Compression of nanoparticles

This is work of Dan Mordehai and co-authors on a combined experimental-computational study of the strength of metallic nanoparticles. This combined study allows studying dislocation nucleation from the surfaces in strong stress-gradients.

The animations show the dislocation activity in a 9.8 nm nanoparticle during molecular dynamics simulations of compression (left) and indentation (right), as viewed from the [111] direction (from the bottom of the particle). Only atoms on free surfaces and in the defect cores are shown; atoms in stacking faults are shaded in gray. Under compression, dislocations are nucleated at the upper vertices, with a size dependent nucleation threshold. During indentation, dislocations are nucleated beneath the tip and are clearly starved on the surfaces.