Micromechanics of the transition from intergrain to intragrain deformation in nanomaterials

A micromechanism of the transition from intergrain sliding to intragrain glide by nucleation and emission of lattice partial dislocations at grain-boundary dislocations is proposed and described theoretically. The energy characteristics of this process are calculated. It is shown that the nucleation of lattice partial dislocations is energetically efficient and can occur athermally (without the energy barrier) under conditions of the action of ultrahigh mechanical stresses. The critical stresses required for the athermal nucleation and emission of dislocations are calculated.     

Emission of partial dislocations by grain boundaries in nanocrystalline metals

A theoretical model is proposed to describe the emission of partial dislocations by grain boundaries in nanocrystalline materials during plastic deformation. Partial dislocations are assumed to be emitted during the motion of grain-boundary disclinations, which are carriers of rotational plastic deformation. The ranges of the parameters of a defect structure in which the emission of partial dislocations by grain boundaries in nanocrystalline metals are energetically favorable are calculated. It is shown that, as the size of a grain decreases, the emission of partial dislocations by its boundary becomes more favorable as compared to the emission of perfect lattice dislocations.     

Mechanism of deformation-twin formation in nanocrystalline metals

A theoretical model is proposed to describe the nucleation of deformation twins at grain boundaries in nanocrystalline materials under the action of an applied stress and the stress field of a dipole of junction or grain-boundary wedge disclinations. The model is used to consider pure nanocrystalline aluminum and copper with an average grain size of about 30 nm. The conditions of barrier-free twinning-dislocation nucleation are studied. These conditions are shown to be realistic for the metals under study. As the twin-plate thickness increases, one observes two stages of local hardening and an intermediate stage of local flow of a nanocrystalline metal on the scale of one nanograin. In all stages, the critical stress increases with decreasing disclination-dipole strength. The equilibrium thickness and shape of the twin plate are analyzed and found to agree well with the well-known results of experimental observations.     

Atomistic sliding mechanisms of the Σ=5 symmetric tilt grain boundary in bcc iron

Atomistic computer simulations were performed to investigate the mechanisms of grain-boundary sliding in bcc Fe using molecular statics and molecular dynamics with embedded-atom method interatomic potentials. For this study we have chosen the Σ?=?5, (310)[001] symmetrical tilt boundary with tilt angle θ?=?36.9°. Sliding was determined to be governed by grain-boundary dislocation activity with Burgers vectors belonging to the displacement shift complete lattice. The sliding process was found to occur through the nucleation and glide of partial grain-boundary dislocations, with a secondary grain-boundary structure playing an important role in the sliding process. Interstitial impurities and vacancies were introduced into the grain boundary to study their role as nucleation sites for the grain-boundary dislocations. While vacancies and H interstitials act as preferred nucleation sites, C interstitials to not.     

高应变率压缩下纳米孔洞对金属铝塑性变形的影响研究

本文利用分子动力学模拟方法研究了含纳米孔洞金属铝在[110]晶向高应变率单轴压缩下弹塑性变形的微观过程. 对比单孔洞和完整单晶的模型, 讨论了多孔金属的应力应变关系及其位错发展规律. 研究结果表明, 对于多孔模型的位错积累过程, 位错密度随应变的增加可大致分为两个线性阶段. 由同一个孔洞生成的位错在相互靠近过程中, 其滑移速度越来越小; 随着位错继续滑移, 源自不同孔洞的位错之间开始交叉相互作用导致应变硬化. 达到流变峰应力之后又由于位错密度增殖速率升高发生软化. 当应变增加到11.8%时, 所有孔洞几乎完全坍缩, 并观察到在此过程中有棱位错生成.     

Interaction between slip dislocations and twins in α-uranium II. Interaction forces

The forces on dislocations propagating through twins are calculated using the anisotropic elasticity. The anisotropic boundary force is calculated assuming that the twin boundary is of the welded type. The stresses necessary for the passage of dislocations through twins are compared with the estimated stresses for a homogeneous thermally activated nucleation of twins.     

单晶Cu(001)薄膜塑性变形的分子动力学模拟

使用分子动力学方法,模拟研究了单晶Cu(001)薄膜在双向等轴拉伸应变下的塑性变形行为.当应变超过一定值时,样品通过产生位错、层错及孪晶而发生塑性变形.当应变相对较低时,不全位错首先在薄膜表面形核并在密排面上滑移,留下堆积层错;当应变增加时,位错在表面与内部同时成核生长,层错数量也随之增加.分析了相邻滑移面上的位错之间相互作用形成孪晶的微观过程.材料内部形成大量堆积层错及孪晶后,较大孪晶的密排面上的原子也会发生滑移,形成孪晶内部的层错结构以释放残余应力.     

