role in determining the lifetime and stability of CNT based nano-fluidic devices. In this paper, we conducted a comprehensive analysis on the effect of geometry, chirality and density of encapsulated water on the elastic properties of SWCNT. Our studies show that defect density and distribution can strongly impact the compressive resistance of SWCNTs in water. Further studies were conducted on capped SWCNTs with varying densities of encapsulated water, which is necessary to understand the strength of CNT as a potential drug carrier. The results obtained from this paper will help determining the potential applications of CNTs in the field of nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS) such as nano-biological and nano-fluidic devices.     

The transition from localized to homogeneous plasticity during nanoindentation of an amorphous metal

Using nanoindentation, we examine the fundamental nature of plasticity in a bulk amorphous metal. We find that the mechanics of plasticity depend strongly on the indentation loading rate, with low rates promoting discretization of plasticity into rapid bursts. For sufficiently slow indentations, we find that plastic deformation becomes completely discretized in a series of isolated yielding events. As the loading rate is increased, a transition from discrete to continuous yielding is observed. These results are fundamentally different from the classical expectations for metallic glasses, in which the transition from discrete to continuous yielding occurs upon a decrease in deformation rate. The present experimental results are analysed with reference to the theoretical ideal-plastic strain field beneath an indenter and rationalized on the basis of mechanistic models of glass plasticity.     

Creep of multidirectionally fibre-reinforced composites

A model for the creep of metal matrix composites multidirectionally reinforced by short fibres is proposed. The reinforcement is described by the effective stiffness tensor of a multidirectional arrangement of continuous fibres and the internal damage of the composite during creep due to fibre fragmentation is introduced by assigning a heuristic nonlinear stress–strain relationship to the fibres. Based on the model, the load partitioning between matrix and fibres is computed. The macroscopic creep behaviour is simulated for composites exhibiting different fibre orientation distributions and different heuristic nonlinear stress–strain functions. The computational results rationalize the creep behaviour of multidirectional fibre-reinforced composites. For a two-dimensional random orientation distribution, a good qualitative match between simulation and experimental results is obtained for compressive loading and for in-plane tensile loading. For loading normal to the reinforcement plane, the model overestimates the creep resistance. In this case, the formation and growth of cavities seems to govern the creep deformation of the composite.     

Deformation behavior of Fe-based bulk metallic glass during nanoindentation

Fe-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) normally exhibit super high strength but significant brittleness at ambient temperature. Therefore, it is difficult to investigate the plastic deformation behavior and mechanism in these alloys through conventional tensile and compressive tests due to lack of distinct macroscopic plastic strain. In this work, the deformation behavior of Fe₅₂Cr₁₅Mo₉Er₃C₁₅B₆ BMG was investigated through instrumented nanoindentation and uniaxial compressive tests. The results show that serrated flow, the typical plastic deformation feature of BMGs, could not be found in as-cast and partially crystallized samples during nanoindentation. In addition, the deformation behavior and mechanical properties of the alloy are insensitive to the applied loading rate. The mechanism for the appearance of the peculiar deformation behavior in the Fe-based BMG is discussed in terms of the temporal and spatial characteristics of shear banding during nanoindentation. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 50571109, 10572142 and 56771102) and the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)(Grant No 2007CB613900)     

Strain modulations of magnetism in Fe-doped InSe monolayer

First-principles calculations are performed to investigate the electronic and magnetic characteristics of Fe-doped two-dimensional (2D) InSe monolayer by applying biaxial compressive and tensile strains. Our studies show that Fe substituting indium atom can be realized easily under Se-rich experimental environments, and can induce the magnetic semiconducting characteristics. Interestingly, the magnetic moments are insensitive to the strain ~ −6% to 6% range. However, loading larger tensile strain can decrease the magnetic moments sharply. Moreover, the system still retains semiconducting characteristics under compressive strain, while a transition occurs from semiconductor to metal beyond the tensile strain 8%. These results provide the theoretical predications that Fe-doped 2D InSe material may be applied in the spintronic devices.     

