Surface effects on mechanical behavior of elastic nanoporous materials under high strain

This paper studies surface effects on the mechanical behavior of nanoporous materials under high strains with an improved anisotropic Kelvin model. The stress-strain relations are derived by the theories of Euler-Bernoulli beam and surface elasticity. Meanwhile, the influence of strut (or ligament) size on the mechanical properties of nanoporous materials is discussed, which becomes a key factor with consideration of the residual surface stress and the surface elasticity. The results show that the decrease in the strut diameter and the increase in the residual surface stress or the surface elasticity can both lead to an increase in the carrying capacity of nanoporous materials. Furthermore, mechanical behaviors of anisotropic nanoporous materials in different directions (the rise direction and the transverse direction) are investigated. The results indicate that the surface effects in the transverse direction are more obvious than those in the rise direction for anisotropic nanoporous materials. In addition, the present results can be reduced to the cases of conventional foams as the strut size increases to micron-scale, which confirms validity of the model to a certain extent.     

SURFACE STRESS EFFECT IN MECHANICS OF NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS

This review article summarizes the advances in the surface stress effect in mechanics of nanostructured elements,including nanoparticles,nanowires,nanobeams,and nanofilms,and heterogeneous materials containing nanoscale inhomogeneities.It begins with the fundamental formulations of surface mechanics of solids,including the definition of surface stress as a surface excess quantity,the surface constitutive relations,and the surface equilibrium equations.Then,it depicts some theoretical and experimental studies of the mechanical properties of nanostructured elements,as well as the static and dynamic behaviour of cantilever sensors caused by the surface stress which is influenced by adsorption.Afterwards,the article gives a summary of the analytical elasto-static and dynamic solutions of a single as well as multiple inhomogeneities embedded in a matrix with the interface stress prevailing.The effect of surface elasticity on the diffraction of elastic waves is elucidated.Due to the difficulties in the analytical solution of inhomogeneities of complex shapes and configurations,finite element approaches have been developed for heterogeneous materials with the surface stress.Surface stress and surface energy are inherently related to crack propagation and the stress field in the vicinity of crack tips.The solutions of crack problems taking into account surface stress effects are also included.Predicting the effective elastic and plastic responses of heterogeneous materials while taking into account surface and interface stresses has received much attention.The advances in this topic are inevitably delineated.Mechanics of rough surfaces appears to deserve special attention due to its theoretical and practical implications.Some most recent work is reviewed.Finally,some challenges are pointed out.They include the characterization of surfaces and interfaces of real nanomaterials,experimental measurements and verification of mechanical parameters of complex surfaces,and the effects of the physical and chemical processes on the surface properties,etc.     

Effect of interface stress on the fracture behavior of a nanoscale linear inclusion along the interface of bimaterials

This paper investigates the influence of residual interface tension on the fracture behavior of a nanoscale linear interface inclusion in a bimaterial matrix. Solutions to the inclusion opening displacement and the energy release rate are obtained. The results show that the interface effect on the inclusion deformation and inclusion tip field are prominent at nanoscale. Especially, the residual interface stress has a dramatic influence on the energy release rate. It is also found that the importance of the interface effect depends on the size of the inclusion, the shear modulus ratios of the bimaterial. The inclusion opening displacement and the energy release rate can be reduced considerably by decreasing the inclusion length at nanoscale.     

