FINITE ELEMENT AND POLYCHROMATIC MICRODIFFRACTION ANALYSIS OF PLASTIC DEFORMATION MICROMECHANICS NEAR A GRAIN BOUNDARY

Abstract

In this study we report the inhomogeneities of plastic deformation in the natural Ni bicrystal after uniaxial loading. Focused, polychromatic synchrotron X-ray microbeam together with orientation imaging microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and finite element simulations were used to characterize the physics of geometrically necessary dislocations formation and collective behavior during plastic deformation. Crystallographic orientation of the grain essentially determined its plastic response at submicron level during deformation. Finite element simulations were used to understand the influence of grain orientation and initial structural inhomogeneities on the geometrically necessary dislocations arrangement and distribution. Strain in both grains increases in the vicinity of the coherent boundary.