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Size Effect in the Uniaxial Compression of Polycrystalline Ni Nanopillars with Small Number of Grains

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Abstract

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to investigate the compression of nickel nanopillars in the ranges from 3 to 18 nm grain size (d) and from 12 to 30 nm specimen size (D). The results reveal that grain size play a more significant role than specimen size. There is a strong grain size effect—smaller is weaker—on the yield as well as the flow stress. The deformation is mainly governed by grain boundary (GB) motion for d < 12 nm, while for \( d \ge 12\;{\text{nm}} \), it is governed by dislocation activity. When the grain size is small enough, the deformation of nanopillar is specimen size independent. For larger grain sizes, an irregular fluctuation in flow stress is observed resulting from sensitivity to grain orientation, fracture, and coalescence. Extended dislocations and twins play important roles in grain-shape evolution during compression. Due to the high fraction of surface grains, the “theory based on GB-shear and surface layer” is found inapplicable to explain the size effect in the plasticity of specimens with small number of grains across their diameter. Consequently, an expression of flow stress is proposed that includes effects of grain and specimen sizes, and the specimen-to-grain size ratios.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51675127). The access to software and hardware for atomistic simulations was provided by a computational resource grant #PAS0172 from the Ohio Super Computer Center, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 92 West Dazhi Street, Nan Gang District, Harbin, 150001, China

    Lin Yuan, Chuanlong Xu, Debin Shan & Bin Guo

  2. National Key Laboratory for Precision Hot Processing of Metals, Harbin, 150001, China

    Lin Yuan, Chuanlong Xu, Debin Shan & Bin Guo

  3. Department of Integrated Systems Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Rajiv Shivpuri

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  1. Lin Yuan
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  2. Chuanlong Xu
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Correspondence to Lin Yuan.

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Manuscript submitted October 13, 2018.

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Yuan, L., Xu, C., Shivpuri, R. et al. Size Effect in the Uniaxial Compression of Polycrystalline Ni Nanopillars with Small Number of Grains. Metall Mater Trans A 50, 4462–4479 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-019-05334-6

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