Materials"Science and Engineering, A 110 (1989) 49-60 49

The Cavitation and Fracture Characteristics of a Superplastic

AI-Cu-Li-Zr Alloy

A. H. CHOKSHI and A. K. MUKHERJEE

Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universi~ of California, Davis, CA 95616
(U.S.A.)
(Received September 25, 1987; in revised form June 24, 1988)

Abstract Two different thermomechanical processing

routes may be employed to develop fine grain
An A l - C u - L i - Z r alloy processed to recrystal-
sizes conducive to superplasticity in quasi-single-
lize statically exhibits superplastic characteristics at
phase A1-Li alloys [1]. In the first case the fine
a testing temperature of 723 K, with an optimum
grain sizes are developed by solution treating,
elongation to failure of 560% at a strain rate of
overaging, warm working and statically recrystal-
3 x 10-4 s-1. Under optimum conditions the alloy
lizing the alloys prior to superplastic deformation
exhibits diffuse necking, whereas at strain rates
[2-7]. In the second case the alloy composition
higher and lower than the optimum value there is
and experimental conditions are chosen to facili-
an increasing tendency for sharp necking. It is
tate the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization
shown that the optimum superplastic elongation is
during superplastic deformation [8-11]. Both of
obtained by a suitable combination of the strain
these procedures have been used with varying
rate sensitivity and the strain-hardening coefficient.
degrees of success, and it is now possible to
The alloy exhibits considerable cavitation under all
obtain elongations to failure in the range
experimental conditions, with cavitation being
500%-1000% in such AI-Li alloys.
restricted to regions near the fracture tip in speci-
There have been numerous studies dealing
mens which failed with a sharp neck, and cavita-
with superplasticity in A1-Li alloys [1-24], but
tion being more uniformly distributed in specimens
relatively little attention has been devoted to
with a diffuse neck. Cavities are nucleated during
studying cavitation and fracture in these alloys
superplastic deformation at coarse Al-Fe-Cu parti-
[10-13, 15-19, 22]. It has been demonstrated
cles, and cavity growth occurs predominantly by a
previously that even small levels of cavitation
power-law mechanism. It is shown that surface dif-
developed during superplastic deformation may
fusion at elevated temperatures may lead to the
have a deleterious effect on subsequent room
observation of rounded cavities, even when cavity
temperature properties [25-27], and that in some
growth has occurred by a power-law growth
cases excessive cavitation may lead to premature
mechanism.
failure in superplastic alloys. The present study
was therefore undertaken with the objective of
1. Introduction characterizing cavitation and fracture in a super-
plastic AI-Li alloy.
It is now well known that additions of lithium
lead to significant increases in the stiffness and to
2. Experimental material and procedure
concomitant decreases in the density of alumi-
num-based alloys. Therefore AI-Li alloys have The alloy chosen for this study had the
considerable potential for applications in the following nominal composition in wt.%:
aerospace industry where weight savings are of A l - 2.6 % C u - 2.4%Li-0.2%Zr-0.07%Fe. The
paramount importance. The use of superplastic alloy was obtained in the overaged and warm-
forming to manufacture components from A1-Li worked condition and had been thermomechani-
alloys may lead to additional benefits in cost and cally processed to recrystallize statically prior to
weight savings and, consequently there is a con- superplastic deformation.
siderable interest in developing superplasticity in Tensile specimens with a gauge length of 6.4
AI-Li alloys. mm were machined from the as-received material

