Tensile properties of a free-standing Cu/Zr nanolaminate (or compositionally-modulated thin film)

Recently, the research and development of advanced structural materials has emphasized two major areas: nanocrystals and composites. The goals of these two developments have considerable overlap even though the synthesis and processing approaches are quite different for each class of material. In this paper, the authors will present some interesting experimental results obtained from a free-standing (∼140 microm-thick) Cu/Cu3Zr4 nanolaminate, prepared by sputter deposition, in which the Cu layers are nanocrystalline but the Cu3Zr4 layers are in an amorphous state (metallic glass)