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The effect of microstructure heterogeneity on the microscale deformation of ultrafine-grained aluminum

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Abstract

A combined approach of scanning electron microscopy and digital image correlation was used to examine microstructure-scale strain localization and active deformation mechanisms in ultrafine-grained (UFG) high purity (99.99%) aluminum processed by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP). The results from tensile tests demonstrate a strong relationship between the heterogeneous microstructure and strain localization. The localized deformation was investigated in areas that contain significantly different microstructural features typical of ECAP processed aluminum. It was found that areas of the UFG microstructure containing primarily low angle grain boundaries deformed by dislocation slip and behaved similarly to a coarse-grained material. The greatest strain localization occurred at high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) separating distinct microstructure regions and with median surface trace angles of approximately 26.6°. In areas of banded microstructure, shear strain localization as high as 30% and shear displacements of up to 500 nm occurred at the HAGBs separating bands, suggesting grain boundary sliding.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 092753 and by the Rackham Graduate School Non-Traditional Student Fellowship from the University of Michigan. The authors would like to acknowledge Sara Nitz for her sample preparation work and experimental assistance. Portions of this work were performed at the Electron Microbeam Analysis Laboratory (EMAL) at the University of Michigan and at the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility (LNF), a member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, which is supported in part by the National Science Foundation. The work was also supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-1160966 (JW-N and TGL) and in part by the European Research Council under ERC Grant Agreement No. 267464-SPDMETALS (TGL).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Adam D. Kammers & Samantha Daly

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Bangkok, 10520, Thailand

    Jittraporn Wongsa-Ngam

  3. Departments of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 90089-1453, USA

    Terence G. Langdon

  4. Materials Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

    Terence G. Langdon

  5. Department of Materials Science & Engineering, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Samantha Daly

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  1. Adam D. Kammers
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Correspondence to Samantha Daly.

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Kammers, A.D., Wongsa-Ngam, J., Langdon, T.G. et al. The effect of microstructure heterogeneity on the microscale deformation of ultrafine-grained aluminum. Journal of Materials Research 29, 1664–1674 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.207

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