Nanocrystalline grain boundary engineering: Increasing $\Sigma$3 boundary fraction in pure Ni with thermomechanical treatments

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that thermomechanical treatments at elevated temperatures can significantly increase the fraction of special $$ grain boundaries in nanocrystalline nickel, offering a new route for grain boundary engineering.

Contribution

It reveals that elevated temperature cyclic deformation can effectively modify grain boundary networks, specifically increasing $$ boundaries in nanocrystalline Ni, which was not achieved by room temperature cycling.

Findings

Elevated temperature cycling increases $$ boundary fraction by 48%.

More cycles and higher temperature lead to greater boundary modification.

Mechanical cycling at room temperature does not alter the grain boundary network.

Abstract

Grain boundary networks should play a dominant role in determining the mechanical properties of nanocrystalline metals. However, these networks are difficult to characterize and their response to deformation is incompletely understood. In this work, we study the grain boundary network of nanocrystalline Ni and explore whether it can be modified by plastic deformation. Mechanical cycling at room temperature did not lead to structural evolution, but elevated temperature cycling did alter the grain boundary network. In addition to mechanically-driven grain growth, mechanical cycling at 100 $\deg$C led to a 48% increase in $\Sigma$3 boundaries, determined with transmission Kikuchi diffraction. The extent of boundary modification was a function of the number of applied loading cycles and the testing temperature, with more cycles at higher temperatures leading to more special grain boundaries. The results presented here suggest a path to grain boundary engineering in nanocrystalline materials.