Microstructure versus Flaw: Mechanisms of Failure and Strength in Nanostructures
Abstract
Understanding failure in nanomaterials is critical for the design of reliable structural materials and small-scale devices with nanoscale components. No consensus exists on the effect of flaws on fracture at the nanoscale, but proposed theories include nanoscale flaw tolerance and maintaining macroscopic fracture relationships at the nanoscale with scarce experimental support. We explore fracture in nanomaterials using nanocrystalline Pt nanocylinders with prefabricated surface notches created using a "paused" electroplating method. In situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) tension tests demonstrate that the majority of these samples failed at the notches, but that tensile failure strength is independent of whether failure occurred at or away from the flaw. Molecular dynamics simulations verify these findings and show that local plasticity is able to reduce stress concentration ahead of the notch to levels comparable with the strengths of microstructural features (e.g., grain boundaries). Thus, failure occurs at the stress concentration with the highest local stress whether this is at the notch or a microstructural feature.
Additional Information
© 2013 American Chemical Society. Received: September 16, 2013; Revised: October 17, 2013; Published: October 29, 2013. X.W.G. is grateful for financial support from the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, 32 CFR 168a. J.R.G. acknowledges the financial support of the National Science Foundation (DMR-1204864). X.W.G. and J.R.G. thank the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech for the availability of critical cleanroom facilities. We thank V. Deshpande and D. Jang for helpful discussion and D. Jang and C. Garland for TEM assistance. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore and the use of computing resources at the A*STAR Computational Resource Centre, Singapore.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_001.pdf
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_002.avi
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_003.avi
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_004.avi
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_005.avi
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_006.avi
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_007.avi
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_008.avi
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_009.avi
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_010.avi
Supplemental Material - nl403453h_si_011.avi
Files
Name | Size | Download all |
---|---|---|
md5:f474e41288fb0a542f8bb99e302ca45a
|
1.9 MB | Download |
md5:b974d2b2118c809f0094ff0dd61cbb41
|
1.9 MB | Download |
md5:9a01d10e1e74085621769e1e1963f7cc
|
17.1 MB | Download |
md5:39bcbf2d3e564d80adc127335ac6d46a
|
880.6 kB | Download |
md5:807fa350c5a272523fb5177f85a21202
|
23.3 MB | Download |
md5:c80293cebde94ecd5e903b10d66889da
|
1.9 MB | Download |
md5:beb14239da3b46f04d850332d5ffe6dc
|
887.6 kB | Download |
md5:791184b907e2c5cfd7317dfcd3beec16
|
2.6 MB | Preview Download |
md5:416265fce9b86c3af29d85ce4154c38c
|
877.6 kB | Download |
md5:8d1964b325447e20b0aab6de3bb7cf1b
|
868.3 kB | Download |
md5:765a3d2cb1db09dadf69dd84fd997bf0
|
887.1 kB | Download |
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 43120
- DOI
- 10.1021/nl403453h
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20131220-135618467
- National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship
- 32 CFR 168a
- NSF
- DMR-1204864
- Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
- Created
-
2013-12-20Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute