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.     

Phonon spectrum and related thermodynamic properties of microcrack in bcc-Fe

The phonon spectrum and the related thermodynamic properties of microcracks in bcc-Fe are studied with the recursion method by using the Finnis--Sinclair (F--S) N-body potential. The initial configuration of the microcracks is established from an anisotropic linear elastic solution and relaxed to an equilibrium by molecular dynamics method. It is shown that the local vibrational density of states of the atoms near a crack tip is considerably different from the bulk phonon spectrum, which is closely associated with the local stress field around the crack tip; meanwhile, the local vibrational energies of atoms near the crack tip are higher than those of atoms in a perfect crystal. These results imply that the crack tip zone is in a complex stress state and closely related to the structure evolution of cracks. It is also found that the phonon excitation is a kind of local effect induced by microcracks. In addition, the microcrack system has a higher vibrational entropy, which reflects the character of phonon spectrum related to the stress field induced by cracks.     

Modulation of transient stress distributions for controlling femtosecond laser-induced cracks inside a single crystal

After the photoexcitation by a femtosecond laser pulse inside a LiF single crystal, four cracks appear in the <110> directions of the crystal from the photoexcited region. In our previous study, we found that a femtosecond laser-induced stress wave is responsible for generation and elongation of cracks inside a LiF single crystal. This finding suggests that we can control laser-induced cracks by modulating laser-induced stress waves. In this study, we applied parallel fs laser irradiation with a spatial light modulator to generate multiple stress waves at the same time, and found the modulation of crack formation; one crack became thinner and shorter than any other cracks. By a pump-probe imaging of dynamics of crack generation, we showed that the constructive interference of stress waves at a crack tip could compress the crack, which results in a thinner and shorter crack.     

The role of curvature of the crystal structure in the formation of micropores and crack development under fatigue fracture of commercial titanium

The multiscale mechanism of fatigue fracture of titanium with the surface layer hydrogenated under alternating bending at room temperature is studied. It is shown that the generation of the fatigue fracture occurs in the surface layer subjected to plastic deformation in conjunction with an elastically loaded substrate. The latter causes the appearance of a strong curvature of the material and the appearance of micropores in these areas along with any fatigue cracks. The emergence of the local curvature of the crystal structure plays a central role in the origin and the development of the fatigue fracture as the structural phase decomposition of the material under cyclic loading.     

韧性材料的微裂纹扩展与分叉的晶体相场模拟

采用晶体相场方法研究韧性单晶材料在双轴拉伸条件下微裂纹扩展与分叉的演化过程,分析应变、温度、初始裂口形状等因素对裂纹扩展和分叉的影响.结果表明:对于简单的单向拉伸,应变需要达到一定的临界值,裂纹扩展才会启动.对于二组相互垂直的双轴拉伸作用,当应变达到临界值后,裂纹扩展过程中会发生分叉现象.温度越高,裂纹扩展越快且分叉越多.裂纹在扩展过程中,体系能量不断降低,当裂纹出现分叉时,体系能量降低得更快.在裂纹扩展过程中,有时是会在裂尖处前方出现微小的空洞,类似在裂纹尖端前方出现位错发射情况,这些微小的空洞逐渐扩大连成裂纹.本文所得结果与相关模拟结果和实验结果符合.     

Nonlinearity of solids with micro- and nanodefects and characteristic features of its macroscopic manifestations

The meaning of the experimentally measured nonlinear parameters of a medium is discussed. The difference in meaning between the local nonlinearity, which is measured in the vicinity of a single defect and depends on the size of the region of averaging, and the effective volume nonlinearity of the medium containing numerous defects is emphasized. The local nonlinearity arising at the tip of a crack is calculated; this non-linearity decreases with an increase in the region of second harmonic generation. The volume nonlinearity is calculated for a solid containing spherical cavities. The volume nonlinearity is also calculated for a medium containing infinitely thin cracks in the form of circular disks, which assume the shape of ellipsoids in the course of the crack opening. The nonlinear acoustic parameter is calculated with the use of the exact classical results of the theory of cracks.     

