Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Spall strength dependence on grain size and strain rate in tantalum

Journal Article · · Acta Materialia
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [6];  [6];  [4];  [3]
  1. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); The Regents of the Univ. of Calif.,U.C. San Diego
  2. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
  4. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
  5. Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  6. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
In this paper, we examine the effect of grain size on the dynamic failure tantalum during laser-shock compression and release and identify a significant effect of grain size on spall strength, which is opposite to the prediction of the Hall-Petch relationship because spall is primarily intergranular in both poly and nanocrystalline samples; thus, monocrystals have a higher spall strength than polycrystals, which, in turn, are stronger in tension than ultra-fine grain sized specimens. Post-shock characterization reveals ductile failure which evolves by void nucleation, growth, and coalescence. Whereas in the monocrystal the voids grow in the interior, nucleation is both intra and intergranular in the poly and ultra-fine-grained crystals. The fact that spall is primarily intergranular in both poly and nanocrystalline samples is strong evidence for higher growth rates of intergranular voids, which have a distinctly oblate spheroid shape in contrast with intragranular voids, which are more spherical. The length geometrically-necessary dislocations required to form a grain-boundary (intergranular) void is lower than that of grain-interior (intragranular) void with the same maximum diameter; thus, the energy required is lower. Consistent with prior literature and theory we also identify an increase with spall strength with strain rate from 6x106 to 5x107 s-1. Molecular dynamics calculations agree with the experimental results and also predict grain-boundary separation in the spalling of polycrystals as well as an increase in spall strength with strain rate. Finally, an analytical model based on the kinetics of nucleation and growth of intra and intergranular voids and extending the Curran-Seaman-Shockey theory is applied which shows the competition between the two processes for polycrystals.
Research Organization:
Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); Univ. of California; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0002930; FG52-09NA29043; AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1462277
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1548094
OSTI ID: 1883433
OSTI ID: 22744797
Journal Information:
Acta Materialia, Journal Name: Acta Materialia Vol. 158; ISSN 1359-6454
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (71)

