Incipient plasticity in metallic thin films

The authors have compared the incipient plastic behaviors of Al and Al-Mg thin films during indentation under load control and displacement control. In Al-Mg, solute pinning limits the ability of dislocations to propagate into the crystal and thus substantially affects the appearance of plastic instabilities as compared to pure Al. Displacement control allows for a more sensitive detection of such instabilities, as it does not require collective dislocation motion to the extent required by load-controlled indentation in order to resolve a yield event. This perception is supported by in situ transmission electron microscopy observations. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.