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Different mechanisms have been suggested by many authors as controlling the rate of superplastic flow in different materials. From the viewpoint of computational effort and aesthetics, it is highly desirable to explain the phenomenon, independent of the material/system considered, on a common basis. With this aim, a mesoscopic grain boundary sliding-controlled deformation model was proposed sometime ago as being responsible for superplastic flow in materials of different kinds. In this paper, a rigorous numerical computational procedure for the experimental validation of the model, which takes into account all the physical requirements of the model, is presented. The soundness of the new procedure is established by analysing the experimental data pertaining to many systems belonging to different classes of materials, and matching the results of the analysis with the experimental findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model that was proposed originally to account for optimal superplasticity in metals and alloys with grain size in the micrometer range and later extended in a few subsequent papers to cover optimal superplastic deformation in ceramics, sub-micrometer-grained and nanostructured materials and intermetallics is described, with an emphasis on the current ideas used in this model and the mathematical procedure used at present (yet to be published in detail) for validating the proposals. The central assumption is that the rate controlling deformation process is confined to high-angle grain/interphase boundary regions that are essential for grain boundary sliding developing to a mesoscopic scale (defined to be of the order of a grain diameter or more) and for superplastic flow setting in. The strain rate equation was validated against experimental observations concerning metals, alloys and ceramics of micrometer- and sub-micrometer grain sizes, nanostructured materials and intermetallics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafine-grained materials are attractive for achieving superplastic elongations provided the grains are reasonably stable at elevated temperatures. Since the strain rate in superplasticity varies inversely with the grain size raised to a power of two, a reduction in grain size to the submicrometer level leads to the occurrence of superplastic flow within the region of high strain rate superplasticity at strain rates >10−2 s−1. This paper tabulates and examines the various reports of superplasticity in ultrafine-grained materials. It is shown that these materials exhibit many characteristics similar to conventional superplastic alloys including strain rates that are consistent with the standard model for superplastic flow and the development of internal cavitation during the flow process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now recognized that grain boundary sliding (GBS) is often an important mode of deformation in polycrystalline materials. This paper reviews the developments in GBS over the last four decades including the procedures available for estimating the strain contributed by sliding to the total strain, ξ, and the division into Rachinger GBS in conventional creep and Lifshitz GBS in diffusion creep. It is shown that Rachinger GBS occurs under two distinct conditions in conventional creep depending upon whether the grain size, d, is larger or smaller than the equilibrium subgrain size, λ. A unified model is presented leading to separate rate equations for Rachinger GBS in power-law creep and superplasticity. It is demonstrated that these two equations are in excellent agreement with experimental observations. There are additional recent predictions, not fully resolved at the present time, concerning the role of GBS in nanostructured materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, experimental data have been obtained which reveal taking place of complex physical processes under conditions of the structural superplasticity not only in the grain boundary, as it is commonly believed, but also in the grain body. It was established for the first time that superplastic deformation of the eutectic alloys is accompanied by significant changes in their Young’s moduli. It was demonstrated that under superplastic deformation the observed changes of the elastic properties of the eutectic Sn-38wt%Pb alloy under study are caused mainly by the decomposition of supersaturated solid solutions on the basis of the alloy components and the relaxation of internal stresses. It was also found that the viscous dislocation-diffusion non-conservative flow is actively developing in the eutectic alloys under conditions of superplasticity, in contrast to the existing ideas about grain boundary sliding as the main mechanism of the matter transport. The experimental results obtained are important for the deeper understanding of the physical nature of the structural superplasticity effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling mechanism during superplastic deformation of ZK40 alloy processed by ECAP was identified. Effects of twinning and dynamic strain ageing (DSA) on superplasticity were analyzed. Amplitude in stress oscillation was correlated with solute atom concentration theoretically. Twinning can be an enhancing factor in grain boundary sliding and DSA had apparent influence on stress fluctuation; they were accommodation mechanisms for superplastic deformation through grain reorientation and interaction between solute atoms and dislocations, respectively. The interaction between mobile and forest dislocations played a dominant role for the occurrence of DSA, when dislocation density was relatively low in large grains. The effect of DSA became more active with increasing temperature, although grain boundary sliding (GBS) was the controlling mechanism throughout the whole process of superplastic deformation under elevated temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new technique for Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), which provides a mesoscopic coordinate system inscribed on the surface of the center of a tension test specimen has been proposed. Such technique allows to establish in a repeatable way any angle relative to any axis of any coordinate system, or distances between grains, or to measure local or global true deformation in parallel or perpendicular directions relatives to the tension axis. The application of such technique for a Zn-20.2%Al - 1.8% Cu alloy tension test specimen with a total length between shoulders of 412 μm length and a gage length of 371 μm, deformed at room temperature, allows to obtain: The mapping of the granular flow during superplastic deformation; this result is in qualitative agreement with similar flow-diagrams obtained previously by Ashby and Verral ( Acta Metall. 21, 1973, p. 149) from their oil-emulsion model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The superplastic data for several microcrystalline and submicrocrystalline TiAl alloys has been analyzed to establish the rate controlling mechanism. The results show that the lattice diffusion controlled slip-accommodated grain boundary sliding mechanism is operative for the entire grain size range, 150 nm–20 μm. The detail of the nature of α2 phase, i.e. ordered or disordered, does not influence the kinetics of superplastic flow. The optimum superplastic temperature decreases with the decrease in grain size. The optimum superplastic flow stress shows an intrinsic inverse dependence on the grain size. This grain size dependence of the optimum superplastic flow stress can be explained as the stress required to nucleate dislocations from grain boundary edge during slip accommodation of grain boundary sliding. Superplasticity in nanocrystalline TiAl remains an intriguing possibility because it has the potential for increasing the optimal superplastic strain rate or alternatively, decreasing the superplastic forming temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]