Mechanism of room-temperature superplasticity in ultrafine-grained Al–Zn alloys

Superplastic deformation of polycrystalline materials is usually accommodated by diffusion-assisted grain boundary (GB) sliding at high temperatures. Lowering the temperature requirement for commercial superplastic forming enables green and cost-effective manufacturing. Recently, room-temperature (RT) superplasticity was realized in ultrafine-grained Al–Zn based alloys, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we conducted in-situ tensile straining and post-mortem electron microscopy characterization, and atomistic density functional theory simulation to understand the RT superplasticity of an Al–15 Zn (at%) alloy. Results showed that the superplasticity is achieved by GB sliding and grain rotation, assisted by the continuous diffusion of Zn. In-situ observations showed Zn atoms diffusing from within grains to GBs, resulting in a Zn nanolayer at the GBs that acts as a solid lubricant to decrease the energy barrier of GB sliding. This research advances our understanding of diffusion-assisted deformation mechanism that is a prerequisite for the rational design of new materials with RT superplasticity.