Surface elasticity and residual stress effect on the elastic field of a nanoscale elastic layer

Abstract

The influence of surface elasticity and surface residual stress on the elastic field of an isotropic nanoscale elastic layer of finite thickness bonded to a rigid material base is considered by employing the Gurtin-Murdoch continuum theory of elastic material surfaces. The fundamental solutions corresponding to buried vertical and horizontal line loads are obtained by using Fourier integral transform techniques. Selected numerical results are presented for the cases of a finite elastic layer and a semiinfinite elastic medium to portray the influence of surface elasticity and residual surface stress on the bulk stress field. It is found that the bulk stress field depends significantly on both surface elastic constants and residual surface stress. The consideration of out-of-plane terms of the surface stress yields significantly different solutions compared to previous studies. The solutions presented in this study can be used to examine a variety of practical problems involving nanoscale/soft material systems and to develop boundary integral equations methods for such systems.