Cold-welded joint characteristics of gold nanowires via atomistic simulation

Abstract

This study examines the effects of contact depth, contact orientation, contact angle, and nanowires temperature on the tensile strength of the gold nanowire generated via the cold welding process. There is an increase in the deformation rate with increasing contact depth. From 5 Å to 20 Å, the lattice matching of the nanowires is good, leading to a good weld joint. The greatest ultimate tensile strength (UTS) value is achieved at 5 Å contact depth compared to other depth cases. The UTS value is sensitive to the change in the contact orientation and the contact angle. Compared to other orientations, the (001) vs (001) orientation has the highest rate of orientation matching with the highest FCC structure ratio. Other orientations obtain a much lower UTS value. When the contact angle rises, the UTS value mainly decreases due to the higher level of lattice mismatch. Compared to the other angle cases, the maximum UTS value is attained at 0º contact angle. Moreover, changing in nanowires temperature within the 250 K450 K range do not result in significant variations in the sample's surface morphology, structural transformation, or atomic strain. At 250 K, the sample has the highest UTS value compared to other temperature cases.