0921-5093/89/$3.50 © Elsevier Sequoia/Printed in The Netherlands

50
with the tensile axes parallel to the rolling direc-
tion. The specimens were annealed in air at
773 K for 11 h to allow for static recrystallization
and the stabilization of microstructure. Tensile
tests were carried out in an Instron machine
modified to operate at constant true strain rates.
The specimens were tested at a temperature of
723 K and at strain rates between about 10 -5
and 10-l s-~ to determine the variation with
strain rate in both the flow stresses and the elon-
gations to failure. A few additional experiments
were performed in which tensile tests were inter-
rupted prior to specimen failure.
The cross-sectional areas of fractured speci-
mens were measured along the gauge length. As
illustrated in the schematic Fig. 1, the cross-
sectional areas were measured from one end of
the gauge length, /, and these data were normal-
ized with the total gauge length at fracture, Lf, to
facilitate a direct comparison of data from speci-
mens with varying gauge lengths at fracture.
The deformed specimens were sectioned
parallel to the tensile axis and polished metallo-
graphically. The final stage of polishing was con-
ducted with MgO powder using very light
pressure. The development of internal cavitation
during deformation was studied by examining the
polished specimens by both optical and scanning
electron microscopy (SEM). The cavity nuclea-
tion sites were identified qualitatively using
energy-dispersive X-ray analysis in an SEM. The
polished sections were then etched for about 20 s
in a solution of 1.5 ml HC1, 2.5 ml HNO3, 2 g
NaF and 195 ml H 2 0 to determine the variation
in grain size with experimental conditions. The
fracture surfaces of selected specimens were also
characterized by SEM.
Inspection of the alloy after annealing revealed
the presence of a bimodal grain size distribution
at the surfaces and a fine-grained core. Prelimi-
nary experiments indicated that the coarse grains
at the surfaces recrystallized dynamically during
the initial stages of deformation at elevated tern-
i-. Lf --I
Fig. 1. A schematic illustration of the procedure used to
normalize the gauge lengths of specimens with varying
lengths at fracture.
peratures, and this led to a microstructure con-
sisting of uniform fine grains with dimensions
similar to that in the fine-grained core [21, 23].
Prior to tensile testing, the fine-grained core had
an initial spatial grain size d = 5.4 pro, where
d = 1.74L with /~ the average linear intercept
grain size.
3. Experimental results
3.1. The variation in flow stress with strain rate
Figure 2 illustrates the variation in flow stress
a with strain rate g for the experimental condi-
tions used in this study. It is clear that the A1-Li
alloy exhibits a sigmoidal relationship between
the flow stress and the strain rate, which is typical
of superplastic alloys. The data shown in Fig. 2
may be divided into three regions: a region I at
f < 10 -4 s-l, a superplastic region II at strain
rates between about 10 -4 and 3 x 10 -3 s -1 and a
region III at g > 3 x 10 -3 s -J. The strain rate
sensitivity m, given by the slope of the curve in
Fig. 2, is about 0.45 at strain rates between about
10 -4 and 10 -3 s-l, and the value of m decreases
both at g< 10 -4 s- 1 and at g> 3 × 10 -3 s- ~. The
vertical arrows in Fig. 2 show the strain rates used
in the following study on flow localization and
cavitation.
3.Z The variation in elongation to failure with
strain rate
Figure 3 illustrates the variation in elongation
to failure with strain rate. The maximum elonga-
tion to failure of 560% is obtained at a strain rate
of 3× 10 -4 S-l. A comparison of Figs. 2 and 3
60
I I ' ' ' ' ~'"1
T=7~K
10 ~ s ~ , , j " ~ l 0.45
10-5 10-4 10-3 10-2 I0-I
(s -1 )
Fig. 2. The experimentally determined variation in the flow
stress with strain rate for the AI-Li alloy. The vertical arrows
indicate the strain rates used to study flow localization and
cavitation.

