Strength and plastic deformation of polycrystalline diamond composites

ABSTRACT

The use of nanopolycrystalline diamond has allowed a systematic study on deformation of polycrystalline diamond composites (PCDCs). Bulk PCDCs samples containing either Co or SiC as a binding agent were deformed under high pressure and temperature to strains up to 18% at strain rates ～10^?5?s^?1. All samples exhibit strong work hardening. The strength of PCDCs depends on the amount and type of binding agents and is consistently weaker than that of diamond single crystals. The weakening may be due to the binder materials, which play an important role in affecting grain boundary structures. In SiC-based PCDC, significant grain fragmentation occurs. Nearly all grain boundaries are wetted by SiC after large deformation, resulting in lower strength. In Co-based PCDC, the microstructure is dominated by dislocations, deformation twins, and separated grain boundaries. The density of deformation twins increases significantly with strain, with the twin domain width reaching as low as 10–20?nm at 14% strain.     

Strong magnetization by antiphase-boundary tubes in a cyclically deformed Fe-35 at.% Al alloy

Strong magnetization was observed in a cyclically deformed Fe-35 at.% Al alloy by introduction of a high density of antiphase-boundary (APB) tubes. In order to introduce a large plastic deformation without changing the specimen dimension, compressive deformation was given repeatedly along mutually orthogonal stress axes under a constraint imposed across the stress axes. Clear evidence was obtained in attributing the major origin of the large magnetization to the production of a high density of APB tubes. The contribution of the APB tubes to the strong magnetization and to the work hardening is discussed on the basis of quantitative analyses of the microstructures introduced by cyclic deformation.     

Application of synchrotron radiation to the study of the internal structure of natural regular and irregular diamonds

The internal structure of regular and irregular diamond crystals of the Snap Lake deposit of the Slave province (Canada) is studied using the Laue-SR synchrotron method. The crystals under study were classified into regular and irregular diamonds according to IR spectroscopy data. It is shown that irregular diamonds, in contrast to regular, underwent plastic deformation during the postgrowth period. Plastic deformation by slip or spinel-law twinning is observed for diamonds with insignificant nitrogen concentrations. For most studied crystals with high concentrations of platelets (B’ defects), irregular misorientations of local regions of a deformed crystal, such as faults and kinks, are characteristic. The interaction of dislocations formed during plastic deformation, with the dislocations surrounding the platelets, causes destruction of the latter at high P-T parameters typical of the upper mantle.     

Recrystallization of pure and strontium-doped KCl crystals

The kinetics of microstructure transformations are studied during annealing of deformed single crystals of KCl and KCl:0.05wt %Sr²⁺ at temperatures of (0.35–0.55)T _m (where T _m is the melting temperature) and during storage at room temperature. The effect of deformation rates ranging from 0.01 mm/min to 0.1 mm/min at a deformation temperature T _d=0.5T _m on the crystal structure and on the recrystallization kinetics is noted. It is found experimentally that the incubation period for static recrystallization in single-crystal KCl:0.05wt%Sr²⁺ is shortened and recrystallization takes place at room temperature after deformation in this temperature range. Here, during the new recrystallization grains have a twinned orientation with respect to the initial single crystal during the first stage and to the subgrains of the deformed crystal. As the annealing temperature is raised, the stage in which twins grow in KCl:0.05wt%Sr²⁺ crystals is shortened and it is displaced by recrystallization through migration of high-angle grain boundaries of the common type. Deformation conditions which ensure prolonged (at least three months) stability of the post-deformation hardening of single crystals are found experimentally for Sr²⁺-doped deformed single crystals. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 259–264 (February 1999)     

Peculiarities of the dislocation ensemble motion in doped alkali halide crystals

Abstract

Correlation between the dislocation mobility in the stress field of a concentrated load and other plastic deformation parameters for doped NaCl crystals was studied. The good correlation between all parameters under investigation was found in the case of the impurity hardening and the disturbance of this correlation was established in the case of the impurity softening. The influence of impurity state on the low-temperature anomaly of dislocation mobility was revealed.     

Investigation of defect structures in deuteron irradiated and deformed stainless steel 316 by positron annihilation

Abstract

Deuteron-irradiated and deformed stainless steel specimens were investigated by positron lifetime and Doppler broadening measurements. The evolution of the defect structures was studied as a function of the isochronal annealing temperature and for various degrees of deformation. A different behaviour was observed for deformed and irradiated stainless steel specimens. Evidence for vacancy clusters was found in the deuteron-irradiated steel. These clusters disappear after annealing around 900 K.     

Theoretical description of thermomechanical effects in high pressure apparatus

Abstract

Numerical calculations are used to study stress-strain state of high pressure apparatus components in compression, heating, cooling and unloading with regard to large elastoplastic deformations, high pressures and temperatures, anisotropy of materials and contact interaction. Regularities of HPA components deformation in the processes under consideration are studied.     

