A framework for modeling controlled plastic flow through grain boundaries using a continuum plasticity theory, phenomenological mesoscopic field dislocation mechanics (PMFDM), is presented in this article. The developed tool is used to analyze the effect of different classes of constraints to plastic flow through grain boundaries, as it relates to dislocation microstructure development and mechanical response of a bicrystal. It is found that in the case of low misorientation angle between adjacent grains, impenetrable grain boundaries cause significant work hardening as compared to penetrable grain boundaries due to the accumulation of excess dislocations along them. However, a penetrable grain boundary with a high misorientation angle effectively behaves as an impenetrable boundary, with respect to the stress-strain response.

The material characterization toolbox has recently experienced a number of parallel revolutionary advances, foreshadowing a time in the near future when material scientists can quantify material structure evolution across spatial and temporal space simultaneously. This will provide insight to reaction dynamics in four-dimensions, spanning multiple orders of magnitude in both temporal and spatial space. This study presents the authors viewpoint on the material characterization field, reviewing its recent past, evaluating its present capabilities, and proposing directions for its future development. Electron microscopy; atom probe tomography; x-ray, neutron and electron tomography; serial sectioning tomography; and diffraction-based analysis methods are reviewed, and opportunities for their future development are highlighted. Advances in surface probe microscopy have been reviewed recently and, therefore, are not included [D.A. Bonnell et al.: Rev. Modern Phys. in Review]. In this study particular attention is paid to studies that have pioneered the synergetic use of multiple techniques to provide complementary views of a single structure or process; several of these studies represent the state-of-the-art in characterization and suggest a trajectory for the continued development of the field. Based on this review, a set of grand challenges for characterization science is identified, including suggestions for instrumentation advances, scientific problems in microstructure analysis, and complex structure evolution problems involving material damage. The future of microstructural characterization is proposed to be one not only where individual techniques are pushed to their limits, but where the community devises strategies of technique synergy to address complex multiscale problems in materials science and engineering.

It has been observed during fatigue cracking of AA 7075-T651 that a small percentage of Al 7 Cu 2 Fe particles crack during manufacturing or very early in their life. Some of the cracked particles eventually nucleate cracks into the surrounding microstructure, and among these the number of cycles required for nucleation varies widely. It is important to comprehend the mechanics underpinning the observed variation so that the subsequent propagation stage can be accurately modeled. To this end, finite element models of replicated grain and particle geometry are used to compute mechanical fields near monitored cracked particles using an elastic—viscoplastic crystal plasticity model that captures the effect of the orientation of the grains near each monitored particle. Nonlocal, slip-based metrics are used to study the localization and cyclic accumulation of slip near the cracked particles providing mechanics-based insight into the actuation of the nucleation event. A high slip localization and cyclic accumulation rate are found to be a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for nucleation from cracked particles. A sufficient local driving stress must also be present, which is strongly dependent on the local microstructure and accumulated slip. Furthermore, the simulation results elucidate a quantitative relationship between the slip accumulated during fatigue loading and a consequential reduction of the critical local driving stress for nucleation, providing a physical basis for the fatigue damage concept. The observed nucleation direction is orthogonal to the computed local maximum tangential stress direction, as expected for this alloy. The main result is a semi-empirical model for the number of cycles required for nucleation, which is dependent on the maximum tangential stress and cyclic slip-accumulation rate near a cracked particle.

The viscoplastic deformation of polycrystals under uniaxial loading is investigated to determine the relationship between hot spots in stress and their location in relation to the microstructure. A 3D full-field formulation based on fast Fourier transforms for the prediction of the viscoplastic deformation of poly-crystals is used with rate-sensitive crystal plasticity. Two measured polycrystalline structures are used to instantiate the simulations, as well as a fully periodic synthetic polycrystal adapted from a simulation of grain growth. Application of (Euclidean) distance maps shows that hot spots in stress tend to occur close to grain boundaries. It is also found that low stress regions lie close to boundaries. The radial distribution function of the hot spots indicates clustering. Despite the lack of texture in the polycrystals, the hot spots are strongly concentrated in < 1 1 0 > orientations, which can account for the observed clustering. All three microstructures yield similar results despite significant differences in topology.

A critical event model for the evolution of number- and area-weighted misorientation distribution functions (MDFs) during grain growth is proposed. Predictions from the model are compared to number- and area-weighted MDFs measured in Monte Carlo simulations with anisotropic interfacial properties and several initial orientation distributions, as well as a dense polycrystalline magnesia sample. The steady-state equation of our model appears to be a good fit to all data. The relation between the grain boundary energy and the normalized average boundary area is discussed in the context of triple junction dynamics.