Small scale mechanical properties of polycrystalline materials: in situ diffraction studies
Abstract
The recent developments in the fields of processing, mechanical characterisation as well as simulation allow for a deeper study of the relationships between the microstructure and the mechanical properties of nanostructured materials (thin films and bulk nano materials). The understanding of size effect on the elastic and plastic deformation mechanisms is of both fundamental and practical interests in particular for the optimisation of industrial applications. Understanding of the relationships between their fabrication, microstructure, and mechanical properties is also fundamental. In particular, one of the key factors is related to the deformation mechanisms responsible of the elevated mechanical properties of such materials. In situ structural studies during deformation process allow quantifying the strain stress relationship of nanomaterials in the elastic and plastic regimes in relation with the microstructure since the spacing d of the material is used as a strain gage. Due to the very small dimensions of the crystallites, very intense sources are necessary such as neutron reactors for bulk nanomaterials and synchrotrons for nanostructured thin films and bulk nanomaterials. For more than a decade, our group has developed in situ tensile testing in diffractometers at the laboratory using rotating anodes as X-ray sources or at dedicated beam lines of synchrotron and Neutron facilities such as LURE (France), ESRF (France), PSI (Switzerland), ALS (USA or in a near future SOLEIL (France). A close connection has been made recently with this last facility through an ANR-Pnano project called Cmonano. In addition, local analyses are done using nanoindentation for intrinsic mechanical properties and atom probe tomography for structural characterisation. Atomistic and molecular dynamics simulations are completing the instrumental study. This paper will give an overview of the subject considering recent experiments on nanometric multilayers (WCu) and thin films (MoCr) encountered in micro electronic applications as well as bulk CuNb and CuTa nanocomposites processed by severe plastic deformation.
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BibTeX
@article{girault2026small,
title = {{Small scale mechanical properties of polycrystalline materials: in situ diffraction studies}},
author = {Baptiste Girault and Vanessa Vidal and Ludovic Thilly and Pierre-Olivier Renault and Philippe Goudeau and Éric Le Bourhis and Pascale Villain-Valat and Guillaume Geandier and Julien Tranchant and Jean-Pierre Landesman and Pierre-Yves Tessier and Benoit Angleraud and Marie-Paule Besland and Abdou Djouadi and Florence Lecouturier},
journal = {International Journal of Nanotechnology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1504/ijnt.2008.018685},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-00396540v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Small scale mechanical properties of polycrystalline materials: in situ diffraction studies
AU - Baptiste Girault
AU - Vanessa Vidal
AU - Ludovic Thilly
AU - Pierre-Olivier Renault
AU - Philippe Goudeau
AU - Éric Le Bourhis
AU - Pascale Villain-Valat
AU - Guillaume Geandier
AU - Julien Tranchant
AU - Jean-Pierre Landesman
AU - Pierre-Yves Tessier
AU - Benoit Angleraud
AU - Marie-Paule Besland
AU - Abdou Djouadi
AU - Florence Lecouturier
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
JO - International Journal of Nanotechnology
DO - 10.1504/ijnt.2008.018685
UR - https://hal.science/hal-00396540v1
AB - The recent developments in the fields of processing, mechanical characterisation as well as simulation allow for a deeper study of the relationships between the microstructure and the mechanical properties of nanostructured materials (thin films and bulk nano materials). The understanding of size effect on the elastic and plastic deformation mechanisms is of both fundamental and practical interests in particular for the optimisation of industrial applications. Understanding of the relationships between their fabrication, microstructure, and mechanical properties is also fundamental. In particular, one of the key factors is related to the deformation mechanisms responsible of the elevated mechanical properties of such materials. In situ structural studies during deformation process allow quantifying the strain stress relationship of nanomaterials in the elastic and plastic regimes in relation with the microstructure since the spacing d of the material is used as a strain gage. Due to the very small dimensions of the crystallites, very intense sources are necessary such as neutron reactors for bulk nanomaterials and synchrotrons for nanostructured thin films and bulk nanomaterials. For more than a decade, our group has developed in situ tensile testing in diffractometers at the laboratory using rotating anodes as X-ray sources or at dedicated beam lines of synchrotron and Neutron facilities such as LURE (France), ESRF (France), PSI (Switzerland), ALS (USA or in a near future SOLEIL (France). A close connection has been made recently with this last facility through an ANR-Pnano project called Cmonano. In addition, local analyses are done using nanoindentation for intrinsic mechanical properties and atom probe tomography for structural characterisation. Atomistic and molecular dynamics simulations are completing the instrumental study. This paper will give an overview of the subject considering recent experiments on nanometric multilayers (WCu) and thin films (MoCr) encountered in micro electronic applications as well as bulk CuNb and CuTa nanocomposites processed by severe plastic deformation.
SN - 1475-7435
SN - 1741-8151
ER -