Gradient-structured materials have attracted considerable attention due to their gradient microstructural distribution and the resulting unique mechanical properties, showing great potential in aerospace, marine, and energy applications. This review presents a comprehensive overview of plastic deformation methods for fabricating gradient-structured materials, according to the loading conditions and resulting deformation modes, which are categorized into localized loading-localized deformation, localized loading-localized/global deformation, and global loading-localized/global deformation strategies. The applications of gradient-structured materials are further summarized in terms of surface properties, bulk mechanical properties, and forming performance. Finally, the current challenges and future research directions are discussed, focusing on quantitative structure-property relationships for inverse design, efficient and scalable fabrication strategies, and the synergistic effects of multi-level microstructures. This review offers significant insights into plastic-deformation-based fabrication methods and the diverse application properties of gradient-structured materials.
Xu et al. (Sun,) studied this question.