Prediction of grain boundary stress fields and microcrack initiation induced by slip band impingement

Slip localization is widely observed in metallic polycrystals undergoing cyclic deformation or post-irradiation tensile deformation, whatever their crystallographic structure. Hence, strong strain localization occurs in thin slip bands (SBs) inducing by the way local stress concentrations at their intersections with grain boundaries (GBs). Many GB stress field formulae based on the dislocation pile-up theory have been proposed since the pionnering work of Stroh and others. These allow the use of the Griffith criterion for prediction GB fracture initiation. However, recent observations show that assuming that slip is localized on a single atomic plane leads to unrealistic results. In fact, a large number of slip planes are plastically activated and then finite slip band thickness should be accounted for. Numerous crystalline finite element (FE) computations have been carried out using considering a slip bands with low critical resolved shear stress embedded in an elastic matrix. The computed GB normal and shear stress fields: are considerable lower than the pile-up ones and exhibit strong dependency on the slip band thickness close to the SB corner but are in fair agreement with the solution predicted by the pile-up theory far away. Since the pile-up theory leads to the overestimation of the local GB stress fields, the main goal of the current paper is to perform analytical model of GB stress components based upon FE calculations. The effect of various parameters can be understood in the framework of matching asymptotic expansions which is usually applied to cracks with V notches of finite thickness. Finally, the predicted remote stresses to GB fracture in pre-irradiated austenitic stainless steels subjected to tensile loading in various environment are compared to experimental data and the pile-up based predictions.