The efficiency of multicrystalline (mc) silicon solar cells depends strongly on the fraction of recombination active crystal defects. This work focuses on a systematic analysis of how the area fraction of recombination active crystal defects and thus the solar cell efficiency is af-fected by the grain structure of mc-silicon wafers, i.e. grain size, grain orientation and type of the grain boundaries between adjacent grains. For that purpose a new characterization method was developed which allows the measurement of the grain orientation and grain boundary type of full 156x156 mm² mc-silicon wafers. The results of the grain structure analysis were correlated with the etch pit density, the recombination active area fraction measured by photo-luminescence imaging, and the solar cell efficiency in order to quantify the most important features of the grain structure, which were relevant to obtain high quality mc-silicon wafer material. For the determination of the grain orientation and grain boundary type two metrology sys-tems were combined. The so-called grain detector determines the geometrical data of each grain (size and form) by a reflectivity measurement. Afterwards the wafer with the geomet-rical information of all grains is transferred into the so-called Laue Scanner. This system irra-diates each grain larger 3 mm² with white x-rays and creates a backscatter diffraction pattern (Laue pattern) for each grain. From this Laue pattern the grain orientation and the grain boundary type of neighboured grains is calculated and statistically analysed in combination with the geometrical data of the grain detector. In this work the grain structure of twelve industrially grown mc-silicon bricks, which were produced by different manufacturers, and two laboratory grown bricks were investigated. Seven of these bricks show a fine grain structure. This material named class F is considered to be typical for so-called High Performance Multi (HPM) silicon. The other bricks show a coarse-grained structure. This grain structure was called class G and corresponds to the con-ventional mc-silicon material. The results show that the grain structures of the start of the crystallization process differ sig-nificantly between class F and class G. The class F mc-silicon wafers have a uniform initial grain size (characterized by coefficient of variation CV¬KG < 2.5) and grain orientation (charac-terized by coefficient of variation CVKO < 1.5) distribution with a small mean grain size (< 4 mm²) and a high length fraction of random grain boundaries (> 60 %) in comparison to the class G wafers. Despite the totally different initial grain structure for the class F and class G bricks, the grain structure of the wafers which represent the end of the crystallization process is more or less comparable. It can be concluded that the development of the grain structure along the crystal height of the class F bricks is driven by an energy minimization due to the surface energy and the grain boundary energy, that means that the share of (111) oriented grains having the lowest surface energy and the share of ∑3 grain boundaries having the lowest interface energy increase from the start of crystallization to the end. This phenomenon could not be observed for the class G bricks, which show a decreasing ∑3 length fraction and a decreasing area fraction of {111} oriented grains. This energetically unfavourable grain structure development is not clear so far but it means another kind of energy minimization effect must exist within class G. This could be for instance the formation of dislocations. The grain structure investigations show clearly that especially the initially fine-grained struc-ture of the class F bricks, i.e. at the start of crystallization, influences beneficially the area fraction of recombination active defects and the solar cell efficiency subsequently. This ob-servation can be explained as follows. Reduced dislocation cluster formation: • The small grain sizes in combination with the low length fraction of ∑3 grain bounda-ries capture the dislocations within a grain. Dislocations are not able to move across the grain boundaries which have not the ∑3-type within moderate stress and tempera-ture fields. This prohibits the formation and expansion of large dislocation cluster. • The previously described energetically driven grain selection and the continuously in-creasing grain size from bottom to top leads to an overgrowth of grains. This means that also dislocated grains will disappear which also prohibits the formation of large dislocation cluster. Reduced possibility of dislocation formation: • Compared to the class G bricks the area fraction of {111} oriented grains is reduced. Therefore, the possibility of the formation of dislocations is reduced, because they would be activated first in {111} oriented grains taking the Schmidt factor in account which is lowest for {111} oriented grains. After the dislocation generation within a {111} oriented grain, the dislocation can move forward on 3 of 4 possible {111} slip planes which have an angle of 19.5° with regard to the growth direction. No other ori-entation has more slip planes for the dislocation movement which have an angle smaller 20° with regard to the growth direction. These arguments in combination with the high reproducibility of the characteristic