Inherent tensile strength of molybdenum nanocrystals

Abstract

The strength of Mo nanorods was measured under uniaxial tension. Tensile tests of 〈 110〉-oriented single-crystalline molybdenum rod-shaped specimens with diameters from 25 to 90 nm at the apex were conducted inside a field-ion microscope (FIM). The nanocrystals were free from dislocations, planar defects and microcracks, and exhibited the plastic mode of failure under uniaxial tension with the formation of a chisel-edge tip by multiple gliding in the and deformation systems. The experimental values of tensile strength vary between 6.3 and 19.8 GPa and show a decrease with increasing nanorod diameter. A molecular dynamic simulation of Mo nanorod tension also suggests that the strength decreases from 28.8 to 21.0 GPa when the rod diameter increases from 3.1 to 15.7 nm. The maximum values of experimental strength are thought to correspond to the inherent strength of Mo nanocrystals under uniaxial tension (19.8 GPa, or 7.5% of Young's modulus).

• strength
• field-ion microscopy
• field evaporation
• nanocrystal
• molybdenum

Acknowledgments

We thank N Wanderka for helpful discussions and comments. This work was supported by the Program of the National Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine ‘Nanosystems, Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies’ (Grant No. 30/07-H) and the NATO International Program No. SA (PST. CLG.976376) 5437.