Strain engineering of the mechanical properties of two-dimensional WS.

Tuning the physical properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials is crucial for their successful integration into advanced applications. While strain engineering demonstrated an efficient means to modulate the electrical and optical properties of 2D materials, tuning their mechanical properties has not been carried out. Here we applied compressive strain through the buckling metrology to 2D tungsten disulfide (WS), which demonstrated mechanical softening manifested by the reduction of its effective Young's modulus.

Nucleation-Controlled Plasticity of Metallic Nanowires and Nanoparticles.

Nanowires and nanoparticles are envisioned as important elements of future technology and devices, owing to their unique mechanical properties. Metallic nanowires and nanoparticles demonstrate outstanding size-dependent strength since their deformation is dislocation nucleation-controlled. In this context, the recent experimental and computational studies of nucleation-controlled plasticity are reviewed.

The Stress-Dependent Activation Parameters for Dislocation Nucleation in Molybdenum Nanoparticles.

Many specimens at the nanoscale are pristine of dislocations, line defects which are the main carriers of plasticity. As a result, they exhibit extremely high strengths which are dislocation-nucleation controlled. Since nucleation is a thermally activated process, it is essential to quantify the stress-dependent activation parameters for dislocation nucleation in order to study the strength of specimens at the nanoscale and its distribution.

Cross-Split of Dislocations: An Athermal and Rapid Plasticity Mechanism.

The pathways by which dislocations, line defects within the lattice structure, overcome microstructural obstacles represent a key aspect in understanding the main mechanisms that control mechanical properties of ductile crystalline materials. While edge dislocations were believed to change their glide plane only by a slow, non-conservative, thermally activated motion, we suggest the existence of a rapid conservative athermal mechanism, by which the arrested edge dislocations split into two other edge dislocations that glide on two different crystallographic planes. This discovered mechanism, for which we coined a term "cross-split of edge dislocations", is a unique and collective phenomenon, which is triggered by an interaction with another same-sign pre-existing edge dislocation.

Signature of dislocations and stacking faults of face-centred cubic nanocrystals in coherent X-ray diffraction patterns: a numerical study.

Crystal defects induce strong distortions in diffraction patterns. A single defect alone can yield strong and fine features that are observed in high-resolution diffraction experiments such as coherent X-ray diffraction. The case of face-centred cubic nanocrystals is studied numerically and the signatures of typical defects close to Bragg positions are identified.

Pseudoelastic deformation during nanoscale adhesive contact formation.

Molecular dynamics simulations are employed to demonstrate that adhesive contact formation through classical jump to contact is mediated by extensive dislocation activity in metallic nanoparticles. The dislocations generated during jump to contact are completely annihilated by the completion of the adhesive contact, leaving the nanoparticles dislocation-free. This rapid and efficient jump to contact process is pseudoelastic, rather than purely elastic or plastic.