50 research outputs found
Failure mechanisms of graphene under tension
Recent experiments established pure graphene as the strongest material known
to mankind, further invigorating the question of how graphene fails. Using
density functional theory, we reveal the mechanisms of mechanical failure of
pure graphene under a generic state of tension. One failure mechanism is a
novel soft-mode phonon instability of the -mode, whereby the graphene
sheet undergoes a phase transition and is driven towards isolated benzene rings
resulting in a reduction of strength. The other is the usual elastic
instability corresponding to a maximum in the stress-strain curve. Our results
indicate that finite wave vector soft modes can be the key factor in limiting
the strength of monolayer materials
Recommended from our members
Non-paraxial Split-step Finite-difference Method for Beam Propagation
A method based on symmetrized splitting of the propagation operator in the finite difference scheme for non-paraxial beam propagation is presented. The formulation allows the solution of the second order scalar wave equation without having to make the slowly varying envelope and one-way propagation approximations. The method is highly accurate and numerically efficient. Unlike most Padé approximant based methods, it is non-iterative in nature and requires less computation. The method can be used for bi-directional propagation as well