Nanoporous gold (NPG) provides a model material for studying small-scale deformation and the mechanical behavior of network solids. We report a transmission electron microscopy study of the defect structure in electron-transparent NPG leaf deformed by rolling. The results confirm that plastic deformation significantly enhances the defect density. Specifically

twins are formed on several sets of crystallographic planes

and their interaction forms Lomer-Cottrell locks. This inhibits dislocation escaping from NPG

thus avoiding the dislocation starvation scenario that is often considered in the ‘smaller is stronger' context of small-scale plasticity. Instead

strain hardening is apparently linked to accumulation and interaction of twins.