Structure and mechanical properties of Ni<Subscript>3</Subscript>Ge single crystals under severe plastic deformation and heating

Mechanical tests are performed for Ni₃Ge alloy single crystals in the intense plastic shear deformation scheme under quasi-hydrostatic pressure at different test temperatures. Dependences of resistance to shear deformation on the Bridgman anvils’ angle of rotation are obtained. The microrelief of the surface damage of Ni₃Ge single crystals fractured by plane bending after specimens were withdrawn from the Bridgman anvils is studied. X-ray diffraction patterns of deformed Ni₃Ge single crystals are obtained.     

Structural Changes in Iron upon Large Plastic Deformations and Their Influence on the Complex of Its Mechanical Properties

The influence of the degree of preliminary strain, obtained by equal-channel angular pressing, on the character of work hardening of highly deformed armco-iron is investigated. The effect of the deformation on the evolution of dislocation and cellular structures is analyzed. The structural sensitivity of the mechanical properties is studied.     

Hardening and softening during fatigue fracture

Summary The comparison of the change of hardness and plastic deformation amplitude at a constant stress loading or stress amplitude at a constant deformation loading during the fatigue process shows some singularity of the hardening and softening effects. These effects were investigated on mean carbon and low-alloyed steel and on globular cast iron.The fatigue fractures at cycle numbers 10⁴÷10⁶ under stresses below the yield strength predominate in the softening process, which arises after an inconsiderable hardness increase extends in the region to 0·2 from the fracturing cycle number. Under the stresses above the yield strength, which in some cases for annealed and coarse-grained states are below the fatigue limit, the hardening process predominates, followed by a hardness increase in the field up to 0·25 and above the fracturing cycle number.At low cycle fatigue fractures with cycle numbers < 10⁴ depending on the cyclic plastic properties of steels the fatigue process can be followed by a continuous hardening or softening till fracture. This process is characterized by the change of the deformation amplitude and a one-sided accumulation of plastic deformations at a constant amplitude of active stresses. The one-sided accumulation of deformations commonly ends in a quasistatic failure. Under loading with a constant deformation amplitude during softening a fatigue fracture takes place as a result of damage accumulation under the alternating stresses with amplitudes decreasing with cycle number.     

Pressure-enforced plasticity in MAX phases: from single grain to polycrystal investigation

Ti₄AlN₃, Ti₃AlC₂ and Ti₃Al_0.8Sn_0.2C₂ MAX phases were plastically deformed at room temperature (RT) under gaseous confining pressure. Microstructures of as-grown and deformed samples are carefully analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is demonstrated that high level of plastic deformation can be reached under confining gas pressure; the later suppresses the brittle failure at RT to the profit of plasticity. Multiscale characterization techniques are shown to provide a unique insight into all the scales of the plastic deformation; in particular, the effect of the mesoscale. Indeed, grain shape and orientation relative to the compression axis are shown to play a key role in the deformation process, intergranular stresses leading to a complex stress field in the polycrystalline samples. The TEM results show that dislocation activity highly depends on the grain orientation. The observation of dislocation entanglements unambiguously demonstrates that dislocations may be organized in such a configuration so that their glide in the basal plane can be hindered when deep plastic regime is reached.     

Kinetics of dislocation ensembles in deformable irradiated materials

The development of plastic instability in the initial deformation stages of irradiated materials is studied. The dependence of the fraction of dislocations which overcome obstacles in the dynamic regime (dislocation “channeling”) on the degree of radiation hardening (irradiation dose) and the dislocation velocity is analyzed. It is shown that this effect plays a role in radiation embrittlement of reactor materials. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1631–1634 (September 1998)     

Influence of nitrogen on the mechanism of austenitic stainless steel hardening

On the example of a C18N12M2 austenitic stainless steel, the influence of nitrogen (whose content varied from 0 to 0.45 wt.%) on the grain boundary hardening coefficient k _h entering into the Hall-Patch equation is analyzed. High values of k _h in steels with and without nitrogen are found. The data of the Auger analysis show that the hardening coefficient in the steel without nitrogen is determined by the grain-boundary segregation of carbon and oxygen. The grain-boundary hardening in the steel with nitrogen is not connected with the predominant segregation of nitrogen at grain boundaries. It is completely governed by intragranular processes—interaction of nitrogen atoms with dislocations. Omsk State Pedagogical University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 47–52, July, 1999.     

