Investigation of grain size and geometrically necessary dislocation density dependence of flow stress in Mg-4Al by using nanoindentation

Models for grain size dependence of flow stress typically ignore contributions from geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) in the grain boundary regions. Ashby had proposed the following equation for flow stress ( τ ) as a function of grain size ( d ) and effective plastic strain ( ε ¯ ): τ = τ 0 + C ′ G b ε ¯ d using an unknown empirical coefficient, C’, In this study, the coefficient, C’ , and equation for the grain size dependence of flow stress were investigated in Mg-4Al using nanoindentation. C’ ranges from 1.4 to 7.11 that is related to the hardness difference ( ∆H ₀) between the adjacent grains as C ′ = 0.62 Δ H 0 . Ashby equation was used to predict uniaxial stress-strain curves in grain sizes of 55 µm, 187 µm, and 333 µm. The results showed lower flow stress and lower hardening rate compared to experimentally measured tensile stress-strain response. The discrepancy seems to be a result of hardening effect of SSDs. We propose a modified Ashby equation that takes into account the hardening effect of SSDs and GNDs separately, resulting in a better agreement between calculated and experimentally measured values. This analysis demonstrates estimation of uniaxial stress-strain response using nanoindentation measurements that captures effects of grain size, and strain hardening from SSDs and GNDs. The combination of the revised equation and nanoindentation method will enable rapid exploration of stress-strain response of a diverse range of single-phase polycrystalline alloys.