skip to main content

Attention:

The NSF Public Access Repository (PAR) system and access will be unavailable from 11:00 PM ET on Thursday, February 13 until 2:00 AM ET on Friday, February 14 due to maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Title: Dislocation mechanisms in strengthening and softening of nanotwinned materials

Twin boundary (TB) strengthening in nanotwinned metals experiences a breakdown below a critical spacing at which softening takes over. Here, we survey a range of nanotwinned materials that possess different stacking fault energies (SFEs) and understand the TB strengthening limit using atomistic simulations. Distinct from Cu and Al, the nanotwinned, ultralow SFE materials (Co, NiCoCr, and NiCoCrFeMn) intriguingly exhibit a continuous strengthening down to a twin thickness of 0.63 nm. Examining dislocation slip mode and deformation microstructure, we find the hard dislocation modes persist even when reducing the twin boundary spacing to a nanometer regime. Meanwhile, the soft dislocation mode, which causes detwinning in Cu and Al, results in phase transformation and lamellar structure formation in Co, NiCoCr, and NiCoCrFeMn. This study, providing an enhanced understanding of dislocation mechanism in nanotwinned materials, demonstrates the potential for controlling mechanical behavior and ultimate strength with broadly tunable composition and SFE, especially in multi-principal element alloys.

 
more » « less
Award ID(s):
2105328
PAR ID:
10395652
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
American Institute of Physics
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Physics
Volume:
133
Issue:
5
ISSN:
0021-8979
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract

    Nanotwinned materials have been widely studied as a promising class of nanostructured materials that exhibit an exceptional combination of high strength, good ductility, large fracture toughness, remarkable fatigue resistance, and creep stability. Recently, an apparent controversy has emerged with respect to how the strength of nanotwinned materials varies as the twin thickness is reduced. While a transition from hardening to softening was observed in nanotwinned Cu when the twin thickness is reduced below a critical value, continuous hardening was reported in nanotwinned ceramics and nanotwinned diamond. Here, by conducting atomistic simulations and developing a theoretical modeling of nanotwinned Pd and Cu systems, we discovered that there exists a softening temperature, below which the material hardens continuously as the twin thickness is reduced (as in nanotwinned ceramics and diamond), while above which the strength first increases and then decreases, exhibiting a maximum strength and a hardening to softening transition at a critical twin thickness (as in nanotwinned Cu). This important phenomenon has been attributed to a transition from source- to stress-controlled plasticity below the softening temperature, and suggests that different hardening behaviors may exist even in the same nanotwinned material depending on the temperature and that at a given temperature, different materials could exhibit different hardening behaviors depending on their softening temperature.

     
    more » « less
  2. The nanoscopic deformation of ⟨111⟩ nanotwinned copper nanopillars under strain rates between 10^−5/s and 5×10^−4/s was studied by using in situ transmission electron microscopy. The correlation among dislocation activity, twin boundary instability due to incoherent twin boundary migration and corresponding mechanical responses was investigated. Dislocations piled up in the nanotwinned copper, giving rise to significant hardening at relatively high strain rates of 3–5×10^−4/s. Lower strain rates resulted in detwinning and reduced hardening, while corresponding deformation mechanisms are proposed based on experimental results. At low/ultralow strain rates below 6×10^−5/s, dislocation activity almost ceased operating, but the migration of twin boundaries via the 1/4 ⟨10-1⟩ kink-like motion of atoms is suggested as the detwinning mechanism. At medium strain rates of 1–2×10^−4/s, detwinning was decelerated likely due to the interfered kink-like motion of atoms by activated partial dislocations, while dislocation climb may alternatively dominate detwinning. These results indicate that, even for the same nanoscale twin boundary spacing, different nanomechanical deformation mechanisms can operate at different strain rates. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract

    In this study, a combinatorial and high-throughput approach was leveraged to investigate nanotwin behavior in the ternary CuNiAl alloy system. Combinatorial co-sputtering was used to synthesize 169 unique CuNiAl alloy compositions, which were characterized in both the as-sputtered and annealed conditions to elucidate relationships between composition, nanotwin formation, and phase evolution. Compositional effects on phase formation were investigated using high-throughput X-ray diffraction, while scanning transmission electron microscopy was used to identify nanotwin compositional boundaries and isolate the roles of varied composition and nanotwin formation on microstructural evolution. It was determined that Al content was the primary variable influencing thermal evolution in the nanotwinned CuNiAl alloys, as it altered the thermodynamic driving forces by changing composition and reducing the as-sputtered twin boundary spacing. Overall, this work demonstrates a novel approach to globally study unexplored nanotwin synthesis domains beyond binary alloys.

    Graphical Abstract

     
    more » « less
  4. Abstract

    Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are carried out to investigate the effects of the type and spacing of FCC/BCC interfaces on the deformation and spall behavior. The simulations are carried out using model Cu/Ta multilayers with six different types of interfaces. The results suggest that interface type can significantly affect the structure and intensity of the incoming shock wave, change the activated slip systems, alter dislocation slip and twinning behavior, affect where and how voids are nucleated during spallation and the resulting spall strength. Moreover, the above aspects are significantly affected by the interface spacing. A transition from homogeneous to heterogeneous dislocation nucleation occurs as the interface spacing is decreased to 6 nm. Depending on interface type and spacing, damage (voids) nucleation and spall failure is observed to occur not only at the Cu/Ta interfaces, but also in the weaker Cu layer interior, or even in the stronger Ta layer interior, although different mechanisms underlie each of these three distinct failure modes. These findings point to the fact that, depending on the combination of interface type and spacing, interfaces can lead to both strengthening and weakening of the Cu/Ta multilayered microstructures.

     
    more » « less
  5. In situ neutron diffraction experiments have been performed to investigate the deformation mechanisms on CoCrFeNi high entropy alloys (HEAs) with various amounts of doped Cu. Lattice strain evolution and diffraction peak analysis were used to derive the stacking fault probability, stacking fault energy, and dislocation densities. Such diffraction analyses indirectly uncovered that a lower degree of Cu doping retained the twinning behavior in undoped CoCrFeNi HEAs, while increasing the Cu content increased the Cu clusterings which suppressed twinning and exhibited prominent dislocation strengthening. These results agree with direct observations by transmission electron microscopy.

     
    more » « less