Effects of grain size on intergranular strain evolution in Ni

Experiments on 99% pure Ni samples have been carried out to investigate the dependence of deformation on grain size. The accumulated strains and texture changes within the grains over the sampling volume were measured by neutron diffraction as a function of (h k 1) reflections and sample orientations with respect to the tensile axis. Inhomogeneous developments of strain are found. Large tensile lattice strain was found for reflection (2 0 0) in the direction parallel to the loading axis. Sample of smaller grain size displays larger strain magnitude. The overall trend of the lattice strain development predicted by the elasto-plastic self-consistent model agrees with the experiment to within 30% and 50% for the small grain and large grain samples, respectively. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.