Microstructural Evolution Study Under Shear Loading: A Combined CPFFT Simulation and EBSD Investigation

Abstract

Metals and alloys exhibit scale‐dependent mechanical behavior governed by crystallographic slip, requiring explicit consideration of slip systems in microscale simulations of polycrystals. Crystal plasticity (CP) theory addresses this by explicitly modeling anisotropy and slip‐system interactions. In this study, the texture evolution of an aluminum wire under shear was investigated using the spectral solver of the crystal plasticity fast Fourier transform (CPFFT) method on a 100‐grain representative volume element (RVE). An initial non‐random ⟨100⟩ fiber texture was assigned based on electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements, and the accuracy of the CPFFT predictions was validated against experimental EBSD results. Pole figure and ODF analyses of the deformed sample confirmed the partial development of FCC simple‐shear‐related texture components, indicating a shear‐induced modification of the inherited wire‐drawing texture rather than a complete replacement by a fully developed shear texture. EBSD misorientation analysis showed an increase in the high‐angle grain‐boundary fraction from 28.52% to 46.05% and an increase in the average misorientation angle from 11.86° to 20.39° after half‐turn torsion, indicating enhanced torsion‐induced misorientation development. Both experimental and simulated inverse pole figures exhibited an intensified [001] || SD fiber after shear. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the simulations to grain number and grid resolution was examined as a numerical verification step. Increasing the number of grains from 10 to 100 and 500 improved predictive accuracy, while variations in grid resolution had minor effects. The yield strength increased from 80 to 92.3 MPa, and the average hardness increased from 53.06 to 57.46 HV after deformation.