Deformation mechanism study of a hot rolled Zr-2.5Nb alloy by transmission electron microscopy. I. Dislocation microstructures in as-received state and at different plastic strains

Thin foil dog bone samples prepared from a hot rolled Zr-2.5Nb alloy have been deformed by tensile deformation to different plastic strains. The development of slip traces during loading was observed in situ through SEM, revealing that deformation starts preferentially in certain sets of grains during the elastic-plastic transition region. TEM characterization showed that sub-grain boundaries formed during hot rolling consisted of screw ⟨a⟩ dislocations or screw ⟨c⟩ and ⟨a⟩ dislocations. Prismatic ⟨a⟩ dislocations with large screw or edge components have been identified from the sample with 0.5% plastic strain. Basal ⟨a⟩ and pyramidal ⟨c + a⟩ dislocations were found in the sample that had been deformed with 1.5% plastic strain, implying that these dislocations require larger stresses to be activated.