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Layer Thickness-Dependent Hardness and Strain Rate Sensitivity of Cu–Al/Al Nanostructured Multilayers

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Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters) Aims and scope

Abstract

Cu–Al/Al nanostructured metallic multilayers with Al layer thickness h Al varying from 5 to 100 nm were prepared, and their mechanical properties and deformation behaviors were studied by nanoindentation testing. The results showed that the hardness increased drastically with decreasing h Al down to about 20 nm, whereafter the hardness reached a plateau that approaches the hardness of the alloyed Cu–Al monolithic thin films. The strain rate sensitivity (SRS, m), however, decreased monotonically with reducing h Al. The layer thickness-dependent strengthening mechanisms were discussed, and it was revealed that the alloyed Cu–Al nanolayers dominated at h Al ≤ 20 nm, while the crystalline Al nanolayers dominated at h Al > 20 nm. The plastic deformation was mainly related to the ductile Al nanolayers, which was responsible for the monotonic evolution of SRS with h Al. In addition, the h Al-dependent hardness and SRS were quantitatively modeled in light of the strengthening mechanisms at different length scales.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51321003, 51322104 and 51201123), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2010CB631003) and the 111 Project of China (Grant No. B06025). G. Liu thanks the support from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and the Tengfei Scholar project. J.Y. Zhang thanks the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Program No. 2015JM5158) and the Shaanxi Province Postdoctoral Scientific Research Project for partial financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Ya-Qiang Wang, Zhao-Qi Hou, Jin-Yu Zhang, Xiao-Qing Liang, Gang Liu & Jun Sun

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, China

    Guo-Jun Zhang

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  1. Ya-Qiang Wang
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  2. Zhao-Qi Hou
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  3. Jin-Yu Zhang
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  4. Xiao-Qing Liang
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  5. Gang Liu
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  6. Guo-Jun Zhang
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  7. Jun Sun
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Correspondence to Gang Liu or Jun Sun.

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Wang, YQ., Hou, ZQ., Zhang, JY. et al. Layer Thickness-Dependent Hardness and Strain Rate Sensitivity of Cu–Al/Al Nanostructured Multilayers. Acta Metall. Sin. (Engl. Lett.) 29, 156–162 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40195-016-0372-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40195-016-0372-7

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