Reorientation mechanisms and pseudoelasticity in iron nanowires

JW Zhu and DN Shi, JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS, 44, 055404 (2011).

DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/44/5/055404

Using molecular dynamics simulations we present the < 1 1 0 > -> < 0 0 1 > reorientation and pseudoelasticity induced by axial strain in iron nanowires. The reorientation mechanism shows an intricate dependence on the deformation temperature. Specifically, the original < 1 1 0 > nanowires and the reorientated < 0 0 1 > counterparts exhibit pseudoelastic behaviour with a recovery strain on the order of 30%. We further demonstrate that the unique stress-strain response in iron nanowires leads to a new phenomenon, i.e. the spontaneous < 1 1 0 > -> < 0 0 1 > reorientation initiated by an external loading with a small strain on the order of -4%. Our study implies that iron nanowires may have potential applications in multifunctional nanomaterials such as smart sensors.

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