Effect of treatment time on characterization and properties of nanocrystalline surface layer in copper induced by surface mechanical attrition treatment

Nanocrystalline surface layers were synthesized on pure copper by means of surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) at various treatment times. The microstructural features of the surface layers produced by SMAT were systematically characterized by optical microscopy (OM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Hardness and surface roughness measurements were also carried out. It is found that the thickness of the deformed layer increased from 50 to 500 μm with increasing treatment time from 10 to 300 min, while the average grain size of the top surface layer decreased from 20 to 7 nm. Hardness of the all SMATed samples decreased with depth. Furthermore, the hardness of the top surface layer of the SMATed samples was at least two times higher than that of the un-treated counterpart. Surface roughness results showed different trend with treatment time. Amounts of PV and Ra values first sharply increased and then decreased.