Grain size reduction by dynamic recrystallization: can it result in major rheological weakening?

It is widely believed that grain size reduction by dynamic recrystallization can lead to major rheological weakening and associated strain localization by bringing about a switch from grain size insensitive dislocation creep to grain size sensitive diffusion creep. Recently, however, we advanced the hypothesis that, rather than a switch, dynamic recrystallization leads to a balance between grain size reduction and grain growth processes set up in the neighborhood of the boundary between the dislocation creep field and the diffusion creep field. In this paper, we compare the predictions implied by our hypothesis with those of other models for dynamic recrystallization. We also evaluate the full range of models against experimental data on a variety of materials. We conclude that a temperature dependence of the relationship between recrystallized grain size and flow stress cannot be neglected a priori. This should be taken into account when estimating natural flow stresses using experimentally calibrated recrystallized grain size piezometers. We also demonstrate experimental support for the field boundary hypothesis. This support implies that significant weakening by grain size reduction in localized shear zones is possible only if caused by a process other than dynamic recrystallization (such as syntectonic reaction or cataclasis) or if grain growth is inhibited.     

大变形橄榄石动态重结晶的实验观测研究

本文利用高温高压大变形扭转实验,对富铁橄榄石大变形情况下的动态重结晶和颗粒尺度变化的特点进行了实验观测分析.富铁橄榄石集合体由纯铁橄榄石Fa100和圣卡罗橄榄石Fa10混合物经人工合成得到,试件的几何形状为圆柱体,直径9.6mm,高度4.86mm.实验在常角速率条件下进行,温度为1473K,围压为300MPa,剪应力为72 ～ 99MPa,剪应变率为1.35×10-4～3.11×10-4s-1,累积剪应变为3.98.对变形后样品的微结构进行了光学和扫描电镜的观测分析,得到橄榄石颗粒随应变增加而产生动态重结晶的具体物理图像,由EBSD观测结果给出了晶格取向随外加应变增加而产生的变化过程,利用两种统计方法得到了颗粒尺寸随应变增加而变化的过程,探讨了橄榄石动态重结晶的微观机制.与已有三轴压缩、简单剪切以及圣卡罗橄榄石的扭转变形结果进行了对比分析,同时对实验结果在地球物理方面的应用进行了讨论.     

Water-enhanced dynamic recrystallization and solution transfer in experimentally deformed carnallite

Cylindrical samples of polycrystalline carnallite (KMgCl₃, 6H₂O) were deformed in a triaxial apparatus at 60°C, at confining pressures between 0.1 and 31 MPa and at strain rates between 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻⁸ s⁻¹. In a number of cases, small amounts of saturated carnallite brine were added. Samples without added brine deform by intracrystalline slip, mechanical twinning, cracking, and by frictional sliding on crack surfaces. Stress-strain curves of these samples are strongly dependent on confining pressure. Addition of brine has a dramatic effect on both microstructural development and mechanical properties. Grain-boundary migration is strongly enhanced. At lower strain rates, additional intracrystalline effects start to appear, together with the onset of solution transfer. Rapid compaction in samples deformed with added brine causes high fluid pressures to develop. At higher strain rates addition of brine results in a decrease of the flow stress by a factor of two. This weakening will increase even further at strain rates below about 10⁻⁹ s⁻¹, when solution transfer becomes rate controlling. It is argued that deformation of carnallite in nature is adequately described by the flow law found for samples deformed with added brine.     

Ductile faulting, dynamic recrystallization and grain-size-sensitive flow of olivine

