Self-consistent elastic properties for transversely isotropic polycrystals

The elastic constants of a polycrystalline material are related to the single crystal elastic constants, the distribution of crystalline orientations, and the shapes of the crystallites. In order to address the needs of thin film mechanics, Kneer's method for obtaining self-consistent polycrystalline elastic constants from single crystal constants is applied to materials with transversely isotropic physical symmetry, cubic, hexagonal, and rhombohedral crystal symmetry, and an average grain aspect ratio. Crystallographic texture contributes more to anisotropy than grain shape in the cubic materials examined. However, grain shape anisotropy is a significant contributor in the hexagonal and rhombohedral crystal symmetries when varying degrees of [100] crystallographic texture exist. (C) 1997 Acta Metallurgica Inc.