Nanocrack nucleation in polycrystalline silicon during grain-boundary sliding

A theoretical model is proposed to describe nanocrack nucleation in polycrystalline silicon. In terms of this model, nanocrack nucleation is stimulated by grain-boundary sliding, which creates sources of local stresses in triple junctions of grain boundaries. The relaxation of these local stresses is the main driving force of nanocrack nucleation near triple junctions in polycrystalline silicon, in which grain-boundary sliding contributes substantially to plastic deformation under cyclic loading at room temperature. The model is used to calculate the critical external stress required for nanocrack nucleation in polycrystalline silicon.     

Thermal stretching of defective nanowires: the coupled effects of vacancy cluster defects,operating temperature,and wire cross-sectional area

Extensive atomistic simulations of the thermal stretching of defective nanowires (NWs) were performed using the embedded-atom molecular dynamics modeling approach. The nucleation and propagation of dislocations are described via quantitative dislocation-based analyses. The investigation focuses on the coupled effects of various vacancy cluster (VC) defects, operating temperature, and wire cross-sectional area on the mechanical properties and plastic deformations of defective NWs. With increasing internal stress of a stretched wire, a rapidly moving dislocation loop that transferred atoms to fill up the original vacancy cluster before the wire yielded was found (i.e. it carried the vacancies away from the inside of the wire and formed a notch at the wire edge). The heterogeneous nucleation of dislocations from the notch site propagated along the {111}〈112〉 partial dislocations and formed stacking faults or perfect dislocations on the {111} activated planes. Simulation results show a decreasing yield strength with increasing VC size for a given wire sectional area and temperature. Quasi-linear decreasing Young’s moduli were observed with increasing operation temperature. For a given operation temperature, NW Young’s modulus increased with increasing NW size. Two typical deformation regimes under various operation temperatures were found: (i) a high-temperature-induced pre-melting phenomenon and a thermal softening effect caused low-stress plastic flow and rapid pillar-necking deformation, and (ii) step-wise glides, slip bands, and cross-slips proceeded along the activated glide planes in the low-temperature hard-brittle structure. These two regimes were thoroughly characterized via the evolutions of microscopic dislocations and the changes of true stress. For operation at high temperatures, the ultra-thin 1/5-type pentagonal ring chains exhibit a relatively robust structure, which can potentially be used as building blocks and components for high-temperature nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) devices in the future.     

Supersonic dislocation stability and nano-twin formation at high strain rate

Improved understanding of the plastic deformation of metals during high-strain-rate shock loading is key to predicting their resulting material properties. This paper presents the results of molecular-dynamics simulations which address two fundamental questions related to materials deformation: the stability of supersonic dislocations and the mechanism of nano-twin formation. The results show that aluminium plastically deforms by the subsonic motion of edge dislocations when subjected to applied shear stresses of up to 600?MPa. Although higher applied stresses initially drive transonic dislocations, this motion is transient, and the dislocations decelerate to a sustained subsonic saturation velocity. Slowing of the transonic dislocation is controlled by the interaction with excited Rayleigh waves. 800?MPa marks a critical shear stress at which dislocation glide gives way to nano-twin formation via the homogeneous nucleation of Shockley partial dislocation dipoles. At still higher applied stresses, additional dislocation dipole nucleation produces a mid-stacking fault transformation of the twinned material.     

Strengthening at nanoscaled coherent twin boundary in f.c.c. metals

This paper analyses slip transfer at the boundary of nanoscaled growth twins in face-centred cubic (f.c.c.) metals for strengthening mechanism. The required stress for slip transfer, i.e. inter-twin flow stress, is obtained in a simple expression in terms of stacking fault energy and/or twin boundary (TB) energy, constriction energy and activation volume. For nanotwinned Al, Cu and Ni, inter-twin flow stress versus twin thickness remarkably shows Hall–Petch relationship. The Hall–Petch slope is rationalized for various reactions of screw and non-screw dislocations at the TB. Additionally, strengthening at the boundary of nanoscaled deformation twins in f.c.c. metals is analysed by evaluating required twinning stress. At small nanograin size, the prediction of deformation twin growth stress shows inverse grain-size effect on twinning, in agreement with recent experimental finding.     

