New Insights on Dynamic Recrystallization Mechanisms in Ice from High Resolution EBSD Observations and Strain Field Measurements.

Abstract:

Dynamic recrystallization (DRX) strongly affects the evolution of microstructure (grain size and shape) and texture (crystal preferred orientation) during deformation at high temperature. Since texturing leads to anisotropic physical properties, predicting the effect of DRX in metals is essential for industrial applications, in rocks for interpreting geophysical data and modeling geodynamic flows, or in ice for predicting ice sheet flow and climate evolution.

Along ice cores extracted from ice sheets, Continuous DRX (CDRX) and Discontinuous DRX (DDRX) mechanisms are observed at various depths, the later being favoured by the high temperature encountered close to the bedrock, and local high level of strain. In laboratory conditions, with higher strain rate and stress levels, DDRX dominates mechanical response during tertiary creep, when deviatoric stress is low enough to avoid micro fracturation (σ < 1MPa).

Similarly to the case of metals or rocks, relations between DRX nucleation mechanisms and strain heterogeneities at the grain scale remain poorly known and therefore poorly constrained in DRX modeling.

We will present recent observations performed on laboratory made and deformed ice polycrystals (σ ~ 0.5 MPa, T ~ -7°C) that enable to access high resolution observations of intragranular sub-structures (dislocation field, subgrains, nucleus) via Electron BackScattering Diffraction (EBSD), and high resolution strain field measurements around DRX nucleation area.

Analyses of these observations highlight the complexity of nucleation mechanisms in ice, with the formation of kink bands, of bulging, and of “spontaneous” nucleation. Strain field measurements evidence the influence of nucleation on the relaxation of strain incompatibilities at grain boundaries and triple junctions. At last, torsion experiments enabled to draw hypotheses about the role of nucleation on DRX textures.