Microimprinting of nanocrystalline metals – Influence of microstructure and work hardening

The microimprinting behaviour of a wide variety of materials with grain sizes ranging from 25 nm up to a few mm was studied, using a flat punch indenter with a circular cavity with a diameter of 5 μm and a cavity line width of 350 nm. The flat punch die was fabricated by focussed ion beam machining. The imprinted ring geometry has been evaluated using atomic force microscopy in terms of extrusion height, relative to residual imprinting depth. The experimental work was complemented by Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of the forming process, using experimentally determined stress–strain data of the imprinted materials as input for the finite element simulations. Even so only macroscopic properties of the materials have been used for the modelling, both experiment and simulation yield comparable results. However, the relative extrusion height from FEA are much larger compared to the experimental results. It is found that grain size and the subsequent work hardening behaviour of the material has a strong influence on the local flow behaviour during imprinting. Nanocrystalline materials with nearly ideal-plastic deformation behaviour exhibit the best formability. The influence of the work hardening behaviour on the local flow of the material during microimprinting is moreover confirmed by imprinting of a pre-strained material. A reduction in the work hardenability of the material leads to an increasing microflow during microimprinting.