initial class F structure can explain the observed low recombination active area fraction from start to end of crystallization which was smaller 5 % and especially the low variation of 2 % of the electrical active wafer area in between the class F bricks. One can also easily explain the higher recombination active area fraction up to 14 % and the large variation of 10 % between the class G bricks due to the obtained grain structure data. These differences in the recombination active area fractions are reflected in the solar cell efficiency which is 0.4 % higher for the class F bricks compared to the class G bricks. In consideration of the above mentioned reasons it is not beneficial for the industrial ingot production technology to increase the ingot height further, due to the fact that the advanta-geous initial grain structure properties of class F bricks disappear with increasing crystal height.:Abstract 1. Einleitung 1.1 Photovoltaik 1.2 Stand der Technik 1.2.1 Blockerstarrung von multikristallinem Silizium 1.2.2 Kornorientierungsbestimmung 1.3 Zielsetzung und Gliederung der Arbeit 2. Grundlagen 2.1 Silizium 2.1.1 Elektrische Eigenschaften 2.1.2 Oberflächenenergien des Siliziums 2.2 Kristalldefekte in multikristallinem Silizium 2.2.1 Versetzungen 2.2.2 Korngrenzen 2.2.3 Wechselwirkung zwischen Versetzungen und Korngrenzen 3. Mess- und Auswertemethodik 3.1 Detektion der Körner 3.1.1 Aufbau und Funktionsweise 3.1.2 Definition der Kenngrößen 3.1.3 Fehlerbetrachtung 3.2 Detektion der Kornorientierungen und Korngrenztypen 3.2.1 Theoretische Betrachtung 3.2.2 Aufbau und Funktionsweise 3.2.3 Definition der Kenngrößen 3.2.4 Fehlerbetrachtung 3.3 Detektion der Ätzgrubendichte 3.3.1 Aufbau und Funktionsweise 3.3.2 Definition der Kenngrößen 3.3.3 Fehlerbetrachtung 3.4 Detektion des rekombinationsaktiven Flächenanteils 3.4.1 Aufbau und Funktionsweise 3.4.2 Definition der Kenngrößen 3.4.3 Fehlerbetrachtung 3.5 Korrelation der rekombinationsaktiven Kristalldefekte mit der Kornorientierung 4. Probeninformation 5. Ergebnisteil 5.1 Korngrößenverteilung 5.1.1 Säulenklassifizierung 5.1.2 Klasse F Säulen 5.1.3 Klasse G Säulen 5.2 Kornorientierungsverteilung 5.2.1 Klasse F Säulen 5.2.2 Klasse G Säulen 5.3 Korngrenztypverteilung 5.3.1 Klasse F Säulen 5.3.2 Klasse G Säulen 5.4 Ätzgrubendichte 5.4.1 Klasse F Säulen 5.4.2 Klasse G Säulen 5.5 Rekombinationsaktiver Flächenanteil 5.5.1 Klasse F Säulen 5.5.2 Klasse G Säulen 5.6 Korrelation der Ergebnisse 5.6.1 Mittlere Korngröße und Variationskoeffizient vs. rekombinationsaktiver Flächenanteil 5.6.2 Korngrenztyplängenanteil vs. rekombinationsaktiver Flächenanteil 5.6.3 Kornorientierung vs. rekombinationsaktiver Flächenanteil 5.6.4 Ätzgrubendichte vs. rekombinationsaktiver Flächenanteil 6. Diskussion der Ergebnisse 6.1 Einfluss des Kristallzüchtungsprozesses auf die Korngrößen-, die Kornorientierungs- und Korngrenztypverteilung 6.2 Einfluss der Kornstruktur auf den elektrisch aktiven Defektanteil 6.3 Einfluss der Kornorientierung auf den elektrisch aktiven Defektanteil 6.4 Einfluss der Kornstruktur auf die elektrische Aktivierung von Versetzungsclustern 6.5 Einfluss der Verunreinigungen auf die Solarzelleneffizienz 7. Zusammenfassung und Ausblick Verwendete Abkürzungen und Symbole Literaturverzeichnis Veröffentlichungen Betreute studentische Arbeiten Danksagung

<p>Low angle grain boundary (LAGB) mobility is an essential parameter for developing the analytical models that describe the kinetics of recovery and predict the nucleation of recrystallized grains. The thesis is aimed at the molecular dynamics (MD) simulations study of LAGB mobility determination in pure Al and Al-Mg alloys. All the previous experimental studies reported that the presence of several defects, such as solutes and dislocations, retard the boundary motion and provide lower mobility. However, very few studies have been conducted in MD simulation to capture the interactions of those defects with the migrating grain boundary. This thesis is focused on providing complete understanding of LAGB determination along with a comprehensive explanation of solute and dislocation retarding effects on boundary motion.</p> <p>The LAGB mobility in pure Al was computed from two different MD techniques as a function of temperature and misorientation. Within numerical uncertainties, both techniques provide the same magnitude of mobility at 300K for 7.785^o boundary and at 700K for 23.07^o boundary. It was observed that ADF method is not applicable to determine LAGB mobility at high temperature due to failure of order parameter computation. The MD derived activation energy is found to be approximately ten times lower than the experimental observations.</p> <p>A strong solute pinning effect on boundary motion was observed at all misorientations and solute concentrations studied in Al-Mg alloys. An approximate linear relationship is found between the restraining force and the solute concentration in a distributed solute approach. In addition, the extrinsic dislocations are found to completely pin both 7.785^o and 23.07^o boundary motion at low driving forces in pure Al at 300K. The MD results do not reveal significant qualitative differences of the pinned boundary structure for the low and high angle boundaries and will be discussed in terms of the previous experimental observations.