Twiss (1976) has suggested that the “ductile faulting” events observed by Post (1973) during high temperature creep of dunite are due to a transition from creep by dislocation movement to a diffusion accommodated, grain-boundary sliding mechanism following a reduction in grain size by dynamic recrystallization. Similarly, Goetze (1978) has explained both ductile faulting and water weakening of dunite by transition to a “nonlinear Coble” creep mechanism. However, the fundamental assumption made by Twiss (1976) that the stress exponent, n, reduces to unity during ductile faulting events is questionable. If the stress exponent remains high, (n≥3), then a diffusion-accomodated grain-boundary sliding mechanism is excluded. “Nonlinear Coble” creep would remain a viable alternative; however, this model fails to adequately explain the water weakening phenomenon, and the available data do not constrain us to this model. Assuming that the water-weakening phenomenon can be explained by other models (e.g., Blacic, 1972), it will be shown (by analogy with the behavior of metals) that a third model, also consistent with the available data, also qualitatively explains the observations associated with ductile faulting without appeal to a transition in creep mechanisms. The model is similar to one for metals undergoing deformation by dislocation movement and recovery by dynamic recrystallization, which commonly exhibit behavior virtually identical to that observed in dunite during ductile faulting events without transition to grain-size-sensitive creep mechanisms.     

通过构造岩鉴别岩石动态重结晶的机制

岩石如书,包含着丰富的地球演化信息。通过破解这本天书,地质学家得以了解发生在地球内部的地质过程。构造岩中的显微构造是“写在岩石中的变形过程”。通过显微构造观察,可以了解岩石矿物的变形机理。以天山造山带内发育的糜棱岩为具体实例,介绍了中、下地壳层次变形岩石动态重结晶的机理及形成的相关显微构造的特点。由于构造岩均是经历过重结晶作用的产物,显微观察只能揭示变形矿物重结晶的机制。在中、下地壳层次,矿物动态重结晶的主要机理分为3种（从低温到高温）：膨胀鼓出(BLG,又称膨凸)、亚晶粒旋转(SGR)和高温颗粒边界迁移(GBM)。这3种方式形成各具特色的显微构造：BLG形成近等粒交叉舌状构造;SGR产生定向排列的拉长新颗粒条带;而GBM造成典型的具不规则状颗粒边界、大小悬殊的新颗粒组合、颗粒内部波状消光不明显的显微构造。除了温度条件外,应变速率对动态重结晶机制也有明显的影响。在显微构造观察过程中,详细、全面应该是最重要的原则。     

A method for quantitatively analysing dynamic recrystallization in deformed quartzitic rocks

Quantification of the microstructural changes brought about by dynamic recrystallization is essential for the interpretation of deformation mechanism histories and for the understanding of recrystallization as a syn-kinematic process. A method is presented for analysing the degree of dynamic recrystallization and for reconstructing the original grain-size distribution from that measured in the deformed specimen. This is based on size distribution measurements and comparative volume calculations between subsets of grains which contain rutile inclusions and subsets which do not. Application of the method to some quartzites from the Kilmory Bay Syncline, S. W. Highlands, Scotland, demonstrates that up to 25% of the apparent matrix grains are new grains produced by the dynamic recrystallization of porphyroclasts, and that the new grains alone compose more than 12% of the total rock volume. These figures are 2–3 times larger than estimates made by normal petrographic inspection. It is also shown that grain-size distributions alone convey little information about the microstructural changes and that grain-size vs volume fraction graphs are more meaningful.     

Intragranular dynamic recrystallization in naturally deformed calcite marble: diffusion accommodated grain boundary sliding as a result of subgrain rotation recrystallization

Intragranular microshear zones within a greenschist facies calcite marble were studied to try to constrain better the processes of dynamic recrystallization as well as the deformation processes that occur within newly recrystallized grains. Intragranular recrystallized grains within large, twinned calcite porphyroclasts can be related to the host from which they have recrystallized and are the focus of an electron backscatter diffraction study. Lattice distortions, low angle boundaries and some high angle boundaries (>15°) in the microshears within a porphyroclast have the same misorientation axes suggesting that deformation occurred by climb-accommodated dislocation creep involving subgrain rotation recrystallization. Changes in the ratio of host and twin domain, as the deformation zone is entered, show that twin boundary migration also occurred. Recrystallized grains have similar sizes (10–60 μm) to subgrains, suggesting that they formed by subgrain rotation. However, within the intragranular microshear zones the misorientations between recrystallized grains and porphyroclasts are considerably larger than 15° and misorientation axes are randomly oriented. Moreover recrystallized grain orientations average around the porphyroclast orientation. We suggest that the recrystallized grains, once formed, are able to deform partly by diffusion accommodated grain boundary sliding, which is consistent with predictions made from lab flow laws.     

