Geometric effects on the inelastic deformation of metal nanowires

CJ Ji and HS Park, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 89, 181916 (2006).

DOI: 10.1063/1.2372748

This letter addresses the direct effect that geometry has in controlling the mechanisms of inelastic deformation in metal nanowires. By performing atomistic simulations of the tensile deformation of < 100 >/100 hollow copper nanowires (nanoboxes), the authors find that the nanoboxes deform in an unexpected twinning-dominated mode; the nonsquare wall geometries of the nanoboxes bias the deformation by allowing the larger transverse 100 surfaces to reduce their area through twinning by reorienting to a lower energy 111 surface. Additional analyses on solid nanowires with nonsquare cross sections confirm that geometry can be utilized to engineer the mechanical behavior and properties of nanomaterials. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

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