Analysis of deformation mechanisms in superplastic yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia

There have been extensive experimental observations of changes in the apparent rate controlling creep parameters in studies on superplastic materials. The three most common explanations associated with these changes in the stress exponent, n, the activation energy Q and the inverse grain size exponent, p involve the effect of concurrent grain growth, the operation of a threshold stress or transitions in creep mechanisms. Each of these factors may influence experimental creep data in a similar manner. Therefore, a careful analysis of the consequences of all three factors must involve the development of a consistent set of experimental observations in order to adequately distinguish the effects of each. This paper discusses the role of concurrent grain growth, a threshold stress and transitions in creep mechanisms in superplastic materials. Specific attention is given to the analysis of data on superplastic yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramics for which an increase in n has been observed at low applied stresses. It is demonstrated that neither concurrent grain growth nor a threshold stress can account for all the relevant experimental observations in this material. It is concluded that the changes in rate controlling creep parameters are associated with the operation of two distinct sequential mechanisms as part of a grain boundary sliding process.     

Yield stress strengthening in ultrafine-grained metals: A two-dimensional simulation of dislocation dynamics

The effect of grain size on the tensile plastic deformation of ultrafine-grained copper polycrystals is investigated using a two-dimensional simulation of dislocation dynamics. Emphasis is put on the elementary mechanisms governing the yield stress in multislip conditions. Whatever the grain size, the yield stress is found to follow a Hall-Petch law. However, the elementary mechanism controlling slip transmission through the grain boundaries at yield is observed to change with the grain size. For the larger grain sizes, the stress concentrations due to dislocations piled-up at grain boundaries are responsible for the activation of plastic activity in the poorly stressed grains. For the smaller grain sizes, the pile-ups contain less dislocations and are less numerous, but the strain incompatibilities between grains become significant. They induce high internal stresses and favor multislip conditions in all grains. Based on these results, simple interpretations are proposed for the strengthening of the yield stress in ultrafine grained metals.     

Effect of grain boundary sliding on creep constrained diffusive cavitation

For polycrystalline metals undergoing creep at high temperatures the nucleation, growth and coalescence of grain boundary cavities is investigated, with main focus on the influence of grain boundary sliding. Both the local stress state and the average rate of opening of a cavitating facet can be rather strongly affected by sliding on the grain boundaries emanating from the edges of this facet. A number of numerical solutions of axisymmetric model problems are used to study the combined influence of sliding and cavitation. The time to creep rupture by cavity coalescence is significantly reduced by grain boundary sliding, as is seen by comparison with analyses that disregard sliding. The numerical results are compared with predictions of a set of constitutive relations for creep in polycrystals with grain boundary cavitation.     

镍基单晶高温合金定向粗化行为及高温蠕变力学性能研究进展

镍基单晶高温合金是一种广泛应用于航空发动机和工业燃气轮机的两相叶片材料,由软的$\gamma $ 基体相和均匀镶嵌在其中的立方状 $\gamma'$ 沉淀强化相组成.它有个显著的特征,即在高温施加应力条件下, $\gamma '$沉淀相会发生定向粗化, 形成筏状.这种筏化行为直接影响了合金的蠕变疲劳寿命,是镍基单晶高温合金强化机制研究的重点. 此外,镍基单晶高温合金无晶界, 不存在高温晶界弱化、纵向晶界裂纹等问题.因此, $\gamma$/$\gamma'$相界面的位错运动、微观结构以及在载荷和温度作用下的演化决定了其蠕变力学性能.本文从镍基单晶高温合金的微观强化机制出发对定向粗化行为及蠕变力学性能进行了综述.重点介绍了定向粗化行为发生的微观机理、驱动力、影响因素和蠕变过程中界面微结构演化、蠕变力学模型以及定向粗化对高温蠕变力学性能的影响,指出了高温蠕变力学性能研究的发展方向和仍待解决的问题.      

