Simultaneous grain growth and grain refinement in bulk ultrafine-grained copper under tensile deformation at room temperature

Grain growth and grain refinement behavior during deformation determine the strength and ductility of ultrafine-grained materials. We used asymmetric cryorolling to fabricate ultrafine-grained copper sheets with an average grain width of 230 nm and having a laminate structure. The sheets show a high-true failure strain of 1.5. Observation of the microstructure at the fracture surface reveals that ultrafine laminate-structured grains were simultaneously transformed into both equiaxed nanograins and coarse grains under tensile deformation at room temperature.