Very recently, a new model for deformation in nanocrystalline materials was formulated. The development of the model was based upon the concept that plasticity in nanocrystalline materials was the result of grain boundary sliding accommodated by the generation and motion of dislocations under local stresses. By analyzing experimental data on two nanocrystalline materials, Ni and Cu, it was demonstrated that this model could account for the deformation behavior of both metals over wide ranges of temperature, grain size and strain rate.

Correlation between the Deformation of Nanostructured Materials and the Model of Dislocation Accommodated Boundary Sliding. F.A.Mohamed: Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2008, 39[2], 470-2