Molecular dynamics study of plastic deformation mechanism in Cu/Ag multilayers

The plastic deformation mechanism of Cu/Ag multilayers is investigated by molecular dynamics(MD) simulation in a nanoindentation process. The result shows that due to the interface barrier, the dislocations pile-up at the interface and then the plastic deformation of the Ag matrix occurs due to the nucleation and emission of dislocations from the interface and the dislocation propagation through the interface. In addition, it is found that the incipient plastic deformation of Cu/Ag multilayers is postponed, compared with that of bulk single-crystal Cu. The plastic deformation of Cu/Ag multilayers is affected by the lattice mismatch more than by the difference in stacking fault energy(SFE) between Cu and Ag. The dislocation pile-up at the interface is determined by the obstruction of the mismatch dislocation network and the attraction of the image force. Furthermore, this work provides a basis for further understanding and tailoring metal multilayers with good mechanical properties, which may facilitate the design and development of multilayer materials with low cost production strategies.     

Role of interfaces in shock-induced plasticity in Cu/Nb nanolaminates

We investigate deformation of pure Cu, pure Nb and 30?nm Cu/30?nm Nb nanolaminates induced by high strain rate shock loading. Abundant dislocation activities are observed in shocked pure Cu and Nb. In addition, a few deformation twins are found in the shocked pure Cu. In contrast, in shocked Cu/Nb nanolaminates, abundant deformation twins are found in the Cu layers, but only dislocations in the Nb layers. High resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that the deformation twins in the Cu layers preferentially nucleate from the Cu(112)//Nb(112) interface habit planes rather than the predominant Cu(111)//Nb(110) interface planes. Our comparative study on the shock-induced plastic deformation of the pure metals (Cu and Nb) and the Cu/Nb nanolaminates underscores the critical role of heterogeneous phase interfaces in the dynamic deformation of multilayer materials.     

Dislocation motion in anisotropic multilayer materials

Line integral forms for the elastic field of dislocations in anisotropic, multilayer materials are developed and utilized in Parametric Dislocation Dynamics (PDD) computer simulations. Developed equations account for interface image forces on dislocations as a result of elastic modulus mismatch between adjacent layers. The method is applied to study dislocation motion in multilayer thin films. The operation of dislocation sources, dislocation pileups, confined layer slip (CLS), and the loss of layer confinement are demonstrated for a duplex Cu/Ni system. The strength of a thin film of alternating nanolayers is shown to increase with decreasing layer thickness, and that the maximum strength is determined by the Koehler barrier in the absence of coherency strains. For alternating Cu/Ni nanolayers, the dependence of the strength on the duplex layer thickness is found to be consistent with experimental results, down to a layer thickness of ≈10nm.     

Modeling texture evolution during rolling of a Cu–Nb multilayered system

A polycrystal plasticity model is proposed to predict the unique rolling texture of Cu/Nb nanostructured multilayers. At this length scale, the model accounts for the interface between Cu and Nb layers by computing the aggregate response of composite grains using a viscoplastic self–consistent scheme. Each composite grain is divided into Cu and Nb crystals with the interface parallel to the rolling plane, and compatibility and equilibrium are enforced across the interface. A latent hardening effect is introduced to account for the interaction between glide and interface dislocations. The latter are accumulated during slip transmission. This unconventional hardening confines the movement of glide dislocations by promoting symmetry of slip activities. Consequently, it slows development of the rolling texture for Cu/Nb nanolayers, and partially preserves the initial interface orientation defined by the Kurdjumov–Sachs relationship.     

Interface dislocation structures at the onset of coherency loss in nanoscale Ni–Cu bilayer films

We have performed a transmission electron microscopy study, using weak beam imaging, of the interface dislocation arrays that form initially at the (001) Ni–Cu interface during coherency loss. Interface dislocations were absent in the 2.5?nm Ni/100?nm Cu bilayers, but were present in the 3.0?nm Ni samples, indicating that the critical Ni film thickness for coherency loss is between 2.5 and 3?nm. The key features of the interface dislocation structure at the onset of coherency loss are: (i) the majority of interface dislocations are 60° dislocations, presumably formed by glide of threading dislocations in the coherently stressed Ni layer, and have Burgers vector in the {111} glide plane; (ii) the interface contained approximately 5% Lomer edge dislocations, with Burgers vector in the {001} interface plane, and an occasional Shockley partial dislocation and (iii) isolated segments of interface dislocations terminating at the surface are regularly observed. Possible mechanisms that lead to these dislocation configurations at the interface are discussed. This experimental study shows that near the critical thickness, accumulation of interface dislocations occurs in a somewhat stochastic fashion with favourable regions where coherency is first lost.     

