Temperature and strain rate dependent mechanical properties of ultrathin metallic nanowires: A molecular dynamics study

Abstract

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation has been applied in this study to investigate the mechanical properties of metallic nanowires at two different strain rates (1x109 s−1 and 1x1010 s−1). Silver, gold, platinum and nickel nanowires of varying diameters have been chosen. To carry out the MD simulation Embedded Atom Method (EAM) potentials have been used. The mechanisms behind the observations of distinct deformation modes are analyzed and explained. Also tensile deformation has been done at three different temperatures: 300K, 600K and 900K. Simulation results show that the yield strengths are gradually decreasing with the increase of temperature, while with the increase of the strain rate, the stress—strain curves fluctuate more intensely and the ultrathin nanowires rupture at smaller strain. The effects of size on the tensile properties of these ultrathin nanowires are briefly evaluated.