Enhanced fatigue resistance of Cu with a gradient nanograined surface layer

Cyclic deformation was studied in Cu samples with a gradient nanograined (GNG) surface layer. Compared with the coarse-grained sample, the Cu samples with a GNG surface layer exhibit a greatly enhanced fatigue limit under stress-controlled cyclic deformation. The cyclic deformation induced an abnormal grain coarsening that initiated from the subsurface layer and grew along 45° to the stress axis toward the top surface layer, where the fatigue cracks were formed.