The nonlinear elastic behavior of crystalline solids: An atomistic simulation study

In this paper, we employ molecular static approach with quantum corrected Sutten-Chen many-body potential to study the elastic responses of nickel monocrystal subjected to uniaxial tensile and compressive loading, and consider three different loadings, i.e., the [001], [011] and [111] loading. The simulated results show that strong nonlinear effects are found in the elastic behavior of monocrystal under the [011] loading, while the lateral deformations are essentially isotropic under [100] and [111] loadings. The further discussions are focused on the dependence of the Young's moduli and Poisson's ratios on the applied strain, and a brief comparison with first-principles calculations is also presented.