800
I I ........
AI - 2.6% Cu - 2.4% Li - 0 . 2 0 Zr
T = 723 K
600
400
200
o I 1 , , ......
10-5 10-4 10-3
(s -1)
Fig. 3. The variation in elongation to failure with initial
strain rate, where AL is the change in gauge length and L , is
the initial gauge length.
indicates that the optimum elongation to failure is
obtained at strain rates corresponding to the
lower end of region II. Similar observations have
been reported in some previous studies on super-
plasticity [28, 29]. However, it is important to
note that the present study was performed under
conditions of constant true strain rates, whereas
most of the previous studies were conducted
under conditions of constant engineering strain
rates in which the true strain rate decreased con-
tinuously as the specimen elongated.
3.3. The localization offlow
Figure 4 is a photograph of some of the speci-
mens pulled to failure in this study. Specimen A
was untested and the strain rate used to pull the
specimens shown ranges from a high value of
1.3 x 10 -2 s -l, specimen B, to a low value of
5 × 10- s s- l, specimen F. It is clear that under the
optimum conditions depicted by specimen D,
there is not much flow localization and the speci-
men exhibits a diffuse neck. However, at high
strain rates, specimen B, and at low strains rates,
specimen F, there is evidence for an increasing
tendency towards flow localization and necking.
Figure 5 presents in a quantitative manner the
above qualitative description regarding flow
localization. In Fig. 5 the percentage reduction in
area is plotted against the normalized gauge
length at failure for the specimen tested under
optimum conditions and also for the specimens
tested at the highest and the lowest strain rates
used in this study. It is to be noted that a plateau
in these curves is indicative of the occurrence of
51
I
IL
!1
¢
I
10-2 10-1
II
F
¢111
I ' I
0 5 10
Fig. 4. Photograph of specimens pulled to failure at a tem-
perature of 723 K. Specimen A was not tested, while the
other specimens were tested at the following strain rates: B.
1.3×10 = s i; C, 1 . 3 x 1 0 ~ S ]; D, 3 x 1 0 4 s t; E,
1 . 3 x 1 0 ~s ~;F, 5 x l 0 ~s ~ .
uniform deformation. Inspection of the data in
Fig. 5 reveals clearly that deformation is quite
uniform under optimum conditions and that
departure from the optimum strain rate leads to a
greater tendency towards flow localization.
3.4. The occurrence of cavitation at
~= 1.3x 10 : s -j
Figure 6 is a scanning electron micrograph of
the fracture surface of the specimen tested at the
highest strain rate used in this study. Fracture
appears to have occurred in a mixed inter-
granular-ductile rupture mode. Cavities with
dimensions of up to about 50 ~m are clearly
visible on the fracture surface.
Figure 7 is an optical micrograph of a region
near the fracture tip of the specimen pulled to
failure at a strain rate of 1.3 x 10 -z s ~. Elon-
gated cavities with dimensions of about 50 /~m
52

100

80

/
6o/
<co

40

10
0.2
I
~:(S-1)
• . 5 x 10"5
0 3 x 10`4

I
0.4
T-723 K

n l . 3 x 10-2
t~L / LO (%)

I
0.6
360
560
180

I
0.8
l\
1.0
m,-

50 p m
t-----q
.Q/Lf
Fig. 7. Optical micrograph of a region near the fracture tip of
Fig. 5. The variation in the reduction in area with the the specimen pulled to failure at g= 1.3x 10 -2 s-L The
normalized gauge length at failure for the specimens tested at tensile axis is horizontal.
the highest, optimum and lowest strain rates used in this
study; A~ and AA are the original cross-sectional area and
the changes in cross-sectional areas respectively. The vertical
arrows indicate the locations of the fracture tips.

1150 Pm I

Fig. 8. Optical micrograph of a region near the middle of the

gauge length of the specimen pulled to an elongation of 300%
at g = 3 x 10 -4 s ~. The tensile axis is horizontal.

Fig. 6. Scanning electron micrograph of the fracture surface

of the specimen tested at g = 1.3 × 10 -2 s-~.
are observed near the fracture tip. An interesting
aspect of Fig. 7 is that cavitation is localized in a
region near the fracture tip and there is very little
evidence for cavitation in regions well away from
the fracture tip. Microstructural inspection after
etching revealed that the grains tended to be elon-
gated along the tensile axis, and measurements
indicated that the grain size near the fracture tip
was about 8.4/~m. Near the fracture tip, measure-
ment of the local cross-sectional area indicated
that the true strain was 1.37.
3.5. The development of cavitation at
g= 3 x 1 0 - 4 S -1
Figure 8 shows an optical photomicrograph of
a region near the middle of the gauge length of a
specimen pulled to an elongation of 300% at a
strain rate of 3 x 1 0 - 4 S -1. The left side of the
micrograph corresponds to the center of the
gauge length where the true strain was measured
to be 1.54, and the right side of the micrograph
corresponds to a region about 1 mm away from
the middle of the gauge length where the true
strain was measured to be 1.39. It is to be noted
that cavitation is restricted to a small region at the
middle of the gauge length, and regions even
 53

~_30 p m I

Fig. 9. Optical micrograph of a region near the fracture tip Fig. 10. A higher magnification optical micrograph of the
of the specimen tested at g = 3 x 10 a s - ~.The tensile axis is specimen pulled to failure at g=3 x 10 -4 S I. The tensile
horizontal. axis is horizontal.

