Experimental and theoretical studies of the superposition of intergranular and macroscopic strains in Ni-based industrial alloys

Measurements of the strain response to applied stress in polycrystalline MONEL-400 by neutron diffraction are modeled with the elastoplastic self-consistent (EPSC) theory. The strains in the different crystallographic orientations of grains, which are generated in the tensile test experiments, are shown to be caused by the anisotropy of elastic and plastic deformation with respect to crystallographic orientation. On the basis of the description of the results in the theory, the origin of a number of anomalies of a general nature in measurements by both neutron and X-ray diffraction can be understood. The theory is used to calculate which crystallographic reflections are least sensitive to intergranular effects under uniaxial tension.