Effect of Graphene Sheets Aggregation on The Dislocation-Blocking Mechanism of Nanolaminated Aluminum/Graphene Composite: Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

Abstract

Aluminum/graphene nanolaminated structures have a very proper reinforcing and toughening effect on aluminum composites. Graphene layers effectively prevent the growth and movement of dislocations in the aluminum matrix. Therefore, more and shorter dislocations lines occur in the aluminum matrix between the graphene layers. In this paper, tensile tests have been performed on nanolaminated aluminum/graphene composite using molecular dynamic simulation to study the dislocation-blocking mechanism and its reinforcing and toughening effect. The nucleation, expansion, and displacement of the dislocation in the aluminum matrix were investigated under tension. The results showed that the reinforcement mechanism includes increasing displacement density and shear stress transfer. Besides, the reinforcing and toughening effects were investigated as a function of the distance between the graphene sheets (the spacing of sheets between 4-14 A). The results showed that the distance between the graphene sheets has an effective role in creating the dislocation-blocking mechanism in the aluminum matrix. Decreased graphene sheets increase the mechanical properties of the aluminum matrix due to the dislocation-blocking mechanism, which can be limited by the onset of graphene sheet aggregation. As the result, stable steps in 10-12 A distance between graphene sheets were obtained by dislocations with a yield strength of about 14 GPa and yield strain of 0/065.