Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T01:52:11.591Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Grain Boundary Structure Evolution in Nanocrystalline Al by Nanoindentation Simulations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Virginie Dupont  and
Frederic Sansoz
Virginie Dupont
Affiliation:
[email protected]
Frederic Sansoz
Affiliation:
[email protected], The University of Vermont, School of Engineering, Burlington, VT, 05405, United States
Get access

Abstract

The nanoindentation of a columnar grain boundary (GB) network in nanocrystalline Al has been examined by atomistic simulation. The goal of this study was to gain fundamental understanding on the relationship between structure evolution at GBs and incipient plasticity for indenter tips significantly larger than the average grain size. The nanoindentation simulations were performed by quasicontinuum method at zero temperature. A GB network made of vicinal and high-angle <110> tilt GBs was produced by generating randomly-oriented 5-nm grains at the surface of a 200 nm-thick film of Al. The major findings of this investigation are that (1) nanocrystalline GB networks profoundly impact on the nanoindentation response and cause significant softening effects at the tip/surface interface; (2) GB movement and deformation twins are found to be the predominant deformation modes in columnar Al, in association with shear band formation by GB sliding and intragranular slip, and crystal growth by grain rotation and coalescence; and (3) the cooperative processes during plastic deformation are dictated by the atomic-level redistribution of principal shear stresses in the material.

Keywords

Alnanostructuresimulation
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 903: Symposium Z – Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Metals for Structural Applications , 2005 , 0903-Z06-05
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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

1 Sansoz, F. and Molinari, J. F., Acta Mater 53, 1931 (2005).Google Scholar
2 Jin, M., Minor, A. M., Stach, E. A. and Morris, J. W. Jr., Acta Mater 52, 5381 (2004).Google Scholar
3 Zhang, K., Weertman, J. R. and Eastman, J. A., Appl. Phys Lett. 87, 061921 (2005).Google Scholar
4 Feichtinger, D., Derlet, P. M. and Van Swygenhoven, H., Phys Rev B 67, 024113 (2003).Google Scholar
5 Ma, X. L. and Yang, W., Nanotechnology 14, 1208 (2003).Google Scholar
6 Lilleodden, E. T., Zimmerman, J., Foiles, S. M. and Nix, W. D., J. Mech. Phys. Solids 51, 901 (2003).Google Scholar
7 Chen, J., Wang, W., Qian, L. H. and Lu, K., Scripta Mater 49, 645 (2003).Google Scholar
8 Miller, R., Tadmor, E. B., J. Comput. Aided Mater. Des. 9, 203 (2002).Google Scholar
9 Brokman, A. and Balluffi, R. W., Acta Metall. 29, 1703 (1981).Google Scholar
10 Voter, A. F. and Chen, S. P., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 82, 175 (1987).Google Scholar
11 Kelchner, C. L., Plimpton, S. J. and Hamilton, J. C., Phys Rev B 58, 11085 (1998).Google Scholar
12 Johnson, K. L., Kendall, K. and Roberts, A. D., Proc R Soc London A 324, 301 (1971).Google Scholar
13 Hasnaoui, A., Van Swygenhoven, H. and Derlet, P. M., Phys. Rev. B 66, 184112 (2002).Google Scholar
14 Dougherty, L. M., Roberston, I. M., Vetrano, J. S., Acta Mater 51, 4367 (2003).Google Scholar