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The behaviors of short fatigue crack (SFC) propagation through grain boundaries (GBs) were monitored during high cycle fatigue in an Al-Li alloy AA8090. The growth behaviors of SFCs were found to be mainly controlled by the twist components (α) of crack plane deflection across each of up to first 20 GBs along the crack path. The crack plane twist at the GB can result in a resistance against SFC growth; therefore SFC propagation preferred to follow a path with minimum α at each GB. In addition to the grain orientation, the tilting of GB could also affect α. An experiment focusing on quantifying GB-resistance was conducted on an Al-Cu alloy AA2024-T351. With a focused ion beam (FIB) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), the micro-notches were made in front of the selected GBs which had a wide range of α, followed by monitoring the interaction of crack propagation from the notches with the GBs during fatigue. The crack growth rate was observed to decrease at each GB it had passed; and such growth-rate decrease was proportional to α. The resistance of the GB was determined to vary as a Weibull-type function of α. Based on these discoveries, a microstructure-based 3-D model was developed to quantify the SFC growth in high-strength Al alloys, allowing the prediction of crack front advancement in 3-D and the quantification of growth rate along the crack front. The simulation results yielded a good agreement with the experimental results about the SFC growth rate on the surface of the AA8090 Al alloy. The model was also used to predict the life of SFC growth statistically in different textures, showing potential application to texture design of alloys. Fatigue crack initiation at constituent particles (β-phase) was preliminarily studied in the AA2024-T351 Al alloy. Cross-sectioning with the FIB revealed that the 3-D geometry, especially the thickness, of fractured constituent particles (β-phase) was the key factor controlling the driving force for micro-crack growth. The resistance to micro-crack growth, mainly associated with crack plane twist at the particle/matrix interface, also influenced the growth behaviors of the micro-cracks at the particles on the surface.

Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking (PWSCC) of Alloy 600 and similar Ni-Cr-Fe alloys is regarded as one of the most important challenges to nuclear power plant operation. During the past decades the majority of research has focused on PWSCC crack growth rate measurements in order to assess the lifetime of real components and to develop empirical models for crack propagation. However, the incubation and initiation stages of PWSCC have the same or even greater importance than the propagation stage, particularly because SCC can be undetected for more than 20 years before the occurrence of a rapid and catastrophic failure. There is, therefore, the scientific need to understand the mechanisms playing a fundamental role in the formation and development of intergranular cracks embryo, the so-called SCC initiation "precursor events", in order to be able to predict and mitigate the occurrence of PWSCC. Amongst all the models proposed for SCC initiation, the internal oxidation mechanism proposed by Scott and Le Calvar in 1992 appears to be the most comprehensive. Although the internal oxidation mechanism is widely accepted, it still requires further elucidation, especially in terms of enhanced grain boundary diffusivity and the role of intergranular carbides on the oxidation mechanism. The present work has focused on the initial stages of intergranular oxidation of solution-annealed (SA) and thermally-treated (TT) Alloy 600 with the aim of understanding the active mechanism responsible for the enhanced intergranular oxide penetration kinetics. The material was tested in simulated PWR primary water at 320°C, high-pressure hydrogenated-steam at 400°C and low-pressure H2-steam environment at 480°C at potential more reducing than the Ni/NiO equilibrium. The detailed microstructural characterization was conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analytical transmission electron microscopy (ATEM) and demonstrated that Alloy 600SA is susceptible to diffusion-induced grain boundary migration (DIGM), preferential intergranular oxidation (PIO) and localised Cr and Fe depletions at the grain boundaries. The similar analyses performed on Alloy 600TT demonstrated reduced susceptibility to PIO and grain boundary migration. Further, detailed analyses confirmed that intergranular carbides were readily oxidized/consumed in all 3 environments and acted as Cr reservoir/O trap. These results shed additional light on the "precursor events" for PWSCC of Alloy 600, especially on the mechanism responsible for the enhanced Cr and O diffusivity and on the mechanism responsible for the enhanced Alloy 600TT SCC initiation resistance. Moreover, the strong similarities in the Alloy 600 oxidation behaviour observed for the 3 different environments and at the 3 different temperatures suggested that the same PIO mechanism is active in both steam and water and at temperatures between 320°C and 480°C. These results strongly support the possibility of using the low-pressure H2-steam environment as a substitute environment to accelerate PWSCC initiation without changing the mechanism.

