Latent hardening in polycrystalline copper and comparison with high density polyethylene

Abstract

When a parallelepiped specimen of polycrystalline copper is compressed in thex-direction (primary direction) while holding thez-dimension unchanged by a vice, the specimen is anisotropically hardened as follows: when thez-direction is subsequently compressed while holding thex-dimension unchanged the yield stress (0.2% offset) is higher than the final flow stress of the primary deformation. This is similar to latent hardening in single crystals. On the other hand, if the second compression is in they-direction instead of thez-direction, the yielding (0.2% offset) occurs at a stress less than the final flow stress of the primary deformation. Both effects are reported here together with the results of two successive compressions in two mutually perpendicular directions without any constraints in either compression. These results are compared with the earlier results of high density polyethylene.