Ductility enhancement of layered stainless steel with nanograined interface layers

Combination of surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) and co-rolling is a promising experimental methodology to design metals with high strength and high ductility. Recent results have revealed that brittle nanograined interface layer (NGIL) can enhance the ductility of the co-rolled SMATed stainless steel (SS). In the present study, the cohesive finite element method is used to show that the SS ductility is significantly enhanced with the increase of fracture toughness of coarse-grained layers and failure strain of NGIL. However the ductility will not increase if the NGIL thickness goes beyond 60 μm.