On the experimental validation of a mesoscopic grain boundary sliding-controlled flow model for structural superplasticity

Different mechanisms have been suggested by many authors as controlling the rate of superplastic flow in different materials. From the viewpoint of computational effort and aesthetics, it is highly desirable to explain the phenomenon, independent of the material/system considered, on a common basis. With this aim, a mesoscopic grain boundary sliding-controlled deformation model was proposed sometime ago as being responsible for superplastic flow in materials of different kinds. In this paper, a rigorous numerical computational procedure for the experimental validation of the model, which takes into account all the physical requirements of the model, is presented. The soundness of the new procedure is established by analysing the experimental data pertaining to many systems belonging to different classes of materials, and matching the results of the analysis with the experimental findings.