Institute of Metals Division - Plastic Deformation of Silver and Silver-Gold Alloy Single Crystals

This paper describes the tempetrature, solute (gold), and orientalion dependence of the plastic rleforlirnlion of silver single crystals. The virgin flow stress, To, and its temperatutre dependence incrense with increase in solute concentration. el decreases with decrease in temperature below room teiirperature and with increase in solute coucentralion. The dependence of 011 on temperature arid solute sontenl is due to the dependence of Ts on the two variables. An increase in ts, due to either the temperature or the solute conlent, results in a decrease of e11 in crystals of single-slip orientation and an increase of 011 in crystals of' (100) find (111) orientation. is orientation-dependent and at all the temperatures and in all the materials studied. The Leveling off of the engineering stress-strain curve in crystals of (100) 07-ientotion at a stress tl, is associated with extensive cross slib. The temperature and strain -rate dependence of tl are similar to those of indicating that a rate process is the cause 01 this phenomenon. The plastic deformation of silrer crystals of (110) orientation is multiple to that of crystals of single-slip orientation. THE work hardening of fcc crystals has been the subject of intensive investigations in the past 15 years. The effect of orientation, deformation temperature, solutes, second phase or precipitates, strain rate, etc., has been studied in a number of fcc metals.'-5 In spite of the considerable amount of work reported on the dependence of work hardening on the orientation, temperature, and solute concentration, certain aspects of the plastic deformation of fcc crystals have not been clarified. For instance, with the exception of a few investigations,6-8 where crystals of multiple-slip orientations have been studied, almost all the studies have been on crystals of single-slip orientations. Hence, a major portion of this study has been devoted to the dependence of plastic deformation on the multiplicity of slip systems and the enhanced possibility of dislocation interactions resulting from such multiplicity. Further, the abnormally low rate of work hardening observed at large strains at certain temperatures in crystals of the (100) orienta-tion 6-8has not been explained satisfactorily. It is the aim of this study to clarify this aspect of the orientation and temperature dependence of the plastic deformation of fcc single crystals. The work-hardening characteristics of single crystals of aluminum of ( 110) orientation have been studied at room temperatur "'12 and above." They have not been studied at temperatures where the virgin flow stress is dependent on temperature or where, in Seeger's terminology is important. The work hardening of single crystals of (110) orientation is of interest for another reason. As shown in Table I, the dislocation reactions that are possible in the (110) orientation are similar in certain respects to those that are possible in the (100) orientation. Hence, the deformation of single crystals of silver of (110) orientation was studied in the temperature range 100° to 900°K at intervals of 200°K. The effect of solute concentration on the plastic deformation of fcc single crystals of single-slip orientation has been studied by several investiaators.> In all of these investigations—with the exception of Ref. 20—single crystals of identical orientation have not been used, with the result that the orientation dependence of plastic deformation is superimposed on the effect of the solute. In addition, the effect of the solute on the work-hardening characteristics of single crystals of multiple-slip orientations has not been studied by the previous