Institute of Metals Division - Structure Observations of Aluminum Deformed in Creep at Elevated Temperatures

THE creep and stress rupture properties of three grades of aluminum have been reported in a previous paper.' It was found that the stress coefficient of the creep rate and of the rupture time changes at the transition from low temperature-type to high temperature-type deformation. The transition corresponds to the equicohesion for grains and grain boundaries. In order to support the conclusions obtained from the examination of creep and stress rupture data, the deformed specimens were observed metallographically and a few special tests were conducted. The results of these qualitative observations are given in the present paper. Experimental Procedure and Results Table I gives the types of aluminum specimens.' The creep and stress rupture tests were conducted in simple tension at constant stress. Further details on the experimental techniques have been given.' The test bars were electropolished in a perchloric-acetic mixture before testing and were observed after testing without any further preparation unless otherwise specified. Observations of specimen cross-sections were made after electrolytic polishing and etching. The samples were extended along a direction parallel to the longer side of the micrographs of Figs. 12 through 27. The log-log plots of stress vs. minimum creep rate for the three grades of aluminum appear in Figs. 1 and 2. The reference numbers on each curve help relate the photographs to the conditions of testing, indicating where high temperature-type deformation and failure prevailed and where low temperature behavior prevailed. Deformation of Single Crystals at Very High Temperature: An annealed, high purity aluminum specimen was slightly strained at one end and re-annealed. A large single crystal was formed at the strained end of the specimen during re-annealing; the other end remained polycrystalline (see Fig. 3). A stress of 50 psi was applied to the cold specimen to avoid loading at 1100°F. The temperature was then raised to 1100°F, kept at 1100°F for 3 hr, and lowered again to room temperature. Fig. 4 shows the appearance of the specimen after testing. The single crystal deformed by gliding along parallel planes, while the polycrystalline part deformed mainly by grain boundary flow. Some grain growth occurred in the polycrystalline part. Another high purity specimen, which had two large single crystals at the two ends and a polycrystalline zone in the middle portion, was tested at 1000 °F under a stress of 100 psi. The appearance of the sample after test is shown in Fig. 5. Even though considerable slip occurred in the single crystals, the fracture occurred in the weaker polycrystalline portion. Evidence of Grain Boundary Migration during Creep Testing: A high purity, coarse grained specimen, which had a large crystal in the middle portion (see Fig. 6) was tested at 700°F under a constant stress of 175 psi for 30 hr. The appearance of the specimen after testing (Fig. 7) indicates that the large crystal deformed by gliding along parallel planes, while the rest of the specimen deformed mainly by grain boundary flow. Microscopic examination showed clear evidence of grain boundary flow and grain boundary migration, an example of