Atomistic simulation of the stacking fault energy and grain shape on strain hardening behaviours of FCC nanocrystalline metals

ABSTRACT

Ultra-fine grained copper with nanotwins is found to be both strong and ductile. It is expected that nanocrystalline metals with lamella grains will have strain hardening behaviour. The main unsolved issues on strain hardening behaviour of nanocrystalline metals include the effect of stacking fault energy, grain shape, temperature, strain rate, second phase particles, alloy elements, etc. Strain hardening makes strong nanocrystalline metals ductile. The stacking fault energy effects on the strain hardening behaviour are studied by molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the uniaxial tensile deformation of the layer-grained and equiaxed models for metallic materials at 300?K. The results show that the strain hardening is observed during the plastic deformation of the layer-grained models, while strain softening is found in the equiaxed models. The strain hardening index values of the layer-grained models decrease with the decrease of stacking fault energy, which is attributed to the distinct stacking fault width and dislocation density. Forest dislocations are observed in the layer-grained models due to the high dislocation density. The formation of sessile dislocations, such as Lomer–Cottrell dislocation locks and stair-rod dislocations, causes the strain hardening behaviour. The dislocation density in layer-grained models is higher than that in the equiaxed models. Grain morphology affects dislocation density by influencing the dislocation motion distance in grain interior.     

Elastic and plastic deformation of NaCl and Ni3Al polycrystals during compression in a multi-anvil apparatus

Abstract

The compression behaviour in a multi-anvil apparatus of pure NaCl and of a foil of Ni₃Al embedded in a pressure medium of NaCl has been studied by energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction. At ambient temperature, the pressure and stresses, determined from line positions of NaCl, were constant throughout the sample chamber. Line positions and line widths of NaCl reflections were reversible on pressure release. A saturation of microstrains observed in NaCl at 2 GPa is thus attributed to brittle fracture setting in at uniaxial stresses of around 0.3 GPa. Ni₃Al polycrystals, in contrast, undergo extensive (ductile) plastic deformation above 4 GPa. The compression behaviour of both Ni₃Al and NaCl is identical to that previously determined in a diamond anvil cell. While a multi-anvil device thus has the advantage, compared with a diamond anvil cell, of constant pressure and stress throughout the sample chamber, microstrains in poly-crystalline samples arise in both devices. Samples in a multi-anvil apparatus thus need to be mixed with a pressure medium and to consist of essentially single crystals just as in a diamond anvil cell. Annealing experiments at high pressures confirm that the release of the uniaxial stress component in the pressure medium does not cause a release of microstrains in the embedded sample if the latter has been plastically deformed. Annealing for the purpose of attaining hydrostatic conditions in compression studies thus has to be carried out with care.     

Defects with deep levels induced by plastic deformation and electron irradiation in El2-free GaAs

Abstract

Defects with deep electronic energy levels induced by electron irradiation at room temperature or plastic deformation at 450°C in GaAs in which grown-in EL2 defects are previously eliminated by heat-treatment are investigated by means of measurements of the optical absorption and the Hall effect. Thermal stabilities of the induced defects are studied by tracing the changes mainly in the absorption specturm due to isochronal annealing. The absorptions both in deformed and irradiated specimens are mostly photo-unquenchable. Therefore, the defects induced by above two procedures are identified not to be EL2. Semi-insulating or n-type specimens convert to p-type by plastic deformation or electron irradiation, showing that high densities of acceptors are generated by the above two procedures.     

Deformation of a Virasoro algebra and the integrals of motion of the quantum sine-Gordon equation

A special deformation of a Virasoro algebra such that the screening operator is not deformed (the space where it operates is deformed) is studied. This deformation leads to a 3-index algebra. The residue of the generating function of the generators of this algebra is a generating function of the integrals of motion for the quantum sine-Gordon model. The algebra of generating functions is calculated. Explicit formulas are presented for the first few integrals of motion. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 5, 375–380 (10 March 1996)     

Deformation of alkali-metal halide crystals by a concentrated load

The parameters characterizing the effect of a concentrated load on crystals subjected to various preliminary treatments and their possible relationship to the mechanical characteristics manifested during ordinary (one-dimensional) deformation are investigated. The significant upward deviation of the microhardness from the values of the elastic limit and yield strength of crystals is shown to be caused not so much by the larger values of the strain under an indenter as by the larger value of the strain hardening coefficient in the case of deformation by a concentrated load. It is also shown that the types of hardening caused by uniaxial deformation and by reactor irradiation influence the microhardness of LiF crystals differently. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 1999–2003 (November 1999)     

Physics of the plasticity and fracture of high-strength crystals

Systematic studies of the mechanism of plastic deformation, strain hardening, and fracture of high-strength single crystals of heterophase alloys based on copper and austenitic stainless steels with nitrogen are reported. It is shown that the attainment of high resistance to the motion of dislocations results in the appearance of new mechanical behavior: strong orientation dependence of the critical shear stresses, a change in the deformation mechanism from slip to twinning, loss of mechanical flow stability at early stages in deformation, and a transition from viscous to brittle fracture.V. D. Kuznetsov Siberian Physicotechnical Institute, Tomsk State University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 9, pp. 3–24, September, 1992.     

A tof neutron diffraction system for high pressure and low temperature

Abstract

Time-of-flight method of neutron diffraction is applied for materials under high pressure and low temperature. Extra-scattering from the pressure cell is reduced by geometrical design and by shielding with boron-plastics. Temperature is controled by adjusting the supply of liquid nitrogen: Successive transformations with pressure are observed in heavy ice.