The kinetics and modes of gold nanowire breaking

Molecular dynamics calculations revealed that the temperature of operation and the applied tensile force (f) determine not only the kinetics but also the mode and duration of Au nanowire breaking. In the tensile force range of 0.018 and 0.1 nN/atom, structure transformation of the wire occurs prior to breaking at random positions. The gold wire breaks abruptly when the f is stronger than 0.1nN/atom but no rupture occurs at all when the f is weaker than 0.018 nN/atom. At higher temperatures and under stronger tensile forces, the wire breaks even faster.