Built on the recent successes in understanding the crystallographic mechanism for short fatigue crack (SFC) growth across a grain boundary (GB) and developing an experimental method to quantify the GB resistance against short crack growth, a microstructure-based model was developed in this study to simulate the growth behaviors of SFCs in 3-D, by taking into account both the driving force and resistance along at each point along the crack front in an alloy. It was found that the GB resistance was a Weibull function of the minimum twist angle of crack deflection at the boundary in AA2024-T3 Al alloys. In the digital microstructure used in the model, the resistance at each GB that the short crack interacted with could be calculated, as long as the orientations of grains and the crack were known. In the model, an influence function accounting for the overlapping effect of the resistance from the neighboring grain boundaries was proposed, allowing for calculation of the total resistance distribution along the crack front. In order to overcome the time consuming problem for the existing equations to derive the distribution of stress intensity factor along the crack front under cyclic loading, an analytical equation was proposed to quantify the stress intensity factor distribution along an irregular shape planar crack. By introducing two shape-dependent factors, the fractured area and the perimeter of the crack front, the newly proposed equation could readily and accurately derive the stress intensity factor distribution along the crack front that had large curvatures and singularities. Finally, a microscopic-scale Paris’ equation was proposed that took into account both the driving force, i.e., stress intensity factor range, and the total resistance to calculate the growth rate at each point along crack front. The model developed in this work was able to incorporate microstructure, such as grain size and shape, and texture into simulation of SFC growth in 3-D. It was capable of simulating all the anomalous growth behaviors of SFCs, such as the marked scatters in growth rate measurement, retardation and arrest at grain boundaries, and crack plane deflection at grain boundaries, etc. The model was used to simulate the growth behaviors of SFCs initiated from prefractured constituent particles in order to interpret the multi-site fatigue crack initiation observed in AA2024-T351 Al alloys. Three types of SFCs were observed initiating from these particles, namely, type-I non-propagating cracks; type-II cracks which were arrested soon after propagating into the matrix; and type-III propagating cracks. To quantitatively study the 3-D effects of particle geometry and micro-texture on the growth behaviors of micro-cracks in these particles, rectangular micro-notches with different dimensions were fabricated using focused ion beam in the selected grains on the T-S planes in AA2024-T351 Al alloys, to mimic the pre-fractured particles in these alloys. Knowing the notch dimensions or particle shape, grain orientation and GB geometry, the simulated crack growth behaviors were consistent with the experimental observations, and the model was able to verify that the three types of cracks evolved from these particles were mainly associated with the thickness and width of the pre-fractured particles, though the particle geometry and grain orientation could also affect the behaviors of fatigue crack initiation at the particles. When the widths of the particles were less than 15 μm, like in most high strength Al alloys, the simulated results confirmed that the crack type was only associated with the particle thickness, consistent with the experimental results in AA2024-T351 alloys with a strong rolling texture. The lives for the SFCs to reach 0.5 mm in length were quantified with the model in the AA2024 alloy, revealing that there was a bimodal distribution in the life spectrum calculated, with the longer life peak being related to larger twist angles of crack deflection at the first GB the cracks encountered and the shorter life peak being associated with small twist angles (< 5°) at the first GB. The model further demonstrated the influence of grain structure on SFC growth by considering two different grain structures with the same initial short crack, namely, a layered grain structure with only the primary GBs perpendicular to the surface and the layered grains with both primary and secondary GBs. Depending on their positions and geometry, the secondary GBs could still exert a strong retarding effect on SFC growth on surface. The model was validated by matching to the growth rate measured on surface of a SFC in an AA8090 Al-Li alloy. Good consistency was achieved between the simulated and experimentally measured growth rates when both the primary and secondary GBs were considered in the model. The model developed in this study exhibits its potential applications to optimizing the microstructure and texture in alloys to enhance their fatigue resistance against fatigue crack growth, and to satisfactory life prediction of engineering alloys.

