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Failure by simultaneous grain growth, strain localization, and interface debonding in metal films on polymer substrates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Nanshu Lu ,
Xi Wang ,
Zhigang Suo  and
Joost Vlassak
Joost Vlassak*
Affiliation:
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

In a previous paper, we have demonstrated that a microcrystalline copper film well bonded to a polymer substrate can be stretched beyond 50% without cracking. The film eventually fails through the coevolution of necking and debonding from the substrate. Here we report much lower strains to failure (approximately 10%) for polymer-supported nanocrystalline metal films, the microstructure of which is revealed to be unstable under mechanical loading. We find that strain localization and deformation-associated grain growth facilitate each other, resulting in an unstable deformation process. Film/substrate delamination can be found wherever strain localization occurs. Therefore, we propose that three concomitant mechanisms are responsible for the failure of a plastically deformable but microstructurally unstable thin metal film: strain localization at large grains, deformation-induced grain growth, and film debonding from the substrate.

Keywords

CuDuctilityThin film
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , February 2009 , pp. 379 - 385
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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