Effect of interface structure on deformation behavior of crystalline Cu/amorphous CuZr sandwich structures

Highlights: • The CACSS with graded interface shows better plastic deformation. • The higher the graded interface increases, the greater the ability is. • The brittle-to-ductile transition occurs with the increasing of gradient interface thickness. -- Abstract: The effect of interface types (namely, sharp interface and graded interface) and its thickness on the deformation behavior of crystalline/amorphous/crystalline sandwich structures (CACSSs) under tensile loading are studied using molecular dynamics simulation. Compared with the CACSSs with sharp interface, the CACSSs with gradient interface consistently exhibit good plasticity when the interface thickness is larger than 6 nm, due to the coupling effects among crystalline layer, amorphous layer and crystalline–amorphous interface. With the increase of interface thickness, the plastic deformation mechanism of CACSSs with gradient interface changes from the local plastic deformation in amorphous layer to the homogeneous plastic deformation.