Understanding and quantifying electron beam effects during in situ TEM nanomechanical tensile testing on metal thin films

Stangebye, Sandra; Zhang, Yin; Gupta, Saurabh; Zhu, Ting; Pierron, Olivier; Kacher, Josh

doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2021.117441

Understanding and quantifying electron beam effects during in situ TEM nanomechanical tensile testing on metal thin films

Journal Article · Tue Oct 26 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Acta Materialia

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2021.117441· OSTI ID:1976777

Stangebye, Sandra ^[1]; Zhang, Yin ^[2]; Gupta, Saurabh ^[2]; Zhu, Ting ^[2]; Pierron, Olivier ^[2]; Kacher, Josh ^[2]

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); OSTI
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging relies on high energy electrons for atomic scale resolution, however, the electrons themselves interact with and may alter the material being imaged. Using an in situ TEM MEMS-based nanomechanical testing technique, the effect of the electron beam (e-beam) on the deformation behavior of nanocrystalline Al and ultrafine-grained Au is investigated and quantified. We show that the e-beam enhances plastic deformation, leading to an increase in plastic strain rate and a decrease in true activation volume V* in Al (28 to 21b³, with b being the Burgers vector length). The e-beam has a much weaker effect on Au. The e-beam effect is not caused by knock-on damage, but rather an effective temperature increase due to additional atomic fluctuations provided by the e-beam. The effective temperature increase is larger for Al than Au. This e-beam effect does not change the deformation mechanisms, but instead accelerates the stress-driven, thermally activated plastic deformation. These experiments provide insight into the effects of the e-beam on plastic deformation in different metals and underscore the importance of understanding and quantifying these effects for proper interpretation of measured mechanical properties during in situ TEM experiments.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Krell Institute, Ames, IA (United States); Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003960; SC0018960

OSTI ID:: 1976777

Journal Information:: Acta Materialia, Journal Name: Acta Materialia Journal Issue: C Vol. 222; ISSN 1359-6454

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (33)

