摘要：

The results of two sets of experiments to measure the elastic–plastic behaviour of gold at the nanometre length scale are reported. One set of experiments was on free-standing nanoscale single crystals of gold, and the other was on free-standing nanoscale specimens of open-celled nanoporous gold. Both types of specimens were fabricated from commercially available leaf which was either pure Au or a Au/Ag alloy following by dealloying of the Ag. Mechanical testing specimens of a 'dog-bone' shape were fabricated from the leaf using standard lithographic procedures after the leaf had been glued onto a silicon wafer. The thickness of the gauge portion of the specimens was about 100 nm, the width between 250 nm and 300 nm and the length 7 μm. The specimens were mechanically loaded with a nanoindenter (MTS) at the approximate midpoint of the gauge length. The resulting force–displacement curve of the single crystal gold was serrated and it was evident that slip localization occurred on ind

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