The objective of this research is to use atomistic simulations to investigate dislocation nucleation from grain boundaries in face-centered cubic aluminum and copper. This research primarily focuses on asymmetric tilt grain boundaries and has three main components. First, this research uses molecular statics simulations of the structure and energy of these faceted, dissociated grain boundary structures to show that Σ3 asymmetric boundaries can be decomposed into the structural units of the Σ3 symmetric tilt grain boundaries, i.e., the coherent and incoherent twin boundaries. Moreover, the energy for all Σ3 asymmetric boundaries is predicted with only the energies of the Σ3 symmetric boundaries and the inclination angle. Understanding the structure of these boundaries provides insight into dislocation nucleation from these boundaries. Further work into the structure and energy of other low order Σ asymmetric boundaries and the spatial distribution of free volume within the grain boundaries also provides insight into dislocation nucleation mechanisms. Second, this research uses molecular dynamics deformation simulations with uniaxial tension applied perpendicular to these boundaries to show that the dislocation nucleation mechanisms in asymmetric boundaries are highly dependent on the faceted, dissociated structure. Grain boundary dislocation sources can act as perfect sources/sinks for dislocations or may violate this premise by increasing the dislocation content of the boundary during nucleation. Furthermore, simulations under uniaxial tension and uniaxial compression show that nucleation of the second partial dislocation in copper exhibits tension-compression asymmetry. Third, this research explores the development of models that incorporate the resolved stress components on the slip system of dislocation nucleation to predict the atomic stress required for dislocation nucleation from single crystals and grain boundaries. Single crystal simulations of homogeneous dislocation nucleation help define the role of lattice orientation on the nucleation stress for grain boundaries. The resolved stress normal to the slip plane on which the dislocation nucleates plays an integral role in the dislocation nucleation stress and related mechanisms. In summary, the synthesis of various aspects of this work has provided improved understanding of how the grain boundary character influences dislocation nucleation in bicrystals, with possible implications for nanocrystalline materials.

Superplastic deformation behaviour of AZ31 magnesium alloy having initial grain sizes 8, 11 and 17μm alloy was investigated at 673 K with initial strain rates ranging from 1x10-2 to 1x10-4 s-1. Mechanical data on fine grained AZ31 alloy with grain sizes 8 and 11 μm indicated a transition in deformation mechanisms. The strain rate sensitivity, m ~ 0.5 at low strain rates and m ~ 0.2 at high strain rates which suggest GBS and dislocation slip as the corresponding deformation mechanism. For coarse grained alloy having grain size 17 μm, m < 0.4 at low strain rates and ~ 0.2 at high strain rates, suggesting dislocation slip as the deformation mechanism. A superplastic maximum elongation of ~ 475% was observed for 8 μm alloy at low rate of deformation. At high strain rates, the deformation was non-superplastic for fine and coarse grained alloys. The contribution of GBS to total strain, ξ in the low strain rate regime was evaluated to be 50 – 60%, for both low and high elongation. EBSD studies indicated the maintenance of high fraction of high angle boundaries up to true strain of ~ 0.88 and a reduction in texture intensity. These observations show GBS as the dominant deformation mechanism for fine grained alloy. At higher strain rate, ξ was estimated to be 30%. Fraction of high angle boundaries was reduced and [0001] direction of grains was found to be rotated towards the tensile direction, suggesting dislocation slip. Based on mechanical data, flow localization and cavitation studies; the failure of the material during high rates of deformation was mainly due to flow localization. Extensive cavitation along with more uniform flow at a lower strain rate regime suggests the failure due to the cavity interlinkage and coalescence. The present GBS data are consistent with the previous relevant data in fine grained Mg based alloys in the low strain rate regime. The GBS data obtained in the dislocation regime in the present study are also in agreement with that of the previous investigations in fine grained Mg alloys.