On the inter-relationship between grain size sensitive creep and dynamic recrystallization of olivine

The recent theoretical results of Twiss (1976) and Goetze (1978) suggest that at high temperatures and sufficiently high stresses the creep behavior of dry olivine should be dominated by either nonlinear diffusion accommodated grain-boundary sliding or nonlinear Coble creep mechanisms. This would result following the production of a fine grain-size by dynamic recrystallization. For the high-temperature experimental work performed by Karato et al. (1982) dry single crystals of olivine were almost totally recrystallized during creep, and temperature changing experiments were performed on the resulting dynamically recrystallizing polycrystalline aggregates. However, the activation energy for creep determined by Karato et al. (1982) was far higher than that predicted by the models of Twiss (1976) or Goetze (1978), although the conditions required for operation of at least the model of Twiss (1976) apparently were satisfied. The data for the highly recrystallized specimens from the higher stress, lower temperature experiments of Zeuch and Green (1979) and Zeuch (1980) are in good agreement with the results of Karato et al. (1982). These latter experiments were conducted under conditions where either the model of Twiss (1976) or Goetze (1978) should have been applicable. I tentatively conclude that although fine grain sizes were produced in the experiments of Karato et al. (1982), Zeuch and Green (1979) and Zeuch (1980) by dynamic recrystallization, there is no evidence for a transition to grain-boundary diffusional creep mechanisms at high or low stresses despite the predictions of Twiss (1976) or Goetze (1978). Instead, deformation is dominated by dislocation movement with recovery by dynamic recrystallization.     

Dislocation generation, slip systems, and dynamic recrystallization in experimentally deformed plagioclase single crystals

Three samples of gem quality plagioclase crystals of An60 were experimentally deformed at 900 °C, 1 GPa confining pressure and strain rates of 7.5–8.7×10⁻⁷ s⁻¹. The starting material is effectively dislocation-free so that all observed defects were introduced during the experiments. Two samples were shortened normal to one of the principal slip planes (010), corresponding to a “hard” orientation, and one sample was deformed with a Schmid factor of 0.45 for the principal slip system [001](010), corresponding to a “soft” orientation. Several slip systems were activated in the “soft” sample: dislocations of the [001](010) and 110(001) system are about equally abundant, whereas 110{111} and [101] in ( 31) to ( 42) are less common. In the “soft” sample plastic deformation is pervasive and deformation bands are abundant. In the “hard” samples the plastic deformation is concentrated in rims along the sample boundaries. Deformation bands and shear fractures are common. Twinning occurs in close association with fracturing, and the processes are clearly interrelated. Glissile dislocations of all observed slip systems are associated with fractures and deformation bands indicating that deformation bands and fractures are important sites of dislocation generation. Grain boundaries of tiny, defect-free grains in healed fracture zones have migrated subsequent to fracturing. These grains represent former fragments of the fracture process and may act as nuclei for new grains during dynamic recrystallization. Nucleation via small fragments can explain a non-host-controlled orientation of recrystallized grains in plagioclase and possibly in other silicate materials which have been plastically deformed near the semi-brittle to plastic transition.     

Dynamic recrystallization of wet synthetic polycrystalline halite: dependence of grain size distribution on flow stress, temperature and strain

