Deformation Behavior of Aluminum Bicrystals

Grain boundaries are natural obstacles to motion and dislocations during plastic straining of crystalline matter; therefore, they deserve closer investigation. Here, the deformation behavior of an aluminum bicrystal is described. The specimen was compressed in a channel die to 30 % engineering thickness reduction at room temperature. The crystal orientations were determined by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and the plastic strain distribution was measured by photogrammetry. It was found that the two abutting crystals close to the grain boundary rotate towards each other, whereas the grain interiors increase their mutual misorientation during plastic loading.