Enhanced hardening in Cu/330 stainless steel multilayers by nanoscale twinning

Metallic multilayered composites synthesized by sputter deposition exhibit very high hardness as the bilayer period approaches a few nanometers. In the present investigation on polycrystalline Cu/austenitic 330 stainless steel multilayered films with 〈111〉 texture, we have found a high density of growth twins and stacking faults. The stainless steel layers, in particular, exhibit twinning and faults on the scale of 3–4 nm, whereas in the Cu …