The assessment of the ambient-temperature mechanical properties of ultra-fine-grained Ag with nano-twins using microshear tests

The mechanical properties of ultra-fine-grained (UFG) 150 μm silver interlayers prepared by planar magnetron sputtering were studied using microshear torsion tests. The interlayers have very high ductility in pure shear, comparable to conventional grain sizes, and show a mechanical steady-state. The Hall–Petch behavior at 1.25 μm is consistent with other earlier work. The hardening rates (dσ/de) are substantially higher in the UFG Ag. The saturation stress and strain-rate sensitivity at this stress are identical to coarse-grained silver.