Abstract
Recent experimental and simulation results have indicated that high-temperature grain growth in nanocrystalline (NC) materials can be suppressed by introducing dopant atoms at the grain boundaries. However, the influence of grain boundary dopants on the mechanical behavior of stabilized NC materials is less clear. In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to study the impact of very low dopant concentrations (<1.0 at. pct Sb) on plastic deformation in single-crystal and NC Cu. A new interatomic potential for low Sb concentration Cu-Sb solid-solution alloys is used to model dopant/host and dopant/dopant interatomic interactions within the MD framework. In single-crystal models, the strained regions around the Sb atoms act as heterogeneous sources for partial dislocation nucleation; the stress associated with this process decreases with increasing Sb concentration. In NC models, MD simulations indicate that Sb dopants randomly dispersed at the grain boundaries cause an increase in the flow stress in NC Cu, implying that Sb atoms at the grain boundaries retard both grain boundary sliding and dislocation nucleation from grain boundary regions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
H. Gleiter: Acta Mater., 2000, vol. 48, pp. 1–29.
W.W. Milligan: Encyclopedia of Comprehensive Structural Integrity, Elsevier, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2003.
H. Van Swygenhoven and J.R. Weertman: Mater. Today, 2006, vol. 9, pp. 24–31.
R.A. Masumura, P.M. Hazzledine, and C.S. Pande: Acta Mater., 1998, vol. 46, pp. 4527–34.
V.Y. Gertsman and R. Birringer: Scripta Metall. Mater., 1994, vol. 30, pp. 577–81.
J. Weissmuller, J. Loffler, and M. Kleber: Nanostruct. Mater., 1995, vol. 6, pp. 105–14.
S. Bansal, A. Saxena, K.T. Hartwig, and R.R. Tummala: J. Metastable Nanocryst. Mater., 2005, vol. 23, pp. 183–86.
I.M. Ghauri, M.Z. Butt, and S.M. Raza: J. Mater. Sci., 1990, vol. 25, pp. 4782–84.
H.D. Mengelberg, M. Meixner, and K. Lücke: Acta Metall., 1965, vol. 13, pp. 835–44.
S.K. Ganapathi, D.M. Owen, and A.H. Chokshi: Scripta Metall. Mater., 1991, vol. 25, pp. 2699–2704.
H. Natter, M. Schmelzer, M.S. Loffler, C.E. Krill, A. Fitch, and R. Hempelmann: J. Phys. Chem. B, 2000, vol. 104, pp. 2467–76.
A.J. Haslam, S.R. Phillpot, D. Wolf, D. Moldovan, and H. Gleiter: Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 2001, vol. A318, pp. 293–312.
C.C. Koch, R.O. Scattergood, K.A. Darling, and J.E. Semones: J. Mater. Sci., 2008, vol. 43, pp. 7264–72.
E. Botcharova, J. Freudenberger, and L. Schultz: Acta Mater., 2006, vol. 54, pp. 3333–41.
K.V. Rajulapati, R.O. Scattergood, K.L. Murty, G. Duscher, and C.C. Koch: Scripta Mater., 2006, vol. 55, pp. 155–58.
P.C. Millett, R.P. Selvam, and A. Saxena: Acta Mater., 2006, vol. 54, pp. 297–303.
R. Rajgarhia, D.E. Spearot, and A. Saxena: Comp. Mater. Sci., 2008, vol. 44, pp. 1258–64.
Y. Mishin, M.J. Mehl, D.A. Papaconstantopoulos, A.F. Voter, and J.D. Kress: Phys. Rev. B, 2001, vol. 63, pp. 224106 (1–16)
A.G. Froseth, P.M. Derlet, and H. Van Swygenhoven: Acta Mater., 2004, vol. 52, pp. 5863–70.
H. Van Swygenhoven, P.M. Derlet, and A.G. Froseth: Nature Mater., 2004, vol. 3, pp. 399–403.
S. Erkoc: in Annual Review of Computational Physics, D. Stauffer, ed., vol. IX, World Scientific, Singapore, 2001, pp. 1–103
R. Hultgren, P.D. Desai, D.T. Hawkins, M. Fleiser, and K.K. Kelley: Selected Values of Thermodynamic Properties of Binary Alloys, ASM, Metals Park, OH, 1973.
R. Rajgarhia, D.E. Spearot, and A. Saxena: Model. Sim. Mater. Sci. Eng., 2009, vol. 17, pp. 055001 (1–13)
M.A. Tschopp, D.E. Spearot, and D.L. McDowell: Model. Sim. Mater. Sci. Eng., 2007, vol. 15, pp. 693–709.
S. Melchionna, G. Ciccotti, and B.L. Holian: Mol. Phys., 1993, vol. 78, pp. 533–44.
D.E. Spearot, K.I. Jacob, and D.L. McDowell: Acta Mater., 2005, vol. 53, pp. 3579–89.
D.E. Spearot, K.I. Jacob, and D.L. McDowell: Int. J. Plasticity, 2007, vol. 23, pp. 143–60.
J.K. Mackenzie: Biometrika, 1958, vol. 45, pp. 229–40.
C.L. Kelchner, S.J. Plimpton, and J.C. Hamilton: Phys. Rev. B, 1998, vol. 58, pp. 11085-11088.
D.E. Spearot, M.A. Tschopp, K.I. Jacob, and D.L. McDowell: Acta Mater., 2007, vol. 55, pp. 705–14.
M.A. Tschopp and D.L. McDowell: J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 2008, vol. 56, pp. 1806–30.
J. Schiotz: Scripta Mater., 2004, vol. 51, pp. 837–41.
J. Schiotz and K.W. Jacobsen: Science, 2003, vol. 301, pp. 1357–59.
P.C. Millett, R.P. Selvam, and A. Saxena: Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 2006, vol. 431, pp. 92–99.
J.C.M. Li: Phys. Rev. Lett., 2006, vol. 96, pp. 215506 (1–4)
Acknowledgments
Funding for this work is provided by the Irma and Raymond Giffels’ Endowed Chair in Engineering at the University of Arkansas. One of the authors (DES) appreciates additional support from Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed on “Star of Arkansas,” funding for which was provided, in part, by the National Science Foundation under Grant MRI No. 072265.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is based on a presentation given in the symposium entitled “Mechanical Behavior of Nanostructured Materials,” which occurred during the TMS Spring Meeting in San Francisco, CA, February 15–19, 2009, under the auspices of TMS, the TMS Electronic, Magnetic, and Photonic Materials Division, the TMS Materials Processing and Manufacturing Division, the TMS Structural Materials Division, the TMS Nanomechanical Materials Behavior Committee, the TMS Chemistry and Physics of Materials Committee, and the TMS/ASM Mechanical Behavior of Materials Committee.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rajgarhia, R.K., Spearot, D.E. & Saxena, A. Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Dislocation Activity in Single-Crystal and Nanocrystalline Copper Doped with Antimony. Metall Mater Trans A 41, 854–860 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-010-0172-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-010-0172-z