Realistic problems in the physics of plasticity and hardness for single crystals and polycrystalline materials

The basic results from investigations of certain real problems in the physics of plasticity for single crystals and polycrystalline metal alloys carried out under the direction of the authors are given. The microdeformation patterns and formation of the flow limit in polycrystalline material are treated; the features of the mechanisms of deformation, deformational hardening, and the defect substructure in high-strength metal alloys are characterized. Analyses are carried out for phenomena involving activation of grain boundaries by grain boundary flows of impurity atoms, and experimentally based features of deformation on different structural levels under active extension, creep, and sign-alternating loading conditions. The main attention is given to the development of collective deformation modes. A discussion of some structural aspects of the realization of meso-level plastic flow with different deformation conditions is presented. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 5–15, August, 1998.     

Role of local nanostructural states in plastic deformation and fracture of solids

The paper substantiates the concept of physical mesomechanics that the basis for nonlinear behavior of solids under plastic deformation and fracture is the formation of nanostructural states in local highly nonequilibrium zones. Their structural transformations and two-phase decay govern the generation of strain-induced defects and cracks. Nonlinear wave mechanisms of nanostructural states influence on plastic deformation and fracture are discussed.     

Visualization of inhomogeneities in a plastic flow by the fields of decorrelation and scintillation rates of video speckles

We consider the algorithms of in situ methods for visualizing the localization zones of plastic deformation, as well as experimental dependences of visualizing signals and parameter (which are inversely proportional to the quality of measurements) on the deformation being visualized. Typical examples of the result of visualization of a plastic flow are given in the case of propagation of Chernov-Lüders bands.     

On the localization of plastic flow under compression of NaCl and KCl crystals

The plastic flow localization patterns for alkali halide crystals under compression are investigated. The main spatiotemporal regularities of the strain localization at the stages of deformation hardening in these single crystals are established. The relation is traced between the orientation of localized strain zones and the crystallography of slip systems of the test specimens at the initial stages of plastic deformation. The velocity of motion of localized strain zones under compression is determined.     

Multiscaling of lattice curvature on friction surfaces of metallic materials as a basis of their wear mechanism

A comprehensive structural study has been performed to explore deformation and wear debris formation on friction surfaces of metallic materials. A hierarchy of structural scales of plastic deformation and failure during wear has been established. The nanoscale plays the major role in the hierarchical self-organization of multiscale debris formation processes. On this scale, bifurcational interstitial states arise in zones of local lattice curvature, with plastic distortion and motion of nonequilibrium point defects which determine the nonlinear dynamics of structure formation and wear of surface layers. Nonequilibrium vacancies on lattice sites form microporosity through the coalescence mechanism under plastic distortion. The microporosity is a precursor of meso- and macroscale plastic shearing that defines wear debris formation.     

Evolution of the defect substructure in V-4Ti-4Cr alloy under severe plastic deformation

The evolution of the defect substructure in V-4Ti-4Cr alloy under its severe plastic deformation by torsion in Bridgman anvils is studied by transmission electron microscopy. Nanoband structural states with a dipole or multipole character of misorientations and a crystallite (or nanoband) size varying from several to several tens of nanometers form in the true logarithmic strain range e ≈ 3.0−6.6. Such crystallites form inside 100-nm submicrocrystallites or coalesce (at e ≥ 6) to yield mesobands with a pronounced vortex character of their propagation. The formation of these states is related to the activation (by the flows of nonequilibrium point defects in stress fields) of quasi-viscous deformation and lattice reorientation mechanisms, which provide the generation and propagation of partial disclination nanodipoles followed by the development of collective effects in a disclination substructure. These effects lead to the group motion of nanodipoles inside the mesobands.     