It is often observed that dynamic recrystallization results in a recrystallized grain size distribution with a mean grain size that is inversely related to the flow stress. However, it is still open to discussion if theoretical models that underpin recrystallized grain size–stress relations offer a satisfactorily microphysical basis. The temperature dependence of recrystallized grain size, predicted by most of these models, is rarely observed, possibly because it is usually not systematically investigated. In this study, samples of wet halite containing >10 ppm water (by weight) were deformed in axial compression at 50 MPa confining pressure. The evolution of the recrystallized grain size distribution with strain was investigated using experiments achieving natural strains of 0.07, 0.12 and 0.25 at a strain rate of 5×10⁻⁷ s⁻¹ and a temperature of 125 °C. The stress and temperature dependence of recrystallized grain size was systematically investigated using experiments achieving fixed strains of 0.29–0.46 (and one to a strain of 0.68) at constant strain rates of 5×10⁻⁷–1×10⁻⁴ s⁻¹ and temperatures of 75–240 °C, yielding stresses of 7–22 MPa. The microstructures and full grain size distributions of all samples were analyzed. The results showed that deformation occurred by a combination of dislocation creep and solution-precipitation creep. Dynamic recrystallization occurred in all samples and was dominated by fluid assisted grain boundary migration. During deformation, grain boundary migration results in a competition between grain growth due to the removal of grains with high internal strain energy and grain size reduction due to grain dissection (i.e. moving boundaries that crosscut or consume parts of neighbouring grains). At steady state, grain growth and grain size reduction processes balance, yielding constant flow stress and recrystallized grain size that is inversely related to stress and temperature. Evaluation of the recrystallized grain size data against the different models for the development of mean steady state recrystallized grain size revealed that the data are best described by a model based on the hypothesis that recrystallized grain size organizes itself in the boundary between the (grain size sensitive) solution-precipitation and (grain size insensitive) dislocation creep fields. Application of a piezometer, calibrated using the recrystallized grain size data, to natural halite rock revealed that paleostresses can vary significantly with temperature (up to a factor of 2.5 for T=50–200 °C) and that the existing temperature independent recrystallized grain size–stress piezometer may significantly underestimate flow stresses in natural halite rock.     

Deformation and ultrafine dynamic recrystallization of quartz in pseudotachylyte-bearing brittle faults: A matter of a few seconds

Tectonic pseudotachylytes, i.e. quenched friction-induced silicate melts, record coseismic slip along faults and are mainly reported from the brittle crust in association with cataclasites. In this study, we document the occurrence of recrystallization of quartz to ultrafine-grained (grain size 1–2 μm) aggregates along microshear zones (50–150 μm thick) in the host rock adjacent to pseudotachylytes from two different faults within quartzite (Schneeberg Normal Fault Zone, Eastern Alps), and tonalite (Adamello fault, Southern Alps) in the brittle crust. The transition from the host quartz to microshear zone interior includes: (i) formation of high dislocation densities; (ii) fine (0.3–0.5 μm) polygonization to subgrains defined by disordered to well-ordered dislocation walls; (iii) development of a mosaic aggregate of dislocation-free new grains. The crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) of quartz towards the microshear zone shows a progressive misorientation from the host grain, by subgrain rotation recrystallization, to a nearly random CPO possibly related to grain boundary sliding. These ultrafine aggregates appear to be typically associated with pseudotachylytes in nature. We refer the crystal plastic deformation of quartz accompanied by dramatic grain size refinement to the coseismic stages of fault slip due to high differential stress and temperature transients induced by frictional heating. Microshear zones localized on precursory fractures developed during the stages of earthquake rupture propagation and the very initial stages of fault slip. Thermal models indicate that the process of recrystallization, including recovery processes, occurred in a time lapse of a few tens of seconds.     

A scanning electron microscope study of the effects of dynamic recrystallization on lattice preferred orientation in olivine

Effects of dynamic recrystallization on lattice preferred orientation (LPO) in olivine were investigated through the combination of two SEM-based techniques, electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) technique for crystallographic orientation measurement and backscattered electron imaging (BEI) for dislocation observation. Samples are experimentally deformed olivine aggregates in simple shear geometry. In the sample deformed at T=1473 K and high stresses (480 MPa), only incipient dynamic recrystallization is observed along grain-boundaries. Orientations of these small recrystallized grains are more random than that of relict grains, suggesting an important role of grain-boundary sliding at this stage of recrystallization. In the sample deformed at T=1573 K and low stress (160 MPa), dynamic recrystallization is nearly complete and the LPO is characterized by two [100] peaks. One peak is located at the orientation subparallel to the shear direction and is dominated by grains with high Schmid factor. The other occurs at high angles to the shear direction and is due to the contribution from grains with low Schmid factor. Grains with high Schmid factor tend to have higher dislocation densities than those with low Schmid factor. Based on these observations, we identify two mechanisms by which dynamic recrystallization affects LPO: (1) enhancement of grain-boundary sliding due to grain-size reduction, leading to the modification of LPO caused by the relaxation of constraint for deformation; (2) grain-boundary migration by which grains with lower dislocation densities grow at the expense of grains with higher dislocation densities. Based on the deformation mechanism maps and stress versus recrystallized grain-size relation, we suggest that the first mechanism always plays an important role whereas the second mechanism has an important effect only under limited conditions.     

