Quantifying the Microstructures of Pure Cu Subjected to Dynamic Plastic Deformation at Cryogenic Temperature

A pure Cu （99.995 wt%） has been subjected to dynamic plastic deformation at cryogenic temperature to a strain of 2.1. Three types of microstructures that are related to dislocation slip, twinning and shear banding have been quantitatively characterized by transmission electron microscopy （TEM） assisted by convergent beam electron diffraction （CBED） analysis. Microstructures originated from dislocation slip inside or outside the shear bands are characterized by low angle boundaries （〈15°） that are spaced in the nanometer scale, whereas most deformation twins are deviated from the perfect ∑3 coincidence （60°/〈111〉） up to the maximum angle of 9°. The quantitative structural characteristics are compared with those in conventionally deformed Cu at low strain rates, and allowed a quantitative analysis of the flow stress-structural parameter relationship.

Annealing-induced Hardening in a Nanostructured Low-carbon Steel Prepared by Using Dynamic Plastic Deformation

Lamellar nanostructures were induced in a plain martensitic low-carbon steel by using dynamic plastic deformation at room temperature.The nanostructured steel was hardened after annealing at 673 K for20 min,with a tensile strength increased from 1.2 GPa to 1.6 GPa.Both the remained nanostructures and annealing-induced precipitates in nano-scale play key roles in the hardening.

A Model of Dynamic Recrystallization in Alloys during High Strain Plastic Deformation

Recrystallized grains, less than 200 nm in diameter were observed in heavily shear zones of a high strength low alloy steel and a Ni-based alloy, and Also grain refinement, less than 3 μm in diameter was made in high purity aluminum by ECAE at ambient temperature. The experimental results showed that high strain rate and large deformation could induce dynamic recrystallization.Based on dislocation dynamics and grain orientation change enhanced by plastic deformation,a model for the recrystallization process is developed. The model is used to explain the ultra fine grains which are formed at a temperature still much lower than that for the conventional recrystallization

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the Orientation Effect on the Initial Plastic Deformation of Magnesium Single Crystals

Molecular dynamics simulation is employed to study the tension and compression deformation behaviors of magnesium single crystals with different orientations.The angle between the loading axis and the basal direction ranges from 0° to 90°.The simulation results show that the initial defects usually nucleate at free surfaces,but the initial plastic deformation and the subsequent microstructural evolutions are various due to different loading directions.The tension simulations exhibit the deformation mechanisms of twinning,slip,crystallographic reorientation and basal/prismatic transformation.The twinning,crystallographic reorientation and basal/prismatic transformation can only appear in the crystal model loaded along or near the a-axis or c-axis.For the compression simulations,the basal,prismatic and pyramidal slips are responsible for the initial plasticity,and no twinning is observed.Moreover,the plastic deformation models affect the yield strengths for the samples with different orientations.The maximum yield stresses for the samples loaded along the c-axis or a-axis are much higher than those loaded in other directions.

Effects of Strain Rate and Deformation Temperature on Microstructures and Hardness in Plastically Deformed Pure Aluminum

The microstructures and hardness of pure Al samples subjected to plastic deformation with different tem- peratures and strain rates were investigated. The results showed that the strain-induced grain refinement is significantly benefited by increasing strain rate and reducing deformation temperature. The saturated size of refined subgrains in Al can be as small as about 240 nm in cryogenic dynamic plastic deformation （DPD）. Grain boundaries of the DPD Al samples are low-angle boundaries due to suppression of dynamic recovery during deformation. Agreement of the measured hardness with the empirical Hall-Petch relation extrapolated from the coarse-grained Al implies that the low-angle boundaries can contribute to strengthening as effective as the conventional grain boundaries.

Austenite steels strengthened by means of nano-scale twins

Recent investigations indicated that metals can be effectively strengthened by numerous twin boundaries (TBs) with twin/matrix lamellar thicknesses in the nanometer regime.Superior strength-ductility synergies have been achieved with the nano-twin strengthening mechanism.In this talk,the novel nano-twin strengthening will be applied to austenite steels including 316L stainless steel and a Fe-Mn steel in order to optimize their strength-ductility combinations.The steels are processed by means of dynamic plastic deformation(DPD,i.e.,plastic deformation at high strain rates).Single-phased(austenite) bulk nanostructured steel specimens were prepared,consisting of nano-sized grains embedded with nano-scale twin bundles.The as-prepared nanostructured samples were annealed at various conditions,resulting in partial recrystallization of the nanostructures and forming a mixture structure of coarse-grains embedded with nano-twin bundles.Strength and ductility of the austenite steels with different amount of nano-twin bundles are analyzed.Measurements showed the nano-twin strengthen austenite steels can be superstrong (with yield strength above 1 GPa) together with a considerable ductility(elongation-to-failure >20%).

