Texture development in a nanocrystalline Pd–Au alloy studied by synchrotron radiation

Using synchrotron radiation, a comparison is made between torsion textures formed in nanocrystalline (nc) and coarse-grained (cg) samples of the Pd-10 at.% Au alloy after identical shear strains. Intensities of characteristic components of shear texture are several times stronger in the cg sample than those in the nc one. This is regarded as evidence of increased activity of grain boundary-mediated deformation in the nc sample. Dislocation slip and twinning do not significantly contribute to the plasticity of the nc alloy.