Grain size effect of thickness/average grain size on mechanical behaviour, fracture mechanism and constitutive model for phosphor bronze foil

Size effects play a significant role in microforming process, and any dimensional change can have a great impact on materials' mechanical properties. In this paper, the size effects on deformation behaviour and fracture of phosphor foil were investigated in the form of grain size effect: the ratio of materials' thickness (T) to average grain size (D) by micro tensile tests. The ratio was designed to be closed to but larger than, less than and equal to 1, respectively. The results show that the amount of plastic deformation decreases with the decrease of the ratio of T/D, which indicates that the grain size plays a significant role and grain deformation modes differ when the ratio changes. It is also found that their fractograph reflects different features in terms of micro-dimples and cleavage planes, further demonstrating that when T/D >1, its materials have a tendency to fracture ductilely, while materials would like to conduct brittle fracture when T/D