Deformation mechanism behind the unique texture of Kanazawa gold leaf

Kanazawa gold leaf, fabricated through the traditional entsuke technique, is a traditional Japanese material renowned for its thinness (100–200 nm), recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. It has been reported to form the near-cube {001} texture, but such a texture cannot be explained by room temperature deformation. The mechanism behind this deformation process remains unknown. In this study, Kanazawa gold leaf was prepared with thicknesses of 1 µm (Zumi foil) and 0.1 µm (No. 4 gold leaf) were investigated by electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. We found that the cube textures formed without recrystallization or recovery during the hammering process and cross-slip and the non-octahedral {110}– < 110> slip system were activated. They can explain the changing of hammering direction to the [001] direction, resulting in the formation of the (001) texture.