Understanding large plastic deformation of SiC nanowires at room temperature

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University - Perth, WA 6845, Australia
² School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University - Beijing 100191, China
³ School of Aeronautics Science and Engineering, Beihang University - Beijing 100191, China
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics (LNM), Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Beijing 100190, China
⁵ Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management (MEEM), City University of Hong Kong - Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
⁶ School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Sydney Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
⁷ School of Engineering, Brown University - Providence, RI 02912, USA

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Received: 23 June 2011
Accepted: 26 July 2011

Abstract

Tensile behaviors of SiC [111] nanowires with various possible microstructures have been investigated by molecular-dynamics simulations. The results show that the large plastic deformation in these nanowires is induced by the anti-parallel sliding of 3C grains along an ultra-thin intergranular amorphous film parallel to the plane and inclined at an angle of 19.47^○ with respect to the nanowire axis. The resulting large plastic deformation of SiC nanowires at room temperature is attributed to the stretching, breaking and re-forming of Si–C bonds in the intergranular amorphous film, which is also evident from the sawtooth jumps in the stress-strain response.