Author's personal copy Deformation twinning in nanocrystalline materials

Nanocrystalline (nc) materials can be defined as solids with grain sizes in the range of 1–100 nm. Contrary to coarse-grained metals, which become more difficult to twin with decreasing grain size, nanocrystalline face-centered-cubic (fcc) metals become easier to twin with decreasing grain size, reaching a maximum twinning probability, and then become more difficult to twin when the grain size decreases further, i.e. exhibiting an inverse grain-size effect on twinning. Molecular dynamics simulations and experimental observations have revealed that the mechanisms of deformation twinning in nanocrystalline metals are different from those in their coarse-grained counterparts. Consequently, there are several types of deformation twins that are observed in nanocrystalline materi-als, but not in coarse-grained metals. It has also been reported that deformation twinning can be utilized to enhance the strength and ductility of nanocrystalline materials. This paper reviews al