Mechanics modeling for deformation of nano-grained metals

The electro-deposition technique is capable of producing nano-grained bulk copper specimens that exhibit superplastic extensibility at room temperature. Metals of such small grain sizes deform by grains squeezing past each other, with little distortion occurring in the grain cores. Accommodation mechanisms such as grain boundary diffusion and grain rotation control the kinetics of the process. A model of a 9-grain cluster is proposed that incorporates both the Ashby-Verrall mechanism and the 30° rotation of closely linked grain pairs. A constitutive relation is derived that relates the creep strain rate linearly to the difference between the applied stress and a threshold stress. The creep rate and the threshold stress predicted by the model are in quantitative agreement with the experimental data.     

A multiscale approach for modeling scale-dependent yield stress in polycrystalline metals

Modeling of scale-dependent characteristics of mechanical properties of metal polycrystals is studied using both discrete dislocation dynamics and continuum crystal plasticity. The initial movements of dislocation arc emitted from a Frank-Read type dislocation source and bounded by surrounding grain boundaries are examined by dislocation dynamics analyses system and we find the minimum resolved shear stress for the FR source to emit at least one closed loop. When the grain size is large enough compared to the size of FR source, the minimum resolved shear stress levels off to a certain value, but when the grain size is close to the size of the FR source, the minimum resolved shear stress shows a sharp increase. These results are modeled into the expression of the critical resolved shear stress of slip systems and continuum mechanics based crystal plasticity analyses of six-grained polycrystal models are made. Results of the crystal plasticity analyses show a distinct increase of macro- and microscopic yield stress for specimens with smaller mean grain diameter. Scale-dependent characteristics of the yield stress and its relation to some control parameters are discussed.     

A thermodynamics based damage mechanics constitutive model for low cycle fatigue analysis of microelectronics solder joints incorporating size effects

Below certain length scales and in the presence of a non-uniform plastic strain field the mechanical behavior of many metals and its alloys is substantially different from that in bulk specimens. In particular, an increase in resistance with decreasing size has been observed in Pb/Sn eutectic solder alloys which are extensively used in microelectronics packaging interconnects. Due to the high homologous temperature, the Pb/Sn solder exhibits creep–fatigue interaction and significant time, temperature, stress and rate dependent material characteristics. The simultaneous consideration of all the above mentioned factors makes constitutive modeling an extremely difficult task. In this paper, a viscoplastic constitutive model unified with a thermodynamics based damage evolution model is embedded into a couple stress framework in order to simulate low cycle fatigue response coupled to size effects. The model is implemented into commercial finite element code ABAQUS. The microbending experiment on thin nickel foils is used to validate the model. Analyses are performed on a thin layer solder joint in bending under cyclic loading conditions.     

Higher-order stress and grain size effects due to self-energy of geometrically necessary dislocations

The higher-order stress work-conjugate to slip gradient in single crystals at small strains is derived based on the self-energy of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs). It is shown that this higher-order stress changes stepwise as a function of in-plane slip gradient and therefore significantly influences the onset of initial yielding in polycrystals. The higher-order stress based on the self-energy of GNDs is then incorporated into the strain gradient plasticity theory of Gurtin [2002. A gradient theory of single-crystal viscoplasticity that accounts for geometrically necessary dislocations. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 50, 5-32] and applied to single-slip-oriented 2D and 3D model crystal grains of size D. It is thus found that the self-energy of GNDs gives a D^-1-dependent term for the averaged resolved shear stress in such a model grain under yielding. Using published experimental data for several polycrystalline metals, it is demonstrated that the D^-1-dependent term successfully explains the grain size dependence of initial yield stress and the dislocation cell size dependence of flow stress in the submicron to several-micron range of grain and cell sizes.     

