The active grain boundary (GB) mediated mechanisms in ultrafine grained (ufg) Au and Al metallic films, and the extent to which they dictate plastic flow kinetics, are investigated in this work. The approach consists of a synergistic integration of in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) deformation experiments, nanomechanical testing, and transition state theory based atomistic modeling, in order to provide a linkage between GB-mediated dislocation processes and their deformation kinetics. The in situ TEM nanomechanical testing experiments are employed to simultaneously identify plastic deformation mechanisms, obtain key details, and measure the sample-level true activation volume in ufg thin films. The activation of relevant GB mediated dislocation mechanisms is modeled using the atomistic free-end nudged elastic band (FENEB) method as a function of representative, experimentally observed GB characters and local stress. Proper integration of experiments (sample-level true activation volume) and atomistic simulations (activation volumes of dislocation processes) to determine strength/rate-controlling mechanisms requires linking the applied stress to the local stress. To that end, a model of grain-size-dependent activation volume previously developed by Conrad is extended to account for the competition between various GB mediated mechanisms.
EXTENDED ABSTRACT