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Published on: February 9, 2017
Unexpected strain-stiffening in crystalline solids.
Chao Jiang1, Srivilliputhur G Srinivasan
1Structure/Property Relations Group, MST-8, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA. chaopsu@gmail.com
Strain-stiffening, a property seen in biological tissues, surprisingly occurs in inorganic solids like cementite (Fe3C) and aluminium borocarbide (Al3BC3). This phenomenon grants these materials exceptional strength, challenging traditional material design principles.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Solid-State Physics
- Computational Chemistry
Background:
- Strain-stiffening is crucial for biological materials to prevent excessive deformation.
- Understanding strain-stiffening could advance the design of metals and ceramics.
- Inorganic crystalline solids typically have low resistance to deformation near equilibrium.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate strain-stiffening in inorganic crystalline solids.
- To explore the potential of strain-stiffening for designing advanced materials.
- To elucidate the mechanisms behind strain-stiffening in cementite (Fe3C) and aluminium borocarbide (Al3BC3).
Main Methods:
- Quantum-mechanical calculations were employed.
- Analysis of ideal shear strength and shear modulus ratios.
- Investigation of atomic-level mechanisms for stiffening in Fe3C and Al3BC3.
Main Results:
- Strain-stiffening was observed in Fe3C and Al3BC3.
- These materials exhibit exceptionally high ideal shear strength to shear modulus ratios (1.14 for Fe3C, 1.34 for Al3BC3).
- Fe3C stiffens via reversible cross-linking of Fe6C slabs, forming a 3D covalent network; Al3BC3 stiffens due to unsettling of the covalent network by Al-B repulsion.
Conclusions:
- Strain-stiffening is a previously unrecognized phenomenon in simple inorganic crystalline solids.
- The findings challenge the assumption that high shear modulus reliably predicts material hardness and strength.
- New insights are provided for materials selection and the design of high-strength crystalline materials.
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