Effects of lattice misorientations on strain heterogeneities in FCC polycrystals

It is well documented that the highly heterogeneous deformation behaviour and lattice rotation typically observed within grains in a polycrystal are attributed to microstructural features such as grain structure, topology, size, etc. In this work, the effects of low- and high-angle grain boundaries on the mechanical behaviour of FCC polycrystals are investigated using a micro-mechanical model based on crystal plasticity theory. The constitutive framework relies on dislocation mechanics concepts to describe the plastic deformation behaviour of FCC metallic crystals and is validated by comparing the measured and predicted local and macroscopic deformation behaviour in a thin Al-0.5% Mg polycrystal tensile specimen containing a relatively small number of surface grains. Comparisons at the microscopic (e.g. local slip distribution) and macroscopic (e.g. average stress-strain response) levels elucidate the role of low-angle grain boundaries, which are found to have a profound effect on both the local and average deformation behaviour of FCC polycrystals with a small number of grains. However, this effect diminishes when the number of grains increases and becomes negligible in bulk polycrystals. In light of the widely accepted view that high-angle grain boundaries strongly influence the mechanical behaviour of very fine-grained metals, this work has shown that low-angle grain boundaries can also play an equally important role in the deformation behaviour of polycrystals with a relatively small number of grains.     

High temperature creep behaviour of an FeAl intermetallic strengthened by nanoscale oxide particles

The creep behaviour of an FeAl intermetallic strengthened by nanosized oxide particles has been examined at temperatures of 700–825 °C. For all temperatures the strain rate shows a power law dependence on the applied stress. At the lowest temperature and with the highest stresses there is evidence of a threshold stress produced by the difficulty of overcoming the particle barriers, while for higher temperatures as well as at low stresses there is no threshold stress and creep appears to be controlled by general climb. The fine oxide particles produce good strengthening at low temperatures but are more readily overcome at high temperatures due to their very small size and limited attractive relaxation force. Despite such fall in creep strength, this material remains one of the strongest iron aluminides to the temperature range evaluated.     

Anisotropic Mechanical Properties of SAC Solder Joints in Microelectronic Packaging and Prediction of Uniaxial Creep Using Nanoindentation Creep

In this paper, the mechanical properties and creep behavior of lead-free solder joints has been characterized by nano-mechanical testing of single grain SAC305 solder joints extracted from plastic ball grid array (PBGA) assemblies. The anisotropic mechanical properties characterized include the elastic modulus, hardness, and yield stress. An approach is suggested to predict tensile creep strain rates for low stress levels using nanoindentation creep data measured at very high compressive stress levels. The uniaxial creep rate measured on similarly prepared bulk (large) specimens was found to be of the same order-of-magnitude as the creep rate observed in single-grain BGA joints, with chararacteristically (slightly) higher creep strains measured during nanoindentation. This suggests that the same creep mechanism operates in both size domains. Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) and nanoindentation testing further showed that the modulus, hardness, and creep properties of solder joints are highly dependent on the crystal orientation.     

Effet de l'anisotropie élastique cristalline sur la distribution des facteurs de Schmid à la surface des polycristauxInfluence of crystalline elasticity anisotropy on Schmid factor distribution at the free surface of polycrystals

Experimental studies of the plasticity mechanisms of polycrystals are usually based on the Schmid factor distribution supposing crystalline elasticity isotropy. A numerical evaluation of the effect of crystalline elasticity anisotropy on the apparent Schmid factor distribution at the free surface of polycrystals is presented. Cubic elasticity is considered. Order II stresses (averaged on all grains with the same crystallographic orientation) as well as variations between averages computed on grains with the same crystallographic orientation but with different neighbour grains are computed. The Finite Element Method is used. Commonly studied metals presenting an increasing anisotropy degree are considered (aluminium, nickel, austenite, copper). Concerning order II stresses in strongly anisotropic metals, the apparent Schmid factor distribution is drifted towards small Schmid factor values (the maximum Schmid factor is equal to 0.43 instead of 0.5) and the slip activation order between characteristic orientations of the crystallographic standard triangle is modified. The computed square deviations of the stresses averaged on grains with the same crystallographic orientation but with different neighbour grains are a bit higher than the second order ones (inter-orientation scatter). Our numerical evaluations agree quantitatively with several observations and measures of the literature concerning stress and strain distribution in copper and austenite polycrystals submitted to low amplitude loadings. Hopefully, the given apparent Schmid factor distributions could help to better understand the observations of the plasticity mechanisms taking place at the free surface of polycrystals. To cite this article: M. Sauzay, C. R. Mecanique 334 (2006).     

