We assess the viability of topological semimetals for application in advanced interconnect technology, where conductor size is on order a few nanometers and grain boundaries are expected to be prevalent. investigate electron transport properties boundary scattering thin films CoSi CoGe using first-principles calculations combined with Non-Equilibrium Green's Function (NEGF) technique. Unlike co...

The compressive plastic strength of nanometer-scale single-crystal metallic pillars is larger than that found in conventionally sized samples. This behavior is generally associated with a change in the length scale that determines plastic behavior and the consequent inability of nanoscale samples to store dislocations. Here, we show in the case of nanocrystalline nickel pillars, for which there...

Displacive deformation via dislocation slip and deformation twinning usually plays a dominant role in the plasticity of crystalline solids at room temperature. Here we report in situ quantitative transmission electron microscope deformation tests of single crystal Sn samples. We found that when the sample size was reduced from 450 nm down to 130 nm, diffusional deformation replaces displacive p...

Manufactured single crystal components using Ni-base super alloys are routinely used in the hot sections of aero engines and industrial gas turbines due to their outstanding high temperature strength, toughness and resistance to degradation in corrosive and oxidative environments. To control the quality of the single crystal turbine blades, particular attention has been paid to grain selection,...

The beam spot size used in microscale laser shock peening is of the same order as grain size in many materials. Therefore, the deformation is induced in only a few grains so that it is necessary to treat the material as being anisotropic and heterogeneous. In order to investigate the corresponding anisotropic features, different experimental techniques and three-dimensional finite element simul...

The mechanisms of deformation and damage evolution in electrodeposited, fully dense, nanocrystalline Ni with an average grain size of ~30 nm and a narrow grain size distribution were investigated by recourse to (i) tensile tests performed in situ in the transmission electron microscope and (ii) microscopic observations made at high resolution following ex situ deformation induced by compression...