DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/AQMY-RD23
Defense Date
2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Physics and Applied Physics
First Advisor
Denis Demchenko
Abstract
Metallic nanowires have useful applications in scanning tunneling microscopes and atomic force microscopes due to their unique sensitivity to force and electricity. These unique properties arise because of the large surface area to volume ratio. One of these properties is that introducing twinning planes the mechanical properties of metallic nanowires can be altered. The effects of twinning planes on metallic nanowires were studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Silver, copper, and nickel nanowires with and without twinning planes were simulated with engineering strain until the first yielding stress was obtained. The radial simulations showed that as the radius of twinned nanowires increased, the strength gained by introducing the twinning planes increased. The temperature simulations showed that nanowires with twinning planes were stronger than their un-twinned counterparts as temperature increased. The purpose of this investigation was to better understand the effect twinning planes had on metallic nanowires, so that future technological advances would benefit from the results.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
May 2014