Multiscale simulation of onset plasticity during nanoshearing process of copper film

This paper presents a multiscale simulation of nanoshearing process of a single crystal copper film using the quasi-continuum (QC) method. The purpose of the simulation is to study the initial stages of plastic deformation. Three different punch–die clearances and two different crystallographic orientations of the film are studied. A series of dislocation activities, such as nucleation, slip, and deformation twinning are captured. We compared the stress–displacement or the load–displacement curves for different punch–die clearances and for different punch orientations. It is found that both the elastic deformation and dislocation nucleation largely depend on the punch–die clearance. Each dislocation nucleation is accompanied by a load drop in the load–displacement curves. In addition, the punch orientation has a great influence on the mechanism of plastic deformation.

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► An increase in the punch–die clearance causes a decrease in the punch stress.
► Dislocations nucleate beneath the two corners of the punch.
► The von Mises strain decreases as the increase of punch–die clearance.
► The deformation twinning is observed on the (0 0 1) surface.
► The (0 0 1) surface produces a relatively low mechanical resistance in copper.