about 1 mm away from the middle of the gauge

length exhibited no cavitation. A considerable
amount of grain growth had occurred during
superplastic deformation, with the grain size
increasing from an initial value of 5.4 /~m to
values of 15 and 12 /~m in regions where the
local true strains were 1.54 and 1.39 respectively.
Figure 9 is an optical photomicrograph of a
region near the fracture tip of the specimen
pulled to failure at a strain rate of 3 × 10-4 S-1.
Inspection of Fig. 9 reveals that there is consider-
able cavitation under these conditions and also
that, in contrast to the specimen deformed at high
strain rate (Fig. 7), cavitation is not restricted to a
small region near the fracture tip. The larger
cavities tend to be elongated along the tensile
axis, whereas the smaller cavities tend to have a
rounded morphology. The true strain and the
Fig. 11. Scanning electron micrograph of the specimen
grain size near the fracture tip were measured as pulled to failure at g=3x 10 -4 s n. The tensile axis is
2.65 and 1 9 / t m respectively. horizontal.
Figure 10 is a higher magnification optical
photomicrograph and shows the occurrence ot
initial stages of deformation but occurred only in
grain boundary cracking* in a region near the
the later stages of deformation. Thus, in the
fracture tip. Figure 11 is a scanning electron
present study, grain boundary cracking was not
micrograph of a region near the fracture tip and
observed in the specimen pulled to an elongation
illustrates the nucleation of cavities at coarse of 300% but was quite apparent in the specimen
particles along with the occurrence of grain boun- pulled to an elongation of 560% (failure). Similar
dary cracking. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis observations of grain boundary crack networks in
revealed that the cavity nucleation sites were other superplastic quasi-single-phase aluminum
A1-Fe-Cu particles. It is important to note that, alloys were reported earlier by Pilling and Ridley
in a manner similar to an earlier observation in a
[15, 16].
commercial superplastic copper alloy [30], grain
boundary cracking was not observed during the 3.6. The occurrence o f cavitation at
g= 5 x lO-~s -I
*Etching the specimen after obtaining Figs. 10 and 11 Figure 12 is an optical photomicrograph
revealed that the cracks observed were grain boundary
cracks. obtained from a region near the fracture tip of a
54
g -d
.2L
t 150
Fig. 12. O p t i c a l m i c r o g r a p h of a r e g i o n n e a r the f r a c t u r e tip
of the s p e c i m e n t e s t e d at g = 5 × 10 - s s - ~.
specimen pulled to failure at a strain rate of
5 x 10-s s-1 and provides clear evidence for the
occurrence of extensive cavitation under these
conditions. The large cavities with dimensions of
up to about 200 /am are elongated along the
tensile axis and there appear to be a few smaller
cavities that have a rounded appearance. Mea-
surements indicate that the local strain near the
fracture tip is 2.92 and the grain size at this
location is 24/am.
4. Discussion
4.1. The influence of strain rate sensitivity on flow
localization
It has been recognized for a long time that
superplastic materials exhibit extremely large
elongations to failure by virtue of their high strain
rate sensitivities m. It is known that a high value
of m enhances ductility, primarily by conferring
on superplastic alloys a high degree of resistance
to flow localization and necking. Following the
early work of Hart [31 ], several theoretical [32, 33]
and experimental [34-36] studies have been
undertaken to examine the influence of m on flow
localization.
The experimental data obtained on flow locali-
zation in the present study are in broad agree-
ment with the trend in the variation in m with
strain rate, Fig. 2. Thus under optimum condi-
tions there is very little evidence of flow localiza-
tion, as illustrated by specimen D in Fig. 4 and
the data in Fig. 5. At strain rates higher and lower
than the optimum value there is a greater ten-
dency towards flow localization and this is in
accordance with the observed decrease in strain
rate sensitivity. Similar trends in the variation in
flow localization with m were reported in earlier
studies by Mohamed and Langdon [35] and
Ahmed and Langdon [36].
4.2. The relationship between strain rate sensitivity
and ductility
The stress-strain rate characteristics of super-
plastic alloys may be divided conveniently into
three regions: a superplastic region II with
m >-0.5 at intermediate strain rates and the non-
superplastic regions I and III with m ~ 0.3 at low
Pm~l and high strain rates respectively. The elong-
ations to failure obtained in superplastic alloys
generally follow the variation in m with strain rate
[37], so that maximum elongations to failure are
obtained in region II and the elongations to
failure decrease in regions I and III. However, as
noted earlier by Langdon [38], a careful examina-
tion of the available data suggests that a high m
value is not the only parameter governing the
elongation to failure. Thus, for example, although
a well-defined region II with a constant m extends
over two orders of magnitude of strain rate in the
superplastic Zn-22%A1, the elongation to failure
varies from a maximum value of about 2900% to
a low value of about 1400% in region II [28]. In
addition, a close inspection of data reported in
several superplastic alloys indicates that, fre-
quently, the optimum elongations are obtained at
strain rates in the lower end of region II. Obser-
vations of this nature are apparent in the earlier
studies of Ahmed and coworkers [28] and Shei
and Langdon [29]. One of the difficulties in inter-
preting the previous results is that the experi-
ments were performed under conditions of
constant cross-head speed so that the true strain
rate declined continuously as the specimen elon-
gated. The present results shown in Fig. 3 were
obtained under conditions of constant true strain
rate testing and they show the occurrence of opti-
mum elongation to failure at the lower end of
region II.
There are three possible causes for a lack of
observation of maximum ductility under condi-
tions of maximum m: (a) the value of m changes
during a tensile test, (b) more cavitation occurs in
region II than in region I, and (c) more strain
hardening occurs under other conditions and this
makes an additional contribution to the resist-
ance to necking. These three factors are now con-
sidered in more detail.

