Time-dependent creep behavior of amorphous ZrCu and nanocrystalline Zr thin films – A comparison

•The relaxation behavior of amorphous ZrCu and nanocrystalline Zr thin films.•Exploring the crossing phenomenon of the creep response of these two films.•The creep behavior of Zr film shows higher load/stress sensitivity.

Nanoindentation time-dependent relaxation tests were performed on the amorphous ZrCu, nanocrystalline Zr and multilayer ZrCu/Zr thin films aiming to explore the different time-dependent behaviors of these materials under the similar load level at room temperature. There appears an interesting crossing phenomenon of the creep rate as a function of applied stress. In comparison with the ZrCu thin films, the Zr film shows higher load/stress sensitivity for the creep response, suggesting the operating of dislocation creep along various slip systems and some minor grain-boundary-sliding creep mechanism. Multilayered ZrCu/Zr thin films also exhibit higher creep response due to the presence of numerous interfaces.

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