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Published on: November 22, 2016
In situ nanoindentation study of plastic co-deformation in Al-TiN nanocomposites
1Materials Physics and Applications Division, MPA-CINT, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Abstract:
We performed in situ indentation in a transmission electron microscope on Al-TiN multilayers with individual layer thicknesses of 50 nm, 5 nm and 2.7 nm to explore the effect of length scales on the plastic co-deformability of a metal and a ceramic. At 50 nm, plasticity was confined to the Al layers with easy initiation of cracks in the TiN layers. At 5 nm and below, cracking in TiN was suppressed and post mortem measurements indicated a reduction in layer thickness in both layers. The results demonstrate the profound size effect in enhancing plastic co-deformability in nanoscale metal-ceramic multilayers.
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