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Surface dislocation nucleation mediated deformation and ultrahigh strength in sub-10-nm gold nanowires

Nano Research volume 4, pages 1261–1267 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

The plastic deformation and the ultrahigh strength of metals at the nanoscale have been predicted to be controlled by surface dislocation nucleation. In situ quantitative tensile tests on individual 〈111〉 single crystalline ultrathin gold nanowires have been performed and significant load drops observed in stress-strain curves suggest the occurrence of such dislocation nucleation. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) imaging and molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated that plastic deformation was indeed initiated and dominated by surface dislocation nucleation, mediating ultrahigh yield and fracture strength in sub-10-nm gold nanowires.

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Author notes

  1. Yang Lu

    Present address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, 77005, USA

    Yang Lu & Jun Lou

  2. Department of Mining & Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B2, Canada

    Jun Song

  3. Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 87185, USA

    Jian Yu Huang

Authors
  1. Yang Lu
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  2. Jun Song
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  3. Jian Yu Huang
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  4. Jun Lou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jun Lou.

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Lu, Y., Song, J., Huang, J.Y. et al. Surface dislocation nucleation mediated deformation and ultrahigh strength in sub-10-nm gold nanowires. Nano Res. 4, 1261–1267 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-011-0177-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-011-0177-y

Keywords

  • Nanowires
  • in situ transmission electron microscope (TEM)
  • mechanical characterization
  • dislocation nucleation
  • plasticity