Mesoscale modeling of strain induced solid state amorphization in crystalline materials

Lei Lei, Purdue University

Abstract

Solid state amorphization, and in particular crystalline to amorphous transformation, can be observed in metallic alloys, semiconductors, intermetallics, minerals, and also molecular crystals when they undergo irradiation, hydrogen gas dissolution, thermal interdiffusion, mechanical alloying, or mechanical milling. Although the amorphization mechanisms may be different, the transformation occurs due to the high level of disorder introduced into the material. Milling induced solid state amorphization is proposed to be the result of accumulation of crystal defects, specifically dislocations, as the material is subjected to large deformations during the high energy process. Thus, understanding the deformation mechanisms of crystalline materials will be the first step in studying solid state amorphization in crystalline materials, which not only has scientific contributions, but also technical consequences. A phase field dislocation dynamics (PFDD) approach is employed in this work to simulate plastic deformation of molecular crystals. This PFDD model has the advantage of tracking all of the dislocations in a material simultaneously. The model takes into account the elastic interaction between dislocations, the lattice resistance to dislocation motion, and the elastic interaction of dislocations with an external stress field. The PFDD model is employed to describe the deformation of molecular crystals with pharmaceutical applications, namely, single crystal sucrose, acetaminophen, γ-indomethacin, and aspirin. Stress-strain curves are produced that result in expected anisotropic material response due to the activation of different slip systems and yield stresses that agree well with those from experiments. The PFDD model is coupled to a phase transformation model to study the relation between plastic deformation and the solid state amorphization of crystals that undergo milling. This model predicts the amorphous volume fraction in excellent agreement with experimental observation. Finally, we incorporate the effect of stress free surfaces to model the behavior of dislocations close to these surfaces and in the presence of voids.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Koslowski, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Mechanical engineering|Pharmaceutical sciences|Materials science

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