The plasticity and cleavage of polycrystalline beryllium I. Yield and flow stresses

Abstract

The dependence of the yield and flow stresses of vacuum-cast and extruded polycrystalline beryllium on the grain size, d, is studied over 20-400 °C. Both follow the standard d -1/2 relationship. The Taylor orientation factor in the deformation of the poly crystal is ca. 4.3. The marked temperature dependence of the yield stress between 20 and 200 °C arises primarily from the intragranular resistance to dislocation motion, in particular on prismatic planes. The variation of the flow stress with d1/2 increases progressively with strain and this is attributed to the effect of grain size on the dislocation density at a given strain; the increase is particularly marked for beryllium because of its high rigidity modulus.