Atomistic simulation on the plastic deformation and fracture of bio-inspired graphene/Ni nanocomposites

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate theplastic deformation and fracture behaviors of bio-inspired graphene/metalnanocomposites, which have a “brick-and-mortar” nanostructure, consisting of hardgraphene single-layers embedded in a softNi matrix. Theplastic deformation mechanisms of thenanocomposites were analyzed as well as their effects on the mechanical properties with various geometrical variations. It was found that the strength andductility of the metal matrix can be highly enhanced with the addition of the staggeredgraphene layers, and theplastic deformation can be attributed to the interfacial sliding, dislocation nucleation, andcracks' combination. The strength of thenanocomposites strongly depends on the length scale of the nanostructure and the interlayer distance as well. In addition, slip at the interface releases the stress ingraphene layers, leading to the stress distribution on thegraphene more uniform. The present results are expected to contribute to the design of the nanolayered graphene/metalcomposites with high performance.

Source: Applied Physics Letters - November 9, 2016 Category: Physics Authors: Zhenyu Yang, Dandan Wang, Zixing Lu and Wenjun Hu Source Type: research