Deformation of Single Crystals, Polycrystalline Materials, and Thin Films: A Review

With the rapid development of nano-preparation processes, nanocrystalline materials have been widely developed in the fields of mechanics, electricity, optics, and thermal physics. Compared to the case of coarse-grained or amorphous materials, plastic deformation in nanomaterials is limited by the reduction in feature size, so that they generally have high strength, but the toughness is relatively high. The reciprocal relationship between the strength and toughness of nanomaterials limits the large-scale application and development of nanomaterials. Therefore, the maintenance of high toughness while improving the strength of nanomaterials is an urgent problem to be solved. So far, although the relevant mechanism affecting the deformation of nanocrystalline materials has made a big breakthrough, it is still not very clear. Therefore, this paper introduces the basic deformation type, mechanism, and model of single crystals, polycrystalline materials, and thin films, and aims to provide literature support for future research.