Simultaneously increasing the ductility and strength of nanostructured alloys

A method to simultaneously increase the ductility and strength of bulk nanostructured materials was discussed. The method made it possible to achieve more uniform elongation by engineering very small second-phase particles into a nanostructured Al alloy matrix. The simultaneous enhancement of ductility and strength can be achieved due to the increased dislocation accumulation and resistance to dislocation by second-phase particles. The enhanced uniform elongation was achieved due to the improvement in the work-hardening rate through dislocation accumulation. The method can be applied to many commercial alloy systems that use second-phase precipitation as a strengthening mechanism. It can also be used to design new alloys or nanocomposites by incorporating second-phase by incorporating second-particles into the nanostructures. The ductility can be improved to higher levels through optimizing the processing parameters while simultaneously enhancing the strength.