Effect of voids on the tensile properties of vanadium nanowires

Vanadium alloys are one of the candidates for first-wall materials. Due to the impact of high energy neutrons and transmutation helium during a fusion reaction, voids will be formed and the mechanical properties of the first-wall materials will be degraded. It is necessary to investigate the effect of voids on the mechanical behavior of the material. In the present paper, the tensile properties of vanadium nanowires with a void have been studied with molecular dynamics simulations. During a deformation process, the generation of 〈1 1 1〉/{1 1 2} stacking faults to form twinnings in vanadium nanowires. The void facilitates the nanowire's rupture and alters the deformation behavior of nanowires. For the nanowire with a void, the twin initiates near the vicinity of the void rather than a random location as in a nanowire without void. Twinning boundaries propagate towards the ends of nanowire until the whole wire transforms from the initial orientation (z-〈0 0 1〉) to a new configuration (z-〈1 1 0〉) with a rotation of 90° under a tensile stress. The nucleation and growth of the twin is inhibited as void size increases, and the nanowires crack is mainly induced by the disordering of vanadium atoms near the void rather than twinning deformation for large size void. A critical effective cross sectional width is determined for different deformation mechanisms. © 2012 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved