Thermodynamics of elastic strength of the metal surface layer

Abstract

This paper presents a physicochemical model that establishes a connection between the elastic strength of the surface layer (SL) of metal and its surface Gibbs energy. The elastic limit of SL along the low-index face of the metal single crystal under stress during the transition from elastic to plastic deformation was calculated. Calculation shows that the elastic limit of metal SL with fcc and bcc structures is approximately three orders of magnitude higher than the yield strength of these metals in bulk and close to nanohardness of the metals, in particular; for Cu(111) и Al(111), it is 5.3 and 2.8 GPa, respectively. In the light of the proposed model, the effect of lowering the elastic strength of metal SL due to adsorption of surfactant is formulated.

Keywords:

• surface layer
• metal single crystal
• elastic limit
• nanoindentation
• stress
• mechanical properties
• deformation