Effect of slip transmission at grain boundaries in Al bicrystals

The effect of slip transfer on the deformation mechanisms of Al bicrystals was explored using a rate-dependent dislocation-based crystal plasticity model. Three different types of grain boundaries (GBs) were included in the model by modifying the rate of dislocation accumulation near the GB in the Kocks-Mecking law, leading to fully-opaque (dislocation blocking), fully-transparent and partially-transparent GBs. In the latter, slip transmission is only allowed in pairs of slip systems (SS) in neighbour grains that are suitably oriented for slip transfer according to the Luster-Morris parameter. Modifications of the GB character led to important changes in the deformation mechanisms at the GB. In general, bicrystals with fully-opaque (dislocation blocking) boundaries showed an increase in the dislocation density near the GB, which was associated with an increase in the Von Mises stress. In contrast, the dislocation pile-ups and the stress concentration were less pronounced in the case of partially-transparent boundaries as the slip in one grain can progress into the next grain with some degree of continuity. No stress concentrations were found at these boundaries for fully-transparent boundaries, and there was continuity of strain across the boundary, which is not typical of most experimentally observed GBs (Hemery et al., 2018; Bieler et al., 2019). Simulations of ideal bicrystals oriented for favorable slip transfer on the most highly favored slip system in grains with high Schmid factors for slip transfer depends on the number of active SS in operation in the neighborhood indicating that most boundaries will lead to nearly opaque conditions while some boundaries will be transparent. Finally, the model was applied to a particular experimentally observed GB in which slip transfer was clearly operating indicating that the model predicted a nearly transparent GB.