Pseudopartial wetting of grain boundaries in severely deformed Al-Zn alloys

• Published in: Russian journal of non-ferrous metals Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 44 - 51
• Main Authors: Straumal, B. B., Mazilkin, A. A., Sauvage, X., Valiev, R. Z., Straumal, A. B., Gusak, A. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Allerton Press 2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alloys; Aluminum; Aluminum base alloys; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter; Contact; Contact angle; Grain boundaries; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Nonferrous metals; Physical Metallurgy and Heat Treatment; Physics; Torsion; Zinc; wetting; grain boundaries; severe plastic deformation; high-pressure torsion
• ISSN: 1067-8212; 1934-970X
• DOI: 10.3103/S1067821215010198

After severe plastic deformation by the high-pressure torsion, Al-Zn alloys have three various classes of Al/Al grain boundaries (GBs) wetted with a second zinc-rich phase. Completely wetted Al/Al GBs are coated with the layer of a zinc-rich phase more than 30 nm thick. Partially (incompletely) wetted Al/Al GBs contact particles of the zinc-rich phase with a contact angle >60°, but contain no measurable zinc concentration. Pseudopartially wetted Al/Al GBs also contact Zn particles with a contact angle >60°. However, they have a thin interlayer of the zinc-rich phase with a uniform thickness of 2–4 nm, the presence of which explains the unusually high ductility of Al-Zn alloys after high-pressure torsion.