Achieving optimum mechanical performance in metallic nanolayered Cu/X (X = Zr, Cr) micropillars

作者：Zhang, J. Y.; Li, J.; Liang, X. Q.; Liu, G.; Sun, J.^*

来源：Scientific Reports, 2014, 4(1): 4205.

DOI：10.1038/srep04205

• DEFORMATION MECHANISMS
• MULTILAYERS
• BEHAVIOR
• COMPOSITES
• STRENGTH
• PLASTICITY
• INTERFACES

The selection and design of modern high-performance structural engineering materials such as nanostructured metallic multilayers (NMMs) is driven by optimizing combinations of mechanical properties and requirements for predictable and noncatastrophic failure in service. Here, the Cu/X (X = Zr, Cr) nanolayered micropillars with equal layer thickness (h) spanning from 5-125 nm are uniaxially compressed and it is found that these NMMs exhibit a maximum strain hardening capability and simultaneously display a transition from bulk-like to small-volume materials behavior associated with the strength at a critical intrinsic size h similar to 20 nm. We develop a deformation mode-map to bridge the gap between the interface characteristics of NMMs and their failure phenomena, which, as shrinking the intrinsic size, transit from localized interface debonding/extrusion to interface shearing. Our findings demonstrate that the optimum robust performance can be achieved in NMMs and provide guidance for their microstructure sensitive design for performance optimization.

• 出版日期2014-3-26
• 单位西安交通大学