Nanostructured Cu and Cu–Al alloys were processed by high-pressure torsion to systematically investigate the influence of stacking-fault energy on the mechanical properties. It was shown that the strength increased with decreasing stacking-fault energy and the strength of nanostructured materials with lower Al content was especially sensitive to the characteristics of the processing conditions. The uniform elongation generally increased with decreasing stacking-fault energy, but this trend was reversed at the smallest grain size of about 30nm.

The Influence of Stacking Fault Energy on the Mechanical Properties of Nanostructured Cu and Cu–Al Alloys Processed by High-Pressure Torsion. X.H.An, Q.Y.Lin, S.D.Wu, Z.F.Zhang, R.B.Figueiredo, N.Gao, T.G.Langdon: Scripta Materialia, 2011, 64[10], 954-7