Grethe Winther

Dislocation structures. Part I. Grain orientation dependence

To clarify the effect of grain orientation on the evolution of dislocation structures in metals of medium-to-high stacking fault energy, detailed TEM characterization of structures was carried out for more than 350 individual grains in Al and Cu deformed in tension or by cold rolling up to moderate strain levels (ϵvM ≤ 0.8). Efforts were made to obtain a precise description of the three-dimensional arrangement of the dislocation structures and to determine the crystallographic plane of extended dislocation boundaries (geometrically necessary boundaries). A universal pattern of structural evolution characterized by a formation of three types of structure was found in both metals, irrespective of material parameters (stacking fault energy, grain size and impurity) and deformation conditions (deformation mode, strain and strain rate). The key parameter controlling the formation of the different structural types was found to be grain orientation with respect to the deformation axis (axes) and a clear relationship between the structural type and the grain orientation was established. A review of single crystal data shows a similar relationship. The grain orientation dependence of the structural type and similar structural types observed in tension and rolling suggest a common cause. Part II explores this by relating the structural types to the active slip systems.

Lattice rotations of individual bulk grains. Part I: 3D X-ray characterization

Three-dimensional X-ray diffraction has been applied to characterise the plastic deformation of individual grains deeply embedded in a 99.6% pure aluminium specimen. The specimen is 4 mm thick with an average grain size of 75 μm. The average lattice rotation for each grain as well as the degree of internal orientation spread within the grain is measured in-situ during 6% elongation. The rotation paths for 95 grains with nearly random initial orientations are reported. The quality of this data set is sufficient to make distinctions between plasticity models. The rotation paths exhibit a clear dependence on the initial orientation, while the influence of grain interaction is relatively small. All grains deform plastically. Averaged over grains and reflections the rotation of the tensile axis and the FWHM of the internal spread is 2.0 and 0.8°, respectively, at 6% strain.

Crystallographic and macroscopic orientation of planar dislocation boundaries : Correlation with grain orientation

Abstract A novel geometric analysis method for determination of the three-dimensional orientation of extended planar dislocation boundaries in polycrystals based on TEM measurements is presented. The analysis is applied to data for tensile deformed aluminium, revealing that the boundaries have a strong preference for certain crystallographic planes, depending on the crystallographic orientation of the grain. The crystallographic boundary planes are distributed around, but do not coincide with, the most stressed macroscopic planes inclined 45° to the tensile axis. The strong correlation between the crystallographic boundary planes and the grain orientation shows that the boundary orientation is closely linked to the active slip systems. The observed correlation can be explained by a Schmid factor analysis assuming activity on the five most stressed slip systems.

Dense dislocation walls and microbands aligned with slip planes—theoretical considerations

Abstract Some of the dislocation boundaries in cold deformed f.c.c. metals at low and intermediate strains lie on crystallographic slip planes and others have a macroscopic direction with respect to the sample axes (i.e. they are non-crystallographic). A model for the occurrence of the former type of dislocation boundaries is proposed. The model combines slip pattern analysis and dislocation theory. It is assumed (i) that the dislocations in the boundaries are generated by slip, (ii) that the deformation temperature is low enough to exclude dislocation climb and (iii) that the driving force for formation of boundaries is minimisation of the energy stored in the boundaries. Formation of crystallographic boundaries is predicted if two active slip systems in the same slip plane account for a large fraction of the total slip. For single crystals the agreement between predicted and experimentally observed crystallographic and non-crystallographic boundaries is excellent. For different grain orientation in poly crystalline aluminium specimens, the agreement between prediction and experiment is satisfactory in view of the complexity of polycrystal studies compared to studies of single crystals.

