Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Defective twin boundaries in nanotwinned metals

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 697–702 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Coherent twin boundaries (CTBs) are widely described, both theoretically and experimentally, as perfect interfaces that play a significant role in a variety of materials. Although the ability of CTBs in strengthening, maintaining the ductility and minimizing the electron scattering is well documented1,2,3, most of our understanding of the origin of these properties relies on perfect-interface assumptions. Here we report experiments and simulations demonstrating that as-grown CTBs in nanotwinned copper are inherently defective with kink-like steps and curvature, and that these imperfections consist of incoherent segments and partial dislocations. We further show that these defects play a crucial role in the deformation mechanisms and mechanical behaviour of nanotwinned copper. Our findings offer a view of the structure of CTBs that is largely different from that in the literature2,4,5, and underscore the significance of imperfections in nanotwin-strengthened materials.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Microstructure of as-grown nanotwinned copper.
Figure 2: Lattice strain deviation behaviour in tension.
Figure 3: Full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) as a function of the scattering vector (Q) at various loading strains and after fracture (that is, Williamson–Hall plots).
Figure 4: Microstructure of post-mortem tensile samples.
Figure 5: Molecular dynamics simulations of deformation mechanisms in nt-Cu subjected to uniaxial tension with a twin spacing of 5 nm.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Zhu, Y. T., Liao, X. Z. & Wu, X. L. Deformation twinning in nanocrystalline materials. Prog. Mater. Sci. 57, 1–62 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Jang, D. C., Li, X. Y., Gao, H. J. & Greer, J. R. Deformation mechanisms in nanotwinned metal nanopillars. Nature Nanotech. 7, 594–601 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lu, L., Chen, X., Huang, X. & Lu, K. Revealing the maximum strength in nanotwinned copper. Science 323, 607–610 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Li, X. Y., Wei, Y. J., Lu, L., Lu, K. & Gao, H. J. Dislocation nucleation governed softening and maximum strength in nano-twinned metals. Nature 464, 877–880 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Lu, K., Lu, L. & Suresh, S. Strengthening materials by engineering coherent internal boundaries at the nanoscale. Science 324, 349–3652 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Yu, Q. et al. The nanostructured origin of deformation twinning. Nano Lett. 12, 887–892 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Shute, C. J. et al. Detwinning, damage and crack initiation during cyclic loading of Cu samples containing aligned nanotwins. Acta Mater. 659, 4569–4577 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Chen, K. C., Wu, W. W., Liao, C. N., Chen, L. J. & Tu, K. N. Observation of atomic diffusion at twin-modified grain boundaries in copper. Science 321, 1066–1069 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Lu, L., Shen, Y. F., Chen, X. H., Qian, L. H. & Lu, K. Ultrahigh strength and high electrical conductivity in copper. Science 304, 422–426 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Ovid’ko, I. A. Materials science—deformation of nanostructures. Science 295, 2386–2386 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Rupert, T. J., Gianola, D. S., Gan, Y. & Hemker, K. J. Experimental observations of stress-driven grain boundary migration. Science 326, 1686–1690 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Schiotz, J. & Jacobsen, K. W. A maximum in the strength of nanocrystalline copper. Science 301, 1357–1359 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Szlufarska, I., Nakano, A. & Vashishta, P. A crossover in the mechanical response of nanocrystalline ceramics. Science 309, 911–914 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. You, Z. S., Lu, L. & Lu, K. Tensile behavior of columnar grained Cu with preferentially oriented nanoscale twins. Acta Mater. 59, 6927–6937 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Wang, Y. D. et al. Low temperature deformation detwinning-a reverse mode of twinning. Adv. Eng. Mater. 12, 906–911 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Wu, Z. X., Zhang, Y. W. & Srolovitz, D. J. Deformation mechanisms, length scales and optimizing the mechanical properties of nanotwinned metals. Acta Mater. 59, 6890–6900 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Wang, J. et al. Detwinning mechanisms for growth twins in face-centered cubic metals. Acta Mater. 58, 2262–2270 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Stukowski, A., Albe, K. & Farkas, D. Nanotwinned fcc metals: Strengthening versus softening mechanisms. Phys. Rev. B 82, 224103 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Liu, H. H. et al. Three-dimensional orientation mapping in the transmission electron microscope. Science 332, 833–834 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Bezares, J. et al. Indentation of nanotwinned fcc metals: Implications for nanotwin stability. Acta Mater. 60, 4623–4635 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Rauch, E. F., Rouvimov, S., Nicolopoulos, S. & Moeck, P. High throughput automated crystal orientation and phase mapping of nanoparticles from HREM–TEM images. Microsc. Microanal. 15, 756–757 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Mackenzie, J. K. 2nd paper on statistics associated with the random disorientation of cubes. Biometrika 45, 229–240 (1958).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Budrovic, Z., Van Swygenhoven, H., Derlet, P. M., Van Petegem, S. & Schmitt, B. Plastic deformation with reversible peak broadening in nanocrystalline nickel. Science 304, 273–276 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Wang, Y. D. et al. The development of grain-orientation-dependent- residual stresses in a cyclically deformed alloy. Nature Mater. 2, 101–106 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Clausen, B., Lorentzen, T. & Leffers, T. Self-consistent modelling of the plastic deformation of FCC polycrystals and its implications for diffraction measurements of internal stresses. Acta Mater. 46, 3087–3098 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Brandstetter, S., Derlet, P. M., Van Petegem, S. & Van Swygenhoven, H. Williamson-Hall anisotropy in nanocrystalline metals: X-ray diffraction experiments and atomistic simulations. Acta Mater. 56, 165–176 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Rajagopalan, J., Han, J. H. & Saif, M. T. A. Plastic deformation recovery in freestanding nanocrystalline aluminum and gold thin films. Science 315, 1831–1834 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. You, Z. S. et al. Plastic anisotropy and associated deformation mechanisms in nanotwinned metals. Acta Mater. 61, 217–227 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Deng, C. & Sansoz, F. Fundamental differences in the plasticity of periodically twinned nanowires in Au, Ag, Al, Cu, Pb and Ni. Acta Mater. 57, 6090–6101 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Hodge, A. M. et al. Twin stability in highly nanotwinned Cu under compression, torsion and tension. Scr. Mater. 66, 872–877 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Xu, L. et al. Structure and migration of (112) step on (111) twin boundaries in nanocrystalline copper. J. Appl. Phys. 104, 113717 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank V. Bulatov and A. Stukowski for helpful discussions, and M. Besser, J. Almer, N. Teslich and R. Gross for experimental assistance. This work was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy (DOE) by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344, and Ames Laboratory (Office of Basic Energy Sciences) under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11358. The use of APS was supported by the US DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. F.S. is grateful for support from the NSF CAREER program (grant DMR-0747658) and the computational resources provided by the Vermont Advanced Computing Centre (NASA grant NNX06AC88G). T.L. and IPFOM measurements are supported by US DOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. J.M. acknowledges financial support from the US DOE Early Career Research Program.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA

