I had a difficult time researching this topic. Most of the books list on this topic in the library were listed as available, but they were not on the self. Therefore, I did research on the Internet. This would lead me to believe that one could use nanocrystalline nickel as a surface treatment of other nickel materials, since it should have improved hardness and corrosion and wear resistance. A slice of nanocrystailline nickel which has had a crack introduced into it.
Colored regions indicate areas which have been enlarged in later Figures.
But after measuring the bond angles and bond lengths the lattice doesn't appear to be cubic. It seems to be triclinic since none of the bond angles or bond lengths are equal. Figure 2 A BCC-like latice from the red region of Figure 1. The lattice parameter, a, was measured as 3.65 angstroms. If this is compared to the normal lattice parameter of nickel, 3.52 angstroms, it is clear that there is some bond stretching.