Dislocation transmission across the Cu/Ni interface: a hybrid atomistic–continuum study

The strengthening mechanisms in bimetallic Cu/Ni thin layers are investigated using a hybrid approach that links the parametric dislocation dynamics method with ab initio calculations. The hybrid approach is an extension of the Peierls–Nabarro (PN) model to bimaterials, where the dislocation spreading over the interface is explicitly accounted for. The model takes into account all three components of atomic displacements of the dislocation and utilizes the entire generalized stacking fault energy surface (GSFS) to capture the essential features of dislocation core structure. Both coherent and incoherent interfaces are considered and the lattice resistance of dislocation motion is estimated through the ab initio-determined GSFS. The effects of the mismatch in the elastic properties, GSFS and lattice parameters on the spreading of the dislocation onto the interface and the transmission across the interface are studied in detail. The hybrid model shows that the dislocation dissociates into partials in both Cu and Ni, and the dislocation core is squeezed near the interface facilitating the spreading process, and leaving an interfacial ledge. The competition of dislocation spreading and transmission depends on the characteristics of the GSFS of the interface. The strength of the bimaterial can be greatly enhanced by the spreading of the glide dislocation, and also increased by the pre-existence of misfit dislocations. In contrast to other available PN models, dislocation core spreading in the two dissimilar materials and on their common interface must be simultaneously considered because of the significant effects on the transmission stress.     

基于多尺度模拟研究Ni/Cu薄膜压痕塑性的原子机制

基于准连续介质多尺度模拟方法研究了Ni/Cu双层薄膜初始压痕塑性的原子机制,结果主要包括:(1)当Ni晶体层厚度小于10nm时,随着Ni晶体层厚度的减少,薄膜弹性极限所对应的临界接触力逐渐降低,即Ni/Cu薄膜随Ni晶体层厚度减小而变软;(2)压头下方晶格Shockley分位错的开动、界面位错的分解、以及界面位错与晶格位错的相互作用是Ni/Cu薄膜初始塑性的微观原子机制,(3)根据模拟结果观察和位错弹性理论计算,承载初始塑性的界面位错数目变少是Ni/Cu薄膜软化的主要原子机制.本文研究结果能够为异质界面力学行为研究提供有益参考.     

界面结构对Cu/Ni多层膜纳米压痕特性影响的分子动力学模拟

金属多层膜调制周期下降到纳米级时,其力学性质会发生显著改变. Cu-Ni晶格失配度约为2.7%,可以形成共格界面和半共格界面,实验中实现沿[111]方向生长的调制周期为几纳米且具有异孪晶界面结构的Cu/Ni多层膜,其力学性质发生显著改变.本文采用分子动力学方法对共格界面、共格孪晶界面、半共格界面、半共格孪晶界面等四种不同界面结构的Cu/Ni多层膜进行纳米压痕模拟,研究压痕过程中不同界面结构类型的形变演化规律以及位错与界面的相互作用,获取Cu/Ni多层膜不同界面结构对其力学性能的影响特征.计算结果表明,不同界面结构的样品在不同压痕深度时表现出的强化或软化作用机理不同,软化机制主要是由于形成了平行于界面的分位错以及孪晶界面的迁移,强化机制主要是由于界面对位错的限定作用以及失配位错网状结构与孪晶界面迁移时所形成的弓形位错之间的相互作用.     

High strength and high electrical conductivity bulk Cu

The achievement of both high strength and high electrical conductivity in bulk materials is challenging in the development of multifunctional materials, because the majority of the strengthening methods reduce the electrical conductivity of the materials significantly. At room temperature, dislocations have little scattering effect on conduction electrons. Thus, a high density of dislocations can strengthen conductors without significantly increasing the resistivity. However, at room temperature (RT), which is defined as 295?±?2?K in this paper, deformation can only introduce a limited number of dislocations in pure metals due to dislocation annihilation, i.e. recovery. This limitation is expanded by a well-controlled liquid nitrogen temperature (LNT), which is defined as 77?±?0.5?K in this paper, deformation process that permits accumulation of both nanotwins and a high density of dislocations accompanied by significantly less recovery than that in RT-deformed samples. The dislocations are organized into refined dislocation cells, with thicker cell boundaries in LNT-deformed samples than those deformed at RT. LNT deformation stores more energy in the material than RT deformation. LNT deformation produces bulk pure Cu with a yield strength about 1.5 times that of RT-deformed Cu. The RT resistivity increase is less than 5% compared with that of annealed Cu.     

