Elastic properties of polycrystalline gold thin films: Simulation and X-ray diffraction experiments

The elastic behavior of supported gold thin films has been studied using a framework in which the elastic interaction between grains and the actual structure of the film (i.e. preferential grain orientation and grain shape) are taken into account. Experiments were carried out using synchrotron X-ray diffraction combined with in-situ tensile testing and thereafter, no assumptions on the residual stress state and on the stress-free lattice parameter a0 have to be made. Modeling of grain elastic interactions is based on the extension of Eshelby–Kröner model, which allows for estimating the elastic behavior of polycrystals considering the texture and the shape of the crystallites. Flat-disc shaped grains arrangement is shown to yield the best representation of the elastic behavior of the fiber-textured gold thin films composed of columnar grains. This non-intuitive representation results from free-surface effect.