Characterization of Shear Deformation Based on In-situ Observation of Deformation in Semi-solid Al–Cu Alloys and Water-particle Mixture

Abstract

In-situ observation of deformation at the grain scale in semi-solid Al–Cu alloys has been carried out using synchrotron X-ray radiography. The deformed microstructure was characterized by the quantitative analysis of solid motion from the image sequences during shear in semi-solid Al–Cu alloys. The influence of solid particle shape on shear deformation was also examined by comparing with in-situ observation of deformation in water-polystyrene particle mixtures where the polystyrene particles are spherical with a diameter of 500 μm. In both semi-solid Al–Cu alloys and water-particle mixtures, solid particles located close to the shear plane developed an increasing component perpendicular to the shear plane, and a relatively high shear strain rate and decreased solid fraction was localized in a shear domain. The shear band width in semi-solid Al–Cu alloys (~10 mean particles diameter) was approximately two times wider than that formed in water-particle mixtures due to the difference in the solid particle shape.