abstract: Shock loading is a complex phenomenon that can lead to failure mechanisms such as strain localization, void nucleation and growth, and eventually spall fracture. The length scale of damage with respect to that of the surrounding microstructure has proven to be a key aspect in determining sites of failure initiation. Studying incipient stages of spall damage is of paramount importance to accurately determine initiation sites in the material microstructure where damage will nucleate and grow and to formulate continuum models that account for the variability of the damage process due to microstructural heterogeneity, which is the focus of this research. Shock loading experiments were conducted via flyer-plate impact tests for pressures of 2-6 GPa and strain rates of 105/s on copper polycrystals of varying thermomechanical processing conditions. Serial cross sectioning of recovered target disks was performed along with electron microscopy, electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD), focused ion beam (FIB) milling, and 3-D X-ray tomogrpahy (XRT) to gain 2-D and 3-D information on the spall plane and surrounding microstructure. Statistics on grain boundaries (GB) containing damage were obtained from 2-D data and GBs of misorientations 25° and 50° were found to have the highest probability to contain damage in as-received (AR), heat treated (HT), and fully recrystallized (FR) microstructures, while {111} Σ3 GBs were globally strong. The AR microstructure’s probability peak was the most pronounced indicating GB strength is the dominant factor for damage nucleation. 3-D XRT data was used to digitally render the spall planes of the AR, HT, and FR microstructures. From shape fitting the voids to ellipsoids, it was found that the AR microstructure contained greater than 55% intergranular damage, whereas the HT and FR microstructures contained predominantly transgranular and coalesced damage modes, respectively. 3-D reconstructions of large volume damage sites in shocked Cu multicrystals showed preference for damage nucleation at GBs between adjacent grains of a high Taylor factor mismatches as well as an angle between the shock direction and the GB physical normal of ~30°-45°. 3-D FIB sectioning of individual voids led to the discovery of uniform plastic zones ~25-50% the size of the void diameter and plastic deformation directions were characterized via local average misorientation maps. Incipient transgranular voids revealed from the sectioning process were present in grains of high Taylor factors along the shock direction, which is expected as materials with a low Taylor factor along the shock direction are susceptible to growth due their accomodation of plastic deformation. Fabrication of square waves using photolithography and chemical etching was developed to study the nature of plasticity at GBs away from the spall plane. Grains oriented close to <0 1 1> had half the residual amplitudes than grains oriented close to <0 0 1>. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2015

Resumo: O objetivo deste projeto foi estudar o efeito da segregação de dopantes em cerâmicas à base de SnO2 obtidas pelo método de mistura de óxidos para verificar como a segregação dos dopantes para o contorno de grão influencia as propriedades elétricas que são, basicamente, uma propriedade do contorno de grão nas cerâmicas de SnO2. Estes resultados foram comparados com os resultados obtidos para as cerâmicas preparadas pelo método de precipitação com uréia. As características morfológicas dos pós foram correlacionadas às características elétricas e microestruturais das cerâmicas. As características de microestrutura e de segregação foram acompanhadas por microscopia eletrônica de varredura e por microscopia eletrônica de transmissão. As características elétricas incluíram medidas de impedância complexa e de tensãocorrente. Os valores de energia de barreira de potencial aumentaram com a concentração de Cr2O3 para os sistemas à base de SnO2. Observou-se que a resistividade elétrica, dos sistemas dopados com cromo, aumentou com sua concentração e este comportamento pode ser atribuído à diminuição do tamanho médio de grão que acompanha o aumento da concentração de cromo. A partir das concentrações ≥ 0,10 % mol de Cr2O3 observou-se forte diminuição nos tamanhos de grão das amostras. O circuito equivalente é do tipo 'arco de Cole' que apresenta um elemento de fase constante atribuído às depressões dos semicírculos. Através da aproximação de Mukae, calculou-se os valores de densidade de doadores de carga, densidade de estados de superfície e tensão por barreira. Observou-se que estes parâmetros aumentaram com a concentração de cromo e que os valores de coeficiente não-linear apresentaram tendência de acompanhar o aumento desses valores nos sistemas estudados. Os sistemas preparados pelo...