Fatigue crack closure: a review of the physical phenomena.

Plasticity-induced, roughness-induced and oxide-induced crack closures are reviewed. Special attention is devoted to the physical origin, the consequences for the experimental determination and the prediction of the effective crack driving force for fatigue crack propagation. Plasticity-induced crack closure under plane stress and plane strain conditions require, in principle, a different explanation; however, both types are predictable. This is even the case in the transition region from the plane strain to the plane stress state and all types of loading conditions including constant and variable amplitude loading, the short crack case or the transition from small-scale to large-scale yielding. In contrast, the prediction of roughness-induced and oxide-induced closures is not as straightforward.

A novel setup for wafer curvature measurement at very high heating rates.

The curvature evolution of a thin film layer stack containing a top Al layer is measured during temperature cycles with very high heating rates. The temperature cycles are generated by means of programmable electrical power pulses applied to miniaturized polysilicon heater systems embedded inside a semiconductor chip and the curvature is measured by a fast wafer curvature measurement setup. Fast temperature cycles with heating duration of 100 ms are created to heat the specimen up to 270 °C providing an average heating rate of 2500 K/s. As a second approach, curvature measurement utilizing laser scanning Doppler vibrometry is also demonstrated which verifies the results obtained from the fast wafer curvature measurement setup. Film stresses calculated from the measured curvature values compare well to literature results, indicating that the new method can be used to measure curvature during fast temperature cycling.

Internal stress and defect-related free volume in submicrocrystalline Ni studied by neutron diffraction and difference dilatometry.

A combined study of neutron diffraction and difference dilatometry on submicrocrystalline Ni prepared by high pressure torsion aims at studying the anisotropic behaviour during dilatometry and its relation to internal stress and structural anisotropy. Macroscopic stresses were undetectable in the dilatometer samples. Along with specific tests such as post cold-rolling, this shows that an observed anisotropic length change upon annealing is not caused by internal stress, but can be explained by the inherent microstructure, i.e. the anisotropic annealing of relaxed vacancies at grain boundaries of shape-anisotropic crystallites.

Ultra-strong and damage tolerant metallic bulk materials: A lesson from nanostructured pearlitic steel wires.

Structural materials used for safety critical applications require high strength and simultaneously high resistance against crack growth, referred to as damage tolerance. However, the two properties typically exclude each other and research efforts towards ever stronger materials are hampered by drastic loss of fracture resistance. Therefore, future development of novel ultra-strong bulk materials requires a fundamental understanding of the toughness determining mechanisms. As model material we use today's strongest metallic bulk material, namely, a nanostructured pearlitic steel wire, and measured the fracture toughness on micron-sized specimens in different crack growth directions and found an unexpected strong anisotropy in the fracture resistance. Along the wire axis the material reveals ultra-high strength combined with so far unprecedented damage tolerance. We attribute this excellent property combination to the anisotropy in the fracture toughness inducing a high propensity for micro-crack formation parallel to the wire axis. This effect causes a local crack tip stress relaxation and enables the high fracture toughness without being detrimental to the material's strength.

The importance of fracture toughness in ultrafine and nanocrystalline bulk materials.

The suitability of high-strength ultrafine and nanocrystalline materials processed by severe plastic deformation methods and aimed to be used for structural applications will strongly depend on their resistance against crack growth. In this contribution some general available findings on the damage tolerance of this material class will be summarized. Particularly, the occurrence of a pronounced fracture anisotropy will be in the center of discussion. In addition, the great potential of this generated anisotropy to obtain high-strength materials with exceptionally high fracture toughness in specific loading and crack growth directions will be enlightened. IMPACT STATEMENT Severely plastically deformed materials are reviewed in light of their damage tolerance. The frequently observed toughness anisotropy allows unprecedented fracture toughness - strength combinations.

Fracture and fracture toughness of nanopolycrystalline metals produced by severe plastic deformation.

The knowledge of the fracture of bulk metallic materials developed in the last 50 years is mostly based on materials having grain sizes, d, in the range of some micrometres up to several hundred micrometres regarding the possibilities of classical metallurgical methods. Nowadays, novel techniques provide access to much smaller grain sizes, where severe plastic deformation (SPD) is one of the most significant techniques. This opens the door to extend basic research in fracture mechanics to the nanocrystalline (NC) grain size regime. From the technological point of view, there is also the necessity to evaluate standard fracture mechanics data of these new materials, such as the fracture toughness, in order to allow their implementation in engineering applications. Here, an overview of recent results on the fracture behaviour of several different ultrafine-grained (d<1 µm) and NC (d<100 nm) metals and alloys covering examples of body- and face-centred cubic structures produced by SPD will be given.

Increasing the strength of nanocrystalline steels by annealing: Is segregation necessary?

Hardening phenomena in nanocrystalline metals after annealing have been widely reported, and the subject of much recent debate. Solute segregation to grain boundaries and dislocation source hardening have been proposed to cause the strengthening. To shed light on the dominant mechanisms, we present results from mechanical experiments and atom probe tomography on samples with similar grain size but different amounts of solute segregation and different boundary chemistries.

Direct evidence for grain boundary motion as the dominant restoration mechanism in the steady-state regime of extremely cold-rolled copper.

Ultra-fine-grained high-purity copper (99.99%) deformed by means of high-pressure torsion into the steady-state regime was subjected to additional rolling deformation. The microstructural changes as a function of the applied strain were analysed by means of orientation imaging microscopy. It was found that after a distinctive rolling strain a steady state with respect to microstructural features such as grain size, misorientation distribution and texture evolves again. A special spilt specimen technique was used to perform quasi in situ observations of the microstructure between additional strain increments. Profound insights into the local deformation and restoration processes within the steady-state regime were gained. The observations lead to the conclusion that grain boundary migration perpendicular to the rolling direction leads to the disappearance of certain grains, enabling the occurrence of a steady state.

Fracture of ECAP-deformed iron and the role of extrinsic toughening mechanisms.

The fracture behaviour of pure iron deformed by equal-channel angular pressing via route A was examined. The fracture toughness was determined for different specimen orientations and measured in terms of the critical plane strain fracture toughness, KIC , the critical J integral, JIC , and the crack opening displacement for crack initiation, CODi . The results demonstrate that the crack plane orientation has a pronounced effect on the fracture toughness. Different crack plane orientations lead to either crack deflection or delamination, resulting in increased fracture resistance in comparison to one remarkably weak specimen orientation. The relation between the microstructure typical for the applied deformation route and the enormous differences in the fracture toughness depending on the crack plane orientation will be analyzed in this paper.

A comprehensive study on the damage tolerance of ultrafine-grained copper.

In this study the fracture behavior of ultrafine-grained copper was assessed by means of elasto-plastic fracture mechanics. For the synthesis of the material high pressure torsion was used. The fracture toughness was quantitatively measured by JIC as a global measure by recording the crack growth resistance curve. Additionally, the initiation toughness in terms of the crack opening displacement (CODi ) was evaluated as a local fracture parameter. The results presented here exhibit a low fracture initiation toughness but simultaneously a remarkably high fracture toughness in terms of JIC . The origin of the large difference between these two parameters, peculiarities of the fracture surface and the fracture mechanical performance compared to coarse grained copper will be discussed.