Low-temperature plasticity in nanocrystalline titanium and copper

The stress-strain compressive curves, temperature dependences of the yield stress, and small-inelastic-strain rate spectra of coarse-grained and ultrafine-grained (produced by equal-channel angular pressing) titanium and copper are compared in the temperature range 4.2–300 K. As the temperature decreases, copper undergoes mainly strain hardening and titanium undergoes thermal hardening. The temperature dependences of the yield stress of titanium and copper have specific features which correlate with the behavior of their small-inelastic-strain rate spectra. Under the same loading conditions, the rate of microplastic deformation of ultrafine-grained titanium is lower than that of coarse-grained titanium and the rate peaks shift toward high temperatures. The deformation activation volumes of titanium samples differing in terms of their grain size are (10–35)b ³, where b is the Burgers vector magnitude. The dependences of the yield stress on the grain size at various temperatures are satisfactorily described by the Hall-Petch relation.     

偏振拉曼散射研究ZnO单晶纳米压痕区内的晶格畸变分布

通过结合纳米压痕和偏振拉曼散射技术对压应力影响下ZnO单晶晶格出现的变化进行了研究。位错的滑移是导致ZnO单晶中出现多处塑性变形的原因而非相变。之后采用偏振拉曼Mapping成像技术以E2(high)模为对象, 监视其在整个压痕区内的强度变化分布。在压痕区中心累积的应力通过位错的滑移而释放, 同时导致压痕区中心处的晶格畸变程度最为严重。伴随着晶格失配的加剧, 拉曼选择定则放宽, 在Z(XX)配置下较弱的LO得到增强, 原本非拉曼活性的B1(high)模出现。此外, 在Z(XY)偏振下压痕区左侧的拉曼光谱中观察到位于130 cm-1处的拉曼异常振动模。此峰的出现可能与压痕区左侧由刃位错所形成的应力场吸引间隙离子导致的晶格畸变有关。     

结构和变形对单壁碳纳米管力学性能的影响

使用分子动力学方法模拟了单壁碳纳米管的拉伸变形行为和泊松比,并从单壁碳纳米管晶胞单元的结构特征角度,系统分析了管径、螺旋性和应变对力学性能的影响．模拟结果显示,单臂性碳纳米管(8,8)-(22,22)和锯齿性碳纳米管(9,0)-(29,0)的拉伸弹性变形可以分别达到35％-38％和20％-27％,拉伸条件下这些碳纳米管的弹性模量随管径的增大从960 GPa下降到750 GPa,并且锯齿性碳纳米管的弹性模量比单臂性碳纳米管的弹性模量要高．通过对三根具有相同直径和不同螺旋性的碳纳米管(9,9),(12,6)和(16,0)分别在拉伸和压缩条件下的模拟发现,随着变形的增大,碳纳米管的泊松比将减小;在相同的拉伸应变下,碳纳米管的泊松比随其螺旋角的减小而减小,而在相同的压缩应变下,碳纳米管的泊松比随其螺旋角的减小而增大．     

Acoustoplastic effect and internal friction of aluminum single crystals in various deformation stages

The dependences of the acoustoplastic effect and the internal friction on the oscillatory strain amplitude are measured in various deformation stages of low-purity aluminum single crystals. It is discovered that the acoustoplastic effect is observed not only in the macroscopic plastic region of the stress-strain diagram, but also for microplastic deformation in the “elastic” loading and unloading stages. The sign of the effect reverses during unloading. An increase in the strain rate leads to enhancement of the acoustoplastic effect and the absorption of the energy of ultrasonic vibrations causing this effect with a frequency of about 100 kHz. It is concluded that the acoustoplastic effect observed during both macro-and microplastic deformation is caused by the irreversible high-speed motion of dislocations through the long-range stress field of the other dislocations after breaking through the Cottrell atmospheres. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1794–1800 (October 1997)     

