Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 1992
The structure and elastic properties of Ni/Cu and Ni/Au multilayer systems are investigated as a function of the number of Ni monolayers built into the systems. We employed lattice statics simulations with the interatomic potentials described by the embedded-atom method. For the Ni/Cu systems, coherent interfaces and FCC structure are maintained, and no elastic anomaly is found. For the Ni/Au systems, when the Ni layers are thick enough, they undergo a strain-induced phase transformation from FCC to HCP structure. An enhancement of Young’s modulus of these systems is found to be associated with this structural change.