Effects of Isothermal and Adiabatic Thermal Loadings on Size and Strain Rate Dependence of Copper Nanowire

In the present paper, the size and strain rate effects on ultra-thin <100>/{100} Cu nanowires at an initial temperature of 10 K have been discussed. Extensive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed using Embedded atom method (EAM) to investigate the structural behaviours and properties under high strain rate. Velocity-Verlet algorithm has been used to solve the equation of motions. Two different thermal loading cases have been considered: (i) Isothermal loading, in which Nose-Hoover thermostat is used to maintain the constant system temperature, and (ii) Adiabatic loading, i.e., without any thermostat. Five different wire crosssections were considered ranging from 0.723 x 0.723 nm2 to 2.169 x 2.169 nm2. The strain rates used in the present study were 1 x 109 s-1, 1 x 108 s-1, and 1 x 107 s-1. The effect of strain rate on the mechanical properties of copper nanowires was analysed, which shows that elastic properties are independent of thermal loading for a given strain rate and cross-sectional dimension of nanowire. It showed a decreasing yield stress and yield strain with decreasing strain rate for a given cross-section. Also, a decreasing yield stress and increasing yield strain were observed for a given strain rate with increasing cross-sectional area. Elastic modulus was found to be ~ 100 GPa, which was independent of processing temperature, strain rate, and size for a given initial temperature. Reorientation of <100>/ {100} square cross-sectional copper nanowires into a series of stable ultra-thin pentagon copper nanobridge structures with dia of ~ 1 nm at 10 K was observed under high strain rate tensile loading. The effect of isothermal and adiabatic loading on the formation of such pentagonal nanobridge structure has been discussed.Defence Science Journal, 2009, 59(3), pp.252-259, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.59.151

Modeling the Field Emission Current Fluctuation in Carbon Nanotube Thin Films

Owing to their distinct properties, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have emerged as promising candidate for field emission devices. It has been found experimentally that the results related to the field emission performance show variability. The design of an efficient field emitting device requires the analysis of the variabilities with a systematic and multiphysics based modeling approach. In this paper, we develop a model of randomly oriented CNTs in a thin film by coupling the field emission phenomena, the electron-phonon transport and the mechanics of single isolated CNT. A computational scheme is developed by which the states of CNTs are updated in time incremental manner. The device current is calculated by using Fowler-Nordheim equation for field emission to study the performance at the device scale.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Orientation, Size, and Temperature Dependent Ductile Brittle Transition in NiAl Nanowire under Tensile Loading - A Molecular Dynamics Study

In the present paper, thermo-mechanical response of B2-NiAl nanowire along the <100>, <110>, and <111> orientations has been studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Nanowire with cross-sectional dimensions of ~20x20 Å2, ~25x25 Å2, and ~30x30 Å2 and temperature range of 10 K-900 K has been considered. A Combined effect of size, orientation, and temperature on the stress-strain behavior under uniaxial tensile loading has been presented. It has been observed that <111> oriented NiAl nanowire that is energetically most stable gives highest yield stress which further reduces with <110> and <100> orientations. A remarkable ductile brittle transition (DBT) with an increase in temperature has also been reported for all the orientations considered in the present study. The DBT observed for the nanowire has also been compared with the reported DBT of bulk B2-NiAl obtained from experiments. Alternate technique has also been proposed to increase the toughness of a given material especially at lower temperature regions, i.e. below DBT.Defence Science Journal, 2014, 64(2), pp. 179-185. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.431

Large-area Piezoceramic Coating with IDT Electrodes for Ultrasonic Sensing Applications

In the present work, the ultrasonic strain sensing performance of the large area piezoceramic coating with Inter Digital Transducer (IDT) electrodes is studied. The piezoceramic coating is prepared using slurry coating technique and the piezoelectric phase has been achieved by poling under DC field. To study the sensing performance of the piezoceramic coating with IDT electrodes to the strain induced by the guided waves, the piezoceramic coating is fabricated on the surface of a beam specimen at one end and the ultrasonic guided waves are launched with a piezoelectric wafer bonded on another end. Often a wider frequency band of operation is needed for the effective implementation of the sensors in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of various structures, for different types of damages. A wider frequency band of operation is achieved in present study by considering the variation in number of IDT electrodes in the contribution of voltage for the induced dynamic strain. In present work, the fabricated piezoceramic coatings with IDT electrodes have been characterized for dynamic strain sensing applications using guided wave technique at different frequencies. Strain levels of the launched guided wave are varied by varying the magnitude of the input voltage sent to the actuator. Sensitivity variation with the variation in the strain levels of guided wave is studied for the combination of different number of IDT electrodes. Piezoelectric coefficient is determined at different frequencies and at different strain levels using the guided wave techniqu

Lattice orientation and crack size effect on the mechanical properties of Graphene

The effect of lattice orientation and crack length on the mechanical properties of Graphene are studied based on molecular dynamics simulations. Bond breaking and crack initiation in an initial edge crack model with 13 different crack lengths, in 10 different lattice orientations of Graphene are examined. In all the lattice orientations, three recurrent fracture patterns are reported. The influence of the lattice orientation and crack length on yield stress and yield strain of Graphene is also investigated. The arm-chair fracture pattern is observed to possess the lowest yield properties. A sudden decrease in yield stress and yield strain can be noticed for crack sizes <10 nm. However, for larger crack sizes, a linear decrease in yield stress is observed, whereas a constant yield strain of ≈≈0.05 is noticed. Therefore, the yield strain of ≈≈0.05 can be considered as a critical strain value below which Graphene does not show failure. This information can be utilized as a lower bound for the design of nano-devices for various strain sensor applications. Furthermore, the yield data will be useful while developing the Graphene coating on Silicon surface in order to enhance the mechanical and electrical characteristics of solar cells and to arrest the growth of micro-cracks in Silicon cells