Dislocation structure and strength evolution of heavily deformed tantalum

A unified model composed of the flow function model, dislocation model and Taylor theory is used to investigate the evolution of dislocation density, cell size, and strength of tantalum during ECAP process. From the flow function model, strain and strain rate distributions are achieved and then using a modified version of three-dimensional ETMB model, the dislocation density, cell size, and strength are predicted. The predicted dislocation density, cell size, and strength are compared with the experimental data and a remarkable agreement is obtained. In addition, the effect of dynamic recovery on the strength of the processed tantalum is modeled and compared with other materials.