Investigation of High Strength, High Ductility Nanostructured Material

Nanostructured materials generally possess record-high strength, but their ductility is often inadequate and barely that of normal metals due to the cracking instability and plastic instability induced by the production of nanocrystalline grains. This has an important effect on several applications of nanostructured materials in industry. Despite the significant progress that has taken place over the last few years in the production and design of so-called nanostructured materials, it is clear that in order to make high strength and ductility coexist at room temperature for wider applications, further major technological advancements will be needed in future. To overcome the conflict between strength and ductility in nanostructured materials, one possible method is to produce materials that contain both nanometer-sized grains and larger grains. The aim of this project is to develop a new concept to optimize the mechanical behavior of nanostructured materials. The design approach described below, based on numerical simulation, will be used to investigate the optimized distribution of nanostructured materials and larger grain size materials. The concept will be validated by studying a multi-sheet layered composite with different combinations of embedded nanostructured zones.