Elevated temperature, micro-compression transient plasticity tests on nanocrystalline Palladium-Gold: Probing activation parameters at the lower limit of crystallinity

Abstract In this study, we probe the activation parameters and time-dependent plastic behavior of a nanocrystalline Palladium-Gold alloy by means of elevated temperature micropillar compression experiments. All tests were conducted on a stable, displacement-controlled in situ SEM indenter. A series of strain rate jump tests, where the strain rates were varied from 10 −4 s −1 up to 10 −2 s −1 , allowed us to extract strain rate sensitivity and average activation volumes in the order of 8 b 3 . Repeated load relaxation tests yielded lower activation volumes in the range of 4 b 3 . From the variation of test temperatures up to 125 °C, we extracted an apparent activation energy of ∼0.77 eV. The possible deformation mechanisms at such extremely small crystallite sizes are discussed within the framework of pertinent literature.