    Y. Morris Wang, Thomas LaGrange, Jaime Marian, Troy W. Barbee Jr & Alex V. Hamza

  2. School of Engineering, The University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA

    Frederic Sansoz

  3. Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Ames Laboratory (USDOE), Ames, Iowa 50011, USA

    Ryan T. Ott

Authors
  1. Y. Morris Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Frederic Sansoz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thomas LaGrange
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ryan T. Ott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jaime Marian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Troy W. Barbee Jr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Alex V. Hamza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Y.M.W. and F.S. designed the experiments and simulations. T.W.B. synthesized the nanotwinned samples. Y.M.W., T.L. and R.T.O. performed experiments (TEM and FIB, IPFOM measurements, and in situ SXRD, respectively) and analysed the data. F.S. performed the simulations and analysis of deformation mechanisms. J.M. contributed to the qualitative analysis of lattice strain deviation behaviour. Y.M.W. and F.S. wrote the manuscript with contributions from the other authors. All authors commented on the final manuscript and conclusions of this work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y. Morris Wang.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 2196 kb)

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Movie S1 (MOV 4800 kb)

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Movie S2a (MOV 6144 kb)

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Movie S2b (MOV 6181 kb)

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Movie S3 (MOV 3292 kb)

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Movie S4 (MOV 1628 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wang, Y., Sansoz, F., LaGrange, T. et al. Defective twin boundaries in nanotwinned metals. Nature Mater 12, 697–702 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3646

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3646

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing