Role of discrete intragranular slip on lattice rotations in polycrystalline Ni: Experimental and micromechanical studies

Abstract In this paper, a new micromechanical approach accounting for the discreteness of intragranular slip is used to derive the local misorientations in the case of plastically deformed polycrystalline nickel in uniaxial tension. This intragranular microstructure is characterized in particular single slip grains by atomic force microscopy measurements in the early stage of plastic deformation. The micromechanical modelling accounts for the individual grain size, the spatial distances between active slip bands and the magnitude of slip in bands. The slip bands are modelled using discrete distributions of circular super glide dislocation loops constrained at grain boundaries for a spherical grain boundary embedded in an infinite matrix. In contrast with classic mean field approaches based on Eshelby’s plastic inclusion concept, the present model is able to capture different intragranular behaviours between near grain boundary regions and grain interiors. These theoretical results are quantitatively confirmed by local electron backscatter diffraction measurements regarding intragranular misorientation mapping with respect to a reference point in the centre of the grain.