Kinetics and mechanism of copper fracture due to deformation in surface-active baths

The authors propose a molecular mechanism of subcritical crack development under conditions of liquid-metal embrittlement. It is suggested that cracks develop as a result of diffusive mass transfer from the tip of a crack and that the role of the liquid is to provide a wide and “fast” diffusion channel. The specific action of surface-active baths here is connected with the atomic roughness of the crystal-bath interface, at rather low temperatures already, which leads to a higher concentration of dissolution centers at the crack front and produces conditions at the interface favorable to diffusion currents in the bath. It is demonstrated that this model of fracture correctly depicts the basic trends of subcritical crack development in the copperbath (Bi-Pb) system and may be used for analyzing the fracture kinetics in other systems too.     

Kinetics and mechanism of copper fracture due to deformation in surface-active paths

The general kinetic characteristics of copper fracture in the presence of surface-active bismuth-lead baths during creep and elongation under tension are explained. It is shown that the subcritical stage of crack development controls the process, whereupon the effects of stresses , temperature, strain rate , surface energy at the copper-bath interface _SL, and surface energy at the grain boundaries _b on the rate of crack development l/ are analyzed. The basic conclusions are that: a)l/=(–) ( and being constants here); b) the crack development activating energy ) the reduction of energy _b, achieved by intergranular internal adsorption of 0.5% antimony, lowers the value of about 50 times; d) a 30% increase in surface energy _SL reduces the cracking rate 30 times, according to the relation (where A=6 · 10^–15 cm²); and e) .Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 7–15, May, 1976.     

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.     

Elastic-plastic deformation and fracture of shock-compressed single-crystal and polycrystalline copper near melting

The Hugoniot elastic limit, the yield strength, and the spall strength of polycrystalline M1 copper and single-crystal (110) and (111) copper are determined during shock compression up to 8 GPa in the temperature range 20–1080°C from an analysis of the free-surface velocity profiles recorded with VISAR laser velocimeter. The measurements show that all copper samples exhibit strong athermal hardening (increase in the Hugoniot elastic limit) near the melting temperature. Copper single crystals have a very low elastic limit in the temperature range up to 600°C, this limit increases sharply as the temperature increases to 1000°C, and it depends on the crystallographic orientation of a single crystal. The temperature dependence of the spall strength has a threshold character for all copper samples. Copper single crystals demonstrate higher resistance to spall fracture; however, near the melting temperature, the difference between the spall strengths of the copper single crystals and M1 copper becomes insignificant, 50% of the initial level.     

Effect of the microstructural porosity parameters on the fracture and deformation of copper during creep at 773 K

The parameters of intergranular fracture of copper during creep under tension at T = 773 K and σ = 12.5 MPa are determined, and the contribution of grain-boundary porosity to the increase in the creep rate at stage III is estimated. The increase in the creep rate is shown to occur due to the pore-induced decrease in the grain boundary area, an increase in the mobile-dislocation density, and the deformation of the material because of the formation of pores and cracks.     

Subsurface deformation in copper single crystals during reciprocal sliding

The deformation surface pattern generated on the faces of a copper single crystal loaded by a compression force and simultaneously sliding over the counterbody surface has been studied. The samples under study are copper single crystals with different orientations of the compression axis, which are grown by the Bridgman method. The study of the friction of single crystals with the orientations [110] and [ $ \bar 1 $ 11] has revealed that the shear systems whose action manifests itself on side faces are localized near the friction zones. The density of traces formed in this process decreases with the distance from the butt-end. The [110] single crystal has regions of higher density near the butt-end. Different patterns of shear on the side faces of [ $ \bar 1 $ 11] single crystals, resulting from the friction and uniaxial compressions, have been observed: they consist in the absence of deformation macrobands during friction.     

