Thermal expansion and heat capacity of porosity-free nanocrystalline materials

The large fraction of atoms associated with the interfacial regions of nanocrystalline materials has been recognized to influence many properties. In the present work, the temperature dependent linear coefficient of thermal expansion and isobaric heat capacity of porosity-free nanocrystalline materials produced by electrodeposition were measured and compared with results obtained for conventional polycrystalline material and other nanocrystalline materials. The results show that neither of these properties is strongly affected by grain size in porosity-free materials, suggesting that the relatively large changes previously reported for gas condensed materials may be due to porosity rather than the small grain size per se.