Influence of stacking fault energy on friction of nanotwinned metals

Abstract

The unique dislocation–twin boundary (TB) interactions that govern the extraordinary mechanical properties of nanotwinned (NT) metals have the strong intrinsic effect of material energy and the extrinsic effect of feature size. In this work, we perform molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to elucidate fundamental deformation mechanisms of two NT face-centered cubic (FCC) metals (Cu and Pd) under probe-based friction, with an emphasis on evaluating the influence of both material’s intrinsic energy barrier and extrinsic grain size on the microscopic deformation behavior and correlated macroscopic frictional results of the materials. Simulation results reveal that individual deformation modes of dislocation mechanisms, dislocation–TB interactions, TB-associated mechanisms, deformation twinning and grain boundary (GB) accommodation work in parallel in the plastic deformation of the materials, and their competition is strongly influenced by both the intrinsic energy barriers for the nucleation of stacking faults and twin faults, and the extrinsic grain size. Consequently, both the frictional response and worn surface morphology present strong anisotropic characteristics. It is also found that the deformation behavior of NT Pd under a localized multi-axis stress state is significantly different from that which occurs under a uniaxial stress state. These findings will advance the rational design and synthesis of nanostructured materials with advanced frictional properties.