Dislocation density evolution of AA 7020-T6 investigated by in-situ synchrotron diffraction under tensile load

• In-situ synchrotron diffraction was applied to characterize peak broadening.
• Dislocation evolution along the loading axis during uniaxial tension was investigated.
• A method to correct the sample thickness effect on peak broadening was developed.
• Dislocation density and flow stress satisfy the Taylor equation at a certain range.
• The texture before load and after sample fracture was analyzed.

The dislocation density evolution along the loading axis of a textured AA 7020-T6 aluminum alloy during uniaxial tension was investigated by in-situ synchrotron diffraction. The highly parallel synchrotron beam at the High Energy Materials Science beamline P07 in PETRA III, DESY, offers excellent conditions to separate different influences for line broadening from which micro-strains are obtained using the modified Williamson–Hall method which is also for defect density investigations. During tensile loading the dislocation density evolution was documented from the as-received material (initial micro-strain state) to the relaxation of the strains during elastic deformation. After yield, the increasing rate of dislocation density growth was relatively fast till half-way between yield and UTS. After that, the rate started to decrease and the dislocation density fluctuated as the elongation increased due to the generation and annihilation of dislocations. When dislocation generation is dominant, the correlation between the flow stress and dislocation density satisfies the Taylor equation. Besides, a method to correct the thickness effect on peak broadening is developed in the present study.