Individual metallic nanowires can sustain ultralarge elastic strains of 4-7%. However, achieving and retaining elastic strains of such magnitude in kilogram-scale nanowires are challenging. Here, we find that under active load, ∼ 5.6% elastic strain can be achieved in Nb nanowires embedded in a metallic matrix deforming by detwinning. Moreover, large tensile (2.8%) and compressive (-2.4%) elastic strains can be retained in kilogram-scale Nb nanowires when the external load was fully removed, and adjustable in magnitude by processing control. It is then demonstrated that the retained tensile elastic strains of Nb nanowires can increase their superconducting transition temperature and critical magnetic field, in comparison with the unstrained original material. This study opens new avenues for retaining large and tunable elastic strains in great quantities of nanowires and elastic-strain-engineering at industrial scale.
Keywords: elastic strain; elastic strain engineering; high-energy X-ray diffraction; nanowires; shape memory alloy.