Wu, YijuanYijuanWuMarkmann, JürgenJürgenMarkmannLilleodden, EricaEricaLilleodden2023-08-042023-08-042023-08Materials and Design 232: 112175 (2023-08)https://hdl.handle.net/11420/42488In this study, the consequence of intrinsic and extrinsic size effects on mechanical responses of nanoporous gold is investigated via microcompression testing. By varying the micropillar diameter (D) between 1 µm and 20 µm and the ligament size (L), 50 nm and 350 nm, a critical ratio (α = D/L = 20) was found, above which the test structure can be considered a representative volume element, resulting in identical mechanical response and uniform deformation. Below that value, both flow stress and elastic modulus decrease with decreasing pillar diameter, as evidenced for a measurement series with a fixed ligament size of 350 nm where the flow stress decreased by more than 50% (from approximately 5 to 2.5 MPa) and the elastic modulus was reduced from approximately 0.5 GPa to almost zero. Stochastic behavior along with non-uniform deformation and failure is observed for α < 10, suggesting that the size of the load-bearing units in this material is about 10 times the corresponding ligament size.en0264-1275202316https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Microcompression testingMicrostructural size effectNanoporus goldSample size effectElectrical Engineering, Electronic EngineeringJournal Article10.15480/882.808410.1016/j.matdes.2023.11217510.15480/882.8084Journal Article