Strain rate sensitivity and activation volume of Cu/Ni metallic multilayer thin films measured via micropillar compression

Micropillar compression testing with repeated jumps in strain rate is used to circumvent inherent difficulties associated with nanoindentation and tensile testing of free-standing films. Application to sputtered 21 nm/21 nm Cu/Ni multilayer thin films with a cube-on-cube texture reveals an average strain rate sensitivity (m = 0.014) and activation volume (V = 17 b(3)), comparable to nanocrystalline face-centered cubic metals. Yet, m increases by similar to 50% and V decreases by 70% with increasing strain, opposite to trends reported for nanotwinned Cu. The large, strain-dependent shifts in m and V are dependent on the underlying misfit dislocation structure of Cu/Ni interfaces. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4739521]