Influence of interfaces on effective properties of nanomaterials with stochastically distributed spherical inclusions

The method of conditional moments is generalized to include evaluation of the effective elastic properties of particulate nanomaterials and to investigate the size effect in those materials. Determining the effective constants necessitates finding a stochastically averaged solution to the fundamental equations of linear elasticity coupled with surface/interface conditions (Gurtin–Murdoch model). To obtain such a solution the system of governing stochastic differential equations is first transformed to an equivalent system of stochastic integral equations. Using statistical averaging, the boundary-value problem is then converted to an infinite system of linear algebraic equations. A two-point approximation is considered and the stress fluctuations within the inclusions are neglected in order to obtain a finite system of algebraic equations in terms of component-average strains. Closed-form expressions are derived for the effective moduli of a composite consisting of a matrix and randomly distributed spherical inhomogeneities. As a numerical example a nanoporous material is investigated assuming a model in which the interface effects influence only the bulk modulus of the material. In that model the resulting shear modulus is the same as for the material without surface effects. Dependence of the bulk moduli on the radius of nanopores and on the pore volume fraction is analyzed. The results are compared to, and discussed in the context of other theoretical predictions.     

Effect of interface stresses on the elastic deformation of an elastic half-plane containing an elastic inclusion

The effect of the interface stresses is studied upon the size-dependent elastic deformation of an elastic half-plane having a cylindrical inclusion with distinct elastic properties. The elastic half-plane is subjected to either a uniaxial loading at infinity or a uniform non-shear eigenstrain in the inclusion. The straight edge of the half-plane is either traction-free, or rigid-slip, or motionless, which represents three practical situations of mechanical structures. Using two-dimensional Papkovich–Neuber potentials and the theory of surface/interface elasticity, the elastic field in the elastic half-plane is obtained. Comparable with classical result, the new formulation renders the significant effect of the interface stresses on the stress distribution in the half-plane when the radius of the inclusion is reduced to the nanometer scale. Numerical results show that the intensity of the influence depends on the surface/interface moduli, the stiffness ratio of the inclusion to the surrounding material, the boundary condition on the edge of the half-plane and the proximity of the inclusion to the edge.     

考虑夹杂相互作用的复合陶瓷夹杂界面的断裂分析

复合材料中夹杂含量较高时,夹杂间的相互作用能显著改变材料细观应力应变场分布,基体和夹杂中的平均应力应变水平也会发生较大变化,导致复合材料强度等力学性能发生显著变化. 为修正单一夹杂模型运用在实际材料中的误差,基于相互作用直推估计法,建立一种考虑含夹杂相互作用的夹杂界面裂纹开裂模型. 首先根据相互作用直推估计法,得到残余应力和外载应力共同作用下夹杂中的平均应力,再计算无限大基体中相同的夹杂达到相同应力场时的等效加载应力,将此加载应力作为含界面裂纹夹杂的等效应力边界条件,在此边界条件下求得界面裂纹尖端的应力强度因子,进而得到界面裂纹开裂的极限加载条件,并分析了夹杂弹性性能、含量、热残余应力、夹杂尺寸等因素对界面裂纹开裂条件的影响. 结果表明,方法能够有效修正单夹杂模型运用在实际材料中的误差,较大的残余应力对界面裂纹开裂有重要的影响,夹杂刚度的影响并非单调且比较复杂;在残余应力较小时,降低柔性夹杂刚度或者增大刚性夹杂刚度都有利于提高材料强度;扩大夹杂尺寸将导致裂纹开裂极限应力显著降低,从而降低材料强度.      

SELF-INSTABILITY AND BENDING BEHAVIORS OF NANO PLATES

This paper aims at investigating the size-dependent self-buckling and bending behaviors of nano plates through incorporating surface elasticity into the elasticity with residual stress fields. In the absence of external loading, positive surface tension induces a compressive residual stress field in the bulk of the nano plate and there may be self-equilibrium states corresponding to the plate self-buckling. The self-instability of nano plates is investigated and the critical self-instability size of simply supported rectangular nano plates is determined. In addition, the residual stress field in the bulk of the nano plate is usually neglected in the existing literatures, where the elastic response of the bulk is often described by the classical Hooke＇s law. The present paper considered the effect of the residual stress in the bulk induced by surface tension and adopted the elasticity with residual stress fields to study the bending behaviors of nano plates without buckling. The present results show that the surface effects only modify the coefficients in corresponding equations of the classical Kirchhoff plate theory.     