There is a possibility that the value of m
changes during a tensile test so that m determined
from the initial stages of deformation (Fig. 2) may
not reflect the true resistance to necking during
an entire tensile test. Following the earlier sugges-
tion of Ghosh and Ayres [39], Lian and Baudelet
[40] have shown analytically that ductility is
governed largely by the value of m just prior to
failure. However, a recent detailed study by
Caceres and Wilkinson [41] revealed that the
value of m remains essentially constant during
superplastic deformation. Therefore it is sug-
gested that while the value of rn may change
during a tensile test, the occurrence of maximum
ductility at strain rates towards the lower end of
region II is not caused by a change in m during
tensile tests.
It is now recognized that most superplastic
materials cavitate during deformation and that
failure is caused frequently by the process of cavi-
tation [42-44]. Therefore a difference in levels of
cavitation with strain rate may lead to a lack of a
correlation between maximum ductility and
maximum m. However, a detailed inspection of
micrographs such as Figs. 9 and 12 suggests that
in the present study there is very little difference
in the levels of cavitation in regions I and II. An
essentially identical observation was reported
recently by Caceres and Wilkinson [45]. It is
therefore concluded that the occurrence of maxi-
mum ductility at the lower end of region II is not
caused by a difference in levels of cavitation.
As shown by Hart [31], the resistance to flow
localization is generally provided by a combina-
tion of two factors: (a) a high value of m and (b) a
high value of the strain-hardening coefficient 7
(= 6l~0/6e). In early work it was assumed that
superplastic materials exhibit negligible strain
hardening and therefore the resistance to flow
localization and ductility were correlated directly
with rn [37]. Hamilton [46] has recently examined
the combined effect of m and 7 on flow localiza-
tion during superplastic flow. In the present study
it is anticipated that the considerable grain
growth observed during deformation will lead to
strain hardening* because, in superplastic
materials tested at a constant strain rate, o oc d',
where d is the grain size and the exponent c is
*As noted previously [21], the occurrence of strain hard-
ening may not be apparent in stress-strain curves, because
the flow stresses may be underestimated in the presence of
diffuse necking.
55
typically equal to about unity in region II. The
experimental measurements indicate that the
grain growth per unit strain, Ad/Ae, is equal to
6.4, 5.1 and 2.2/~m for the specimens pulled to
failure at strain rates of 5 x 10-5, 3 x 10 -4 and
1.3x 10 -' s -I respectively. These results are
consistent with previous detailed analyses of data
on other superplastic alloys [47] and they imply
that the rate of strain hardening increases with a
decrease in strain rate, since the flow stress
increases with grain growth.
Based on the above discussion, it is concluded
that the optimum elongations are obtained at the
lower end of region II, because under such condi-
tions an appropriate combination of strain rate
sensitivity and strain hardening provides the
maximum resistance to flow localization. At
strain rates in the middle of region II the strain
rate sensitivity is high but the contribution of
strain hardening to necking resistance is low; in a
similar manner, at lower strain rates in region I,
although the contribution of strain hardening is
high, the strain rate sensitivity is low.
4.3. The nucleation of cavities
The nucleation of cavities is an important first
step in the process leading to cavitation failure in
many superplastic alloys. In the present study,
metallographic inspection of deformed speci-
mens reveals that cavities nucleate preferentially
at coarse AI-Fe-Cu particles. In addition, both
the increase in the number density of cavities and
the distribution of cavity sizes observed at any
given strain, as noted from Figs. 8 and 9, suggest
that cavities nucleate continuously during super-
plastic deformation. This observation is similar to
a recent report on cavitation in a superplastic
commercial copper alloy [48].
Stowell [42] has suggested that, because of the
extensive thermomechanical treatment applied to
induce a fine grain size, cavities may exist prior to
elevated temperature deformation in many super-
plastic alloys. There is some experimental evi-
dence indicating that coarse particles may crack
during ambient temperature deformation in
A1-Li alloys [49, 50]. However, a detailed inspec-
tion of the alloy used in the present study failed to
reveal the existence of cavities prior to super-
plastic deformation. In addition, there was no
evidence of particle cracking in specimens either
