Grain–boundary interactions and orientation effects on crack behavior in polycrystalline aggregates

AbstractA dislocation-density grain–boundary interaction scheme has been developed to account for the interrelated dislocation-density interactions of emission, absorption and transmission in GB regions. The GB scheme is based on slip-system compatibility, local resolved shear stresses, and immobile and mobile dislocation-density accumulation at critical GB locations. To accurately represent dislocation-density evolution, a conservation law for dislocation-densities is used to balance dislocation-density absorption, transmission and emission from the GB. The behavior of f.c.c. polycrystalline copper, with different random low and high angle GBs, are investigated for different crack lengths. For aggregates with random low angle GBs, dislocation-density transmission dominates at the GBs, which can indicate that the low angle GB will not significantly change crack growth directions. For aggregates with random high angle GBs, extensive dislocation-density absorption and pile-ups occur. The high stresses associated with this behavior, along the GBs, can result in intergranular crack growth due to potential crack nucleation sites in the GB