Cavitation in a uniaxially deformed superplastic Al-Mg alloy

Cavitation caused by superplastic straining of a fine-grained Al-Mg-Mn-Cu alloy under uniaxial tension has been systematically evaluated. Tensile tests were conducted in the strain-rate range of 10^-4s^-1 to 10^-2s^-1 and in the temperature range of 450°C to 550°C. Measurements of the number and size of cavities were made by image analysis through optical microscopy on tested specimens. With increasing imposed strain, the cavity population density increases. Cavity growth has been found to be primarily due to the plastic deformation of the matrix. These results are characterized by the total volume fraction of cavities which is found to increase exponentially with strain. However, the dependencies of cavity volume fraction on strain-rate and temperature are not straightforward and the notion of just a few large cavities controlling the total cavity volume is not always true. Attempts to explain these complex dependencies have been carried out based on the concepts of debonding between the matrix and non-deformable particles, the continuous nucleation of new cavities, and plasticity-based cavity growth for large cavities.