In situ white beam Laue diffraction experiments on focused ion beam machined single crystal 10µm Ni pillars were performed to explore the relationship between the initial and evolving microstructures and the subsequent flow response. The pillar had a flow stress that was at least in the upper bound of the scatter of the flow stresses obtained for similar Ni pillars. Detailed analysis of the Laue pattern suggested that the strength was in part due to the low-angle grain boundary acting as a dislocation barrier.

A Strong Micropillar Containing a Low Angle Grain Boundary. R.Maass, S.Van Petegem, D.Grolimund, H.Van Swygenhoven, M.D.Uchic: Applied Physics Letters, 2007, 91[13], 131909