Nanocrystalline solids, in which the grain size is in the nanometre ra
nge, often have technologically interesting properties such as increas
ed hardness and ductility. Nanocrystalline metals can be produced in s
everal ways, among the most common of which are high-pressure compacti
on of nanometre-sized clusters and high-energy ball-milling(1-4). The
result is a polycrystalline metal with the grains randomly orientated.
The hardness and yield stress of the material typically increase with
decreasing grain size, a phenomenon known as the Hall-Fetch effect(5,
6). Here we present computer simulations of the deformation of nanocry
stalline copper, which show a softening with grain size (a reverse Hal
l-Petch effect(3,7)) for the smallest sizes. Most of the plastic defor
mation is due to a large number of small 'sliding' events of atomic pl
anes at the grain boundaries, with only a minor part being caused by d
islocation activity in the grains; the softening that we see at small
grain sizes is therefore due to the larger fraction of atoms at grain
boundaries. This softening-will ultimately impose a limit on how stron
g nanocrystalline metals may become.