Effect of work hardening discrepancy on strengthening of laminated Cu/CuZn alloys

To clarify the work hardening discrepancy effect on the strengthening of laminated metals, we designed two laminated Cu/Cu4Zn and Cu/Cu32Zn samples with different layer thicknesses. Cu/Cu4Zn has larger work hardening discrepancy between two constituent layers relative to Cu/Cu32Zn, but the yield strengths of two CuZn constituents are comparable. Uniaxial tensile results suggest Cu/Cu4Zn with larger work hardening discrepancy exhibits a significant strengthening at early deformation stage while Cu/Cu32Zn possesses a better ductility. The underlying mechanisms for the strengthening effect are attributed to more geometrically necessary dislocations accumulated at interfaces and severer strain localization due to the larger work hardening discrepancy.