Influence of silver inclusions on the mechanical behavior of Cu-Ag nanocomposite during nanoindentation: Molecular dynamics study

In this work, we study the effect of silver inclusions on the mechanical behavior of Cu-Ag nanocomposites during nanoindentation using Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Pure Cu and Cu matrices containing Ag inclusions of different sizes, located at various depths under the surface, are investigated. The results of simulations show that the presence of silver inclusion influences the strength of the material. Indeed, the hardness of Cu substrate containing an Ag inclusion is lower than that of pure Cu. In addition, for a given inclusion radius, the hardness decreases with decreasing inclusion depth beneath the indenter. Furthermore, our results also showed that, at a fixed inclusion depth, hardness increases as the inclusion radius decreases and the maximum hardness value is obtained for an inclusion radius and depth of 17.5 A and 60 A, respectively.