Molecular Dynamics Based Observations of Grain Boundaries and Lattice Defects Functions in Fine Grained Metal

In order to study the characteristics of fine grained polycrystalline metals, it is important to recognize the function of grain boundaries (GB), crystal defects such as dislocation and/or nanoscale voids, since the fraction of GB increases as grain sizes decreases, the deformation process of these metals could be different from those in larger size grains. In this study, we first evaluate the hypothesis that GB behaves as dislocation source and sink during the deformation of fine grained metal, then compare the behavior between GB and a tiny defect from the view point of dislocation source and sink phenomena. Since continuous dislocation supplies could be considered as the key issue to improve the toughness of fine grained metals, this concept could be helpful to design next generation polycrystalline metals.