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In the manufacturing of steel two desirable qualities - strength and ductility - tend to be at odds. Stronger steel is known to be less ductile whereas more ductile steel is not as strong. 

However, researchers have demonstrated a new method in which when cylinders of steel are twisted, their strength is elevated without compromising ductility. According to researchers, this could produce steel that performs better in a number of structural applications.

"We call it the strength-ductility tradeoff," said Huajian Gao, professor of engineering at Brown and senior author on this new research, in the press release.

Gao along with the colleagues have found a new way that tradeoff in cylinders made with a particular kind of steel dubbed twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel.

TWIP steel can be further strengthened through work hardening - a process of strengthening steel by deforming it. After TWIP steel is deformed, nanoscale structures called deformation twins from in its atomic lattice.

"Essentially we partitioned the material into a hardened part near the surface and a softer part near the core," Gao said. "This allowed us to double the strength without sacrificing ductility."

The cylinders involved in the study was too small - few centimeters long. However nothing indicated that the process cannot scaled up to cylinders of larger sizes.

"It's critical to have high strength and high ductility for such an axle component," Gao added in the press release. "So it's critical in this kind of system to push this strength-ductility limit as far as possible."

The new technique has been described in the journal Nature Communication.