Unveiling orientation dependence of anisotropic plasticity in polycrystalline copper by nanoindentation

Rongkai Tan; Zhanfeng Wang; Shilei Wu; Weili Liu; Beibei Jiang

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/acf0c9

Unveiling orientation dependence of anisotropic plasticity in polycrystalline copper by nanoindentation

Nanotechnology. 2023 Sep 1;34(46). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/acf0c9.

Authors

Rongkai Tan¹, Zhanfeng Wang^{1

2}, Shilei Wu³, Weili Liu², Beibei Jiang²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Conveyance Equipment (East China Jiaotong University), Ministry of Education, Nanchang 330013, People's Republic of China.
² School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Suqian University, Suqian 223800, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Mechanical Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 37586335
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/acf0c9

Abstract

The mechanical properties of crystalline materials are influenced by their deformation behavior, which is associated with their microstructural characteristics. Specifically, crystallographic orientation greatly affects the microscale plastic deformation of individual grains. In this study, experiments and finite element simulations of Berkovich nanoindentations are conducted to investigate the impact of crystallographic orientation in polycrystalline copper. A crystal plasticity constitutive model is developed for copper materials, which accurately captures their indentation mechanical response. The results showed that the indentation behavior of polycrystalline copper exhibits a high degree of anisotropy due to significant variation in slip systems for different crystallographic orientations. This results in different mechanical responses of individual grains and distinct material pileup morphologies on the indented surface. Additionally, the study revealed that crystallographic orientation plays a critical role in determining the indentation size effect. These findings have important implications for the design of materials where plasticity is a crucial factor.

Keywords: anisotropy; mechanical properties; nanoindentation; polycrystalline copper.