Elastic behavior of polycrystalline thin films inferred from in situ micromechanical testing and modeling

Synchrotron x-ray diffraction combined with in situ tensile testing is used to investigate the anisotropic elastic behavior of gold thin films exhibiting a fiber texture and columnar grains. Micromechanical modeling based on the self-consistent model and accounting for both crystallographic and morphological textures is applied. Flat-disk shaped inclusions must be used in the model to reproduce accurately experimental data, owing to the surface effects. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.