Investigating cracks in natural materials using the example of granite under explosive action

The formation of cracks in a natural material (granite) resulting from an explosive action is examined. Images of crack fragments and relief are obtained at different degrees of magnification using optical, electron, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The parameters of cracks as 3D objects are determined with allowance for the distance from the impact source. The roughness of the crack edges and the local increase in their width at a certain stage of propagation indicate a jump-wise character of their development, due possibly to aspects of the zone of failure localization forming at the tip of the crack in granite as a polycrystalline material.     

Kinematics of edge dislocations. I. Involutive distributions of local slip planes

The geometry of continuous distributions of dislocations and secondary point defects created by these distributions is considered. Particularly, the dependence of a distribution of dislocations on the existence of secondary point defects is modeled by treating dislocations as those located in a time-dependent Riemannian material space describing, in a continuous limit, the influence of these point defects on metric properties of a crystal structure. The notions of local glide systems and involutive distributions of local slip planes are introduced in order to describe, in terms of differential geometry, some aspects of the kinematics of the motion of edge dislocations. The analysis leads, among others, to the definition of a class of distributions of dislocations with a distinguished involutive distribution of local slip planes and such that a formula of mesoscale character describing the influence of edge dislocations on the mean curvature of glide surfaces is valid.     

降温工艺对宝石级金刚石单晶品质的影响

在国产六面顶压机上,采用温度梯度法,在5.6 GPa,1200—1400?C的高压高温条件下,裂晶问题频繁出现的合成周期内,围绕裂晶现象开展了Ib型宝石级金刚石单晶的生长研究,系统考察了降温工艺对宝石级金刚石单晶品质的影响.针对宝石级金刚石单晶常见的裂纹缺陷,借助于扫描电子显微镜,分别对优质金刚石单晶和存在裂纹金刚石单晶的表面形貌进行了表征;利用微区傅里叶转换红外光谱测试手段,对上述两类晶体的N杂质含量分别进行了测试,依据测试结果,对裂晶出现的原因进行了分析;分别采用传统断电降温和缓慢降温工艺,考察了晶体生长结束后的降温工艺对宝石级金刚石单晶品质的影响.结果表明,缓慢降温工艺在很大程度上可以有效抑制裂晶问题出现.另外,从宝石级金刚石单晶品质和单晶受到的外应力两个方面着手,分别对裂晶出现的机理和采用缓慢降温工艺有效解决裂晶问题的机理进行了讨论.     

晶体相场法研究应力状态及晶体取向对微裂纹尖端扩展行为的影响

采用晶体相场模拟研究了单向拉伸作用下初始应力状态、晶体取向角度对单晶材料内部微裂纹尖端扩展行为的影响, 以(111)晶面上的预制中心裂纹为研究对象探讨了微裂纹尖端扩展行为的纳观机理, 结果表明: 微裂纹的扩展行为主要发生在<011>(111)滑移系上, 扩展行为与扩展方向与材料所处的初始应力状态及晶体取向紧密相关. 预拉伸应力状态将首先诱发微裂纹尖端生成滑移位错, 进而导致晶面解理而实现微裂纹尖端沿[011]晶向扩展, 扩展到一定程度后由于位错塞积, 应力集中, 使裂纹扩展方向沿另一滑移方向[101], 并形成锯齿形边缘; 预剪切应力状态下, 微裂纹尖端首先在[101]晶向解理扩展, 并诱发位错产生, 形成空洞聚集型长大的二次裂纹, 形成了明显的剪切带; 预偏变形状态下微裂纹尖端则直接以晶面解理形式[101]在上进行扩展, 直至断裂失效; 微裂纹尖端扩展行为随晶体取向不同而不同, 较小的取向角度会在裂纹尖端形成滑移位错, 诱发空位而形成二次裂纹, 而较大的取向角下的裂纹尖端则以直接解理扩展为主, 扩展方向与拉伸方向几近垂直.     

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.     

Three-dimensional structure of polystyrene colloidal crystal by synchrotron radiation X-ray phase-contrast computed tomography

Colloidal crystal with long-range ordered structure has attracted great attention for their applications in various fields. Although perfect colloidal crystals have been achieved by some fabrications for utilization, little is known about their exact structures and internal defects. In this study, we use synchrotron radiation (SR) phase-contrast computed tomography (CT) to noninvasively access the internal structure of polystyrene (PS) colloidal crystals in three dimensions (3D). The phase-attenuation duality Paganin algorithm phase retrieval was employed to achieve a satisfactory contrast and outline of the spheres. After CT reconstruction, the positions of individual PS particles and structural defects are identified in three dimensions, and the local crystal structure is revealed. Further quantitative analysis of the void system in colloidal crystal illustrates that single voids can be mostly attributed to tetrahedron void of sphere close packing, but the interconnected voids with large volume induce a sphere volume fraction of 59.39 % that reflects a metastable glass behavior of colloidal crystal arrangement. The void orientation result reveals that the 3D close-packing difficulty mainly lies in the stacking of interlayer.     