Dislocation structures. Part II. Slip system dependence

Part I established, via extensive transmission electron microscopy investigations, that the type of dislocation structure formed in metals of medium-to-high stacking fault energy upon deformation in tension or rolling to moderate strain levels (≤0.8) depends strongly on crystallographic grain orientation. This paper analyzes the grain orientation-dependent structures in terms of the active slip systems, focusing on the crystallographic plane of extended planar boundaries (geometrically necessary boundaries). The analysis establishes slip systems as the factor controlling the dislocation structure. Five fundamental slip classes, consisting of one to three active slip systems, have been identified. Multiple activation of these slip classes is also considered. The slip classes give rise to different types of dislocation structure, of which all except one contains geometrically necessary planar boundaries aligning with unique crystallographic planes (not necessarily slip planes). A slip class leads to the same type of structure, irrespective of the macroscopic deformation mode, as also demonstrated by successful predictions for shear deformation.

Modelling flow stress anisotropy caused by deformation induced dislocation boundaries

Models have been developed for the combined effect of texture and microstructure on the flow stress anisotropy of metals containing dislocation boundaries with a macroscopic orientation with respect to the sample axes. These are the Taylor and the Sachs models modified to include the anisotropic critical resolved shear stress from the dislocation boundaries. The model predictions have shown that the presence of dislocations in an idealized configuration has a significant effect on the anisotropy caused by the crystallographic texture. These model predictions have been tested for a number of materials parameters. Modelling results have finally been compared with measurements of flow stress anisotropy in aluminium sheets cold rolled 18%, and good agreement has been found.

Effect of hardness of martensite and ferrite on void formation in dual phase steel

Abstract The influence of the hardness of martensite and ferrite phases in dual phase steel on void formation has been investigated by in situ tensile loading in a scanning electron microscope. Microstructural observations have shown that most voids form in martensite by evolving four steps: plastic deformation of martensite, crack initiation at the martensite/ferrite interface, crack propagation leading to fracture of martensite particles and void formation by separation of particle fragments. It has been identified that the hardness effect is associated with the following aspects: strain partitioning between martensite and ferrite, strain localisation and critical strain required for void formation. Reducing the hardness difference between martensite and ferrite phases by tempering has been shown to be an effective approach to retard the void formation in martensite and thereby is expected to improve the formability.

Grain orientation and dislocation patterns

Dislocation patterns have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy and Kikuchi line analysis in pure, polycrystalline aluminium deformed in tension at room temperature in the strain range 0.05–0.34. The angle strain relationship of the dislocation boundaries, their scaling behaviour and the occurrence of similitude show that two dislocation patterns coexist in all grains, albeit, with very different characteristics, dependent on the grain orientation. An analysis of the hardening behaviour of the grains in the polycrystal and a comparison with single crystal behaviour show a similar strong correlation, pointing to the slip pattern as a dominating factor both behind the microstructural evolution and the hardening. The division of the stereographic triangle representing all possible crystallographic orientations at the tensile axis based on microstructural characterization and hardening behaviour, correlates with a division based on slip pattern characteristics.

Dislocation content of geometrically necessary boundaries aligned with slip planes in rolled aluminium

Previous studies have revealed that dislocation structures in metals with medium-to-high stacking fault energy, depend on the grain orientation and therefore on the slip systems. In the present work, the dislocations in eight slip-plane-aligned geometrically necessary boundaries (GNBs) in three grains of near 45° ND rotated cube orientation in lightly rolled pure aluminium are characterized in great detail using transmission electron microscopy. Dislocations with all six Burgers vectors of the ½⟨1 1 0⟩ type expected for fcc crystals were observed but dislocations from the four slip systems expected active dominate. The dislocations predicted inactive are primarily attributed to dislocation reactions in the boundary. Two main types of dislocation networks in the boundaries were identified: (1) a hexagonal network of the three dislocations in the slip plane with which the boundary was aligned; two of these come from the active slip systems, the third is attributed to dislocation reactions (2) a network of three dislocations from both of the active slip planes; two of these react to form Lomer locks. The results indicate a systematic boundary formation process for the GNBs. Redundant dislocations are not observed in significant densities.

Revealing deformation microstructures

A variety of features broadly classed as deformation microstructure elements are created during the plastic deformation of polycrystalline metals. While virtually all elements of deformation microstructure are composed of dislocations, describing the creation and evolution of larger-scale elements in terms of interactions between individual dislocations is a goal that has not yet been achieved. A hierarchical approach is thus favored in which structure creation and evolution are described at a range of length scales, from the nanometer to millimeter scale.