Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
The combined effect of strain and temperature on the microstructure and detailed internal structure of dislocation boundaries was systematically studied in compressed pure polycrystalline copper and nickel and compared to the microstructure of compressed polycrystalline aluminum. Below 0.5Tm the microstructure of Cu and Ni consists of dislocation cells, however, only in Cu second generation microbands are formed. In Cu and Ni, the dislocations inside the boundaries rearrange themselves from tangles to ordered arrays of parallel dislocations following interplay between strain (requirement for cross slip) and temperature (dislocation mobility and ease of cross slip). The ordered detailed structure is similar to that observed in Al deformed at room temperature and lower strain levels. The amount of strain and temperature applied to Cu and Ni in order to achieve the same detailed structure formed in Al depends on the stacking fault energy (SFE) of the metal- higher strain and temperature as the SFE is lower.