Stress assisted diffusion to dislocations—II: Higher order decay constants in an eigenfunction expansion description

Stress assisted diffusion to dislocations is considered in terms of an expansion in decaying exponentials. The dependence of higher order decay constants on dislocation density, Cottrell attraction parameter and temperature is determined by a numerical treatment of the boundary value problem. The results are discussed as they apply to sets of publsihed decay constants for stress relaxation in iron and for dislocation pinning in irradiated and/or cold worked NaCl, KCl and Pb.     

Closed and open-ended stacking fault tetrahedra formation along the interfaces of Cu–Al nanolayered metals

Stacking fault tetrahedra (SFTs) are volume defects that typically form by the clustering of vacancies in face-centred cubic (FCC) metals. Here, we report a dislocation-based mechanism of SFT formation initiated from the semi-coherent interfaces of Cu–Al nanoscale multilayered metals subjected to out-of-plane tension. Our molecular dynamics simulations show that Shockley partials are first emitted into the Cu interlayers from the dissociated misfit dislocations along the Cu–Al interface and interact to form SFTs above the triangular intrinsic stacking faults along the interface. Under further deformation, Shockley partials are also emitted into the Al interlayers and interact to form SFTs above the triangular FCC planes along the interface. The resulting dislocation structure comprises closed SFTs within the Cu interlayers which are tied across the Cu–Al interfaces to open-ended SFTs within the Al interlayers. This unique plastic deformation mechanism results in considerable strain hardening of the Cu–Al nanolayered metal, which achieves its highest tensile strength at a critical interlayer thickness of ~4 nm corresponding to the highest possible density of complete SFTs within the nanolayer structure.     

Dynamics of Martensitic Interfaces

The basic dynamic behavior of martensitic interfaces has been analyzed within the framework of lattice dislocation dynamics. Two limiting cases of the martensitic interface structure have been considered: (a) the case when the interface can be appropriately described in terms of an array of non-interacting (well-spaced) interfacial dislocations and; (b) the case when the interfacial dislocations are so closely spaced that the interface can be approximated by a continuous distribution of dislocations. In the first case, it was demonstrated that, after the inclusion of a chemical driving force in the equation of motion, the dynamics of lattice dislocations can be directly applied to analyze the interfacial dynamics. In the second case, on the other hand, while the lattice dislocation dynamics is still quite relevant, several parameters in the equation of motion have to be redefined to reflect the fact that the interface now acts as a planar defect. For both of the cases of interfacial dislocation structure, we have analyzed the two basic modes of interfacial motion: (a) the continuous mode in which the motion is controlled by various energy-dissipative processes (e.g., phonon and electron drag) and; (b) the discontinuous or jerky mode in which the motion is controlled by the thermal activation of the interface/obstacle interactions.     

Stress assisted diffusion to dislocations: The first decay constant in an eigenfunction expansion description

Stress assisted diffusion to dislocations is considered in terms of an expansion in decaying exponentials. The dependence of the first decay constant in dislocation density, Cottrell attraction parameter, and temperature is determined by a numerical treatment of the boundary value problem. The results are discussed as they apply to strain aging in iron and to annealing of interstitial and vacancy defects to dislocations in cold worked and/or irradiated solids.     