Creep performance of PVC aged at temperature relatively close to glass transition temperature

In order to predict the mechanical performance of the polyvinyl chloride(PVC) at a high operating temperature,a series of short-term tensile creep tests(onetenth of the physical aging time) of the PVC are carried out at 63 C with a small constant stress by a dynamic mechanical analyzer(DMA).The Struik-Kohlrausch(SK) formula and Struik shifting methods are used to describe these creep data for various physical aging time.A new phenomenological model based on the multiple relaxation mechanisms of an amorphous polymer is developed to quantitatively characterize the SK parameters(the initial creep compliance,the characteristic retardation time,and the shape factor) determined by the aging time.It is shown that the momentary creep compliance curve of the PVC at 63 C can be very well fitted by the SK formula for each aging time.However,the SK parameters for the creep curves are not constant during the aging process at the elevated temperatures,and the evolution of these parameters and the creep rate versus aging time curves at the double logarithmic coordinates have shown a nonlinear phenomenon.Moreover,the creep master curves obtained by the superposition with the Struik shifting methods are unsatisfactory in such a case.Finally,the predicted results calculated from the present model incorporating with the SK formula are in excellent agreement with the creep experimental data for the PVC isothermally aged at the temperature relatively close to the glass transition temperature.     

高温条件下材料与结构力学行为的研究进展

本文回顾了最近10年来材料与结构高温力学行为若干热点问题的研究进展,包括高温下材料力学行为的多尺度特性、多组元材料的蠕变力学性能、拘束条件下的高温断裂理论、高温下的结构安全评定理论等。指出：为了保障重大高温装备的安全运行,并为高技术工艺装备的实现提供理论支撑,必须实现时间尺度与空间尺度上的事件的转换与关联,解决高温材料老化的物理化学动力学问题,理清应力应变场与化学动力学过程的相互作用;应强化材料界面缺陷及高温结合强度的微观测量方法与理论分析的研究;需要进一步研究损伤影响下的实际蠕变裂尖应力场,精确描述拘束效应的蠕变裂纹扩展速率模型,以进一步建立拘束下的高温断裂理论;在高温结构的安全评定方面,在目前的失效评定图基础上引入与材料、结构同时关联的损伤维度（时间相关）,可望实现较为复杂损伤机制下的失效评定。     

Second-order theory for the effective behavior and field fluctuations in viscoplastic polycrystals

A recently developed “second-order” homogenization procedure (Ponte Castañeda (J. Mech. Phys. Solids 50 (2002a, b) 737, 759)) is extended to viscoplastic polycrystals and applied to compute the effective response of a certain special class of isotropic polycrystals. The method itself reduces to a simple expression requiring the computation of the averages of the stress field and the covariances of its fluctuations over the various grain orientations in an optimally selected “linear comparison polycrystal”. Therefore, the method not only allows the determination of the effective behavior of the polycrystal, but as a byproduct also yields information on the heterogeneity of the stress and strain-rate fields within the polycrystal. An application is given for a model 2-dimensional, isotropic polycrystal with power-law behavior for the constituent grains. The resulting predictions for the effective behavior are found to satisfy sharp bounds available from the literature and to be consistent with the results of recent numerical simulations. The associated averages and fluctuations of the stresses and strain rates are found to depend strongly on the strain-rate sensitivity (i.e., nonlinearity) and grain anisotropy. In particular, the stress and strain-rate fluctuations were found to grow and become strongly anisotropic with increasing values of the nonlinearity and grain anisotropy parameters.     

