Papers by Keyword: Grain Boundary Engineering

Abstract: The present study investigates the occurrence and effectiveness of the dissociation mechanism of Σ3 CSL boundaries into its variants such as Σ9 and Σ27a-b during strain-annealed grain boundary engineering (GBE) of Hastelloy-X. Multiple cold-rolling strain levels and annealing conditions are studied and it is observed that the density of ∑3 boundaries decreases proportionally to the amount of strain induced boundary migration (SIBM) during the GBE process. The dissociation mechanism of Σ3 annealing twins is activated at the onset of SIBM, causing an increase in the density of the Σ3ⁿ variants. It is shown that at high annealing times or temperatures, the rate of generation of CSL boundaries through dissociation mechanism is lower than their annihilation rate. It is further suggested that the dissociation mechanism of ∑3 boundaries during GB migration is more efficient when the amount of applied strain prior to annealing is kept low, thus promoting disruption of the random GB network.

Abstract: In order to get optimal grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) and grain boundary properties, thermomechanical processing (TMP) is usually adopted in grain boundary engineering. However, the mechanism behind the TMP treatments and GBCD optimization is still unclear. The present study has conducted a series experiments involving low-strain TMPs to study the relationship between TMP parameters and the behind microstructural evolution. The experimental results indicate that in the scope of low-strain TMP, strain induced boundary migration (SIBM) is the most effective process for GBCD optimization. Besides, SIBM and grain growth would gradually transfer to recrystallization with the increase of pre-deformation level and annealing temperature. Further quasi in-situ EBSD results infer that SBIM is activated locally in some region with high stored energy, and further gradual initiation of SIBM from one region to another contributes to the gradual increase of special boundaries with annealing time.

Abstract: Grain boundary character distributions (GBCD) of OFHC copper equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) deformed and then annealed were analyzed by electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD). The experimental results showed that a combination of ECAP deformation and annealing treatments could significantly increase the fraction of low-Σ coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries (Σ≤29) and effectively interrupt the connectivity of random boundaries network in OFHC copper. An increase of low-Σ CSL boundaries from 45.27 to 71.06% was observed in as-received material after one pass ECAP strain followed by annealing at 350 °C for 48 h. The connectivity of random boundaries network was interrupted by high fraction of low-Σ CSL boundaries.

Abstract: Grain boundary engineering (GBE) was carried out on 316L austenitic stainless steel with Thermo-mechanical processing (TMP), which was performed by unidirectional compression and subsequent annealing. The effect of TMP parameters including the strain and annealing time on grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) and the corresponding mechanism was investigated in the study. The results showed that high fraction of low-Σ coincident-site lattice (CSL) grain boundaries (about 55%) associating with interrupted network of random boundaries was obtained through TMP of 5% cold compression followed by annealing at 1000 °C for 45 min. The fraction of low-Σ boundaries increased with increasing the annealing time under all the experiment strain, but the mechanisms were different between the low and medium above levels of strain. Grains rotation and reaction of migratory boundaries might be the reasons of low-Σ boundaries growth in the strain of 5% and in the strain greater than or equal to 10%, respectively.

Abstract: Grain boundary engineered (GBE) materials have improved properties that are associated with the high fraction special Σ3n boundaries in the microstructure, where n = 1,2,3. Previous experimental studies with high purity nickel before and after thermomechanical processing have shown that the fraction of Σ3 boundaries increased by at least factor of two [1]. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is used to characterize the evolution of these special boundaries throughout the recrystallization process of a 25% cold rolled sample annealed at 490°C. The fractions of the Σ3 boundaries and coherent twins have been measured over time revealing a steadily increasing behavior over the entire microstructure. However partitioning to only include recrystallized regions reveals a different behavior in the Σ3 boundaries as fractions, which increase rapidly at first and then stagnate over time. Additional triple junction characterization was performed to monitor the evolution of triple junctions containing special boundaries.

Abstract: Though there developed same concentrations of special grain boundaries (SBs) in grain boundary engineered (GBE) austenitic stainless steel (304 stainless steel) and a Pb-Ca based alloy, the makeup of SBs, size distribution of clusters of grains with ∑3n (n=1,2,3) orientation relationships (∑3n CG), and grain orientations (textures) are quite different between the two specimens, suggesting there have two different mechanisms separately governing the evolution of grain boundary character distributions (GBCDs) in the two types of materials during GBE processing.

Abstract: Grain boundary engineering (GBE) to promote degradation-resistant interfaces in the microstructure usually requires that the grain size remains small so that strength is not compromised. Aspects of grain size measurement and control will be reviewed and discussed for a variety of GBE materials such as copper, nickel, nickel-based alloys and austenitic stainless steels, particularly in the light of the high proportion of annealing twins that constitute the GBE microstructure.

Abstract: The origin and role of S3 boundaries during dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and grain boundary engineering (GBE) of a Ti-modified austenitic stainless steel (alloy D9) is studied. Hot deformation tests were carried out on solution-annealed (SA) specimens to study the DRX behavior whereas a series of cold deformation and annealing were performed on SA specimens to realize GBE microstructure. A linear relationship between the area fraction of DRX and the number fraction of Σ3 boundaries was observed during hot deformation. This high fraction of Σ3 boundaries could account for the formation of coherent annealing twins by “growth accidents” during DRX. For certain combinations of cold deformation and annealing, a significant increase in S3 boundaries was observed. In contrast to hot deformation, majority of these new S3 boundaries during cold deformation and annealing were formed by geometrical interactions between the pre-existing Σ3 boundaries. The role of the S3 boundaries during DRX and on tailoring microstructure through grain boundary engineering approach is discussed.

Abstract: Bulk properties of polycrystalline structural and functional materials are controlled by the grain boundary microstructure defined by the grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) and grain boundary connectivity, because of percolation-dependent grain boundary phenomena. It has been found that there is a close relationship between microscale texture and grain boundary microstructure. Since percolation-controlled grain boundary phenomena are involved and playing key roles in the generation of various kinds of bulk properties, the relationship between texture and grain boundary microstructure can be effectively used as a powerful tool in development of high performance structural and functional materials by Grain Boundary Engineering (GBE).

Abstract: A wedge-shaped 304 austenitic stainless steel with varied thickness longitudinally was cold rolled into a flat one and then annealed at 1323K for 10 min. The grain boundary character distributions (GBCDs) in the specimen as processed were examined by the means of Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The results showed that, at the regions with low pre-strains ranged from 4% to 6%, quite high fractions of S3ⁿ (n=0,1,2,3) grain boundaries and large-sized S3ⁿ (n=0,1,2,3) grain clusters are introduced compared with the regions of quite low ( less than 2.5%) or relatively high pre-strain. The surface appearance of after corrosion test reveals that grain dropping due to intergranular corrosion (IGC) is depressed and the penetration of IGC from the surface into the interior in the cross-section is arrested significantly as well in the regions with high fractions of S3ⁿ boundaries and large-sized S3ⁿ grain clusters.