Defining structural gradient hardening through Type II back stress for heterostructured materials

The recently proposed term “heterostructured (HS) materials” serves as an umbrella classification encompassing a wide range of materials with significant potential for enhanced mechanical properties. Most HS materials exhibit back-stress strengthening, as is typical for all plastically non-homogeneous materials. To better embody the distinctiveness of materials crafted via innovative heterostructuring, here we introduce the concept of “structural gradient hardening” (SGH), which captures an essential feature of HS materials and complements traditional strengthening mechanisms. SGH refers to the extra strengthening that arises from a characteristic gradient structure introduced by heterostructuring, beyond what is predicted by the rule of mixtures. This distinction is useful, as the overall back stress can in fact be partitioned into Type I and Type II components, with the latter specifically quantifying the additional hardening originating from the structural and strain gradients established by heterostructuring, as articulated in this Viewpoint article.