Jumplike microdeformation of nanostructured metals

The parameters of microdeformation jumps for copper, aluminum, titanium, and Armco iron with the initial (annealed) structure and after equal-channel angular pressing are investigated in a creep mode under low compressive stresses. The strain rate is measured with a laser interferometer in 0.15-μm linear displacements. It is demonstrated that the values of the microstrain rate and the mean sizes of jumps for the annealed metals are larger than those for the metals subjected to severe deformation. It is revealed that there is a correlation between the jumps of microplastic deformation and the size of nanometal grains. The inference is made that, for nanostructured metals, as for other materials, the structural heterogeneity is one of the factors responsible for the jumplike deformation.