Dislocation dynamics during cyclic loading in copper single crystal

Crystalline plasticity can take place through numerous, small, uncorrelated dislocation motions (mild plasticity) or through collaborative events: dislocation avalanches (wild plasticity). Here, we study the correlation between dislocation patterning under cyclic loading and the nature of collective dislocation dynamics. The dislocation motion of a [110] oriented pure copper single crystal was dynamically followed using Acoustic Emission (AE) for different imposed stress amplitudes. The dislocation structure between each cyclic stress step was investigated using Electron BackScattered Diffraction (EBSD) and Rotational-Electron Channeling Contrast Imaging (R-ECCI) in a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). At low imposed stress, when the structure consists of dislocation cells, few dislocation avalanches are observed, while for a wall structure, at higher imposed stress, the contribution of avalanches is increased during the first cycles. For a given stress amplitude, the evolution of mild plasticity is synchronous with the plastic strain-rate, and rapidly vanishes after few cycles due to work hardening. The mean free path of the dislocations in this mild plasticity regime corresponds to the characteristic size of the dislocation structure (cell size, distance between walls). From one stress level to another, brutal rearrangements of the dislocation structure occur within a few numbers of cycles. Those rearrangements take place, at least partly, through dislocation avalanches. Upon reloading at a larger stress amplitude, dislocation avalanches can travel over distances much larger than the former dislocation mean free path. As the dislocation avalanches spread within the crystal, the memory of the previous dislocation structure is lost and a new dislocation structure emerges.