Nonlinear wave processes in a deformable solid as a hierarchically organized system

Theoretical predictions and experiments demonstrate that solid state mechanics should consider, along with a structurally equilibrium 3D crystalline subsystem, a structurally nonequilibrium planar subsystem as a complex of all surface layers and internal interfaces with broken translation invariance. Primary plastic flow of a loaded solid develops in its structurally nonequilibrium planar subsystem as channeled nonlinear waves of local structural transformations that determine the self-organization law of multiscale plastic flow. These waves initiate mesoscale rotational deformation modes, giving rise to all types of microscale strain-induced defects in the planar subsystem. The strain-induced defects are emitted into the crystalline subsystem as an inhibitor of nonlinear waves of plastic flow in the planar subsystem. Plastic deformation of solids, whatever the loading type, evolves in the field of rotational couple forces. Loss of hierarchical self-consistency by rotational deformation modes culminates in fracture of material as an uncompensated rotational deformation mode on the macroscale.     

Kinetics of Macrolocalization Patterns of Plastic Flow of Metals

The features of the macroscopic inhomogeneity of plastic deformation in the form of autowaves with a pulsating amplitude are analyzed, and data on the localization of sources of acoustic emission at different stages of plastic flow in the stretching of fcc mono- and polycrystals are presented. The relationship between the local components of the plastic distortion tensor in the strain localization zone is traced. The role of acoustic phenomena accompanying the localization of plastic strain in the development of the process of plastic deformation is considered.     

Severe plastic deformation of amorphous alloys: I. Structure and mechanical properties

The basic regularities of variation in the structure and mechanical properties of amorphous Ni₄₄Fe₂₉Co₁₅Si₂B₁₀ alloy at severe plastic deformation (SPD) in a Bridgman cell at different temperatures are considered. It is shown that SPD is accompanied by homogeneous nanocrystallization, which is caused by the plastic flow mode. The transition from inhomogeneous mode of plastic flow to a qualitatively different one has been detected. The SPD structural model of deformational “dissolving” of crystals is proposed to explain why nanocrystals no more than 10 nm in size are observed during SPD. It is found that thermally activated nanocrystallization may occur at very low temperatures (77 K) under very high stress and with a high concentration of excess free volume.     

Kinetics of localized plastic flow during deformation and fracture of a D1 alloy

The stress-strain curve of a polycrystalline duralumine (D1) is studied to find three basic deformation stages: linear hardening, parabolic hardening (n = 1/2), and prefracture (n < 1/2). The results obtained show special features of macrolocalization of the plastic flow of the alloy under review. The distribution patterns of localized plastic flow domains develop according to deformation stages. The prefracture stage is characterized by self-correlated motion of the domains to the point of subsequent fracture. It follows from an analysis of the plastic flow localization kinetics that both hardening and softening domains coexist in the specimen in the prefracture stage. The domains move with a constant velocity inherent to each of them and linearly dependent on the position of their nucleation point. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 11, pp. 68–73, November, 2007.     

Reconstruction of the autowave structure upon deformation of polycrystalline aluminum

The evolution of zones of localized plastic deformation in polycrystalline aluminum was investigated. At the stage of the linear strain hardening, such zones were established to move synchronously, whereas at the stage of parabolic strengthening they are stationary. The quantitative characteristics (wavelength, propagation velocity) of deformation waves that are formed at the stage of linear strengthening were determined. A relation between the quantitative characteristics of the process of deformation localization and the grain size was found. The distribution of local deformations upon transition from one stage of plastic flow to another was investigated. A model that explains the generation of coarse-scale structures of localized plastic deformation is suggested.     

On the localization of plastic strain under compression of LiF crystals

The plastic flow localization patterns for alkali halide LiF crystals under compression have been investigated. The main spatiotemporal regularities of the strain localization at different stages of deformation hardening in the single crystals have been established. The relation has been traced between the orientation of localized strain zones and the crystallography of slip systems of the test specimens studied simultaneously by the double-exposure speckle photography and photoelasticity methods.     

