Atomistic simulation of the mechanical behaviors of co-continuous Cu/SiC nanocomposites

In this paper, molecular dynamics (MDs) simulation was employed to investigate the mechanical behaviors of co-continuous Cu/SiC nanocomposites. The calculated results show the Young’s modulus and yield stress of the nanocomposites increase nonlinearly with the volume fraction (VF) of SiC. The Young’s modulus predicted by MD simulation is in good agreement with the micromechanics methods. The interfacial properties are found to play an important role in the plastic deformation of the nanocomposites. With the temperature increase, the co-continuous Cu/SiC nanocomposites show a brittle-to-ductile transition at about 700 K and the ultimate yield stress decreases linearly with the increase of temperature. This research is intended to give an insight into the mechanical behaviors of co-continuous nanocompoistes at an atomistic level.