The effects of triple junctions and grain boundaries on hardness and Young’s modulus in nanostructured Ni–P

Abstract

Hardness and Young’s modulus were measured on a series of nanocrystalline Ni–P samples. With decreasing grain size, a transition from regular to inverse Hall–Petch relationship and a reduction in Young’s modulus at the smallest grain sizes was observed, which can be attributed to grain boundary and triple junction effect.