Experimental study of discontinuous plastic flow, phase transformation and micro-damage evolution in ductile materials at cryogenic temperatures

The present Thesis deals with three low temperature phenomena occurring in ductile materials subjected to mechanical loads: serrated yielding, plastic strain induced γ-α' phase transformation and evolution of micro-damage: - the Thesis explains the physical mechanisms governing each phenomenon at the micro and macroscopic levels; - the document describes in detail the advanced laboratory equipment needed for cryogenic experiments; - the results of tests carried out with unique precision and focused on serrated yielding and evolution of micro-damage (the observations were made with different strain rates and with the use of different materials) are presented; - validation of suitable kinetic laws and identification of parameters for tested materials is carried out.