Fast Parallel Algorithms for Short-Range Molecular Dynamics journal March 1995
A criterion for the time dependence of dynamic fracture journal December 1968
Quantitative description of damage evolution in ductile fracture of tantalum journal March 2000
Materials science under extreme conditions of pressure and strain rate journal September 2004
Effect of microstructural length scales on spall behavior of copper journal September 2004
A Study of Pb-Rich Dendrites in a Near-Eutectic 63Sn-37Pb Solder Microstructure via Laboratory-Scale Micro X-ray Computed Tomography (μXCT) journal September 2014
Short-pulse fracture mechanics journal January 1986
HYADES—A plasma hydrodynamics code for dense plasma studies journal January 1994
The spall strength of condensed matter journal January 1988
Dynamic fracture (spalling) of metals journal January 1983
Dynamic failure of solids journal March 1987
Micromechanics of spall and damage in tantalum journal June 1996
Critical issues and current status of vanadium alloys for fusion energy applications journal December 2000
Grain boundary chemistry and heat treatment effects on the ductile-to-brittle transition behavior of vanadium alloys journal October 1998
Research and development on vanadium alloys for fusion applications journal October 1998
Void growth by dislocation emission journal April 2004
Microstructure and mechanical properties of super-strong nanocrystalline tungsten processed by high-pressure torsion journal September 2006
Laser shock-induced spalling and fragmentation in vanadium journal August 2010
Growth and collapse of nanovoids in tantalum monocrystals journal February 2011
Microstructure and mechanical properties at different length scales and strain rates of nanocrystalline tantalum produced by high-pressure torsion journal April 2011
Using finite element modeling to examine the temperature distribution in quasi-constrained high-pressure torsion journal April 2012
Ductile tensile failure in metals through initiation and growth of nanosized voids journal July 2012
Correlation between the microstructure studied by X-ray line profile analysis and the strength of high-pressure-torsion processed Nb and Ta journal January 2013
Laser compression of nanocrystalline tantalum journal December 2013
On the ultimate tensile strength of tantalum journal March 2017
The defect evolution in shock loaded tantalum single crystals journal April 2018
Intragranular void formation in shock-spalled tantalum: Mechanisms and governing factors journal April 2018
Plastic deformation of a porous bcc metal containing nanometer sized voids journal June 2014
Pressure and shear-induced amorphization of silicon journal December 2015
Laser shock compression of copper and copper–aluminum alloys journal December 2005
Emission of dislocations from nanovoids under combined loading journal February 2011
Development of a lab-scale, high-resolution, tube-generated X-ray computed-tomography system for three-dimensional (3D) materials characterization journal June 2014
Deformation twinning in explosively-driven tantalum journal October 2012
A critical examination of pure tantalum processed by high-pressure torsion journal June 2015
Deformation and failure in extreme regimes by high-energy pulsed lasers: A review journal March 2017
Transition in the deformation mode of nanocrystalline tantalum processed by high-pressure torsion journal August 2012
Atomistic simulation of the mechanical response of a nanoporous body-centered cubic metal journal May 2013
Three-dimensional dislocation dynamics analysis of size effects on void growth journal January 2015
Kinetics of Phase Change. I General Theory journal December 1939
Kinetics of Phase Change. II Transformation‐Time Relations for Random Distribution of Nuclei journal February 1940
Granulation, Phase Change, and Microstructure Kinetics of Phase Change. III journal February 1941
Computational models for ductile and brittle fracture journal November 1976
Comparison Between Experiments and Molecular Dynamic Simulations of Spallation Induced by Ultra-Short Laser Shock on Micrometric Tantalum Targets
  • Cuq-Lelandais, J. -P.; Boustie, M.; Soulard, L.
  • SHOCK COMPRESSION OF CONDENSED MATTER 2009: Proceedings of the American Physical Society Topical Group on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3295270
conference January 2009
Laser‐induced spall in metals: Experiment and simulation journal January 1990
Shock wave decay and spall strength in laser‐matter interaction journal July 1990
Spall strength of molybdenum single crystals journal December 1993
Effects of grain size and boundary structure on the dynamic tensile response of copper journal August 2011
Spall fracture properties of aluminum and magnesium at high temperatures journal June 1996
Study of the laser-driven spallation process by the velocity interferometer system for any reflector interferometry technique. I. Laser-shock characterization journal February 1998
Stress relaxation and precursor decay in laser shock-loaded iron journal August 1998
Spallation model for the high strain rates range journal November 1998
The role of cold work on the shock response of tantalum journal June 2013
Note: Design and construction of a multi-scale, high-resolution, tube-generated X-Ray computed-tomography system for three-dimensional (3D) imaging journal January 2014
Response and representation of ductile damage under varying shock loading conditions in tantalum journal February 2016
Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of spall in single crystal tantalum
  • Hahn, Eric N.; Germann, Timothy C.; Ravelo, Ramon J.
  • SHOCK COMPRESSION OF CONDENSED MATTER - 2015: Proceedings of the Conference of the American Physical Society Topical Group on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4971594
conference January 2017
Spall response of single-crystal copper journal February 2018
Specific features of the behaviour of targets under negative pressures created by a picosecond laser pulse journal March 2013
The deformation of plastically non-homogeneous materials journal February 1970
Spallation generated by femtosecond laser driven shocks in thin metallic targets journal February 2009
Correction for beam hardening in computed tomography journal January 1979
Comparison of ring artifact correction methods for flat-detector CT journal June 2009
Extracting dislocations and non-dislocation crystal defects from atomistic simulation data journal September 2010
Dynamic strength of tantalum under impact journal May 2014
The influence of shock-loading path on the spallation response of Ta journal May 2014
The behavior of tantalum under ultrashort loads induced by femtosecond laser journal November 2015
Nanovoid nucleation by vacancy aggregation and vacancy-cluster coarsening in high-purity metallic single crystals journal September 2011
Shock-induced plasticity in tantalum single crystals: Interatomic potentials and large-scale molecular-dynamics simulations journal October 2013
Unraveling the Anomalous Grain Size Dependence of Cavitation journal November 2016
Dynamic fracture of tantalum under extreme tensile stress journal June 2017
Resistance to dynamic deformation and fracture of tantalum with different grain and defect structures journal April 2012
Experimental and numerical study of the tantalum single crystal spallation journal September 2012

Cited By (6)

Microstructure and Microhardness Evolution in Pure Molybdenum Processed by High‐Pressure Torsion journal December 2019
Challenges to model the role of heterogeneities on the shock response and spall failure of metallic materials at the mesoscales journal December 2019
Laser-Driven Flyers and Nanosecond-Resolved Velocimetry for Spall Studies in Thin Metal Foils journal May 2019
Influence of defects on the shock Hugoniot of tantalum journal June 2019
Understanding and predicting damage and failure at grain boundaries in BCC Ta journal October 2019
Intensification of shock damage through heterogeneous phase transition and dislocation loop formation due to presence of pre-existing line defects in single crystal Cu journal November 2019

Similar Records

Subgrain geometrically necessary dislocation density mapping in spalled Ta in three dimensions
Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Acta Materialia · OSTI ID:2417899

Microdamage in polycrystalline ceramics under dynamic compression and tension
Journal Article · Fri Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Journal of Applied Physics · OSTI ID:20713985

Laser-induced spallation of aluminum and Al alloys at strain rates above 2x10{sup 6} s{sup -1}
Journal Article · Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Journal of Applied Physics · OSTI ID:21137380