Subgrain rotation and dynamic recrystallization of olivine, upper mantle diapirism, and extension of the basin-and-range province

On the basis of an abrupt change of olivine grain size at certain depths in the upper mantle beneath the Basin-and-Range province in the western U.S.A., Mercier (1980b) proposed that subgrain rotation (SGR) recrystallization had taken place above the grain size discontinuity, and grain boundary migration (GBM) recrystallization at depths greater than the discontinuity.The rotation of subgrains and the characteristics of dynamically recrystallized neoblasts of olivine were analyzed in a series of dunite samples deformed experimentally to compressive strains of about 15–60%. Whereas the rotation angle between adjacent subgrains increases with strain, the mean rotation angle did not exceed 2° even in the most heavily deformed samples. Rotation angles between kink bands, which formed at all experimental conditions, also increase with strain; at the highest strains rotations of up to 110° are not uncommon. At low strains the dominant rotation axis between kinks is [001] and less frequently [ovw]; at high strains [uvw] rotation axes are common. Neoblasts did form mainly on old grain boundaries and less frequently within old grains. Rotation axes between intragranular neoblasts and their hosts are of the type [uvw] and the rotation angles are always large, features which seem to be inconsistent with SGR recrystallization and suggest GBM recrystallization. Neoblasts may have formed in highly strained regions of old grains where slip occurs with [uvw] rotation axes.The olivine textures and fabrics of lherzolite nodules originating in the uppermost mantle above the grain size discontinuity are similar to those of nodules from the Dreiser Weiher, Germany (Mercier, 1980b). A study of Dreiser Weiher samples shows, however, that they have features difficult to reconcile with the SGR mechanism.It is proposed here that GBM recrystallization occurred throughout a rising upper mantle diapir beneath the Basin-and-Range extension zone. As the upward flow crossed the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary at about 65 km depth, it diverged causing flow velocities to decrease abruptly and the strain rate dropped approximately by an order of magnitude. As a consequence the differential stress decreased by about a factor of two and the olivine grain size increased by a factor of two.     

大陆中部地壳应变局部化与应变弱化

大陆岩石圈流变学研究是构造地质学学科发展的必然,也是发展板块构造理论、探索大陆板块内部变形与动力学演化的核心问题。大陆中部地壳是大陆岩石圈中一个具有特殊性的圈层,其主要成分以花岗质岩石为代表,位于岩石脆-韧性转变域。在中部地壳层次上,岩石既具有脆性变形特点,又具有韧性变形属性,而且常常表现出多种流变强度。研究成果显示,中部地壳岩石流变具有许多特殊性：1）应变局部化是中部地壳流动最为典型表现形式;2）存在大陆地壳多震层：多震与强震,显示出中部地壳既弱又强的流变学属性;3）液/岩反应强烈,流体相直接影响着岩石的流变性;4）在许多地区存在有地球物理异常体（低速高导体）。大陆中部地壳应变局部化是板块相互作用过程中地壳层次上应变积累与集中的重要表现。在宏观尺度、中小型尺度和微观尺度上都有着重要的构造特点。地壳岩石的应变弱化,是诱发应变局部化的主要机制。多种形式的水致弱化（包括液压致裂、反应弱化、水解弱化等）与结构弱化（包括细粒化、晶格取向、成分分带性等）对于应变局部化具有重要的贡献。大陆地壳岩石流变学、中部地壳弱化与应变局部化研究,是未来岩石圈流变学研究的重要方向。

     

Static recovery and recrystallization microstructures in sheared octachloropropane

Octachloropropane (C₃C1₈) was sheared using a press mounted on an optical microscope and then allowed to adjust its microstructure statically, at the deformation temperature. Depending on strain rate and deformation temperature, the post-deformational changes in microstructure are strikingly different. After low temperature-high strain-rate deformation, fast growth of new strain-free grains on the boundaries of deformed grains results in the obliteration of grain-shape foliation and intracrystalline deformation features, and the development of a foam texture. After high temperature—low strain-rate deformation, on the other hand, grain-shape foliation and grains with subgrain boundaries tend to survive the adjustment. Lattice preferred orientation is maintained after the post-deformational adjustment at both deformation conditions and thus remains a good indicator of deformation.     

