Quantification of local and global elastic anisotropy in ultrafine grained gradient microstructures, produced by linear flow splitting

Severely deformed materials often show strong plastic strain gradients, which can lead to a variety of gradients in microstructure and texture. Since the elastic behavior of a material is in most cases linked to its crystallographic texture, gradients in the elastic properties are also possible. Consequently, the macroscopic elastic behavior results from the local elastic properties within the gradient. In the present investigation profiles produced by the linear flow splitting process were examined with respect to local and global elastic anisotropy, which develops during the complex forming process. The local grain orientations determined by EBSD measurements were used to calculate the elastic tensors at several positions along the strain gradient. Based on the geometric mean, the calculated local elastic constants were transferred into global ones by appropriate weighting. Ultrasonic measurements were carried out to determine the macroscopic stiffness tensor of the severely deformed parts, showing a good agreement with the global stiffness tensor calculated from orientation data. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.