Achieving High Strength and High Ductility in Precipitation‐Hardened Alloys

Ultrafine-grained materials may be produced by applying severe plastic deformation, but these materials generally exhibit high strength and limited ductility. This report describes a technique for producing high strength and high ductility (see Figure) in precipitation-hardened alloys at ambient temperatures based on introducing intermediate metastable phases into ultrafine-grained microstructures.