VOID GROWTH IN SINGLE AND BICRYSTALLINE METALS: ATOMISTIC CALCULATIONS

MD simulations in monocrystalli ne and bicrystalline copper were carried out with LAMMPS to reveal void growth mechanisms. The specimens were subjected to both tensile uniaxial and hydrostatic strains; the results confirm that the emission of (shear) loops is the primary mechanism of void growth. However, these shear loops develop along two slip planes (and not one, as previously thought), in a heretofore unidentified mechanism of cooperative growth. The emission of dislocations from voids is the first stage, and their reaction and interaction is the second stage. These loops, forming initially on different {111} planes, join at the intersection, the Burgers vector of the dislocations being parallel to the intersection of two {111} planes: a (110) direction. Thus, the two dislocations cancel at the intersection and a biplanar shear loop is formed. The expansion of the loops and their cross slip leads to the severely work hardened layer surrounding a growing void. Calculations were carried out on voids with different sizes, and a size dependence of the stress response to emitted dislocations was observed, in disagreement with the Gurson model(l) which is scale independent. Calculations were also carried out for a void at the interface between two grains.