Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T21:23:35.486Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nanoindentation study of slip transfer phenomenon at grain boundaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

T.B. Britton*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PH, United Kingdom
D. Randman
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PH, United Kingdom
A.J. Wilkinson*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PH, United Kingdom
*
Get access

Abstract

Nanoindentation was undertaken near grain boundaries to increase understanding of their individual contributions to the material’s macroscopic mechanical properties. Prior work with nanoindentation in body-centered cubic (bcc) materials has shown that some grain boundaries produce a “pop-in” event, an excursion in the load–displacement curve. In the current work, grain boundary associated pop-in events were observed in a Fe–0.01 wt% C polycrystal (bcc), and this is characteristic of high resistance to intergranular slip transfer. Grain boundaries with greater misalignment of slip systems tended to exhibit greater resistance to slip transfer. Grain boundary associated pop-ins were not observed in pure copper (face-centered cubic) or interstitial free steel ~0.002 wt% C (bcc). Additionally, it was found that cold work of the Fe–0.01 wt% C polycrystal immediately prior to indentation completely suppressed grain boundary associated pop-in events. It is concluded that the grain boundary associated pop-in events are directly linked to interstitials pinning dislocations on or near the boundary. This links well with macroscopic Hall–Petch effect observations.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Hall, E.O.: The deformation and ageing of mild steel. 3. Discussion of results. Proc. Phys. Soc. London, Sect. B 64, 747 (1951).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Petch, N.J.: The cleavage strength of polycrystals. J. Iron Steel Inst. 174, 25 (1953).Google Scholar
3.Lee, T.C., Robertson, I.M., and Birnbaum, H.K.: Prediction of slip transfer mechanisms across grain-boundaries. Scr. Metall. 23, 799 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Clark, W.A.T., Wagoner, R.H., Shen, Z.Y., Lee, T.C., Robertson, I.M., and Birnbaum, H.K.: On the criteria for slip transmission across interfaces in polycrystals. Scr. Metall. Mater. 26, 203 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.de Koning, M., Kurtz, R.J., Bulatov, V.V., Henager, C.H., Hoagland, R.G., Cai, W., and Nomura, M.: Modeling of dislocation-grain boundary interactions in FCC metals. J. Nucl. Mater. 323, 281 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Zhang, N. and Tong, W.: An experimental study on grain deformation and interactions in an Al–0.5%Mg multicrystal. Int. J. Plast. 20, 523 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Wo, P.C. and Ngan, A.H.W.: Investigation of slip transmission behavior across grain boundaries in polycrystalline Ni3Al using nanoindentation. J. Mater. Res. 19, 189 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Gemperlova, J., Jacques, A., Gemperle, A., and Zárubová, N.: Interaction of slip bands with grain boundary—In situ TEM observation, in Influences of Interface and Dislocation Behavior on Microstructure Evolution, edited by Aindow, M., Asta, M., Glazov, M.V., Medlin, D.L., Rollet, A.D., and Zaiser, M. (Mater. Res. Soc. Proc. 652, Warrendale, PA, 2001), Y8.23.Google Scholar
9.Ohmura, T., Minor, A.M., Stach, E.A., and Morris, J.W. Jr: Dislocation-grain boundary interactions in martensitic steel observed through in situ nanoindentation in a transmission electron microscope. J. Mater. Res. 19, 3626 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Dingley, D.J. and Pond, R.C.: Interaction of crystal dislocations with grain-boundaries. Acta Metall. 27, 667 (1979).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Shen, Z., Wagoner, R.H., and Clark, W.A.T.: Dislocation and grain-boundary interactions in metals. Acta Metall. 36, 3231 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Wang, M.G. and Ngan, A.H.W.: Indentation strain burst phenomenon induced by grain boundaries in niobium. J. Mater. Res. 19, 2478 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Aifantis, K.E., Soer, W.A., De Hosson, J.T.M., and Willis, J.R.: Interfaces within strain gradient plasticity: Theory and experiments. Acta Mater. 54, 5077 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Soer, W.A., Aifantis, K.E., and De Hosson, J.T.M.: Incipient plasticity during nanoindentation at grain boundaries in body-centered cubic metals. Acta Mater. 53, 4665 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Morasch, K.R. and Bahr, D.F.: An energy method to analyze through thickness thin film fracture during indentation. Thin Solid Films 515, 3298 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Kramer, D., Huang, H., Kriese, M., Robach, J., Nelson, J., Wright, A., Bahr, D., and Gerberich, W.W.: Yield strength predictions from the plastic zone around nanocontacts. Acta Mater. 47, 333 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Oliver, W.C. and Pharr, G.M.: An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic-modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments. J. Mater. Res. 7, 1564 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Wilkinson, A.J., Meaden, G., and Dingley, D.J.: High-resolution elastic strain measurement from electron backscatter diffraction patterns: New levels of sensitivity. Ultramicroscopy 106, 307 (2006).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Ohmura, T., Tsuzaki, K., and Fuxing, Y.: Nanoindentaion-induced deformation behavior in the vicinity of single grain boundary of interstitial-free steel. Mater. Trans. 46(9), 2026 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Cottrell, A.H. and Bilby, B.A.: Dislocation theory of yielding and strain ageing of iron. Proc. Phys. Soc. London, Sect. A 62, 49 (1949).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Armstrong, R., Douthwaite, R.M., Codd, I., and Petch, N.J.: Plastic deformation of polycrystalline aggregates. Philos. Mag. 7, 45 (1962).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Shibutani, Y. and Nakahama, Y.: Hetrogeneous grain boundary effect to displacement bursts of nanoindentation, in Advances in Hetrogeneous Material Mechanics, edited by Fan, J.H. and Chen, H.B. (Destch Publications, Lancaster, PA, 2008), pp. 169173.Google Scholar
23.Cracknell, A. and Petch, N.J.: Frictional forces on dislocation arrays at the lower yield point in iron. Acta Metall. 3, 186 (1955).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Feltham, P. and Meakin, J.D.: On the mechanism of work hardening in face-centred cubic metals, with special reference to polycrystalline copper. Philos. Mag. 2(13), 105 (1957).CrossRefGoogle Scholar