Microstructures associated with static and dynamic recrystallization of Carrara marble (Alpi Apuane,NW Tuscany,Italy)

The present contribution summarizes the first results of a study focusing on microstructures from Alpi Apuane marbles. Its aim is both an analysis of the evolution of the metamorphic complex recorded in marbles and the supply of basic material for process-oriented studies on calcite microstructures due to natural deformation. Quantitative analysis of the variations of statically recrystallized microstructures suggest a relationship with the peak metamorphic temperatures. Previously unrecognized post-thermal peak shear zones, showing overprint microstructures typical of grain-boundary migration and dynamic recrystallization, are described; they document the natural deformation of Carrara marble.     

Hydrothermal recrystallization and transformation of tridymite

Well ordered tridymites containing atmost 0.016% Na (0.004% Na) were prepared at 1400° C from Na₂WO₄-(K₂WO₄-) fluxes using high purity amorphous silica as starting material. No further reduction of these Na-contents was attainable by soxhlet extraction. These tridymites were treated hydrothermally at temperatures between 815 and 950° C and 200 bars H₂O. The products obtained were investigated optically as well as by powder X-ray methods and were analyzed for Na-contents: the hydrothermal treatment resulted either in recrystallization of tridymite or transformation into quartz mostly depending on Na-contents. Na-contents below about 0.015% tend to favour recrystallization of tridymite within the quartz field (<870° C), Na-contents above about 0.03% tend to favour formation of quartz within the tridymite field (>870° C). This may be due to influences of Na-traces either on the kinetics or on the equilibrium temperature of tridymite-quartz transformation.     

北疆侏罗系与白垩系泥质砂岩物理力学特性对比分析及其能量损伤演化机制研究

以石英云母片岩为对象,采用单轴压缩试验,探讨这类脆性片理化岩石在干燥和含水状态下的特征强度与能量演化的加载方向效应,并结合微观组构特征与宏观破坏模式,揭示片岩力学行为各向异性的机制。结果表明：(1)加载过程中,能量演化曲线与岩石的变形损伤变化有较好的对应关系,据此可快速准确地确定岩石的特征强度;(2)干燥和含水状态下片岩的特征强度皆表现为α=90°>α=0°>α=30°,其中,α=30°时,片岩强度对水的响应更为敏感,水对片岩的强度各向异性有一定增强作用;(3)α=90°试样的能量存储与耗散始终高于α=0°、30°试样,但相比α=90°而言,α=30°时,片岩的岩爆倾向性更强,岩石的损伤发展较为迅速;(4)岩石中的片状矿物和微裂隙为水的润滑、软化、水楔作用提供了物质基础,占主导地位的水作用随加载方向有所不同;(5)岩石内的片状矿物定向排列与软硬层近互层状分布的微观结构决定了裂纹产生与扩展机制的加载方向效应,本质上控制着岩石的强度与能量的各向异性。     

Thermal shock weakening of granite rock under dynamic loading: 3D numerical modeling based on embedded discontinuity finite elements

This paper presents a numerical study of thermal shock weakening of granite rock under dynamic loading. A fully 3D numerical scheme based on a combined continuum viscodamage-embedded discontinuity model and an explicit scheme to solve the underlying thermomechanical problem was developed and validated through numerical examples. First, the dynamic Brazilian disc test is simulated on intact numerical rock. Then, thermal shock-induced cracking due to a moving external heat flux boundary condition, mimicking experiments based on plasma jet treatment, is numerically predicted. Finally, numerical Brazilian disc test is conducted on the thermal shocked numerical samples. The predicted and experimental weakening effects are in good agreement demonstrating that the present modeling approach has good predictive capabilities. The practical significance of the results is that heat shock pretreatment can substantially enhance rock gravel and rubble crushing.