Bulk nanostructured metals can attribute both exceptional strength and poor thermal stabilityto high interfacial content, making it a challenge to utilize them in high-temperature environments.Here we report that a bulk two-phase bimetal nanocomposite synthesised viasevere plastic deformation uniquely possesses simultaneous high-strength and high thermalstability. For a bimetal spacing of 10 nm, this composite achieves an order of magnitudeincrease in hardness of 4.13 GPa over its constituents and maintains it (4.07 GPa), even afterannealing at 500 C for 1 h. It owes this extraordinary property to an atomically well-orderedbimaterial interface that results from twin-induced crystal reorientation, persists afterextreme strains and prevails over the entire bulk. This discovery proves that interfaces can bedesigned within bulk nanostructured composites to radically outperform previously preparedbulk nanocrystalline materials, with respect to both mechanical and thermal stability.
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