A.S. Schneider, D. Kaufmann,
B.G. Clark, C. P. Frick,
P.A. Gruber, R. Mönig,
O. Kraft, E. Arzt

Physical Review Letters, Band 103, Seiten 105501 1-4 (2009)

Microcompression tests were performed on focused-ion-beam-machined micropillars of several bodycentered-cubic metals (W, Mo, Ta, and Nb) at room temperature. The relationship between yield strength and pillar diameter as well as the deformation morphologies were found to correlate with a parameter specific for bcc metals, i.e., the critical temperature Tc. This finding sheds new light on the phenomenon of small-scale plasticity in largely unexplored non-fcc metals.