before or after superplastic deformation, Fig. 11,
and cavities appeared to nucleate during super-
plastic deformation. In this context it is important
56
to note that, because of the low flow stresses
associated with superplastic flow, only cavities
with fairly large dimensions may remain stable
against surface tension forces, and cavities with
radii less than r 0 (= 2v/a, where v is the surface
energy) will tend to be sintered at elevated tem-
peratures. For the present study, using typical
values of o = 10 MPa and v = 1 J m-2, the value
of r 0 is determined to be about 0.5/~m. Cavities
with these dimensions should be clearly resolved
by SEM, so that the failure to observe any pre-
existing cavities is not related to the lack of reso-
lution.
Bampton and Edington [51] and Pandey et al.
[17] have shown that hydrogen gas bubbles may
form in aluminum-based alloys during exposure
to elevated temperatures. In the present study,
microstructural examination of annealed speci-
mens prior to tensile testing did not reveal the
presence of hydrogen gas bubbles. However, it is
important to note that in the presence of gas pres-
sure, cavities with dimensions less than r 0 may
remain stable, so that it is not possible to rule out
completely the existence of very small gas
bubbles.
An interesting aspect of this study is the obser-
vation that cavitation does not occur during the
initial stages of deformation. Thus, for example,
cavitation was not observed under optimum con-
ditions in a specimen pulled to an elongation of
100%, and even in a specimen pulled to an elon-
gation of 300%, cavitation was observed only in
the highly deformed central region of the gauge
length. Microstructural inspection also revealed
the occurrence of concurrent grain growth during
deformation, such that in the specimen deformed
under optimum conditions to an elongation of
300%, the grain size had increased from an initial
value of 5.4/~m to values of 15 and 12 ~m in the
highly deformed region with cavities and in a
region with no cavities about 1 mm away from the
highly deformed region respectively. In the speci-
men tested at a strain rate of 1.3 x 1 0 - 2 S-1 in
region III, cavitation was observed near the frac-
ture tip, and the grain size in the cavitated region
of the specimen was measured as 8.4/~m.
Livesey and Ridley [52] studied cavitation in
superplastic Zn-22% A1 eutectoid alloys and con-
cluded that cavities are nucleated only after the
initial fine grain size has increased by concurrent
grain growth to a critical value of about 8 /.tm.
These results were rationalized by noting that
after high strains, when the grain size has
increased considerably, the rate of grain growth
decreases and this reduces the level of accommo-
dation to grain boundary sliding [52]. However,
recent careful studies of concurrent grain growth
in several superplastic alloys [47], including a
Zn-A1 alloy, indicate that the rate of grain growth
remains constant throughout a tensile test.* Con-
sequently, a decrease in the rate of grain growth
does not appear to be a plausible explanation for
the nucleation of cavities during the later stages of
deformation. The present experimental results
from a specimen pulled to an elongation of 300%
under optimum conditions appear to indicate that
a critical grain size exceeding about 12 /~m is
necessary to nucleate cavities. However, an
inspection of the specimen pulled to failure at
1.3 x 10 -2 s- ~ reveals that near the fracture tip
where cavitation occurs, the grain size is about
8.4 ,um. These results indicate therefore that the
critical grain size to nucleate cavities depends
upon the experimental conditions. It is suggested
that the occurrence of grain growth is not related
directly to the nucleation of cavities, but that con-
current grain growth assists indirectly in nucleat-
ing cavities by increasing the flow stress during
deformation. A similar suggestion was incorpor-
ated by Ghosh [53] in a theoretical model for con-
tinuous cavity nucleation in a superplastic
aluminum-based alloy.
4.4. The rate-controlling cavity growth
mechanisms
It is now recognized that in superplastic
materials cavities, upon nucleation, may grow
predominantly by one of three independent
mechanisms [54-56]: (a) diffusion, (b) super-
plastic diffusion and (c) power-law. The cavity
growth rates per unit strain, dr/de, for these three
mechanisms are given by the following expres-
sions:
(a) diffusion cavity growth in superplasticity
[55, 57]
d__[r= ffa6D~b( O-- 2 v/r)
de 5r2kTg (1)
where ff2 is the atomic volume, 6 is the grain
boundary width, Dg b is the grain boundary diffu-
*It is important to note that in most of these studies, con-
current gram growth was correlated with the true local strain
along the gauge length.
 57

