An examination of surface stress effects and deformation mechanisms in Al–Cu nanowires

A molecular dynamics simulation was utilized to study AlCu and AlCu3 nanowires. The simulation results showed that surface stress can force AlCu nanowires into high-elastic states and induce slip and clusters in AlCu3 nanowires. Two distinct types of deformation mechanisms were observed. One is that the AlCu nanowires underwent the changes of elastic deformation, amorphous transition, necking and breaking. The other is because the {1 0 1} twinning and crystal region coexist, the calculated tensile curves of AlCu3 nanowires also show many yield points, and unloading can lead to elastic recovery of 4–9%. It implies that AlCu3 nanowires are usable even after external shock waves. This work indicates that changing atomic proportions in alloy nanowires can be utilized to control the deformation mechanism upon loading