On the origins of fatigue strength in crystalline metallic materials.

Metallic materials experience irreversible deformation with increasing applied stress, manifested in localized slip events that result in fatigue failure upon repeated cycling. We discerned the physical origins of fatigue strength in a large set of face-centered cubic, hexagonal close-packed, and body-centered cubic metallic materials by considering cyclic deformation processes at nanometer resolution over large volumes of individual materials at the earliest stages of cycling. We identified quantitative relations between the yield strength and the ultimate tensile strength, fatigue strength, and physical characteristics of early slip localization events. The fatigue strength of metallic alloys that deform by slip could be predicted by the amplitude of slip localization during the first cycle of loading. Our observations provide a physical basis for well-known empirical fatigue laws and enable a rapid method of predicting fatigue strength as reflected by measurement of slip localization amplitude.

Multi-modal Dataset of a Polycrystalline Metallic Material: 3D Microstructure and Deformation Fields.

The development of high-fidelity mechanical property prediction models for the design of polycrystalline materials relies on large volumes of microstructural feature data. Concurrently, at these same scales, the deformation fields that develop during mechanical loading can be highly heterogeneous. Spatially correlated measurements of 3D microstructure and the ensuing deformation fields at the micro-scale would provide highly valuable insight into the relationship between microstructure and macroscopic mechanical response. They would also provide direct validation for numerical simulations that can guide and speed up the design of new materials and microstructures. However, to date, such data have been rare. Here, a one-of-a-kind, multi-modal dataset is presented that combines recent state-of-the-art experimental developments in 3D tomography and high-resolution deformation field measurements.

Evidence of multimicrometric coherent γ' precipitates in a hot-forged γ-γ' nickel-based superalloy.

This paper demonstrates the existence of large γ' precipitates (several micrometres in diameter) that are coherent with their surrounding matrix grain in a commercial γ-γ' nickel-based superalloy. The use of combined energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analyses allowed for revealing that surprising feature, which was then confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Coherency for such large second-phase particles is supported by a very low crystal lattice misfit between the two phases, which was confirmed thanks to X-ray diffractograms and TEM selected area electron diffraction patterns. Dynamic recrystallization of polycrystalline γ-γ' nickel-based superalloys has been extensively studied in terms of mechanisms and kinetics. As in many materials with low stacking fault energy, under forging conditions, the main softening mechanism is discontinuous dynamic recrystallization. This mechanism occurs with preferential nucleation on the grain boundaries of the deformed matrix. The latter is then being consumed by the growth of the newly formed grains of low energy and by nucleation that keeps generating new grains. In the case of sub-solvus forging, large γ' particles usually pin the migrating boundaries and thus limit grain growth to a size which is determined by the distribution of second-phase particles, in good agreement with the Smith-Zener model. Under particular circumstances, the driving force associated with the difference in stored energy between the growing grains and the matrix can be large enough that the pinning forces can be overcome, and some grains can then reach much larger grain sizes. In the latter exceptional case, some intragranular primary γ' particles can be observed, although they are almost exclusively located on grain boundaries and triple junctions otherwise. In both cases, primary precipitates have no special orientation relationship with the surrounding matrix grain(s). This paper demonstrates the existence of high fractions of large γ' precipitate (several micrometres in diameter) that are coherent with their surrounding matrix grain, in a commercial γ-γ' nickel-based superalloy. Such a configuration is very surprising, because there is apparently no reason for the coherency of such particles.