Kinetics of high-temperature deformation of polycrystalline OFHC copper and the role of dislocation core diffusion

The mechanisms of the high-temperature deformation of oxygen-free high-conductivity (OFHC) copper have been evaluated over a wide temperature (300–950°C) and strain rate (0.001–100?s^?1) regime. The stress–strain behaviour in hot compression is typical of the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization with an initial peak in the flow stress followed by a steady state, preceded by oscillations at lower strain rates and higher temperatures. The results are analysed using the kinetic rate equation involving a hyperbolic sine relation of the steady-state flow stress with the strain rate. In the temperature and strain rate range covering 500–950°C and 0.001–10?s^?1, a stress exponent of 5 and an apparent activation energy of 145?kJ/mol were evaluated from this analysis. The power law relationship also yielded similar values (5.18 and 152?kJ/mol, respectively). On the basis of these parameters, the rate-controlling mechanism is suggested to be dislocation core diffusion. The flow stress for the OFHC copper data reported by earlier investigators for different oxygen contents is consistent with the above analysis and revealed that an oxygen content of less than about 40?ppm does not have any significant effect on the core diffusion since it is too low to ‘clog’ the dislocation pipes. At strain rates greater than 10?s^?1 and in the temperature range 750–950°C, the stress exponent is about 3.5 and the apparent activation energy is 78?kJ/mol, which suggests that the plastic flow is controlled by grain boundary diffusion.     

Study of acoustic emission signals during fracture shear deformation

We study acoustic manifestations of different regimes of shear deformation of a fracture filled with a thin layer of granular material. It is established that the observed acoustic portrait is determined by the structure of the fracture at the mesolevel. Joint analysis of the activity of acoustic pulses and their spectral characteristics makes it possible to construct the pattern of internal evolutionary processes occurring in the thin layer of the interblock contact and consider the fracture deformation process as the evolution of a self-organizing system.     

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.     

Change of electrical resistivity of polycrystalline copper during tensile deformation

The change of electrical resistivity of polycrystalline copper of various purities was measured during tensile deformation. The purity of material did not substantially influence the results. With the use of intermediate annealing, the contributions of point defects and dislocations to the total resistivity increment were separated. The linear relationship between the stress and square root of the dislocation density was found. The Saada's relation was checked and found to be valid only in the case of point defects produced in originally annealed copper.ikova 22, Brno, Czechoslovakia.     

Scaling of the acoustic emission characteristics during plastic deformation and fracture

The scaling of the amplitude and time distributions of acoustic emission pulses, which reflects the self-similarity of defect structures, is revealed. The possibility of separation of independent contributions to the flow of acoustic emission events, which have substantially different scaling exponents, is shown for porous materials. The differences in the scaling exponents are related to the development of plastic deformation and fracture of the materials. The developed approach to an analysis of acoustic emission can be used to describe its predominant mechanisms during deformation.     

Effect of stress state on deformation and fracture of nanocrystalline copper:Molecular dynamics simulation

Deformation in a microcomponent is often constrained by surrounding joined material making the component under mixed loading and multiple stress states. In this study, molecular dynamics(MD) simulation are conducted to probe the effect of stress states on the deformation and fracture of nanocrystalline Cu. Tensile strain is applied on a Cu single crystal,bicrystal and polycrystal respectively, under two different tension boundary conditions. Simulations are first conducted on the bicrystal and polycrystal models without lattice imperfection. The results reveal that, compared with the performance of simulation models under free boundary condition, the transverse stress caused by the constrained boundary condition leads to a much higher tensile stress and can severely limit the plastic deformation, which in return promotes cleavage fracture in the model. Simulations are then performed on Cu single crystal and polycrystal with an initial crack. Under constrained boundary condition, the crack tip propagates rapidly in the single crystal in a cleavage manner while the crack becomes blunting and extends along the grain boundaries in the polycrystal. Under free boundary condition, massive dislocation activities dominate the deformation mechanisms and the crack plays a little role in both single crystals and polycrystals.     

Molecular dynamics investigation of plastic deformation mechanism in bulk nanotwinned copper with embedded cracks

The plastic deformation of bulk nanotwinned copper with embedded cracks under tension has been explored by using molecular dynamics simulations. Simulation results show that the cracks mainly act as dislocation sources during the plastic deformation and occasionally as sinks at later stage. The dislocation pile-up, accumulation and transformation at twin boundaries (TBs) control the plastic hardening and softening deformations. The TB dislocation pile-up zone is estimated to be 5.6–8 nm, which agrees well with previous experimental and simulation results. Furthermore, it is found that the flow stress vs. dislocation density at the hardening stage follows the Taylor-type relationship.     

