In nanocrystalline metals, lack of intragranular dislocation sources leads to plastic deformation mechanisms that substantially differ from those in coarse-grained metals. However, irrespective of grain size, plastic deformation is considered irrecoverable. We show experimentally that plastically deformed nanocrystalline aluminum and gold films with grain sizes of 65 nanometers and 50 nanometer...

Since Cu was found to be attractive as interconnect materials for ultra-large scale integrated (ULSI) Si devices, the electrical properties of Cu films have been extensively studied to prepare low resistance films. It was found in our previous papers that reduction of the electrical resistance of the Cu films was achieved by increasing grain sizes of the Cu films and large-grained Cu films were...

This study investigated the microstructures of pearlite and martensite transformed from ultrafine-grained austenite in 0.45C steel and Vadded 0.45C steel. The mean prior austenite grain sizes were refined to be 4.5 μm in the 0.45C specimen and 2.4 μm in the V-added 0.45C specimen through cyclic heat treatment of austenitizing and water quenching, i.e., repetition of martensite § austenite trans...

Mechanical strengthening by grain refinement is a method whereby a material’s strength and hardness can be increased by decreasing the average crystallite grain size. The empirical Hall–Petch relationship mathematically describes grain boundary strengthening and provides guidance for a straightforward way to produce stronger materials. While the phenomenon has been widely explored in nanocrysta...

Using previously published data from flume studies, we test a new approach for quantifying the effects of sediment supply (i.e., bed material supply) on surface grain size of equilibrium gravel channels. Textural response to sediment supply is evaluated relative to a theoretical prediction of competent median grain size (D950). We find that surface median grain size (D50) varies inversely with ...