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The objective of this project was to study the effect of dopant segregation in SnO2-based ceramics obtained by the method of oxide mixture in order to verify how the segregation of the dopants into the grain boundary influences the electrical properties which are, basically, a property of the grain boundary in SnO2 ceramics. These results have been compared with the results obtained for ceramics prepared by the precipitation method with urea. The powder morphological characteristics have been correlated to the electrical and microstructural characteristics of the ceramics. The microstructure and segregation characteristics have been followed by scanning electronic microscopy and transmission electronic microscopy. The electrical characteristics included complex impedance and current-voltage measurements. The values of potential energy barrier increased with the Cr2O3 concentration for the SnO2-based systems. It was observed that the electrical resistivity of the chromium doped systems increased with its concentration and this behaviour can be attributed to the reduction of the mean grain size, which accompanies the increase of chromium concentration. From concentrations ≥ 0,10 % mol de Cr2O3 it was observed a strong reduction in the grain sizes of the samples. The equivalent circuit is of the 'Cole arc' type which presents a constant phase element attributed to the depressions of the semicircles. By using Mukae's approximation, the values of charge donors density, surface states density and barrier voltage were calculated. It was observed that these parameters increased with the chromium concentration and that the values of the nonlinear coefficient had a tendency to follow the increase of these values in the studied systems. The systems prepared by the method of conventional oxide mixture presented precipitates, in the grain ...(Complete abstract, click electronic access below) / Orientador: Wanda Cecília Las. / Coorientador: Mario Cilense. / Doutor

Les aubes de turbines haute pression des turboréacteurs sont soumises à des chargements thermomécaniques sévères en service. Elles sont actuellement fabriquées par solidification dirigée sous forme de monocristaux orientés suivant la direction <001> le long de la direction principale de l'aube. La solidification peut entrainer dans certains cas l'apparition de défauts, notamment la formation de deux grains : l'aube est alors constituée de deux grains d'orientations différentes. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier l'influence de la présence d'un joint de grains sur la durée de vie de l'aube en superalliage AM1. Dans un premier temps, nous avons réalisé une étude expérimentale sur aubes réelles afin de déterminer l'influence du joint de grains sur la rupture par fatigue en flexion à différentes températures. Pour cela, des entailles ont été usinées dans les aubes pour solliciter de façon préférentielle le joint de grains au sein de l'aube dans des essais de type flexion. Cette étude a permis de mettre en évidence le rôle du joint de grains sur la durée de vie de l'aube selon la température d'essai, l'orientation cristallographique relative des grains, la position du joint de grains et le type de sollicitation. Parallèlement, une étude exprimentale sur éprouvettes bi-cristallines de type fatigue oligocyclique a été conduite en traction compression, avec une contrainte principale de traction suivant la normale au plan moyen du joint. Ces essais ont permis de quantifier la réduction de durée de vie induite par la présence du joint de grains par rapport à une éprouvette monocristalline. Un critère de rupture a été ainsi introduit dans la loi d'endommagement développée par l'Onera pour le superalliage monocristallin d'AM1. Ce critère de durée de vie a été appliqué dans les simulations numériques des aubes remaillées et permet de faire une première estimation de la nocivité du joint de grains dans les aubes. / The high pressure turbine blade of aeroengine are submitted to severe thermomechanical loading in service. The turbine blade are curently manufactured by directionnal solidification with oriented single crystal on the direction <001>, along the principal direction of the blade.The solidification process can induce different defects in the structure.This study is focused on a particular defect: the formation of two crystals in a blade. Defective turbine blades are composed of two grains with different orientation.The aim of this present thesis is to study the influence of the grain boundary on AM1 superalloy blade fatigue life. First, experimental investigations have been performed to understand at different temperatures, the influence of grain boundaries on fatigue fracture due to bending loadings. Notches have been introduced on turbine blades in order to accentuate solicitations on grain boundary. These experiments have evidenced the major role of grain boundary and grains orientations on turbine blade fatigue life.Then another experimental investigation has been carried out under low cycle fatigue on bicrystal specimens with tension/compression loading; the tensile principal stress is along the normal direction of the grain boundary mean plane. These tests allowed quantification of the fatigue life decrease due to the presence of grain boundary compared to the fatigue life of single crystal specimens.A failure criterion have been introduced in the damage constitutive behavior of single crystal AM1 developped by the Onera. This lifetime prediction model have been implemented in FE simulations. It allows the evaluation of the sensivity of grain boundary on turbine blade.