Nanoscale twinning-induced elastic strengthening in silicon carbide nanowires

Compressibility of periodically twinned silicon carbide nanowires is studied using in situ high pressure X-ray diffraction. Twinned SiC nanowires displayed a bulk modulus of 316 GPa, ∼20–40% higher than previously reported values for SiC of other morphologies. This finding provides direct evidence of a significant effect of twinned structures on the elastic properties of SiC on the nano scale and supports previous molecular dynamics simulations of twin boundary/stacking fault-induced strengthening. Both experiments and simulations indicate that nanoscale twinning is an effective pathway by which to tailor the mechanical properties of nanostructures.