X-ray-diffraction approach for studies on fatigue and creep

It is well known that X-ray diffraction is one of the most powerful means for investigating the microscopic structure of crystalline materials. X-ray diffraction is advantageous when it is applied to metallic materials; it responds very sensitively to changes in the metal's crystalline structure. Another characteristic advantage of the X-ray-diffraction approach is its nondestructive nature in the measurement of crystalline-material parameters, enabling us to observe the process of mechanical phenomena of metals, such as fatigue and creep. The X-ray-diffraction patterns obtained on a deformed material include a great deal of information covering the microscopic and macroscopic characters consistent with the nature of the existing material. Residual stress measured by means of X ray is called the macroscopic-material parameter. It is evaluated by measuring the shift of the peak of a diffraction profile. The diffusiveness of the profile corresponds to the irregularity in microscopic structure of deformed crystalline material and it is noted as the submacroscopic material parameter. The X-ray-microbeam diffraction technique supplies information on the change in microscopic structure such as subgrain size, misorientation and microlattice strain. Profile analysis is another way to evaluate the microscopic-material parameters: particle size and microscopic strain. By appropriately combining these techniques in the study of mechanical behavior of materials, the parameters that control the phenomena may be extracted to facilitate discussion of their mechanism. In this lecture, X-ray-diffraction techniques to evaluate the macroscopic, submacroscopic and microscopic-material parameters are presented and the approach is demonstrated by exhibiting a case of studies on fatigue and creep of carbon steels at room and elevated temperature, where phenomena are discussed in terms of the change in the material parameters. Initiation and propagation of fatigue crack in steel at room temperature, the change in microstructure during isothermal and thermal fatigue, and also that in creep at elevated temperature under variational load are presented.     

A micromechanical theory of grain-size dependence in metal plasticity

The effect of grain-size on the elastoplastic behavior of metals is investigated from the micromechanics standpoint. First, based on the observations that dislocation pile-ups, formation of cell structures, and other inelastic activities influenced by the presence of grain boundary actually take place transcrystallinely, a grain-size dependent constitutive equation is proposed for the slip deformation of slip systems. By means of a modified Hill's self-consistent relation the local stress of a grain is calculated, and used in conjunction with this constitutive equation to evaluate the plastic strain of each constituent grain. The grain-size effect on the plastic flow of polycrystals then can be determined by an averaging process. To check the validity of the proposed theory it was finally applied to predict the stress-strain curves and flow stresses of a copper at various grain-sizes. The obtained results were found to be in good agreement with experimental data.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of polycrystalline copper

An approach for molecular dynamics simulation of the formation of polycrystalline materials from a melt during its cooling is proposed. Atomic configurations of copper corresponding to polycrystals with the mean grain size from 2 to 16 nm are obtained. Isothermal uniaxial tension and compression of these polycrystals is studied by the molecular dynamics method. For the mean grain size of polycrystalline copper being smaller than 10 nm, it is shown that Young’s modulus and yield stress decrease as the grain size decreases. Shock adiabats for polycrystalline copper are constructed. For a material with the grain size approximately equal to 2 nm, the temperature behind the shock wave front is demonstrated to be 10% higher than that in a polycrystal with the grain size greater than 10 nm. Molecular dynamics calculations predict the presence of copper with a body-centered cubic lattice behind the shock wave front at pressures ranging from 100 to 200 GPa.     

用晶体弹塑性有限单元法研究双晶金属拉伸变形

本文从单晶体应力-应变关系的精确实验结果和多晶体滑移特性出发,建立相应的计算模型,并采用微观力学和晶体弹塑性有限单元法,研究双晶金属试样的拉伸变形,得到其应力-应变曲线,晶体内滑移变形和应力分布规律,以及晶界影响区对它们的影响。