晶界对纳米多晶铝中冲击波阵面结构影响的分子动力学研究

用分子动力学方法研究了纳米多晶铝在冲击加载下的冲击波阵面结构及塑性变形机理.模拟研究结果表明:在弹性先驱波之后,是晶界间滑移和变形主导了前期的塑性变形机理;然后是不全位错在界面上成核和向晶粒内传播,然后在晶粒内形成堆垛层错、孪晶和全位错的过程主导了后期的塑性变形机理.冲击波阵面扫过之后留下的结构特征是堆垛层错和孪晶留在晶粒内,大部分全位错则湮灭于对面晶界.这个由两阶段塑性变形过程导致的时序性塑性波阵面结构是过去未见报道过的. 关键词： 晶界 塑性变形 冲击波阵面 分子动力学     

Transmission electron microscopy observation of a deformation twin in TWIP steel by an ex situ tensile test

The formation of deformation twins in twinning-induced plasticity steels was observed in transmission electron microscope by an ex situ tensile test. The twinning process initially includes formation of extended dislocations at primary slip plane, then cross-slip to a conjugate slip plane with dissociation of the leading partial into a stair-rod dislocation and an emitted partial, and finally un-faulting of the original faults and formation of Frank partials. Repetition of the operation of the process on successive conjugate planes results in the formation of deformation twins. The formation mechanism of deformation twins can thus be explained by improving the stair-rod cross-slip model.     

硅中位错增殖的实验观察

用化学侵蚀法研究了在机械应力和热应力作用下硅中位错的增殖和非均匀成核。结果表明,在使位错增殖和成核作用上,热应力同机械应力是等效的。硅中小角晶界中的位错,原生孤立位错都能成为位错源;晶体内部的缺陷及表面蚀斑处的应力集中能够引起位错成核;硅中螺型位错能够通过交叉滑移机制发生增殖。对新生位错环空间分布的研究表明,Frank-Read机制可能是位错增殖的主要形式。位错能否发生增殖,主要决定于位错源所受分切应力的数值、晶体温度、位错本身的结构特点以及钉扎情况等。     

Emission of Dislocation Loops from Nanovoids in an FCC Crystal Subjected to Shear Deformation under Post-Cascade Shock Waves

The method of molecular dynamics is applied to the study of the effect of post-cascade shock waves generated in a solid irradiated by high-energy particles on the heterogeneous formation of dislocation loops in a simulated gold crystal containing a spherical nanovoid, which is subjected to shear deformation. The interaction between atoms is described with the use of a potential calculated by the embedded atom method. Shock waves are created by assigning a velocity exceeding the speed of sound in the simulated material to the boundary atoms of the computational cell. It is shown that two regions of increased mechanical stress are formed under shear deformation near the surface of a nanovoid, which are the sources of emerging partial dislocations. The main mechanism for the formation of dislocations is the displacement of a group of atoms towards the inner surface of the void, which does not contradict modern ideas about the heterogeneous formation of dislocations. It is shown that, when the values of shear stress are insufficient for the formation of dislocations, loop emission can be initiated by a post-cascade shock wave generated in the computational cell. As temperature increases, the number of nucleated dislocation loops increases, and, in addition, the formation of Lomer–Cottrell dislocations is observed, which is attributed to the additional tangential stresses created by the unloading wave. In this case, the formation of a stable dislocation loop in which the linear tension is balanced by the Peach–Koehler force due to external stress requires that the shock wave front affect the regions of increased stress near the void surface while propagating through the simulated crystal.     

Nucleation of misfit dislocations and plastic deformation in core/shell nanowires

During fabrication of metal nanowires, an oxide layer (shell) that surrounds the metal (core) may form. Such an oxide-covered nanowire can be viewed as a cylindrical core/shell nanostructure, possessing a crystal lattice mismatch between the core and shell. Experimental evidence has shown that, in response to this mismatch, mechanical stresses induce plastic deformation in the shell and misfit dislocations nucleate at the core/shell interface. As a result, the mechanical, electrical and optoelectronic properties of the nanowire are affected. It is therefore essential to be able to predict the critical conditions at which misfit dislocation nucleation at the nanowire interface takes place and the critical applied load at which the interface begins deforming plastically. Two approaches are explored in order to analyze the stress relaxation processes in these oxide-covered nanowires: (i) energy considerations are carried out within a classical elasticity framework to predict the critical radii (of the core and shell) at which dislocation nucleation takes place at the nanowire interface; (ii) a strain gradient plasticity approach is applied to estimate the flow stress at which the interface will begin deforming plastically (this stress is termed “interfacial-yield” stress). The interfacial-yield stress, predicted by gradient plasticity, depends, among other material parameters, on the radii of the core and shell. Both approaches demonstrate how the geometric parameters of nanowires can be calibrated so as to avoid undesirable plastic deformation; in particular, method (i) can give the radii values that prevent misfit dislocation formation, whereas method (ii) can provide, for particular radii values, the critical stress at which interface deformation initiates.     