Magnetoelasticity and elasticity of Fe85Ga15 single crystals under coupled magnetomechanical loading

The effect of coupled magnetomechanical loading on magnetostriction and compressive strain of Fe-Ga alloys has been investigated. A shift from negative to positive magnetostriction was observed with increase in compressive stress on a Fe₈₅Ga₁₅ single crystal. Non-linear behavior of the compressive strain in different magnetic fields was observed during the compressive loading and unloading process. These phenomena can clearly be explained by a model based on the magnetic-domain-switching process. The Young's modulus can also be obtained from the measured stress-strain curves.     

温度和应变速率耦合作用下纳米晶Ni压缩行为研究

本文利用低温力学测试系统研究了电化学沉积纳米晶Ni在不同温度和宽应变速率条件下的压缩行为. 借助应变速率敏感指数、激活体积、扫描电子显微镜及高分辨透射电子显微镜方法, 对纳米晶Ni的压缩塑性变形机理进行了表征. 研究表明, 在较低温度条件下, 纳米晶Ni的塑性变形主要是由晶界位错协调变形主导, 晶界本征位错引出后无阻碍的在晶粒内无位错区运动, 直至在相对晶界发生类似切割林位错行为. 并且, 在协调塑性变形时引出位错的残留位错能够增加应变相容性和减小应力集中; 在室温条件下, 纳米晶Ni的塑性变形机理主要是晶界-位错协调变形与晶粒滑移/旋转共同主导. 利用晶界位错协调变形机理和残留位错运动与温度及缺陷的相关性揭示了纳米晶Ni在不同温度、不同应变速率条件下力学压缩性能差异的内在原因.     

Damage and fracture prediction of plastic-bonded explosive by digital image correlation processing

By digital correlation processing of Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) images, the paper presents the deformation and damage analysis of an energetic material—the plastic-bonded explosive (PBX) on mesoscopic scale. The analysis is made by observing the deformation field resulted from the digital image correlation (DIC) processing of the images corresponding to the loading steps and comparing with the surface profiles of the composite material so as to visualize the matter damage near a preset crack. The results show that the local deformation disturbance can reveal the material damage even happened underneath the specimen surface. The strain distribution in the front of the preset crack, can be used to predict the propagating route of the microcrack initiated from the tip of the pre-crack, which is related to the splitting fracture of the granular-based composite under compressive loading.     

Dislocation-mediated creep process in nanocrystalline Cu

Nanocrystalline Cu with average grain sizes ranging from ～ 24.4 to 131.3 nm were prepared by the electric brushplating technique.Nanoindentation tests were performed within a wide strain rate range,and the creep process of nanocrystalline Cu during the holding period and its relationship to dislocation and twin structures were examined.It was demonstrated that creep strain and creep strain rate are considerably significant for smaller grain sizes and higher loading strain rates,and are far higher than those predicted by the models of Cobble creep and grain boundary sliding.The analysis based on the calculations and experiments reveals that the significant creep deformation arises from the rapid absorption of high density dislocations stored in the loading regime.Our experiments imply that stored dislocations during loading are highly unstable and dislocation activity can proceed and lead to significant post-loading plasticity.     

温度、应变率和空位缺陷对氮化硼纳米管压缩性能的影响

采用分子动力学方法,分别模拟了完好的和含有缺陷的氮化硼纳米管的轴向压缩过程。原子间的相互作用采用Tersoff多体势函数来描述。结果表明,同尺寸的锯齿型氮化硼纳米管的临界轴向压缩强度高于扶手型氮化硼纳米管,这与碳纳米管的研究结果一致。发现纳米管的压缩强度,如临界轴向内力在低温下受温度影响明显,并且和应变率的大小有关。然而,应变率对纳米管的弹性变形没有影响。另外,还发现空位缺陷降低了纳米管的力学性能。与完好的纳米管相比,含有缺陷的纳米管轴向压缩强度对于温度的影响并不敏感。