Plastic accommodation during tensile deformation of gradient structure

Gradient structure (GS) possesses a typical trans-scale grain hierarchy with varying internal plastic stability, and the mutual plastic accommodation plays a crucial role in its superior strength-ductility combination. Using the in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) during tensile loading, we measured lattice strains sequentially from the nanostructured (NS) surface layer to the central coarsegrained (CG) layer to elucidate when and how plastic accommodation occurs and evolves within the GS, along with their roles in plastic deformation and strain hardening. Throughout the tensile deformation, two types of plastic incompatibility occur in the GS. One is an extended elastoplastic transition due to layer-by-layer yielding. The other is strain localization and softening in the NS layer, in contrast with the stable plastic deformation in the CG layer. Plastic accommodation thus occurs concurrently and manifests as both an inter-layer and intra-layer change of stress state throughout tensile deformation. This produces different micromechanical responses between layers. Specifically, the NS layer initially experiences strain hardening followed by an elastoplastic deformation. The hetero-deformation induced hardening, along with forest hardening, facilitates a sustainable tensile strain in the NS layer, comparable to that in the CG layer.