Disclination mechanism for plastic deformation of nanocrystalline materials

A model is developed for the plastic deformation of nanocrystalline materials in terms of the evolution of a spatial grid of disclinations located at the triple junctions of grains. Plastic deformation takes place as the result of plastic rotation of grains, the mismatch of whose rotations causes the nucleation of partial disclinations at the junctions of intergrain boundaries. It is shown that the distinctive feature of the mechanical behavior of nanocrystals is a deviation from the Hall-Petch law up to a critical grain size D _cr⩽25 nm. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 2023–2028 (November 1997)     

Critical crack size for fracture during hot metal plastic deformation

During hot plastic deformation cracks originate at grain boundaries after critical deformation. Their propagation is, however, decelerated by the occuring dynamic recrystallization leading to the necessity of new cracks originating along boundaries of recrystallized grains. A model has been elaborated for determining the critical size of these cracks and its validity verified by hot torsion tests accomplished on low-carbon steel.     

The density matrix for a metal

Using Wannier functions, a technique is discussed which, linking moment fitting and idempotency, give the density matrix in a metal.     

Electromagnetic emission in the development of macroscopically unstable plastic deformation of a metal

Electromagnetic emission accompanying the serrated deformation of the aluminum?magnesium alloy Al-6Mg has been revealed and studied experimentally. By means of high-speed video recording and a complex of methods for measuring the strain, load, and electric potential, it has been found that there is a relation between the electromagnetic emission signals and the dynamics of deformation bands. Possible mechanisms of the generation of electromagnetic signals have been discussed.     

Driving force and mechanism for spontaneous metal whisker formation

The room temperature spontaneous growth of low melting point metal whiskers, such as Sn, poses a serious reliability problem in the semiconducting industry; a problem that has become acute with the introduction of Pb-free technology. To date, this 50+ year old problem has resisted interpretation. Herein we show that the driving force is essentially a reaction between oxygen and the sprouting metal. The resulting volume expansion creates a compressive stress that pushes the whiskers up. The model proposed explains our observations on In and Sn whiskers and many past observations. The solution is in principle simple: diffusion of oxygen into the metal must be prevented or slowed down. This was demonstrated by coating the active surfaces with a polymer coating.     

非晶塑性变形机理研究新进展

非晶合金的塑性变形机理一直是材料科学和凝聚态物理研究的热点问题之一.文章简单介绍了近来中国科学院物理研究所在非晶合金塑性机理研究方面的最新进展,介绍了玻璃转变和塑性变形机制之间的关联性及最新的实验证据,以及从非平衡态统计力学角度对非晶塑性变形机制的理解,指出非晶合金的塑性和剪切带的动力学状态密切相关,发现韧性非晶合金在变形过程中可以演化到自组织临界状态.这对认识非晶合金的形成本质,探索具有实际应用价值的非晶合金具有重要意义.     

非晶塑性变形机理研究新进展

非晶合金的塑性变形机理一直是材料科学和凝聚态物理研究的热点问题之一.文章简单介绍了近来中国科学院物理研究所在非晶合金塑性机理研究方面的最新进展,介绍了玻璃转变和塑性变形机制之间的关联性及最新的实验证据,以及从非平衡态统计力学角度对非晶塑性变形机制的理解,指出非晶合金的塑性和剪切带的动力学状态密切相关,发现韧性非晶合金在变形过程中可以演化到自组织临界状态.这对认识非晶合金的形成本质,探索具有实际应用价值的非晶合金具有重要意义.     

Novel mechanism of a charge density wave in a transition metal dichalcogenide

The charge density wave (CDW) is usually associated with Fermi surfaces nesting. We here report a new CDW mechanism discovered in a 2H-structured transition metal dichalcogenide, where the two essential ingredients of the CDW are realized in very anomalous ways due to the strong-coupling nature of the electronic structure. Namely, the CDW gap is only partially open, and charge density wave vector match is fulfilled through participation of states of the large Fermi patch, while the straight Fermi surface sections have secondary or negligible contributions.     

Thermal field emission as a mechanism for infrared laser light detection in metal whisker diode

The non-linear current-voltage characteristic of thermally enhanced field emission is proposed to explain the operation of a metal-metal point contact diode used for laser harmonic frequency generation and frequency mixing in the infrared region. This mechanism can explain several experimental observations which appear inconsistent with the previous analysis based on a planar metal-oxide-metal tunneling geometry.     

