HR: 14:00h
AN: T33F-02 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Deformation-Induced Grain Boundary Wetting and its Effects on the Acoustic and Rheological Properties of Partially Molten Rock Analogue
AU: * Takei, Y
EM: ytakei@eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp
AF: Earthquake Research Institute, Univ. of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0032 Japan
AB: An experimental study was performed to investigate the effects of deviatoric stress on the microstructure of partially molten polycrystalline aggregates. Borneol (organic crystal) + melt system having an eutectic temperature of 43°C and a moderate dihedral angle was used as a partially molten rock analogue. Large samples (70mm cube) having melt fractions of 0.089-0.22 were deformed ductilely under a uniform pure shear stress (shear strain rate = ~ 0.8-7× 10-7 s-1), while monitoring the sample microstructure in situ using ultrasonic shear waves. Each sample was deformed repeatedly by changing the principal stress direction, resulting in the microstructural changes well detectable under the microscope. The most remarkable features of the stress- and/or deformation-induced microstructural changes are enhanced grain-boundary wetting, enhanced grain coarsening, and formation of large (~ sample scale) melt sheet parallel to the shear plane, which is an assembly of completely wetted two-grain boundaries at the microscopic scale. Significant changes in the elastic, anelastic, and viscous properties associated with these microstructural changes were observed. Grain-boundary contiguity, which is defined by the ratio of grain-to-grain contact area relative to the total surface area of each grain, is the essential geometric factor determining the macroscopic mechanical properties of solid-liquid composites. Anisotropy of grain contact is described by contiguity tensor. Contiguity can be used as an internal state variable to describe the microstructural processes in the grain scale and relate them to the macroscopic dynamics of the composites. The present experimental results on the equilibrium and dynamic microstructures were analyzed quantitatively through measurements of contiguity. Based on the obtained microstructural and mechanical data, the relative roles of melt fraction and contiguity in elasticity, anelasticity, and viscosity were assessed quantitatively. Interaction between microstructural processes and macroscopic dynamics can be treated by using a constitutive mechanical relation including contiguity as a state variable and also using evolution law of contiguity. A detailed picture of growth and healing of grain boundary melt films in response to loading cycles, which was obtained through the velocity monitoring, plays an important role for establishing the evolution law of contiguity.
DE: 3902 Creep and deformation
DE: 3947 Surfaces and interfaces
DE: 5102 Acoustic properties
DE: 5112 Microstructure
DE: 8162 Rheology: mantle (8033)
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005