Papers by Keyword: Ideal Strength

Abstract: There have been a lot of studies dedicated to structural instability in solids. For local instability, theoretical (ideal) strength of crystals has been extensively studied with ab initio calculations. Global instability taking into account the collective motion of atoms involved in deformation has also been investigated. However, these studies have usually been done at 0 K and little has been understood about the effect of temperature. In this study, we demonstrate computational approaches to the effect of temperature on local and global instabilities. Ideal shear strength (ISS) of silicon at finite temperatures is calculated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with an empirical potential. ISS is obtained as a function of temperature. Our results imply that, unlike metals, the reduction in ISS by temperature cannot be estimated simply by taking into account thermal expansion of volume. In addition, global instability for dislocation nucleation in a Cu thin film model under tension is investigated. We first evaluated instability modes at 0 K with increasing strain, and then performed MD simulations at 50 K. After the nucleation of a partial dislocation, the second dislocation can be one to create a twin or one to create another partial dislocation. These different deformations can be understood as the competition of latent instability modes that have relatively small eigenvalues.

Abstract: The ideal strength of a nano-component, which is the maximum stress of the structure, provides an insight into the mechanical behavior of minute material. We conducted tensile simulations for cylindrical-shaped Cu nano-wires composed of an atomic chain as a core wrapped around by shell(s) with the structure of (111) layers in an fcc crystal. The results are compared with Cu atomic chain and sheet which are components of the nanowire. Young’s moduli and the ideal strengths of the wires are less than a single atomic chain and a sheet. The mechanical strength of the wire is weakened by the following three factors: (A) Change in electron arrangement caused by combining core and shell; (B) Larger interatomic distance (inherent tensile strain) of the outer shell introduced by the mismatch of atomic layers due to the curvature difference; (C) Mismatch between shells due to curvature difference. Factor (A) reduces the bonding strength in the shell(s) that occupy a greater part of the wire. 5-1 wire, which consists of a core and a shell, is weaker than the single atomic chain and the single sheet due to (A) and (B). 10-5-1 wire, consisting of a core and two shells, has less strength than 5-1 wire due to (C) in addition to (A) and (B).

Abstract: On the basis of ab-initio density-functional calculations we have analyzed the character of interatomic bonding in the intermetallic compounds Al3(V,Ti) with the D022 and L12 structures. In all structures we found an enhanced charge density along the Al-(V,Ti) bonds, a characteristic feature of covalent bonding. The bond strength is quantitatively examined by tensile deformations. The ideal strength of Al3V and Al3Ti under uniaxial tensile deformation was found to be significantly higher than that of both fcc Al and bcc V. We investigated also the changes of the interatomic bonding in Al3V during tensile deformations. We found that the covalent interplanar Al- V bonds disappear before reaching the maximal stress. The weakening of the bonding between the atomic planes during the deformation is accompanied by a strengthening of in-plane bonding and an enhanced covalent character of the intraplanar bonds. Interplanar bonding becomes more metallic under tensile deformation.