Dislocation structures in cyclically deformed nickel polycrystals

The effect of the grain orientation and the plastic strain amplitude εpa on the saturated dislocation structure was studied on individual grains of cyclically deformed nickel polycrystals by means of scanning electron microscopy using the electron back scattering pattern technique and the channelling contrast of back scattered electrons. The main features of the dislocation configuration in a grain were found to be essentially determined by the crystallographic axial orientation of the grain. A labyrinth-like dislocation pattern is typical for grains with axial orientations near [001], a patch pattern exists in grains with a loading axis (LA) near [011] and fragmented dislocation walls are dominant in grains with LA near [1̄11]. Grains with axial orientations in the central part of the stereographic standard triangle contain a bundle arrangement of dislocation structures. All four types of dislocation structures, but mostly the bundle type, can occur together with the ladder structure of persistent slip bands. Cell patterns were found to be a result of a modification of the bundle and patch configuration at high deformation amplitudes. The mesoscopic dimensions of the dislocation patterns turned out to depend on εpa in the same way for all grain orientations: while the thickness of regions with high dislocation density is reduced with increasing εpa, the width of regions with low dislocation density remains roughly constant.