Dislocation microstructure and internal-stress measurements by convergent-beam electron diffraction on creep-deformed Cu and Al

Creep experiments were conducted on aluminum single crystals and copper polycrystals deformed within the five-power-law regime. The dislocation structure of copper, which has not been extensively characterized in the past, consists of less-well-defined subgrain walls of relatively low misorientation, typically between 0.1 and 0.3 deg, with a Frank network of dislocations within the subgrains. The aluminum, as expected, consisted of well-defined subgrain boundaries with a typical misorientation between 1.0 and 2.0 deg. The subgrains were probed from one boundary to another in copper and aluminum using convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED). This allowed a determination of any changes in the lattice parameter, which would indicate the presence of any internal stresses. Earlier investigations by others suggested that internal stresses may be high in the vicinity of the "hard" subgrain boundaries in both loaded and unloaded specimens, based on a variety of techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), stress-dip tests, as well as some preliminary CBED. It was determined in this work that the lattice parameter was unchanged at the equilibrium or stress-free value within the interior of the subgrains and along (within a one-beam diameter) the subgrain boundaries.