The effect of strain path change on subgrain volume fraction determined from in situ X-ray measurements

The evolution of dislocation structures in individual bulk grains in copper during strain path changes is studied with a new in situ synchrotron technique which combines high angular resolution with fast three-dimensional reciprocal space mapping. Deformed copper contains regions with vanishing dislocation density called subgrains bounded by dislocation rich walls. With the new technique reciprocal space maps, consisting of sharp peaks arising from the subgrains superimposed on a cloud of lower intensity arising from the dislocation walls, are obtained, which allows properties such as subgrain volume fraction to be quantified. The studied strain path changes are tension-tension sequences. Polycrystalline copper sheets are pre-deformed in tension to 5% strain, and tensile samples are cut with varying angles between the first and second loading axis. The second tensile deformation up to additional 5% strain is performed in situ while mapping a selected X-ray reflection from one particular bulk grain with high angular resolution. The reciprocal space maps are analyzed with a recently developed fitting method, and a correlation is found between the evolution of the subgrain volume fraction and the degree of strain path change the sample is subjected to.