Abstract

Bimodal bulk nanocristalline (nc)/ultrafine (UF) aluminum was produced after cryomilling and spark plasma sintering consolidation process. The samples obtainedwere plastically deformed in uniaxial compression. We show that there is a significant fraction of plastic strain (11%) that can be recovered after unloading. High-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments revealed that, there is a correlation between plastic strain recovery and microstructural evolution detected during in-situ loading-unloading experiments. Using a deconvolution approach, the nanostructured volume fraction (grain size below 100 nm) and the UF counterpart (grain size above 100-150 nm)were separated in terms of lattice strain, microstrain, crystallite size and crystallographic texture. During loading-unloading cycles we observe a lattice strain splitting between nc and UF volume fractions, a complete recovery of the peak broadening and a recovery of texture. These intriguing phenomena were explained to be strictly correlated with the lattice strain splitting behavior which act as the driving force for dislocation recombination.