Effects of chirality and number of graphene layers on the mechanical properties of graphene-embedded copper nanocomposites

摘要

In this paper, the mechanical properties of a single-crystal copper nanosheet and graphene nanoribbon-embedded copper (GNR/Cu) nanocomposites are investigated using the molecular dynamics (MD) method. Five different simulation models are used to investigate the effects of chirality, number of graphene layers, and temperature on the mechanical properties of GNR/Cu nanocomposites. The results show that the Young's modulus, tensile strength, and fracture strain of GNR/Cu nanocomposites are much larger than those of a single-crystal copper nanosheet. For the GNR/Cu nanocomposites, the number of graphene layers has a large effect on the Young's modulus and tensile strength. Conversely, the chirality influences the tensile strength and fracture strain the most, but has little effect on the Young's modulus. With increasing temperature, the mechanical properties of both the single-crystal copper nanosheet and the GNR/Cu nanocomposites deteriorate. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.