title: Near-perfect elastoplasticity in pure nanocrystalline copper.
abstract: Ductile metals and alloys undergo plastic yielding at room temperature, during which they exhibit work-hardening and the generation of surface instabilities that lead to necking and failure. We show that pure nanocrystalline copper behaves differently, displaying near-perfect elastoplastic behavior characterized by Newtonian flow and the absence of both work-hardening and neck formation. We observed this behavior in tensile tests on fully dense large-scale bulk nanocrystalline samples. The experimental results further our understanding of the unique mechanical properties of nanocrystalline materials and also provide a basis for commercial technologies for the plastic (and superplastic) formation of such materials.
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Etudes de Chimie Métallurgique-CNRS, 15 rue Georges Urbain, 94407 Vitry-sur-Seine, France. yannick.champion@glvt-cnrs.fr
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Champion
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Langlois
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guérin-Mailly
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Langlois
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bonnentien
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hytch