Related papers: Local structural ordering determines the mechanica…
Grain boundary complexions have been observed to affect the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline metals, improving both strength and ductility. While an explanation for the improved ductility exists, the observed effect on strength…
Amorphous materials lack long-range order but short-range order can still persist through the recurrence of similar local packing motifs. While the short-range order in bulk amorphous phases has been well studied and identified as an…
Amorphous solids relax via slow molecular rearrangement induced by thermal fluctuations or applied stress. Although microscopic structural signatures predicting these structural relaxations have long been sought, a physically motivated…
Segregation-induced structural transitions in metallic grain boundaries are studied with hybrid atomistic Monte Carlo/molecular dynamics simulations using Cu-Zr as a model system, with a specific emphasis on understanding the effect of…
Microstructural evolution in structural materials is known to occur in response to mechanical loading and can often accommodate substantial plastic deformation through the coupled motion of grain boundaries (GBs). This can produce desirable…
The sharp growth of the fracture toughness after brittle-ductile transition happens at grain sizes approximately equal to the plastic zone size. Here we analyze the influence of the grain boundary on the evolution of the ensemble of…
This paper unravels micromechanical aspects of metallic materials whose microstructure comprises grains of two or more phases. The local plastic response is determined by (i) the relative misorientation of the slip systems of individual…
Understanding how atomic-level structures govern the mechanical properties of amorphous materials remains a fundamental challenge in solid-state physics. Under mechanical loading, amorphous materials exhibit simple affine and spatially…
The internal energy associated with the defect microstructure of strongly deformed crystals provides an important driving force for grain boundary motion during recrystallization. Typical dislocation microstructures are strongly…
To investigate the barrier effect of grain boundaries on the propagation of avalanche-like plasticity at the atomic-scale, we perform three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations by using simplified polycrystal models including…
We design, fabricate and test heterogeneous architected polycrystals, composed of hard plastomers and soft elastomers, which thus show outstanding mechanical resilience and energy dissipation simultaneously. Grain boundaries that separate…
Amorphous materials of homogeneous structures usually suffer from nonuniform deformation under shear, which can develop into shear localization and eventually destructive shear band. One approach to tackle this issue is to introduce an…
Grain-boundary (GB) local stress is central to the initiation and evolution of long-term creep damage in polycrystalline superalloys. Owing to the high-dimensional nonlinear relationships between the GB stress response and multiple…
Plastic deformation in amorphous solids is carried by localized shear transformations that self-organize into avalanches. In amorphous carbon modeled with a machine-learned interatomic potential, we find that the energetics and organization…
Grain boundaries (GBs) and interfaces in polycrystalline materials are significant research subjects in the field of materials science. Despite a more than 50-year history of their study, there are still many open questions. The main…
Faces-classes of grains, often referred to as topological features, largely dictate the evolution of polycrystalline microstructures during grain growth. Realising these topological features is generally an arduous task, often demanding…
For two decades now, the importance of microstructure in the mechanical behaviour of a large collection of grains has been a topic of intense research. Many approaches have been developed to study the microstructure in granular materials,…
Grain boundaries dramatically affect the properties of polycrystalline materials because of differences in atomic configuration. To fully understand the relationship between grain boundaries and materials properties, systematic studies of…
Structure-property relationships is a key materials science concept that enables the design of new materials. In the case of materials for application in radiation environments, correlating radiation tolerance with fundamental structural…
Complex crystal structures are composed of multiple local environments, and how this type of order emerges spontaneously during crystal growth has yet to be fully understood. We study crystal growth across various structures and along…