Shear band formation in cold rolled Cu-6% Al single crystals

This paper concerns a study of the nature of shear bands in Cu-Al single crystals. The experimental results show that during the rolling deformation two families of shear bands form independently of the crystal orientation. However, initial orientation of the crystal was found to influence both the onset of band formation and orientation of the first family of bands with respect to the rolling direction. It appears from the TEM observations that shear bands result from correlated multiple coarse slip events. The results show that formation of macroscopic shear bands on an apparently nonrational plane results from the instability of pre-existing structures and the occurrence of a sequence of coarse slip events plus accommodating localized plastic flow.