Dislocation-CNT Interactions in Aluminium at the Atomic Level

TL;DR

This study investigates how edge dislocations interact with carbon nanotubes embedded in aluminium, revealing that CNTs influence flow stress similarly to non-shearable inclusions and behave like embedded voids during strain hardening.

Contribution

It provides atomic-level insights into dislocation-CNT interactions in aluminium, highlighting their comparable behavior to voids and their effect on mechanical properties.

Findings

CNTs contribute to flow stress akin to non-shearable inclusions

Embedded CNTs behave similarly to voids during strain hardening

Both pristine and Ni-coated CNTs show comparable interaction effects

Abstract

The interaction between edge dislocations and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded into an Al matrix is investigated. Both pristine and Ni-coated CNTs are considered. It is demonstrated that the embedded CNTs lead to a flow stress contribution equivalent to that of an array of non-shearable inclusions that are by-passed via the Orowan mechanism. The strain hardening mechanism associated with multiple dislocation passes shows, however, characteristic differences from the Orowan picture that indicate that the embedded CNTs behave analogous to embedded voids.