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| Author(s): |
Heide Heloise Bernardi
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Lorena. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL/ASDI) |
| Defense date: | 2009-04-17 |
| Examining board members: |
Hugo Ricardo Zschommler Sandim;
Carlos Antonio Reis Pereira Baptista;
Miguel Justino Ribeiro Barboza;
Maurizio Ferrante;
Paulo Rangel Rios
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| Advisor: | Hugo Ricardo Zschommler Sandim |
| Abstract | |
High-purity niobium single crystals, bicrystals and polycrystals were cut out from longitudinal sections of ingots processed by electron beam melting. Samples were deformed by Equal Angular Channel Extrusion (ECAE) at room temperature up to 8 passes, using the route Bc with a die angle  = 90o. Samples were characterized in terms of their microstructural evolution and deformation textures. Microstructural characterization was performed using optical, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopies, as well as electron-backscatter diffraction measurements (EBSD) to determine both microtexture and mesotexture. Vickers microhardness testing was performed to follow hardening and softening behaviors in the samples. Another single crystal was deformed by 1 pass in an interrupted ECAE experiment using a die angle  = 120o to follow the changes in texture through the extrusion channel. Texture was determined by X ray diffraction and compared with those reported in the literature for deformed bcc materials and also with those predicted using the viscoplastic self-consistent model (VPSC). A comparative study in a larger scale (single and polycrystals) was also performed. It was observed that there is a significant refinement of the microstructure after 8 passes. The average spacing between high angle boundaries perpendicular to extrusion direction was close in the two cases (500 nm), larger than observed in the single crystal deformed in a smaller scale (440 nm). Results also show that ultrafine grains of the deformed polycrystal are more equiaxial compared to those found in the deformed single crystal. Samples were annealed to evaluate their behavior regarding microstructural coarsening. Results show that coarsening becomes noticeable at temperatures higher than 500oC by means of discontinuous recrystallization. Above 700oC, normal grain growth becomes the main microstructure coarsening mechanism. Important orientation effects were observed in the bicrystal in both deformed and annealed states. (AU) | |