Strain Rate Sensitivity of a Nanocrystalline Cu–Ni–P Alloy

Nanoindentation technique was used to measure the strain rate sensitivity (m) of a nanocrystalline Cu-Ni-P alloy prepared by means of electrodeposition. The m value decreases from 0.034 to 0.018 when the nominal grain size increases from 7 nm to 33 nm. Both m values of the alloy are obviously lower than those of the pure Cu with similar grain size, implying that P segregation at grain boundaries might play a key role in retarding grain boundary activities as compared to pure Cu samples.