sivity, k is Boltzmann's constant and T is the Dgb=5 × 10 14 e x p ( - 8 4 0 0 0 / 8 . 3 T ) m 3 s -~ [59],

absolute temperature; T = 723 K, o/{ = 1.2 x 105 MPa s, the average
(b) superplastic diffusion growth [54-56] grain size d a = ( d i + d f ) / 2 = 15 Mm, where di and
dr are the initial and final grain sizes respectively.
dr_45QODgbo (2) Inspection of Fig. 13 reveals that the super-
de k Td-g plastic diffusion mechanism is not important
under the present experimental conditions. In
(c) power-law growth [58] addition, Fig. 13 indicates that cavities with
dimensions greater than about 1 ,urn should grow
dr 3v by the power-law mechanism and that the diffu-
-r (3)
de 20 sion mechanism is not very important. Since the
diffusional cavity growth rate is inversely propor-
Since these three mechanisms operate inde- tional to the imposed strain rate and the power-
pendently, cavity growth is controlled by the law growth rate is independent of the strain rate,
mechanism giving rise to the highest value of it is anticipated on the basis of Fig. 13 and the
dr~de. Equations (1)-(3) were evaluated for appropriate cavity growth maps [55] that at strain
g = 5 x 10-5 s ~, corresponding to deformation rates higher than 5 x 10 5 s-1 (used in Fig. 13)
in region I, and the results are shown in Fig. 13 as cavity growth will occur largely by the power-law
a logarithmic plot of dr~de vs. r. The follow- mechanism. Therefore it is concluded that cavi-
ing values were used for the parameters in ties grow largely by the power-law mechanism for
eqns. (1)-(3): q2= 1.7 x 10 -29 m 3, v = l . 1 J m -2, all of the experimental conditions used in the
present study. Similar conclusions were reported
in previous studies on cavitation in superplastic
102 J I l i I IIIIJ A1-Li alloys [15-17, 60].
~l "2.6*/. Cu - 2.4% li - 0.2% Zr In general, cavities growing by a diffusion
T-723 K mechanism will tend to be rounded, whereas
G / ~ = 1.2x 1 0 5 M P a s / those growing by a power-law mechanism will
/ tend to be elongated along the tensile axis. It has
10
/ been demonstrated that the trend in the change in
/
cavity morphologies is consistent with the
Power-Law~ theoretical predictions of a transition from diffu-
Growth /
/ . . . . sion to power-law growth in several superplastic
1.0 alloys such as Zn-22%A1 [56, 61], copper-based
E alloys [54-56, 61-63], stainless steel [61] and
c~ some aluminum-based alloys [60, 64]. However,
"o / Growth , in the present study, while the theoretical predic-
tions imply that cavity growth occurs largely by a
10-1 power-law mechanism, the experimental observ-
ations reveal the presence of several small
rounded cavities. A similar inconsistency