纳米孪晶和梯度纳米结构金属强韧特性研究进展

金属材料在航空、航天工业以及民用工业等领域具有广泛的应用,如何获取同时具备高强度和良好塑性的金属材料一直是材料、物理、力学等不同学科长期以来亟待解决的难题.传统的强化方法包括应变强化、固溶强化、相变强化、晶粒细化强化和第二相弥散强化等,均会使材料的韧性或塑性降低.近年来,实验研究发现通过界面设计和微结构调控来可以制备出高强高韧的金属材料,认为位错与各类界面的相互作用、以及微结构优化对应力集中的削弱是材料强化和韧化的主要原因.根据已有实验观察,人们通过原子尺度方法定量分析高强高韧金属材料的变形机理,揭示其强化和韧化机制;同时,发展出基于变形机理的理论模型和有限元方法定量描述高强高韧金属的力学行为.论文将重点介绍纳米孪晶金属和梯度纳米结构金属的强韧特性研究进展,并对新型纳米结构金属材料的强韧特性优化进行展望.     

Elastic field of an isotropic matrix with a nanoscale elliptical inhomogeneity

In traditional continuum mechanics, the effect of surface energy is ignored as it is small compared to the bulk energy. For nanoscale materials and structures, however, the surface effects become significant due to the high surface/volume ratio. In this paper, two-dimensional elastic field of a nanoscale elliptical inhomogeneity embedded in an infinite matrix under arbitrary remote loading and a uniform eigenstrain in the inhomogeneity is investigated. The Gurtin–Murdoch surface/interface elasticity model is applied to take into account the surface/interface stress effects. By using the complex variable technique of Muskhelishvili, the analytic potential functions are obtained in the form of an infinite series. Selected numerical results are presented to study the size-dependency of the elastic field and the effects of surface elastic moduli and residual surface stress. It is found that the elastic field of an elliptic inhomogeneity under uniform eigenstrain is no longer uniform when the interfacial stress effects are taken into account.     

Effect of interphase layers on the overall elastic and conductive properties of matrix composites. Applications to nanosize inclusion

For a composite with thin interface layers between inclusions and the matrix, the effective elastic properties and the effective conductivity (thermal or electric) are almost unaffected by the layers, provided (1) the layer thickness is much smaller than the inclusion sizes and (2) the contrast between the properties of the layers and either of the phases is not overly high. For composites with nanoparticles, the interface thickness may be comparable to the particle sizes. Therefore, the effect of interfaces on the overall properties may be substantial. The controlling parameters are (1) the ratio of the interface thickness to particle sizes and (2) variability of the properties across the interface thickness. Explicit expressions constructed in the present work show that the overall elastic/conductive properties are affected, mostly, by the interface thickness (normalized to the size of the core particle) and are much less sensitive to the extent of the variation and its exact character. Similarities and differences between the elasticity and the conductivity problems are discussed.     

Influence of plasticity on interface toughness in a layered solid with residual stresses

For crack growth along an interface between two adjacent elastic–plastic materials in a layered solid, the resistance curve behaviour is analysed by approximating the behaviour in terms of a bi-material interface under small scale yielding conditions. Thus, it is assumed that the layers are thick enough so that the extent of the plastic regions around the crack tip are much smaller than the thickness of the nearest layers. The focus is on the effect of initial residual stresses in the layered material, or on T-stress components induced during loading. The fracture process is represented in terms of a cohesive zone model. It is found that the value of the T-stress component in the softer material adjacent to the interface crack plays a dominant role, such that a negative value of this T-stress gives a significant increase of the interface fracture toughness, while a positive value gives a reduction of the fracture toughness.     

