On the Schmid's Law for the electric current-induced deformation: An in situ EBSD study

For metals and alloys, electric currents may induce atomic diffusion and morphological changes, known as the electromigration (EM) effect. Here we report the first direct application of conventional solid mechanics’ theory to predict the electric current-induced deformations based on the in situ electron backscattered diffraction and synchrotron radiation-based X-ray diffraction analyses of Cu strips under current stressing. At a given current density, the electric current-induced elastic, slip, or slip accompanying with twinning deformation in Cu strips was revealed. The Schmid's Law is well elucidating the occurrence of the electric current-induced plastic deformations, namely the slip and twinning ones. The study unveils that the electric current-induced strain and deformation can be described in the same context as for the conventional solid mechanics.