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Statistical Characterization of the Yield Stress of Nanoparticles

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Abstract

Atomistic simulations are performed to study the statistical mechanical properties of gold nanoparticles. It is demonstrated that the yielding behavior of gold nanoparticles is governed by the dislocation nucleation around surface steps. Since the nucleation of dislocation is an activated process with the aid of thermal fluctuation, the yield stress at a specific temperature should vary statistically rather than being a definite constant value. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the yield stress follows a Gaussian distribution at a specific temperature. As the temperature increases, the mean value of yield stress decreases while the width of distribution becomes larger. Based on the numerical analysis, the dependence of mean yield stress on temperature can be well described by a parabolic function. This study illuminates the statistical features of the yielding behavior of nanostructured elements.

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Acknowledgements

Support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11525209) is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Engineering, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou, 213001, China

    Liang Yang

  2. Department of Engineering Mechanics, SVL, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Jianjun Bian, Weike Yuan & Gangfeng Wang

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  1. Liang Yang
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  2. Jianjun Bian
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  3. Weike Yuan
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  4. Gangfeng Wang
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Correspondence to Gangfeng Wang.

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Yang, L., Bian, J., Yuan, W. et al. Statistical Characterization of the Yield Stress of Nanoparticles. Acta Mech. Solida Sin. 34, 149–156 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10338-020-00212-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10338-020-00212-w

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