Ground states of simple bodies that may undergo brittle fractures

Equilibrium states of elastic-brittle solids that may suffer nucleation of cracks in finite deformation setting are analyzed. Crack patterns are described in terms of appropriate Radon measures, namely curvature varifolds with boundary. A new form of the energy is presented: it includes terms associated with the curvature of margins and tips of possible cracks. Existence of minima of the energy is established in classes of pairs of deformation and families of varifolds. Configurational balances in weak form are determined with reference to generic curvature varifolds with boundary. They include non-standard terms associated with the curvatures involved in the energy. Pointwise balances of configurational actions are also evaluated in a special case: new pointwise balances at the tips and along the margins of the crack pattern emerge.     

裂纹或气泡对熔石英损伤修复坑场调制的近场模拟

建立了含有裂纹或气泡的高斯型修复坑的3维模型, 用3维时域有限差分方法研究了熔石英后表面该类缺陷对355 nm入射激光的近场调制. 研究表明, 裂纹的调制明显大于气泡或者高斯坑本身, 因此为了抑制修复元件的初始损伤, 应尽量避免任何未修复的裂纹存在, 尤其是与入射光呈夹角约25°的裂纹, 同时应避免尺寸大于5 λ 的气泡存在. 当裂纹或气泡位于近表面层3 λ 以内且靠近修复坑环边缘时, 对场的调制最明显. 随着侧移的增加, 近表面区缺陷诱导场叠加, 强点总数涨落较大且易形成极大峰值, 特别是含有裂纹的情形; 远表面区强点总数逐渐增大并趋于稳定. 随着嵌深的增加, 强点的数目大体呈减弱趋势, 当嵌深大于3 λ 时, 逐渐趋于平缓振荡. 如果裂纹或气泡位于坑点正下方几个波长内, 激光辐照下其效果相当于延长了高斯坑的深度.     

熔石英亚表面缺陷附近光强分布的数值模拟

熔石英亚表面缺陷对光场的调制是导致激光辐照场破坏的主要因素。采用有限元方法对熔石英亚表面缺陷（平面和锥形划痕）周围的光强分布进行了数值模拟。结果表明：划痕形状、几何尺寸、方位角、光的入射角等是影响划痕周围光强分布的主要因素;前表面划痕对光强的增强效果比后表面弱;在理想形状的划痕截面和表面同时发生内全反射时,平面划痕周围的光强增强效果明显。锥形划痕周围的光强分布为正确解释交叉划痕的夹角平分线附近的损伤提供了理论依据。     

熔石英亚表面缺陷附近光强分布的数值模拟

 熔石英亚表面缺陷对光场的调制是导致激光辐照场破坏的主要因素。采用有限元方法对熔石英亚表面缺陷（平面和锥形划痕）周围的光强分布进行了数值模拟。结果表明：划痕形状、几何尺寸、方位角、光的入射角等是影响划痕周围光强分布的主要因素;前表面划痕对光强的增强效果比后表面弱;在理想形状的划痕截面和表面同时发生内全反射时,平面划痕周围的光强增强效果明显。锥形划痕周围的光强分布为正确解释交叉划痕的夹角平分线附近的损伤提供了理论依据。     

Nanoscale experimental study of the morphology of a microcrack in silicon by transmission electron microscopy

A microcrack in a silicon single crystal was experimentally investigated using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). In particular, the numerical Moiré (NM) method was used to visualize the deformations and defects. The lattice structure of the microcrack was carefully observed at the nanoscale. HRTEM images of the microcrack demonstrated that the lattice structure of most of the microcrack regions is regular with good periodicity. In addition, the microcrack cleavage expands alternately along different crystal planes, where the principal cleavage plane is the (1 1 1) crystal plane. The NM maps showed no sharp plastic deformation around the microcrack, but discrete edge dislocations can be found only near the crack tip.