Elsevier, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Letters, 4(1), p. 041002, 2011
DOI: 10.1063/2.1104102
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The ductility of thin metal films on polymer substrates reported in recent experiments has a huge disparity, ranging from less than 1 % up to more than 50 %. To reveal the underpinning origins for such a large variation, this paper reports a systematic computational study of two competing failure mechanisms: metal film necking and grain boundary cracking. The quantitative results suggest that strong grain boundaries and metal/polymer interfacial adhesion are keys to achieve high ductility of polymer-supported metal films.