Study on Plasticity of Cu–Ni Alloy at Atomic Scale: Insight from Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Abstract

The development of alloys or various applications shows an extensive study, from the novel alloying elements to the novel techniques in processing the material. This effort is conducted to find the best suit of an alloy for a specific application. Most applications of metallic material consider its strength and plasticity; thus, an extensive study of these problems is required. This study presents an investigation of the plasticity of Cu–Ni alloy at an atomic scale employing molecular dynamics simulation. A cube-shaped model with a dimension of 20 nm for $x$, $y$, and $z$ planes with a percentage of $50\%$ Cu and $50\%$ Ni. The system is subjected to heat treatment at various temperatures before the tensile test at a strain rate of $2.64e9/s$. The result shows that the heat treatment shows to have a slight effect on the strength of the Cu–Ni alloy. The stress that is evenly distributed along the $z$ plane induces the response of the system with a slippage along the line defects between the crystal and generates the dislocation. This study has successfully given an insight into the plasticity of Cu–Ni alloy and its detailed features at the atomic scale.