No abstract

Deformation of metals and alloys by dislocations gliding between well-separated slip planes is a well-understood process, but most crystal structures do not possess such simple geometric arrangements. Examples are the Laves phases, the most common class of intermetallic compounds and exist with ordered cubic, hexagonal, and rhombohedral structures. These compounds are usually brittle at low temperatures, and transformation from one structure to another is slow. On the basis of geometric and energetic considerations, a dislocation-based mechanism consisting of two shears in different directions on adjacent atomic planes has been used to explain both deformation and phase transformations in this class of materials. We report direct observations made by Z-contrast atomic resolution microscopy of stacking faults and dislocation cores in the Laves phase Cr2Hf. These results show that this complex dislocation scheme does indeed operate in this material. Knowledge gained of the dislocation core structure will enable improved understanding of deformation mechanisms and phase transformation kinetics in this and other complex structures.

The appeal of nanolayered materials from a mechanical viewpoint is that, in principle, plastic deformation can be confined to small volumes of material by Controlling both the frequency and magnitude of obstacles to dislocation motion. As we shall see, the spacing of obstacles can be used to impart large plastic anisotropy and work hardening. However, how strong can such materials be made as layer thickness (and therefore obstacle spacing) is decreased to the nanoscale level? In perspective, large, micron-scale, polycrystalline materials generally display improved yield strength (and fracture toughness) as grain size is decreased. This behavior at the micron scale can be explained via modeis that are built on two assumptions: (1) the strength of obstacles to crystal slip is sufficiently large to require pileups of numerous dislocations in order to slip past them; and (2) the strength of such obstacles does not change, even if their spacing is decreased. The modeling presented here shows that these assumptions may break down at the nanometer scale. The result is that there is a critical layer thickness in the nanometer range, below which improvement in strength does not occur.Our discussion to follow briefly outlines a more macroscopic, micron-scale approach to determine yield strength, and then contrasts that with a sequence of events leading up to yield in nanolayered materials. We also address whether nanoscale materials are expected to exhibit more uniform or coarse slip than micron-scale materials. Finally, a semi-quantitative model of yield strength is developed which requires, as input, the strength of an interface to crystal slip transmission across it. We discuss several contributions to the interfacial strength and apply the theory to demonstrate a peak in strength for a 50 vol% Cu-50 vol% Ni multilayered sample.