Enhanced tensile ductility in an electrodeposited nanocrystalline copper

A fully dense nanocrystalline (nc) Cu with mean grain size of 72 nm and a broad grain size distribution was synthesized by electrodeposition. Uniaxial tensile tests were done at different strain rates and room temperature. A very high strength of 1.04 G was obtained at strain rate of 0.1 s⁻¹. The nearly perfect plasticity with a large strain of close to 20% was displayed at specific low strain rates of 4 × 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹. With increasing strain rate, the nearly perfect plasticity disappeared. Strain rate sensitivity and activation volume of the nc Cu were estimated from the flow stress at a fixed strain of 1% and a strain rate change (jump) test. It was deduced from the high strain rate sensitivity exponent of 0.08 and small activation volume of 12b³ that both dislocation and grain boundary activities would take place in this nc Cu, which explained the nearly perfect plasticity observed in the tensile test.