Atomistic level studies on the tensile behavior of GaN nanotubes under uniaxial tension

Abstract

Molecular dynamics method with the Stillinger-Weber (SW) potential has been employed to study the responses of GaN nanotubes (GaNNTs) to a uniaxial tensile load along the axial direction. It has been revealed that GaNNTs exhibits a completely different tensile behavior at different temperatures, i.e. ductility at higher deformation temperatures and brittleness at lower temperatures, leading to a brittle to ductile transition (BDT). Both the BDT temperature and the critical stress increases with increasing thickness of GaNNTs, and the critical stress at higher temperature are lower than those at lower temperature. These results on the tensile behaviors of GaNNTs in an atomic level will provide a good reference to its promising applications.