Crack-stimulated generation of deformation twins in nanocrystalline metals and ceramics

A theoretical model is proposed that describes the generation of deformation twins near brittle cracks of mixed I and II modes in nanocrystalline metals and ceramics. In the framework of the model, a deformation twin nucleates through stress-driven emission of twinning dislocations from a grain boundary distant from the crack tip. The emission is driven by both the external stress concentrated by the pre-existent crack and the stress field of a neighbouring extrinsic grain boundary dislocation. The ranges of the key parameters, the external shear stress, τ, and the crack length, L, are calculated within which the deformation-twin formation near pre-existent cracks is energetically favourable in a typical nanocrystalline metal (Al) and ceramic (3C-SiC). The results of the proposed model account for experimental data on observation of deformation twins in nanocrystalline materials reported in the literature. The deformation-twin formation is treated as a toughening mechanism effectively operating in nanocrystalline metals and ceramics.     

Indenter size effect on the reversible incipient plasticity of Al(001) surface:Quasicontinuum study

Indenter size effect on the reversible incipient plasticity of Al(001) surface is studied by quasicontinuum simulations.Results show that the incipient plasticity under small indenter, the radius of which is less than ten nanometers, is dominated by a simple planar fault defect that can be fully removed after withdrawal of the indenter; otherwise, irreversible incipient plastic deformation driven by a complex dislocation activity is preferred, and the debris of deformation twins, dislocations,and stacking fault ribbons still remain beneath the surface when the indenter has been completely retracted. Based on stress distributions calculated at an atomic level, the reason why the dislocation burst instead of a simple fault ribbon is observed under a large indenter is the release of the intensely accumulated shear stress. Finally, the critical load analysis implies that there exists a reversible-irreversible transition of incipient plasticity induced by indenter size. Our findings provide a further insight into the incipient surface plasticity of face-centered-cubic metals in nano-sized contact issues.     

Influence of the number of passes under equal-channel angular pressing on the elastic-plastic properties,durability, and defect structure of the Al + 0.2 wt % Sc alloy

The regularities of the influence of the number of passes under equal-channel angular pressing on the mechanical properties and defect structure of an aluminum alloy have been elucidated. It has been established that the degradation of the mechanical properties (a decrease in the durability) is associated with the formation of nanoregions of an excess free volume in the course of severe plastic deformation under equalchannel angular pressing. A correlation between the nucleation of excess free volume regions and the formation of high-angle grain boundaries under equal-channel angular pressing has been revealed. The nature of the influence of severe plastic deformation on the elastic modulus, the vibration decrement, and the microplastic flow stress has been analyzed.     

On low temperature glide of dissociated 〈1 1 0〉 dislocations in strontium titanate

An elastic interaction model is presented to quantify low temperature plasticity of SrTiO₃ via glide of dissociated 〈1 1 0〉{1 1 0} screw dislocations. Because 〈1 1 0〉 dislocations are dissociated, their glide, controlled by the kink-pair mechanism at T < 1050 K, involves the formation of kink-pairs on partial dislocations, either simultaneously or sequentially. Our model yields results in good quantitative agreement with the observed non-monotonic mechanical behaviour of SrTiO₃. This agreement allows to explain the experimental results in terms of a (progressive) change in 〈1 1 0〉{1 1 0} glide mechanism, from simultaneous nucleation of two kink-pairs along both partials at low stress, towards nucleation of single kink-pairs on individual partials if resolved shear stress exceeds a critical value of 95 MPa. High resolved shear stress allows thus for the activation of extra nucleation mechanisms on dissociated dislocations impossible to occur under the sole action of thermal activation. We suggest that stress condition in conjunction with core dissociation is key to the origin of non-monotonic plastic behaviour of SrTiO₃ at low temperatures.