Qing-Xiang Pei

Mechanical properties of graphynes under tension: A molecular dynamics study

Graphyne is the allotrope of graphene. In this letter, four different graphynes (α, β, γ, and 6,6,12-graphenes) are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations to explore their mechanical properties and failure mechanisms. It is found that the presence of the acetylenic linkages in graphynes leads to a significant reduction in fracture stress and Young’s modulus with the degree of reduction being proportional to the percentage of the linkages. This deterioration in mechanical properties stems from the low atom density in graphynes and weak single bonds in the acetylenic linkages where the facture is initiated.

Phonon thermal conductivity of monolayer MoS2 sheet and nanoribbons

We investigated the thermal conduction of monolayer MoS2 sheet and nanoribbons using molecular dynamics simulations. Room temperature thermal conductivity of monolayer MoS2 is found to be 1.35 W/mK, which is three orders of magnitude lower than that of graphene. In contrast to the remarkable size effect observed in graphene nanoribbons, the thermal conductivity of MoS2 nanoribbons is insensitive to width (3–16 nm), length (4–111 nm), and the type of edge, which are explained by the local heat flux analysis and phonon scattering mechanisms. The low thermal conductivity together with reported high Seebeck coefficient opens up the possibility to realize MoS2-based two-dimensional thermoelectric devices.

Mechanical properties of methyl functionalized graphene: a molecular dynamics study

Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to study the mechanical properties of methyl (CH(3)) functionalized graphene. It is found that the mechanical properties of functionalized graphene greatly depend on the location, distribution and coverage of CH(3) radicals on graphene. Surface functionalization exhibits a much stronger influence on the mechanical properties than edge functionalization. For patterned functionalization on graphene surfaces, the radicals arranged in lines perpendicular to the tensile direction lead to larger strength deterioration than those parallel to the tensile direction. For random functionalization, the elastic modulus of graphene decreases gradually with increasing CH(3) coverage, while both the strength and fracture strain show a sharp drop at low coverage. When CH(3) coverage reaches saturation, the elastic modulus, strength and fracture strain of graphene drop by as much as 18%, 43% and 47%, respectively.

Tuning the thermal conductivity of silicene with tensile strain and isotopic doping: A molecular dynamics study

Silicene is a monolayer of silicon atoms arranged in honeycomb lattice similar to graphene. We study the thermal transport in silicene by using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. We focus on the effects of tensile strain and isotopic doping on the thermal conductivity, in order to tune the thermal conductivity of silicene. We find that the thermal conductivity of silicene, which is shown to be only about 20% of that of bulk silicon, increases at small tensile strains but decreases at large strains. We also find that isotopic doping of silicene results in a U-shaped change of the thermal conductivity for the isotope concentration varying from 0% to 100%. We further show that ordered doping (isotope superlattice) leads to a much larger reduction in thermal conductivity than random doping. Our findings are important for the thermal management in silicene-based electronic devices and for thermoelectric applications of silicene.

Study of Materials Deformation in Nanometric Cutting by Large-scale Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

Nanometric cutting involves materials removal and deformation evolution in the surface at nanometer scale. At this length scale, atomistic simulation is a very useful tool to study the cutting process. In this study, large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with the model size up to 10 millions atoms have been performed to study three-dimensional nanometric cutting of copper. The EAM potential and Morse potential are used, respectively, to compute the interaction between workpiece atoms and the interactions between workpiece atoms and tool atoms. The material behavior, surface and subsurface deformation, dislocation movement, and cutting forces during the cutting processes are studied. We show that the MD simulation model of nanometric cutting has to be large enough to eliminate the boundary effect. Moreover, the cutting speed and the cutting depth have to be considered in determining a suitable model size for the MD simulations. We have observed that the nanometric cutting process is accompanied with complex material deformation, dislocation formation, and movement. We find that as the cutting depth decreases, the tangential cutting force decreases faster than the normal cutting force. The simulation results reveal that as the cutting depth decreases, the specific cutting force increases, i.e., “size effect” exists in nanometric cutting.

Mechanical properties and fracture behavior of single-layer phosphorene at finite temperatures

Phosphorene, a new two-dimensional (2D) material beyond graphene, has attracted great attention in recent years due to its superior physical and electrical properties. However, compared to graphene and other 2D materials, phosphorene has a relatively low Youngs modulus and fracture strength, which may limit its applications due to possible structure failures. For the mechanical reliability of future phosphorene-based nanodevices, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the mechanical properties and fracture behaviors of phosphorene. Previous studies on the mechanical properties of phosphorene were based on first principles calculations at 0 K. In this work, we employ molecular dynamics simulations to explore the mechanical properties and fracture behaviors of phosphorene at finite temperatures. It is found that temperature has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of phosphorene. The fracture strength and strain reduce by more than 65% when the temperature increases from 0 K to 450 K. Moreover, the fracture strength and strain in the zigzag direction is more sensitive to the temperature rise than that in the armchair direction. More interestingly, the failure crack propagates preferably along the groove in the puckered structure when uniaxial tension is applied in the armchair direction. In contrast, when the uniaxial tension is applied in the zigzag direction, multiple cracks are observed with rough fracture surfaces. Our present work provides useful information about the mechanical properties and failure behaviors of phosphorene at finite temperatures.

Carbon isotope doping induced interfacial thermal resistance and thermal rectification in graphene

We investigate the thermal transport properties of carbon isotope doped graphene using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the interfacial thermal resistance between graphene and the isotope atoms causes severe reduction in thermal conductivity of the doped graphene. Furthermore, we find that thermal rectification occurs in the interface. Tensile strain leads to an increase in the interfacial thermal resistance and thermal rectification, while increasing temperature decreases these parameters. We calculate the phonon spectra and find that the thermal rectification is associated with the overlap areas in the phonon spectra.

Effects of temperature and strain rate on the mechanical properties of silicene

Silicene, a graphene-like two-dimensional silicon, has attracted great attention due to its fascinating electronic properties similar to graphene and its compatibility with existing semiconducting technology. So far, the effects of temperature and strain rate on its mechanical properties remain unexplored. We investigate the mechanical properties of silicene under uniaxial tensile deformation by using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the fracture strength and fracture strain of silicene are much higher than those of bulk silicon, though the Youngs modulus of silicene is lower than that of bulk silicon. An increase in temperature decreases the fracture strength and fracture strain of silicene significantly, while an increase in strain rate enhances them slightly. The fracture process of silicene is also studied and brittle fracture behavior is observed in the simulations.

A finite element study of the temperature rise during equal channel angular pressing

Abstract The temperature rise and temperature distribution in the workpiece during equal channel angular pressing were investigated by using the finite element method for Al–1%Mg and Al–3%Mg at different pressing speeds. The simulated temperature rise was compared with published experimental and analytical results.

On the notch sensitivity of CuZr metallic glasses

Atomistic simulations are performed to study the effects of size and shape of a superficial or internal notch on the strength and failure mechanism of CuZr metallic glass (MG) under tensile loading. Our results show that plastic deformation originating at the notch root reduces the stress concentration there and leads to a notch-insensitive normalized tensile strength. The notch, however, dictates the failure location as the plastic zone at the notch root serves as a nucleation site for shear band (SB) formation. It is shown that when the plastic zone size reaches a critical value, a SB starts to propagate from the notch root across the entire sample, causing the material failure. These results provide useful guidelines for the design, testing, and engineering of MG for structural applications.