Molecular dynamics simulations of the straining of nanoparticle chain aggregates: the case of copper

Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that individual nanoparticle chain aggregates (NCAs) exhibit unusual mechanical behaviour when under strain inside the transmission electron microscope. NCAs made of various materials (e.g. carbon, metal oxides and metals) were strained by as much as 100% under tension. The nanoparticles that compose the chains were 5-10 nm in diameter and the chains of the order of 1 mu m in length. Such aggregates are of technological importance in the manufacture of nanocomposite materials (e.g. rubber), aggregate break-up (e.g. sampling diesel emissions) and chemical-mechanical planarization. The goal of this study was to simulate the mechanical behaviour of chain aggregates with morphological properties similar to those of technological interest. Molecular dynamics (MD) and energy minimization computer simulations are employed to investigate, at the atomic scale, the behaviour of short nanoparticle aggregates under strain and to obtain quantitative information on the forces involved in aggregate straining and fracturing. The interaction potential used is that of copper obtained with the embedded atom method (EAM). Two seven-nanoparticle aggregates are studied, one linear and the other kinked. The seven nanoparticles in both aggregates are single crystals and about 2.5 nm in diameter each. The aggregates are strained along their longest dimension, to the breaking point, at strain rates spanning from 2.5 x 10(7) to 8.0 x 10(8) s(-1) (MD simulations). The linear aggregate yield strain is about 0.1. The kinked aggregate elastic limit is also about 0.1, but only one-third of the stress develops along the straining direction compared to the linear aggregate. The kinked aggregate breaks at a strain of about 0.5, five times higher than the breaking strain of the linear aggregate. The ability of the kinked aggregate to straighten through combined nanoparticle interface sliding and rotation accounts for the extra strain accommodation. Simulation strain rates are orders of magnitude higher than the experimental ones. However, aggregate behaviour is independent of strain rates over the range studied here. The MD and energy minimization straining gave very similar results. In the elastic regime, the I,S-11 modulus for the seven-nanoparticle kinked aggregate is about one-fifth of the bulk value. This is due to a combined effect of the small primary particle diameter and the aggregate kinked structure. If this softening behaviour also occurs for nanoparticle aggregates of other materials (e.g. carbon, silica), nanoparticle aggregates, in some cases, may be strained along with the nanocomposite they reinforce.