Effect of stochastic processes on structure formation in nanocrystalline materials under severe plastic deformation.

Based on the nonequilibrium evolution thermodynamics, the structure refinement of metals during severe plastic deformation is investigated. To describe the formation of stationary (limiting) submicrocrystalline or nanocrystalline structures, a two-defect approximation, including the grain boundaries and dislocations, is used. Introduction of the additive noise for the main parameters into the governing equations allowed us to describe the self-consistent behavior of structural defects during the stationary structure formation. Conditions of achieving the stationary state are investigated and possible scenarios of structure refinement modes are determined. Obtained grain boundary density distributions help to estimate the composition of grain structure in the bulk of metal sample quantitatively. The analysis of time evolution of the grain boundaries density shows the presence of correlated fluctuations. The autocorrelation function, describing the frequency characteristics of the structure refinement, is determined.