Amorphization mechanism of icosahedral metal nanoclusters

The amorphization mechanism of icosahedral Pt nanoclusters is investigated by a combination of molecular dynamics simulations and density functional calculations. A general mechanism for amorphization, involving rosettelike structural transformations at fivefold vertices, is proposed. In the rosette, a fivefold vertex is transformed into a hexagonal ring. We show that, for icosahedral Pt nanoclusters, this transformation is associated with an energy gain, so that their most favorable structures have a low symmetry even at icosahedral magic numbers, and that the same mechanism underlies the formation of amorphous structures in gold.     

Scattering mechanism in a step-modulated subwavelength metal slit: a multi-mode multi-reflection analysis

In this paper, the scattering/transmission inside a step-modulated subwavelength metal slit is investigated in detail. We firstly investigate the scattering in a junction structure by two types of structural changes. The variation of transmission and reflection coefficients depending on structural parameters are analysed. Then a multi-mode multi-reflection model based on ray theory is proposed to illustrate the transmission in the step-modulated slit explicitly. The key parts of this model are the multi-mode excitation and the superposition procedure of the scatterings from all possible modes, which represent the interference and energy transfer occurring at the interfaces. The method we use is an improved modal expansion method (MEM), which is a more practical and efficient version compared with the previous one [C. Li, Y.S. Zhou, H.Y. Wang, F.H. Wang, Opt. Express 19, 10073 (2011)]. In addition, some commonly used methods including FDTD, scattering matrix method and improved characteristic impedance method are compared with MEM to highlight the accuracy of these methods.     

Plasmon mechanism of light transmission through a metal film or a plasma layer

It is shown that a smooth metal film (or a plasma layer) can be made transparent for an electromagnetic wave when two identical subwavelength diffraction gratings are placed on both sides of the film. The electromagnetic wave transmission through the metal film is caused by excitation of evanescent surface waves (plasmons) and their transformation into propagating waves at the gratings. A model which is developed analytically shows that the problem of the wave transmission is physically equivalent to the problem of excitation of two coupled resonators of evanescent waves which are formed at the two film surfaces.     

Plastic distortion as a fundamental mechanism in nonlinear mesomechanics of plastic deformation and fracture

Any deformed solid represents two self-consistent functional subsystems: a 3D crystal subsystem and a 2D planar subsystem (surface layers and all internal interfaces). In the planar subsystem, which lacks thermodynamic equilibrium and translation invariance, a primary plastic flow develops as nonlinear waves of structural transformations. At the nanoscale, such planar nonlinear transformations create lattice curvature in the 3D subsystem, resulting in bifurcational interstitial states there. The bifurcational states give rise to a fundamentally new mechanism of plastic deformation and fracture—plastic distortion—which is allowed for neither in continuum mechanics nor in fracture mechanics. The paper substantiates that plastic distortion plays a leading role in dislocation generation and glide, plasticity and superplasticity, plastic strain localization and fracture.     

A new constitutive relation for simulating plastic flow involving continuous-shear or shear-localisation during metal cutting

ABSTRACT

A new constitutive relation has been established by modifying Zerilli-Armstrong formulation whose performance is investigated in simulating continuous-shear and shear-localisation during orthogonal machining of a super alloy. Two different procedures in consonance with strains, strain rates, temperatures and thermo-mechanical-coupling encountered during metal cutting were adopted to identify material-constants for continuous-shear and shear-localisation. The constitutive data for continuous-shear is generated by using the distributed- primary-zone-deformation model. In contrast, an inverse methodology is followed to calibrate material-constants for shear-localisation where values were adjusted iteratively until predicted cutting force and chip morphology matched experimental values. The iterative procedure was also used to investigate sensitivity of shear-localisation to constitutive parameters. The constitutive relation was later implemented in two different finite element models to separately simulate serrated- and continuous-chip formation. The proposed constitutive relation successfully captured the underlying physics of continuous-shear and shear-localisation with finite element predictions of cutting force and chip morphology being in good agreement with experimental results over the range of conditions encompassing the two deformation mechanisms. The proposed law was further validated against split-Hopkinson-pressure-bar test-data. Moreover, the proposed relation gave better physics-based predictions when compared to those from the Johnson-Cook model.     

Optical measurement of the plastic zone size in a notched metal specimen subjected to low-cycle fatigue

This paper describes an optical method used for the determination of the plastic zone size generated on the surface of a notched metal specimen under conditions of low-cycle fatigue. The proposed optical method uses white-light scattering generated by plastically induced surface roughness on the specimen polished surface. By digital processing two images of the specimen surface, one recorded before and the other after the generation of the fatigue deformation, it is possible to evaluate the accumulated plastic damage. The plastic zone measured in the crack initiation stage is compared with the results obtained by a recrystallization technique.