初始压入位置对Ni基单晶合金纳米压痕影响研究

针对Ni基单晶合金建立初始压入γ 相的γ /γ' 模型和初始压入γ'相的γ'/γ 模型, 采用分子动力学方法模拟金刚石压头压入两种模型的纳米压痕过程, 计算两种模型[001]晶向硬度. 采用中心对称参数分析两种模型(001)相界面错配位错对纳米压痕过程的影响. 结果显示: 弛豫后, 两种模型(001)相界面错配位错形式不同, 其中γ'/γ 模型(001)相界面错配位错以面角位错形式存在; 压入深度在0.930 nm 之前, 两种模型(001)相界面错配位错变化不大, 压入载荷-压入深度及硬度-压入深度曲线较符合; 压入深度在0.930 nm之后, γ'/γ 模型(001)相界面错配位错长大很多, 导致相同压入深度时γ'/γ 模型比γ /γ'模型压入载荷和硬度计算结果小; 压入深度在2.055 nm之后, γ /γ'模型(001)相界面错配位错对γ 相中位错进入γ'相有阻碍作用, 但仍有部分位错越过(001) 相界面进入γ' 相中, γ'/γ 模型(001)相界面处面角位错对γ' 相中位错进入γ 相有更明显的阻碍作用, 几乎无位错越过(001) 相界面进入γ 相中, 面角位错的强化作用更明显, 所以γ'/γ 模型比γ /γ'模型压入载荷上升速度快.     

考虑相界效应的Ni基单晶合金纳米压痕模拟

利用分子动力学方法分别模拟金刚石压头压入Ni模型和Ni基单晶合金γ/γ′模型的纳米压痕过程,通过计算得到两种模型[001]晶向的弹性模量及硬度.采用中心对称参数分析不同压入深度时两种模型内部位错形核、长大过程以及Ni基单晶合金γ/γ′(001)相界面错配位错对纳米压痕过程的影响.结果显示:压入深度0.641 nm之前,两种模型的压入载荷-压入深度曲线相似,说明此时相界面处的错配位错对纳米压痕过程的影响很小;压入深度0.995 nm时,在错配位错处发生位错形核,晶体在γ相中沿着{111}面滑移,随即导致Ni基单晶合金γ/γ′模型压入载荷的下降,并在压入深度达到1.487 nm之前低于Ni模型相同压入深度时的压入载荷;压入深度从1.307 nm开始,由于相界面错配位错的阻碍作用,Ni基单晶合金γ/γ′模型压入载荷上升速度较快.     

Climb via vacancy diffusion of edge dislocations in 2D dislocation microstructures

The prevention of strength degradation of components is one of the great challenges in solid mechanics. In particular, at high temperatures material may deform even at low stresses, a deformation mode known as deformation creep. One of the microstructural mechanisms that governs deformation creep is dislocation motion due to the absorption or emission of vacancies, which results in motion perpendicular to the glide plane, called dislocation climb. However, the importance of the dislocation network for the deformation creep remains far from being understood. In this study, a climb model that accounts for the dislocation network is developed, by solving the diffusion equation for vacancies in a region with a general dislocation distribution. The definition of the sink strength is extended, to account for the contributions of neighbouring dislocations to the climb rate. The model is then applied to dislocation dipoles and dislocation pile-ups, which are dense dislocation structures and it is found that the sink strength of dislocations in a pile-up is reduced since the vacancy field is distributed between the dislocations. Finally, the importance of the results for modelling deformation creep is discussed.     

Microstructures and strengthening mechanisms of Cu/Ni/W nanolayered composites

Cu/Ni/W nanolayered composites with individual layer thickness ranging from 5?nm to 300?nm were prepared by a magnetron sputtering system. Microstructures and strength of the nanolayered composites were investigated by using the nanoindentation method combined with theoretical analysis. Microstructure characterization revealed that the Cu/Ni/W composite consists of a typical Cu/Ni coherent interface and Cu/W and Ni/W incoherent interfaces. Cu/Ni/W composites have an ultrahigh strength and a large strengthening ability compared with bi-constituent Cu–X (X?=?Ni, W, Au, Ag, Cr, Nb, etc.) nanolayered composites. Summarizing the present results and those reported in the literature, we systematically analyze the origin of the ultrahigh strength and its length scale dependence by taking into account the constituent layer properties, layer scales and heterogeneous layer/layer interface characteristics, including lattice and modulus mismatch as well as interface structure.     

TEM study of NbC heterogeneous precipitation in ferrite

The heterogeneous precipitation of NbC in ferrite has been quantitatively characterized by transmission electron microscopy in a Fe–C–Nb model alloy for different isothermal heat treatments. The elongation and size distribution of precipitates were derived using dark field imaging. For each precipitation state, the precipitation of NbC occurs on dislocations due to the as-quenched state. This precipitation mechanism leads to characteristic arrays of precipitates in which precipitates grow in a self-similar manner. A detailed study of these arrays has shown that most dislocations decorated by these arrays are edge dislocations with ?112? type line vectors. There is only one variant on a given dislocation. This selection can be interpreted by the interaction between dislocation and precipitate strain fields.