Large deformation behavior and mechanism of graphene kirigami under shear and combined shear-tension loads

P Shi and Y Chen and T Guo and YM Tu and HD Zhou and J Feng, COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE, 251, 113746 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2025.113746

Parallel-cut graphene kirigami has demonstrated good stretchability and ductility; however, its deformation behavior under shear and combined shear-tension loads remains unexplored. In this study, molecular dynamics simulations are employed to systematically investigate the mechanical behavior and deformation mechanism of parallel-cut graphene kirigami under these loading conditions. The results reveal that graphene kirigami exhibits large deformation and ductile failure behavior. Under shear loading, its yield strain and fracture strain can reach approximately six and nine times those of pristine graphene, respectively. These significant enhancements are attributed to the flipping-folding-tearing mechanism of the incised ligaments. Notably, the shear flexibility of graphene kirigami can be tailored by altering the cutting geometry. Under combined shear-tension loads, as the shear- to-tension ratio increases, the deformation mechanism shifts from tension-induced flipping to shear- induced flipping-folding behavior. Furthermore, shear mechanical properties are more sensitive to shear- tension ratio than tensile mechanical properties. This configured graphene kirigami is anticipated to be applicable in flexible electronic devices that have to withstand complex loads.

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