Altering strength and plastic deformation behavior via alloying and laminated structure in nanocrystalline metals

Nanoindentation and electron microscope techniques have been performed on sputtering deposited monolayered nanocrystalline CuNb and multilayered CuNb/Cu thin films. Microstructural features, hardness and surface morphologies of residual indentation have been evaluated to identify the effects of alloying and laminated structure on strength and plastic deformation behavior of nanocrystalline metals. By altering the content of Nb in CuNb alloy and adding crystalline Cu layers into CuNb alloy, the volume fraction of amorphous phase in CuNb alloy and interface structures changed dramatically, resulting in various trends that are related to hardness, indentation induced pileup and shear banding deformation. Based on the experimental results, the dominant deformation mechanisms of the CuNb and CuNb/Cu thin films with various Nb contents were proposed and extended to be discussed.