具有表面效应的压电半空间中的表面波

纳米科技的快速发展使压电纳米结构在纳米机电系统中得到广泛应用,形成了诸如纳米压电电子学等新的研究方向.与传统的宏观压电材料相比,在纳米尺度下压电材料往往呈现出不同的力学特性,而造成这种差异的原因之一便是表面效应.本文基于Stroh公式、Barnett-Lothe积分矩阵及表面阻抗矩阵,研究计入表面效应的任意各向异性压电半空间中的表面波传播问题,导出了频散方程.针对横观各向同性压电材料,假设矢状平面平行于材料各向同性面,发现Rayleigh表面波和B-G波解耦,并得到各自的显式频散方程.结果表明,Rayleigh表面波的波速小于偏振方向垂直于表面的体波,而B-G波的波速小于偏振方向垂直于矢状平面的体波.以PZT-5H材料为例,用数值方法考察表面残余应力和电学边界条件对表面波频散特性的影响发现:表面残余应力只对第一阶Rayleigh波有明显的影响;电学开路情形的B-G波比电学闭路情形的B-G波传播快.本文工作可为纳米表面声波器件的设计或压电纳米结构的无损检测提供理论依据.     

Effect of interface stresses on the image force and stability of an edge dislocation inside a nanoscale cylindrical inclusion

Dislocation mobility and stability in inclusions can affect the mechanical behaviors of the composites. In this paper, the problem of an edge dislocation located within a nanoscale cylindrical inclusion incorporating interface stress is first considered. The explicit expression for the image force acting on the edge dislocation is obtained by means of a complex variable method. The influence of the interface effects and the size of the inclusion on the image force is evaluated. The results indicate that the impact of interface stress on the image force and the equilibrium positions of the edge dislocation inside the inclusion becomes remarkable when the radius of the inclusion is reduced to nanometer scale. The force acting on the edge dislocation produced by the interface stress will increase with the decrease of the radius of the inclusion and depends on the inclusion size which differs from the classical solution. The stability of the dislocation inside a nanoscale inclusion is also analyzed. The condition of the dislocation stability and the critical radius of the inclusion are revised for considering interface stresses.     

中空纳米微球填充复合材料的有效力学性能

中空纳米微球可作为复合材料填充体使用. 与相同粒径下的实心纳米颗粒相比,中空纳米微球密度更低,存在表/界面应力效应的面积更大,由此导致的不同力学行为值得人们关注和研究. 目的是研究表/界面应力对中空纳米微球填充复合材料力学行为的影响. 首先,基于广义自洽原理,利用考虑表/界面应力影响的四相球模型导出了中空纳米微球填充复合材料在单向载荷作用下的弹性场,获得了纳米复合材料有效弹性模量的闭合形式解. 然后,分析了纳米复合材料存在的尺度相关性. 算例结果表明,有效弹性常数和环向应力与经典解答不同, 取决于表/界面性能、纳米中空微球粒径和壁厚. 该结论对于中空纳米微球复合材料具有指导意义.      

Stress concentration around a nano-scale spherical cavity in elastic media: effect of surface stress

Influence of surface effect on stress concentration around a spherical cavity in a linearly isotropic elastic medium is studied on the basis of continuum surface elasticity. Following Goodier's work, a close form solution of the elastic field created by biaxial uniform load is presented. The stress concentration factors under different load combinations are obtained. It is concluded that consideration of surface effect leads to dependence of stress concentration factors on cavity size. Besides, numerical result indicates that stress concentration factors around the cavity are mainly affected by residual surface tension. The result is significant in the understanding of relevant mechanical phenomena in solids with nano-sized cavities.     

