Grain-size-independent plastic flow at ultrahigh pressures and strain rates

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Feb 13;114(6):065502. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.065502. Epub 2015 Feb 12.

Abstract

A basic tenet of material science is that the flow stress of a metal increases as its grain size decreases, an effect described by the Hall-Petch relation. This relation is used extensively in material design to optimize the hardness, durability, survivability, and ductility of structural metals. This Letter reports experimental results in a new regime of high pressures and strain rates that challenge this basic tenet of mechanical metallurgy. We report measurements of the plastic flow of the model body-centered-cubic metal tantalum made under conditions of high pressure (>100 GPa) and strain rate (∼10(7) s(-1)) achieved by using the Omega laser. Under these unique plastic deformation ("flow") conditions, the effect of grain size is found to be negligible for grain sizes >0.25 μm sizes. A multiscale model of the plastic flow suggests that pressure and strain rate hardening dominate over the grain-size effects. Theoretical estimates, based on grain compatibility and geometrically necessary dislocations, corroborate this conclusion.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Materials Testing / methods
  • Metals / chemistry
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Particle Size
  • Tantalum / chemistry*

Substances

  • Metals
  • Tantalum