Strain rates in molecular dynamics simulations of nanocrystalline metals

Abstract

To study deformation mechanisms using molecular dynamics, very high strain rates have to be applied. The effect of lowering the strain rate by two orders of magnitude on the deformation characteristics of nanocrystalline Al was investigated. For the highest strain rate, the onset of dislocation propagation is delayed, resulting in a stress overshoot. With decreasing strain rate the grain-averaged resolved shear stress reduces and cross-slip occurs more frequently. However, even at the lowest applied strain rate the grain boundary network can not accommodate all arriving dislocations, illustrating the challenge to determine the rate-limiting deformation mechanisms for experimental conditions.