Hierarchical structure observation and nanoindentation size effect characterization for a limnetic shell

In the present research, hierarchical structure observation and mechanical property characterization for a type of biomaterial are carried out. The investigated biomaterial is Hyriopsis cumingii, a typical limnetic shell, which consists of two different structural layers, a prismatic "pillar"structure and a nacreous "brick and mortar" structure. The prismatic layer looks like a "pillar forest" with variationsection pillars sized on the order of several tens of microns.The nacreous material looks like a "brick wall" with bricks sized on the order of several microns. Both pillars and bricks are composed of nanoparticles. The mechanical properties of the hierarchical biomaterial are measured by using the nanoindentation test. Hardness and modulus are measured for both the nacre layer and the prismatic layer, respectively.The nanoindentation size effects for the hierarchical structural materials are investigated experimentally. The results show that the prismatic nanostructured material has a higher stiffness and hardness than the nacre nanostructured material.In addition, the nanoindentation size effects for the hierarchical structural materials are described theoretically, by using the trans-scale mechanics theory considering both strain gradient effect and the surface/interface effect. The modeling results are consistent with experimental ones.     

SPD纳米材料制备方法及其力学特性

剧烈塑性变形(severe plastic deformation, SPD)纳米化技术是近年来发展的一种力致材料纳米化方法.该方法克服了由粉体压合法带来的残余空隙、球磨法带来的杂质等不足,并且适用于不同形状尺寸的金属、合金、金属间化合物等,因此受到了越来越多的关注.介绍了SPD纳米材料的制备方法及相关纳米材料力学性能研究的现状,并展望了对SPD力致纳米材料的研究趋势.      

Elliptical inclusion in an anisotropic plane: non-uniform interface effects

We study the plane deformation of an elastic composite system made up of an anisotropic elliptical inclusion and an anisotropic foreign matrix surrounding the inclusion. In order to capture the influence of interface energy on the local elastic field as the size of the inclusion approaches the nanoscale, we refer to the Gurtin-Murdoch model of interface elasticity to describe the inclusion-matrix interface as an imaginary and extremely stiff but zero-thickness layer of a finite stretching modulus. As opposed to isotropic cases in which the effects of interface elasticity are usually assumed to be uniform (described by a constant interface stretching modulus for the entire interface), the anisotropic case considered here necessitates non-uniform effects of interface elasticity (described by a non-constant interface stretching modulus), because the bulk surrounding the interface is anisotropic. To this end, we treat the interface stretching modulus of the anisotropic composite system as a variable on the interface curve depending on the specific tangential direction of the interface. We then devise a unified analytic procedure to determine the full stress field in the inclusion and matrix, which is applicable to the arbitrary orientation and aspect ratio of the inclusion, an arbitrarily variable interface modulus, and an arbitrary uniform external loading applied remotely. The non-uniform interface effects on the external loading-induced stress distribution near the interface are explored via a group of numerical examples. It is demonstrated that whether the nonuniformity of the interface effects has a significant effect on the stress field around the inclusion mainly depends on the direction of the external loading and the aspect ratio of the inclusion.     

Achieving high strength and high ductility in nanostructured metals: Experiment and modelling

Engineering nanostructures in metallic materials such as nanograins and nanotwins can promote plastic performance significantly. Nano/ultrafine-grained metals embedded in coarse grains called bimodal metals and nanotwinned polycrystalline metals have been proved to possess extensively improved yield strength whilst keeping good ductility. This paper will present an experimental study on nanostructured stainless steel prepared by surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) with surface impacts of lower strain rate (10 s^?1–10³ s^?1) and higher strain rate (10⁴ s^?1–10⁵ s^?1). Microstructure transition has been observed from the original γ-austenite coarse grains to α′-martensite nanograins with bimodal grain size distribution for lower strain rates to nanotwins in the ultrafine/coarse grained austenite phase for higher strain rates. Meanwhile, we will further address the mechanism-based plastic models to describe the yield strength, strain hardening and ductility in nanostructured metals with bimodal grain size distribution and nanotwinned polycrystalline metals. The proposed theoretical models can comprehensively describe the plastic deformation in these two kinds of nanostructured metals and excellent agreement is achieved between the numerical and experimental results. These models can be utilized to optimize the strength and ductility in nanostructured metals by controlling the size and distribution of nanostructures.