MEMS-Based Nanomechanics: Influence of MEMS Design on Test Temperature Pant, B.; Choi, S.; Baumert, E. K. Experimental Mechanics, Vol. 52, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-011-9526-8	journal	July 2011
A new method for activation volume measurements: application to Ni3(Al,Hf) Spätig, P.; Bonneville, J.; Martin, J. -L. Materials Science and Engineering: A, Vol. 167, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/0921-5093(93)90339-G	journal	August 1993
Deformation of electrodeposited nanocrystalline nickel Kumar, K. S.; Suresh, S.; Chisholm, M. F. Acta Materialia, Vol. 51, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6454(02)00421-4	journal	January 2003
Direct observation of deformation-induced grain growth during the nanoindentation of ultrafine-grained Al at room temperature Jin, M.; Minor, A. M.; Stach, E. A. Acta Materialia, Vol. 52, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2004.07.044	journal	October 2004
Stress-assisted discontinuous grain growth and its effect on the deformation behavior of nanocrystalline aluminum thin films Gianola, D. S.; Van Petegem, S.; Legros, M. Acta Materialia, Vol. 54, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2006.01.023	journal	May 2006
In situ TEM observations of fast grain-boundary motion in stressed nanocrystalline aluminum films Legros, Marc; Gianola, Daniel S.; Hemker, Kevin J. Acta Materialia, Vol. 56, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2008.03.032	journal	August 2008
In situ TEM study of microplasticity and Bauschinger effect in nanocrystalline metals Rajagopalan, Jagannathan; Rentenberger, Christian; Peter Karnthaler, H. Acta Materialia, Vol. 58, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2010.05.013	journal	August 2010
Inter- and intragranular plasticity mechanisms in ultrafine-grained Al thin films: An in situ TEM study Mompiou, F.; Legros, M.; Boé, A. Acta Materialia, Vol. 61, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2012.09.051	journal	January 2013
Deformation of small-volume Al-4Cu alloy under electron beam irradiation Li, Shi-Hao; Han, Wei-Zhong; Shan, Zhi-Wei Acta Materialia, Vol. 141 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2017.09.015	journal	December 2017
MEMS based nanomechanical testing method with independent electronic sensing of stress and strain Gupta, Saurabh; Pierron, Olivier N. Extreme Mechanics Letters, Vol. 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eml.2016.01.005	journal	September 2016
Grain rotations in ultrafine-grained aluminum films studied using in situ TEM straining with automated crystal orientation mapping Izadi, Ehsan; Darbal, Amith; Sarkar, Rohit Materials & Design, Vol. 113 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2016.10.015	journal	January 2017
Grain growth of nanocrystalline aluminum under tensile deformation: A combined in situ TEM and atomistic study Stangebye, Sandra; Zhang, Yin; Gupta, Saurabh Materialia, Vol. 16 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtla.2021.101068	journal	May 2021
Mechanical properties of nanocrystalline materials Meyers, M. A.; Mishra, A.; Benson, D. J. Progress in Materials Science, Vol. 51, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2005.08.003	journal	May 2006
Increased strain rate sensitivity due to stress-coupled grain growth in nanocrystalline Al Gianola, D. S.; Warner, D. H.; Molinari, J. F. Scripta Materialia, Vol. 55, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2006.06.002	journal	October 2006
In-situ observation of an irradiation creep deformation mechanism in zirconium alloys Gaumé, M.; Baldo, P.; Mompiou, F. Scripta Materialia, Vol. 154 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2018.05.030	journal	September 2018
Electron beam-induced thickening of the protective oxide layer around Fe nanoparticles Wang, C. M.; Baer, D. R.; Amonette, J. E. Ultramicroscopy, Vol. 108, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2007.03.002	journal	December 2007
Basic questions related to electron-induced sputtering in the TEM Egerton, R. F.; McLeod, R.; Wang, F. Ultramicroscopy, Vol. 110, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2009.11.003	journal	July 2010
Combination of in situ straining and ACOM TEM: A novel method for analysis of plastic deformation of nanocrystalline metals Kobler, A.; Kashiwar, A.; Hahn, H. Ultramicroscopy, Vol. 128, p. 68-81 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2012.12.019	journal	May 2013
Quantitative Energy Dispersive X-ray Microanalysis of Electron Beam-Sensitive Alloyed Nanoparticles Braidy, Nadi; Jakubek, Zygmunt J.; Simard, Benoit Microscopy and Microanalysis, Vol. 14, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927608080094	journal	March 2008
Selective crack suppression during deformation in metal films on polymer substrates using electron beam irradiation Lee, So-Yeon; Park, Kyung Ryoul; Kang, Sung-gyu Nature Communications, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12451-8	journal	October 2019
Electron Beam Induced Artifacts During in situ TEM Deformation of Nanostructured Metals Sarkar, Rohit; Rentenberger, Christian; Rajagopalan, Jagannathan Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep16345	journal	November 2015
Quantitative in situ TEM tensile fatigue testing on nanocrystalline metallic ultrathin films Hosseinian, Ehsan; Pierron, Olivier N. Nanoscale, Vol. 5, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1039/C3NR04035F	journal	January 2013
Quantifying and observing viscoplasticity at the nanoscale: highly localized deformation mechanisms in ultrathin nanocrystalline gold films Hosseinian, Ehsan; Legros, Marc; Pierron, Olivier N. Nanoscale, Vol. 8, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1039/C6NR00710D	journal	January 2016
In situ TEM measurement of activation volume in ultrafine grained gold Gupta, Saurabh; Stangebye, Sandra; Jungjohann, Katherine Nanoscale, Vol. 12, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1039/D0NR01874K	journal	January 2020
A versatile microelectromechanical system for nanomechanical testing Pant, B.; Allen, B. L.; Zhu, T. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3553195	journal	January 2011
Electron‐beam‐induced crystallization of isolated amorphous regions in Si, Ge, GaP, and GaAs Jenc̆ic̆, I.; Bench, M. W.; Robertson, I. M. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 78, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.360764	journal	July 1995
Plasticity mechanisms in ultrafine grained freestanding aluminum thin films revealed by in-situ transmission electron microscopy nanomechanical testing Idrissi, Hosni; Kobler, Aaron; Amin-Ahmadi, Behnam Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4868124	journal	March 2014
Evidence of grain boundary dislocation step motion associated to shear-coupled grain boundary migration Rajabzadeh, A.; Legros, M.; Combe, N. Philosophical Magazine, Vol. 93, Issue 10-12 https://doi.org/10.1080/14786435.2012.760760	journal	April 2013
Orientation dependence of the threshold displacement energy in copper and vanadium Kenik, E. A.; Mitchell, T. E. Philosophical Magazine, Vol. 32, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1080/14786437508221622	journal	October 1975
A Novel Method for In Situ Uniaxial Tests at the Micro/Nano Scale—Part I: Theory Kang, Wonmo; Saif, M. Taher A. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 19, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1109/JMEMS.2010.2076779	journal	December 2010
A MEMS Tensile Testing Technique for Measuring True Activation Volume and Effective Stress in Nanocrystalline Ultrathin Microbeams Gupta, Saurabh; Pierron, Olivier N. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 26, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1109/JMEMS.2017.2708522	journal	October 2017
Experimental Observations of Stress-Driven Grain Boundary Migration Rupert, T. J.; Gianola, D. S.; Gan, Y. Science, Vol. 326, Issue 5960 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1178226	journal	December 2009
Electron Beam Effects during In-Situ Annealing of Self-Ion Irradiated Nanocrystalline Nickel Muntifering, Brittany; Dingreville, Rémi; Hattar, Khalid MRS Proceedings, Vol. 1809 https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2015.499	journal	January 2015