10"2
I
I
I
I
' i between cavity shapes and the dominant cavity
growth mechanism was reported earlier by Ridley
et al. [65]. A possible cause for this discrepancy is
the effect of surface diffusion at elevated temper-
atures.
I Hancock [58] developed the power-law growth
mechanism for high temperature creep by modi-
10.3 [ l , , ,,,,,,I
10-1 1.0 10 10-2
fying the low temperature plasticity-induced
cavity growth model of McClintock [66]. Plastic-
r (lain)
ity-controlled cavity growth at low temperatures
Fig. 13. The variation in cavity growth rate with cavity leads to cavities that are elongated along the ten-
radius for a specimen tested at ~ 5 × 10 -5 s t. The theoreti-
cal curves are shown for the diffusion, superplastic diffusion
sile axis. Figure 14 is a schematic illustration for
and power-law growth mechanisms. the development of rounded cavities from
58
or
f 1. An A1-Cu-Li-Zr alloy processed to re-
A crystallize statically exhibits superplastic charac-
la) (b) [cl
or
Fig. 14. A schematic illustration of the development of
rounded cavities during elevated temperature testing.
Initially, a rounded cavity (a) becomes elongated along the
tensile axis due to cavity growth by a power-law mechanism
(b). The difference in the radii of curvature at the points
marked A and B then leads to the spheroidization of the
cavity (c). The tensile axis is vertical.
elongated cavity shapes during deformation at
elevated temperatures. Initially, diffusion growth
may lead to the development of a rounded cavity
as shown in Fig 14(a). Subsequent growth of this
cavity by a power-law mechanism will tend to
elongate the cavity along the tensile axis as shown
in Fig. 14(b). In experiments performed at low
temperatures, the plasticity-induced elongated
cavity shapes will remain elongated. However, at
high testing temperatures the difference in the
radii of curvature at the points marked A and B in
Fig. 14(b) will lead to a redistribution of matter
by surface diffusion, so that the cavities will tend
to become spherical as shown in Fig. 14(c). This
possibility was first recognized and suggested by
Rice [67, 68]. The overall rate of spheroidization
will tend to depend on relative rates of surface
diffusion, cavity elongation by the power-law
mechanism and grain boundary sliding and grain
rotation, which will also tend to distort the shape
of a cavity. This is quite a complicated pheno-
menon and has not been modelled theoretically.
However, it is reasonable to assert that, owing to
spheroidization, the experimentally observed
transition from rounded to elongated cavities will
tend to occur at higher cavity radii than predicted
by the theoretical calculations. A mechanism of
the type shown in Fig. 14 can thus rationalize the
observation of small rounded cavities even when
the cavities have grown by a power-law
mechanism.
5. Summary and conclusions
teristics at a temperature of 723 K. The alloy
exhibits a maximum elongation to failure of
560% at a strain rate of 3 x 10 -4 s -~, and the
elongation to failure decreases both at lower and
at higher strain rates.
2. Under optimum conditions the fractured
specimen exhibits diffuse necking. At strain rates
higher and lower than the optimum value there is
an increasing tendency towards flow localization
and necking. The maximum superplastic elonga-
tion to failure is obtained at an optimum strain
rate through a suitable combination of the strain
rate sensitivity and the strain-hardening coeffi-
cient.
3. The alloy cavitates considerably under all
of the conditions used in this study. Cavitation is
restricted to a region close to the fracture tip at
high strain rates, where the specimens fail by the
development of a sharp neck, and cavitation is
more uniformly distributed at lower strain rates,
where specimens fail by diffuse necking.
4. Cavities nucleate during superplastic defor-
mation at coarse AI-Fe-Cu particles prese&t in
the as-received material. There is no microstruc-
tural evidence for pre-existing cavities or cracked
particles. The observed concurrent grain growth
leads to an increase in the flow stress and this
facilitates cavity nucleation during the later stages
of superplastic deformation.
5. Cavity growth occurs predominantly by a
power-law mechanism. It is shown that elongated
cavities growing by a power-law mechanism may
develop a rounded morphology because of sur-
face diffusion at elevated temperatures.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Air Force
Office of Scientific Research under Grant no.
86091 monitored by Dr. Alan Rosenstein. The
authors are grateful to Dr. J. Wadsworth of Lock-
heed Research and Development Laboratory,
Palo Alto, for providing the material used in this
study.
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