Nanoparticle aggregates have been found to possess unique mechanical properties. Aggregates of metal nanoparticles can be strained up to 100% before failure, and even typically brittle materials are observed to have a ductile failure mode. In this effort two materials; namely silver and silicon, were chosen to represent ductile and brittle materials, respectively. Aggregates with 2 to 6 particles were simulated using the molecular dynamics (MD) algorithm to determine the stress-strain behavior of the aggregate. Many interesting observations are made including the negligible affect of strain rate on ultimate tensile strength, and the direct relationship between Young's modulus and nanoparticle size.
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