Strengthening effect of shear-induced wrinkles on graphene/copper nanocomposites by an atomistic investigation

LL Li and YX Zhang and LP Xiong and ZY He and YW Zhu, JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS, 1002, 175291 (2024).

DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2024.175291

Graphene reinforced copper (G/Cu) nanocomposites have attracted extensive research interests in developing structural-functional integration. However, their mechanical performance is considerably hindered due to the poor wettability and weak van der Waal (vdW) interaction between graphene and Cu matrix. In this research, wrinkles on graphene are constructed by shear engineering, and their strengthening effect on G/Cu nanocomposites is examined. To this end, mechanical behaviors of wrinkled graphene (wG)/Cu nanocomposites under uniaxial tension are investigated by employing molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Extensive MD works show that wrinkles can significantly enhance mechanical properties of wG/Cu nanocomposites, depending on the pre-shear strain of graphene, caused by the increased surface roughness and improved vdW interaction. With a pre-shear strain gamma=0.02, Young's modulus of wG/Cu is increased by -130 % over that reinforced by pristine graphene. It is demonstrated that wrinkles also considerably improve high-temperature properties of G/ Cu nanocomposites. The modulus of wG/Cu nanocomposites at 600 K is -125 % higher than that of pG/Cu counterparts. MD investigations of defective wG/Cu demonstrate that Young's modulus is higher than that with pristine graphene, even structural defects present on graphene. This work reveals the mechanisms of winkles underlying mechanical behaviors of wG/Cu at the nanoscale, suggesting that application of shear-induced wrinkles is an effective way to alleviate the challenge of weak interaction between graphene and Cu and tailor high performance G/Cu nanocomposites.

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