Atomistic simulation of the influence of semi-coherent interfaces in the V/Fe bilayer system on plastic deformation during nanoindentation

Semi-coherent interfaces can have a strong influence on the mechanical behavior of bilayer systems, which is seen very clearly under indentation conditions where a well-defined plastic zone interacts directly with the interface. The main aim of this work is to study the influence of a semi-coherent bcc/bcc interface in the V/Fe bilayer system with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In particular, the influence of the V layer thicknesses on the apparent hardness of bilayer system is investigated. Our results show that the deformation behavior of pure V and pure Fe resulting from the MD simulations is in good agreement with the literature. Moreover, the MD simulations reveal a significant enhancement of the hardness of V/Fe bilayer system for thinner vanadium layers, resulting from the crucial role of the semi-coherent interface as a barrier to dislocation propagation. This is seen from a detailed analysis of the interaction of mobile dislocations in the plastic zone with misfit dislocations in the interface. Our work shows that dislocation pile-ups at the interface and formation of horizontal shear loops are two key mechanisms dominating the rate and magnitude of plastic deformation and thus contributes to our understanding of mechanical behavior of bilayer systems with semi-coherent interfaces.