Length Scale Effects in Materials Deformation of Nano and Microscale Au Structures

In this study, intrinsic size effect — strong size dependence of mechanical properties — in materials deformation was investigated by performing atomistic simulation of compression on Au (114) pyramids. Sample boundary effect — inaccurate measurement of mechanical properties when sample size is comparable to the indent size — in nanoindentation was also investigated by performing experiments and atomistic simulations of nanoindentation into nano- and micro-scale Au pillars and bulk Au (001) surfaces. For intrinsic size effect, dislocation nucleation and motions that contribute to size effect were analyzed for studying the materials deformation mechanisms. For sample boundary effect, in both experiments and atomistic simulation, the elastic modulus decreases with increasing indent size over sample size ratio. Significantly different dislocation motions contribute to the lower value of the elastic modulus measured in the pillar indentation. The presence of the free surface would allow the dislocations to annihilate, causing a higher elastic recovery during the unloading of pillar indentation.