Effect of stacking fault energy on the evolution of microstructure and texture during blast assisted deformation of FCC materials

Effect of stacking fault energy (SFE) on microstructural and crystallographic aspect of high-velocity deformation of FCC metals (Ni, Cu, and austenitic stainless steel) via blast assisted deformation have been investigated in this work. Microstructural changes have been probed via XRD line profile analysis and electron back-scattered diffraction methods along with TEM analysis for selected samples. The texture of all deformed material tends towards a developed a-fiber, which is observed to be strain-dependent. The relative fraction of Brass to Goss texture components increases with a decrease in SFE. The annealing twin boundaries, present in the initial material, transform in segments or full to high angle random boundary in all the material due to the dislocation pile-up. However, the microstructure of the deformed material depends heavily on the SFE, with nickel showing dislocation cells, and, austenitic stainless steel (ASS) has a mix of features of homogeneous dislocation, deformation bands, and deformation twins. Relatively thick deformation twins form in grains having orientations other than {110} plane normal to the blast direction. The overall microstructure of ASS gives an impression of a superimposed microstructure. Such structure is expected to be a result of shock passage through the material followed by macroscopic straining. No such superimposed microstructure has been observed in nickel which is attributed to recovery behavior prevalent in high SFE materials.