When ‘smaller is stronger’ no longer holds

Li, Qing-Jie; Ma, Evan

doi:10.1080/21663831.2018.1446192

Title: When ‘smaller is stronger’ no longer holds

Journal Article · Wed Mar 07 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Materials Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/21663831.2018.1446192· OSTI ID:1483310

^[1]; Ma, Evan ^[1]

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

‘Smaller is stronger’ has been a well-established tenet for the mechanical strength of small-volume single crystals. However, emerging evidence suggests that this trend does not always hold in the deep sub-micrometre regime (<~10² nm) when surface-mediated displacive and diffusive processes dominate. Here we present a perspective to highlight typical scenarios in which the single-crystal strength is influenced by surface stresses, diffusion-mediated surface creep, or dislocation-starvation-engendered high-stresses in the crystal interior, leading to ‘smaller is weaker’ or ‘plateau limited by ideal strength’. Such an unusual size dependence/independence of strength has implications for the reliability and stability of nano-structured devices. Due to significant surface effects, single crystals in the deep sub-micron regime (<~10² nm) can be ‘smaller is weaker’ or reach a ‘saturated strength plateau’, defying the well-known ‘smaller is stronger’ trend.

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Research Organization:: Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-03ER46056

OSTI ID:: 1483310

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1506651

Journal Information:: Materials Research Letters, Journal Name: Materials Research Letters Vol. 6 Journal Issue: 5; ISSN 2166-3831

Publisher:: Taylor and FrancisCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

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Cited by: 15 works

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