Effect of Temperature on the Fracture Strength of Perfect and Defective MonoLayered Graphene

Abstract

Graphene is one of the carbon allotropes which have one atom thickness. It is a monolayer of carbon atoms, which are bonded in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. It is a unit layer of graphite; stacking the monolayer graphene one over another forms the graphite. The exceptional electromechanical properties of graphene attracted the researchers and scientists to explore the wide application areas so that the properties of graphene could be harnessed. In this regard, the present paper analyses the perfect single-layer graphene sheet (SLGS) and defective graphene sheet by depicting the effect of temperature variations on the fracture strength of both of the sheets. To this end, the molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on AIREBO interatomic potential field and Nose–Hoover thermostat technique are carried out. It is concluded by the study that with the increasing temperature, the fracture strength of the graphene reduces remarkably. It is also evident that introducing random vacancy of 2.5% in perfect graphene causes the yielding phenomenon at lower strains which remains absent in the perfect graphene. Also, the defective graphene shows the ductile fracture, confirming considerable yielding before complete fracture.