Modeling of microstructure effects on the mechanical behavior of ultrafine-grained nickels processed by hot isostatic pressing

Bulk ultrafine-grained nickel specimens having grain sizes in the range of 0.25–5 μm were consolidated by hot isostatic pressing technique. The resulting microstructures were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. Compression tests were carried out at room temperature and at strain rate of 1.6×10−4 s−1. It was found that the measured yield strength does not follow the Hall–Petch law as a consequence of the presence of oxide phase. Therefore, the use of micromechanics based model, which takes into account only the Hall–Petch relationship at grain level for predicting the grain sized effects on mechanical behavior of this kind of materials, is not accurate yet. In this study, a modification made to the generalized self-consistent model was proposed for studying both grain size and oxide phase dependence of ultrafine-grained materials behavior. Because of the novel modification, an optimization procedure with two steps was required to identify the parameters of micromechanical model. An acceptable agreement between experimental and numerical results was achieved. Moreover, the influence of texture on the yield strength and the application of the proposed model to the spark plasma sintering processed materials were also discussed.

► Investigated the microstructure and mechanical properties of bulk ultrafine-grained nickels consolidated by hot isostatic pressing technique.
► Determined the contribution of the oxide phase to strength of ultrafine-grained nickels.
► Modeled the effects of grain size and strengthening increment due to oxide phase on the overall non-linear stress–strain behavior of ultrafine-grained nickels using an elastoplastic self-consistent model.
► Identified the parameters of micromechanical model.