Abstract The ability to process metallic samples at the sub-micrometer scale raised the strength limits of pure metals to the Giga Pascal (GPa) range. Here, we fabricated Mo nanoparticles with a giant compressive strength surpassing the previous strength records of metallic materials. Round and faceted particles were produced by manipulating the annealing atmosphere during two-stage solid-state dewetting of Mo thin films deposited on sapphire. The round particle underwent a huge elastic deformation before yielding abruptly. Using finite element analysis, we found that the resolved shear stress on a {112}〈110〉 slip system beneath the punch reaches an enormous value of 20±1 GPa at yield, regardless of particle size. The faceted nanoparticles, contrarily, followed a “smaller is stronger” rule, with uniaxial compressive strength of up to 46 GPa for the smallest nanoparticles. Molecular dynamics simulations indicated that the size effect diminishes with increasing roundness of the particle edges. This work demonstrates how shape and size of particles can be manipulated to achieve giant strength.

中文翻译：

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钼纳米颗粒和微粒的巨大形状和尺寸相关的压缩强度

摘要 处理亚微米级金属样品的能力将纯金属的强度极限提高到了千兆帕 (GPa) 范围。在这里，我们制造了具有巨大抗压强度的 Mo 纳米颗粒，超过了之前金属材料的强度记录。在蓝宝石上沉积的钼薄膜的两阶段固态去湿过程中，通过操纵退火气氛来生产圆形和多面颗粒。圆形粒子在突然屈服之前经历了巨大的弹性变形。使用有限元分析，我们发现冲头下方的 {112}<110> 滑动系统上的解析剪切应力在屈服时达到了 20±1 GPa 的巨大值，而与颗粒尺寸无关。相反，多面纳米粒子遵循“越小越好”的规则，对于最小的纳米粒子，单轴抗压强度高达 46 GPa。分子动力学模拟表明，尺寸效应随着颗粒边缘圆度的增加而减弱。这项工作展示了如何操纵粒子的形状和大小以实现巨大的强度。