Effect of shape on mechanical properties and deformation behavior of Cu nanowires: An atomistic simulations study

TL;DR

This study uses atomistic simulations to analyze how the shape of copper nanowires influences their mechanical strength, deformation mechanisms, and failure characteristics, revealing shape-dependent variations in yield strength and ductility.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the shape-dependent mechanical behavior of Cu nanowires, highlighting the influence of geometry on yield strength and failure modes.

Findings

Triangular nanowires have the lowest yield strength.

Circular nanowires exhibit the highest strength.

Square nanowires show the highest failure strain.

Abstract

We study the effect of nanowire shape on mechanical properties and deformation behaviour of Cu nanowires using atomistic simulations. Simulations were carried out on $[100]$ nanowires with different shapes such as triangular, square, pentagon, hexagon and circular.Results indicate yield strength is different for different shapes. In both cases, triangular nanowire exhibit the lowest yield strength, while circular nanowire is the strongest. Deformation in all the nanowires is dominated by partials slip and twinning. Due to twinning, different shapes expose different surfaces at the twinned region. All nanowires show ductile failure and square nanowire exhibits the highest failure strain, while it is lowest for triangular nanowire.