Numerical simulation of deformation and fracture of a material with a polysilazane-based coating

The paper studies the localization of plastic deformation and fracture in a material with a porous coating. A dynamic boundary value problem in the plane strain formulation is solved. The numerical simulation is performed by the finite difference method. The composite structure corresponds to the experimentally observed one and is specified explicitly in the calculation. A generation procedure of the initial finite-difference grid is developed to describe the coating structure with adjustable porosity and geometry of the substrate-coating interface. Constitutive equations for the steel substrate include an elastic-plastic model of an isotropically hardening material. The ceramic coating is described by a brittle fracture model on the basis of the Huber criterion which accounts for crack nucleation in triaxial tension zones. It is shown that the specific character of deformation and fracture of the studied composite results from the presence of local tensile regions in the vicinity of pores and along the coating-substrate interface, in both tension and compression of the coated material. The interrelation between inhomogeneous plastic flow in the steel substrate and crack propagation in the coating is studied.     

Study of the influence of vacancies and vacancy complexes on the yield limit of Al subjected to strain aging

Mechanical properties of metals are most sensitive to the presence of point defects. The influence of point defects on the kinetics of plastic deformation is highly diversified: the point defects can be the main carriers of plastic deformation (diffusion creep, crowdion plasticity, etc.), can imitate the velocity of nonconservative motion of dislocations, and can serve as centers of pinning of dislocations. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 18–20, March, 2008.     

Mesoscale plastic flow instability in a solid under high-rate deformation

Here we consider high-rate deformation in solids in the context of a nonlocal transport theory, present a dynamic stress-strain diagram with elastic and plastic portions defined from a single standpoint, determine the conditions for pulse stress accumulation, and propose a mathematical model of momentum and energy exchange between scales and an instability criterion for transient plastic flow under shock loading. Phe instability criterion for high-rate deformation is verified by the example of shock loading of high-strength 30CrNi4Mo steel.     

Nanodipoles of partial disclinations in the region of localized elastic distortions

Strain localization in the region of elastic distortions is revealed in nickel dynamic recrystallization grains during torsion in Bridgman anvils, which leads to the formation of reorientation nanobands with the elastic lattice curvature equal to hundreds of degrees per micron. It is shown that the nanobands are formed by the motion of partial disclination nanodipoles, i.e., zones of constrained elastic shear and rotations distinguished by extremely high local internal stress gradients.     

Microstructural evolution of nickel under high-pressure torsion

The evolution peculiarities of grain and defect structures in nickel under high-pressure torsion were studied by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. Lattice reorientation mechanisms characteristic of different stages of plastic deformation were disclosed. The conditions and features of cooperative realization of various structure formation mechanisms under severe deformation were discussed.     

Plastic deformation in mesocomposite materials under dynamic loading as applied to their joining with metals

The paper studies the effect of the amount and distribution pattern of nanoinclusions in a high-strength mesocomposite matrix on its plastic deformation under dynamic loading. The study is performed on mesocomposite specimens shaped as hollow thick-walled cylinders subjected to combined shear/compression loading with an explosive. It is found that homogeneous strain decreases with the growing volume fraction of nanoinclusions. The mechanical texture formed by the distribution of nanoinclusions in mesocomposite bars is shown to influence the deformation and cracking mechanisms. Additionally, the influence of structure is studied by computer simulation. The simulation has revealed that plastic deformation is rotational in the mesocomposite with chaotic structural distribution.     

Subsurface deformation studies of aluminium during wear and its theoretical understanding using molecular dynamics

Adopting the bonded interface technique for wear experiments under vacuum, this paper reports the nature of the localised shear bands that appear at the different deformation zones of the subsurface of aluminium under different sliding conditions. The plastic deformations are mapped under both low load/low sliding velocities as well as high load and high sliding velocities. A monotonic change in local plastic strain as a function of depth at low sliding velocities give way to a discontinuity separating two different zones with differing plastic behaviour for high sliding speed wear test. Besides shear bands, bonded interface also reveals the presence of kinks particularly in the samples subjected to wear test with high sliding velocities. A molecular dynamic simulation of the wear process successfully replicated the experimental observation, thus allowing us to discuss the mechanism of subsurface deformation during the wear process in the absence of any significant oxide layer for aluminium under sliding condition.