Papers by Keyword: Grain Growth

Abstract: For optimum fabrication and usage of Cu films, an understanding of the relationship between processing and microstructure is required. The existence of twins is another significant factor for texture development in Cu films. Texture character and strength in the Cu film is dependent on the twin boundary development that is a function of processing conditions and film thickness. In this study, determination of grain growth and texture in the sputtered and electroplated Cu films during annealing was performed for films of 100, 480 and 850 nm in thickness deposited on a Ta(25 nm)/Si wafer. The texture was measured by X-ray pole figure. The effect of film thickness on the annealing texture in the sputtered and electroplated Cu films is examined and discussed.

Abstract: The recrystallization behavior and texture development in copper accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) processed by various cycles (2, 4 and 6 cycle) were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis and SEM/EBSP method. The exothermic peaks caused by recrystallization appeared at 210 ~ 253 􀍠 in each sample. The peak positions shifted to lower temperature as the number of ARB cycles increased. This result indicated that the evolution of finer microstructure with increasing number of the ARB cycles enhanced the occurrence of recrystallization at lower temperature. The stored energy calculated from the DSC curve of the ARB processed copper increased with the increasing strains. During an annealing, the preferential growth of cube-oriented grains ({100}<001>) occurred in each sample. The recystallization behavior of ARB processed copper having low stacking fault energies was distinguished from that of so-called “recovery type” materials, i.e. aluminum and low carbon steels, which shows rather continuous changes in microstructure during annealing. The accumulated strains provided the driving force for the preferential growth, which was the same mechanism as the preferential growth in normally rolled copper. The sharpest cube texture developed in ARB processed copper by 4 cycles. The difference of cube texture development between 2 cycles and 4 cycles was caused by the distribution of cube-oriented regions which corresponded to the nucleation sites of recrystallized grains before annealing. More nanocystalline layers in the vicinity of bonded interfaces were distributed in ARB processed copper by 6 cycles than 4cycles. The nanocystalline structure could grow faster than the cube-oriented grains and led to the inhibition of sharp cube texture in the ARB processed copper by 6 cycles.

Abstract: This paper discusses the development of a novel processing route to produce ultra finegrain bulk alloy forgings; the microstructural response of these forgings to thermal exposure; and the comparison of mechanical properties to those from conventionally processed material. A Ni- 20Cr [wt%] alloy was processed by near-isothermal multi-axis forging to a grain size of approximately 1 μm. A heat-treatment study over the range 900 to 1200°C was conducted to determine the resultant grain size as a function of time and temperature. Tensile properties were measured at room temperature, 500°C, and 930°C. High-cycle fatigue properties were measured at room temperature. The room-temperature tensile strength was approximately 2.5 times greater than that of conventionally processed Ni-20Cr. Fatigue data showed that the room-temperature highcycle fatigue run-out stress was greater than 100% of the yield stress.

Abstract: A new conceptual bonding technique, " hyper-interfacial bonding" has been proposed as the most effective bonding technique for ultra-fine grained steels. The hyper-interfacial bonding process was characterized by the instantaneously surface-melted pressure-bonding which involved a series of steps, namely, surface heating by high frequency induction, rapid removing of a heating coil and simultaneously pressing of specimens together by an oil pressure system. All equences were typically completed within a second under vacuum/gas atmosphere. An ultra-fine grained high strength steels with the average grain size of 1.0-1.5µm were used for bonding. A bainitic structure and MAconstituents were confirmed in the HAZ, while the base metal indicated the fine ferrite-cementite/ pearlite texture. The maximum hardness in HAZ was limited at HV320-400 and the softening in the HAZ did not occur consequently. Prior austenitic grains were coarsened at the vicinity of the bond interface, however, the grain growth in the bond layer could be depressed below about 11-16µm attributed to the dynamic recrystallization during pressure-bonding process. The tensile strength of joints attained to 83% of the base metal strength. The upper-shelf absorbed energy and DBTT were improved to approx. 60J/cm2 and 223K respectively in the case of Ni-plated UFG steel joints. It could be resulted that the hyper-interfacial bonding technique was a feasible joining method for ultra finegrained steels.

Abstract: Hardmetal is usually processed by the conventional powder technology techniques: mix of WC + Co powders compacted and liquid phase sintering. A new method to process hardmetal parts is hereby described. Parts of WC-15%wt Co were processed by using high pressure – high temperature sintering. It was used the pressure of 5GPa, temperatures of 780-1200-1350-1400oC, and times of 2-4 minutes of sintering. Results are shown as a function of micro-structural evolution, densification, and hardness measurements.

Abstract: Effect of thickness on grain growth in Copper electrodeposits by cyclic stressing was studied by metallographic observation. The thickness of the film was 1µm to 20µm and the number of stress cycles was 3 × 106. Recrystallization by annealing in the films was also examined for comparison. The results show that the nucleation of the grains by cyclic stressing decreases significantly with decreasing thickness, while the grain growth rate is almost independent of thickness. The recrystallized grain size by annealing decreases with decreasing film thickness and is always smaller than the film thickness. The difference in the structural change by cyclic stressing and by annealing is discussed. When the crystal growth caused by cyclic stressing is used as a strain analysis method, the optimum thickness of the deposits is about 10µm.

Abstract: Relative grain boundary energy as a function of misorientation angle was measured in a cube-oriented, 120 µm-thick Al foil and in a <111> fiber-textured, 1.7 µm-thick Al film using a multiscale analysis of the grain boundary dihedral angles. For the Al foil, the energies of low-angle boundaries increased with misorientation angle, in good agreement with the Read-Shockley model. For the Al film, two energy minima were observed for high-angle boundaries. Grain growth was studied in 25 and 100 nm-thick films that were annealed at 400 °C for a series of times in the range of 0.5 to 10 h. For the 100 nm-thick film, grains approximately doubled their size (equivalent circular diameter) before grain growth stagnated. The steady-state distributions of reduced grain area for two-dimensional, Monte Carlo Potts and partial differential equation based simulations showed excellent agreement with each other, even when anisotropic boundary energies were used. However, the simulated distributions had fewer small grains than the experimental distributions.

Abstract: Texture formation during secondary recrystallization depends on the nature of secondary recrystallization process itself. So microstructure evolution and texture development during secondary recrystallization should be discussed concurrently. The main goal of the paper is studying of the effect of internal stresses on grain boundary motion or, more generally, the interaction of grain boundaries with stress fields and the effect of deformation inhomogeniety on grain boundary mobility during secondary recrystallization. Considering transformation from normal grain growth to secondary recrystallization, the attempt was made to characterize the microstructure and to relate it to the processes of nucleation and growth of new rains. The nucleation process is heterogeneous. The data allow us to assume that the nuclei are strain free grains.