Enhanced dynamic deformability and strengthening effect via twinning and microbanding in high density NiCoFeCrMoW high-entropy alloys

High density alloys with enhanced deformability and strength are urgently required in energy,military and nuclear industries,etc.In this work,we present a new kind of NiCoFeCrMoW high entropy alloys(HEAs)which possess higher densities and sound velocities than copper.We systematically investigate the phase structure,quasi-static tensile,dynamic compression and related deformation mechanism of these HEAs.It is shown that single FCC or FCC+μdual phases were formed in the HEAs depending on Mo and W content and annealing temperature.Excellent quasi-static tensile and dynamic compression properties have been achieved for these HEAs,e.g.Ni_(30)Co_(30)Fe_(21)Cr_(10)W_(9)HEA annealed at 1573 K exhibited a yield and ultimate tensile strength and elongation of~364 MPa,~866 MPa and~32%,respectively,in quasi-static test;a yield strength of~710 MPa and no fracture under the dynamic strain rate of 4100 s^(-1).Superior strain rate sensitivity(SRS)of yield strength than that of previously reported FCC HEAs have been evidenced.The dynamic stress-strain constitutive relation can be described by the modified Johnson-Cook model.As for the dynamic deformation mechanism,it is envisaged that the regulation of stacking fault energy and Peierls barrier in current HEAs resulted in occurrences of abundant nanoscale deformation twins and microbands during high strain rate compression.The synergistic microbanding and twinning effectively contributes to the enhanced dynamic deformability and strengthening effect.Besides,the interactions of dislocations with precipitates,stacking faults(SFs)with twins,and between SFs also contribute to extraordinary work-hardening capacity.

Different Mechanisms of ε-M and α'-M Variant Selection and the Influencing Factors of ε-M Reversion During Dynamic Tension in TRIP Steel

The variant selection of martensites（ε-M and α＇-M） and ε-M reversion in dynamic tensile high-manganese TRIP steel were investigated. α＇-M variant pairs with a zigzag morphology frequently formed, and the pairs of neighboring α＇-M variants were examined in terms of mechanical work and strain energy reduction. The occurrence of a primary α＇-M variant is determined by mechanical work, but high products of mechanical work and strain energy reduction are essential for secondary variant selection. In contrast to α＇-M variant pair selection, ε-M variant selection can be attributed to the highest mechanical work. During ε-M→α＇-M transformation, the mechanical work of ε-M reversion is higher than that of α＇-M variant, thereby implying that ε-M reversion in h110 icgrain is possible. e-M plate distribution also affects the feasibility of ε-M reversion.

Improving the strength and SCC resistance of an Al-5Mg-3Zn alloy with low-angle grain boundary structure

The strength of traditional Al-Mg alloys is relatively low because it mainly relies on solid solution strengthening.Adding a third component to form precipitation can improve their strength,but it usually leads to high-stress corrosion cracking(SCC)sensitivity due to the formation of high-density precipitates at grain boundaries(GBs).So far,it is still challenging to improve the strength of Al-Mg alloys without re-ducing SCC resistance.Herein,a nanostructured Al-5Mg-3 Zn alloy with a good yield strength of 336 MPa and good elongation was successfully produced.By dynamic plastic deformation and appropriate anneal-ing treatment,near-equiaxed nanograins were introduced in the nanostructured Al-5Mg-3 Zn alloy with a high proportion(71%)of the low-angle grain boundary.TEM statistical investigations show that the pre-cipitation of active T’phase at GBs has been greatly suppressed in the nanostructured Al-5Mg-3 Zn alloy at sensitized conditions,and the area fraction of GB precipitates is reduced from 72%to 21%,which sig-nificantly decreases the SCC susceptibility.This study provides guidance for developing advanced Al-Mg alloy with high SCC resistance.

316L Austenite Stainless Steels Strengthened by Means of Nano-scale Twins

By means of dynamic plastic deformation （DPD） followed by thermal annealing, a mixed structure of micro-sized austenite grains embedded with nano-scale twin bundles （of about 20% in volume） has been synthesized in a 316L stainless steel （SS）. Such a 316L SS sample exhibits a tensile strength as high as 1001 MPa and an elongation-to-failure of about 23%. The much elevated strength originates from the presence of a considerable number of strengthening nano-twin bundles, while the ductility from the recrystallized grains. The superior strength-ductility combination achieved in the nano-twins-strengthened austenite steel demonstrates a novel approach for optimizing the mechanical properties in engineering materials.

Evaluation of Stored Energy from Microstructure of Multi-component Nanostructured Cu

A polycrystalline Cu of 99.995% purity has been deformed by dynamic plastic deformation at liquid nitrogen temperature to a strain of 2.1 （LNT-DPD Cu）. Three distinct regions that are dominated by dislocation slip, shear banding and nanotwinning, form a multi-component nanostructure. The microstructure of each region has been quantified by transmission electron microscopy assisted by Kikuchi line analysis. Based on the structural parameters the stored energy of each region was evaluated, and the total energy can be assumed to be a linear additivity of that in each region weighted by the respective volume fraction. A microstructure based evaluation of the stored energy of multi-component nanostructure has been proposed.