Mechanical behavior and dynamic failure of high-strength ultrafine grained tungsten under uniaxial compression

We have systematically investigated the quasi-static and dynamic mechanical behavior (especially dynamic failure) of ultra-fine grained (UFG) tungsten (W) under uniaxial compression. The starting material is of commercial purity and large grain size. We utilized severe plastic deformation to achieve the ultrafine microstructure characterized by grains and subgrains with sizes of ∼500 nm, as identified by transmission electron microscopy. Results of quasi-static compression show that the UFG W behaves in an elastic–nearly perfect plastic manner (i.e., vanishing strain hardening), with its flow stress approaching 2 GPa, close to twice that of conventional coarse grain W. Post-mortem examinations of the quasi-statically loaded samples show no evidence of cracking, in sharp contrast to the behavior of conventional W (where axial cracking is usually observed). Under uniaxial dynamic compression (strain rate ∼103 s−1), the true stress–true strain curves of the UFG W exhibit significant flow softening, and the peak stress is ∼3 GPa. Furthermore, the strain rate sensitivity of the UFG W is reduced to half the value of the conventional W. Both in situ high-speed photography and post-mortem examinations reveal shear localization and as a consequence, cracking of the UFG W under dynamic uniaxial compression. These observations are consistent with recent observations on other body-centered cubic metals with nanocrystalline or ultrafine microstructures. The experimental results are discussed using existing models for adiabatic shear localization in metals.