Demonstration of an inverse Hall-Petch relationship in electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni-W alloys through tensile testing

An inverse Hall-Petch relationship in nanocrystalline metals have been shown by many researchers using nanoindentation techniques. In this study, tensile tests were carried out on dozens of electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni-W alloys with grain sizes of 20, 12, 8 and 5 nm. The statistically significant data showed that the transition from a classical to an inverse Hall-Petch relationship is an essential characteristic of electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni-W alloys. (c) 2006 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.