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 distribution of plastic deformation during 21 kHz fatigue of copper samples

A new method of investigating the portion of plastic deformation during fatigue tests of copper samples has been developed. Until now plastic deformation could only be estimated as opposed to being directly measured. Cholesteric li-crystals were applied to the sample surfaces before the fatique test and the temperature distribution during deformation was measured by the change in colour of these crystals. This then allows the distribution of the plastic deformation along the sample to be calculated. Film recordings of the colour, and hence the temperature change showed that plastic deformation is spread along the sample in a manner similar to that predicted by theory; plastic deformation is not mainly concentrated in the middle of a specimen.     

Plastic deformation instability in copper alloys

A systematic investigation was made of the temperature and velocity conditions for the appearance of stepwise deformation in copper alloys with a high alloying content (the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect) and the deformation mechanics of crystalline materials was analyzed from the viewpoint of an emsemble of dislocations. A mathematical model of the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect was constructed, based on general ideas concerning the behavior of dislocations and their interaction with alloying elements, and from the viewpoint of the theory of oscillations, taking into account the rigidity of the test-piece-machine system. Mechanical tests were performed on copperalloy test pieces in the temperature range 20–400°C. A characteristic feature found for the oscillation modes was that the peak-to-peak value Δσ was independent of ɛ and that there was a plateau with a weak dependence σ(ɛ) at the upper σ level. The dependences of the oscillation period on the temperature and the given plastic deformation velocity were in good agreement with experiment. State Scientific-Research and Design Institute of Alloys and Working of Nonferrous Metals. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 14–20, February, 1993.     

High-rate deformation of nanocrystalline iron and copper

Stress–strain curves are recorded during a high-speed impact and slow loading for nanocrystalline and coarse-grained iron and copper. The strain-rate sensitivity is determined as a function of the grain size and the strain. It is shown that the well-known difference between the variations of the strain-rate sensitivity of the yield strength with the grain size in fcc and bcc metals can be extended to other strain dependences: the strain-rate sensitivity of flow stresses in iron decreases with increasing strain, and that in copper increases. This difference also manifests itself in different slopes of the dependence of the strain-rate sensitivity on the grain size when the strain changes.     

Strain incompatibility and its influence on grain coarsening during cyclic deformation of ARB copper

It is well known that the characteristic length scale in ultra-fine grained and nanocrystalline metals has a significant effect on the mechanical behaviour. The inhibited ability to accommodate imposed strain with conventional dislocation mechanism has led to the activation of unconventional deformation mechanisms. For one, grain coarsening at shear bands has been observed to occur within metals with sub-micron grain size upon cyclic deformation. Such grain coarsening is often linked to the observed cyclic softening behaviour. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between strain localisation associated with shear banding and the observed deformation-induced grain coarsening in ultra-fine grained metals. The investigation was carried out using ultra-fine grained, oxygen-free high conductivity copper processed by accumulative roll-bonding. A close relationship between strain localisation and deformation-induced grain coarsening was revealed. As strain localisation is not only found at shear bands, but also at other places whereby heterogeneous microstructure or geometric discontinuity is present, hence the present study bears a general significance. Such strain localisation sites may also include a hard constituent embedded in a relatively ductile matrix, micro-crack tips and artificial notches. The stress concentration at these sites provides a high input of strain energy for grain boundary motion leading to grain coarsening. Furthermore, when the grain size is very small, the stress gradient leading away from the stress concentration sites is also believed to increase the driving force for grain boundary migration within the affected regions.     

Dislocation mechanism of hollow fiber sliding during ceramic nanocomposite fracture

A dislocation model is proposed for describing the sliding of hollow fibers (and, in particular, carbon nanotubes) as a mechanism of elastic energy relaxation near cracks in ceramic nanocomposites. In this model, the sliding of a hollow cylindrical fiber occurs through the formation of a prismatic circular dislocation loop gliding along the boundary between the fiber and the matrix. The energy characteristics of this process are calculated, and the critical stress required for the barrierless nucleation and glide of such a loop is determined. It is shown that the critical stress increases with the ratio between the shear moduli of the matrix and the fiber and (over a wide range of changes in this ratio) with the fiber wall thickness.