Mechanical properties of electrodeposited amorphous/crystalline multilayer structures in the Fe-P system

TL;DR

This study investigates the mechanical properties of electrochemically deposited Fe-P multilayers, revealing a hardness plateau at sublayer thicknesses below 15 nm and observing interface effects and crack deflection phenomena.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the microhardness behavior and interface characteristics of amorphous/crystalline Fe-P multilayers at nanometer scales.

Findings

Hall-Petch behavior observed down to 15 nm

Hardness plateau for sublayers thinner than 15 nm

Crack deflection at interfaces in microbending tests

Abstract

Amorphous/crystalline multilayer structures of Fe-P alloys were deposited electrochemically using the single bath technique. Hall-Petch behavior of microhardness with respect to sublayer thickness was observed down to a sublayer thickness of 15 nm. For thinner sublayers, a hardness plateau was obtained. The transition at a sublayer thickness of 15 nm coincides with the loss of the multilayer structure as observed in transmission electron microscopy. The transition is a possible result of a change in the amorphous to crystalline sublayer thickness ratio and the interface roughness development during the deposition process. Additionally, crack deflection at the interfaces was observed for the layered structures with small sublayer thickness in microbending experiments.