Continuum modeling of the reverse Hall-Petch effect in nanocrystalline metals under uniaxial tension: How many grains in a finite element model?

Owing to their very high strength, nanocrystalline metals have been extensively studied over the recent years. The direct Hall-Petch law, empirically proportioning the material strength to the inverse square root of its grain size has been shown to break down below a grain size of the order of tenth...