Embrittlement of Metal by Solute Segregation-Induced Amorphization

Journal Article · Fri Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.104.155502· OSTI ID:21410716

Chen, H -P; Kalia, Rajiv K; Nakano, Aiichiro; Nomura, Ken-ichi; Vashishta, Priya; Yuan, Zaoshi ^[1]; Kaxiras, Efthimios ^[2]; Lu, Gang ^[3]; Duin, Adri C. T. van ^[4]

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1. Collaboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0242 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States)
3. Department of Physic and Astronomy, California State University Northridge, Northridge, California 91330-8268 (United States)
4. Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (United States)

Impurities segregated to grain boundaries of a material essentially alter its fracture behavior. A prime example is sulfur segregation-induced embrittlement of nickel, where an observed relation between sulfur-induced amorphization of grain boundaries and embrittlement remains unexplained. Here, 48x10{sup 6}-atom reactive-force-field molecular dynamics simulations provide the missing link. Namely, an order-of-magnitude reduction of grain-boundary shear strength due to amorphization, combined with tensile-strength reduction, allows the crack tip to always find an easy propagation path.

• OSTI ID: 21410716
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 15; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.155502; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
AMORPHOUS STATE
CRACK PROPAGATION
DEFECTS
EMBRITTLEMENT
FRACTURES
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS METHOD
NICKEL
SEGREGATION
SHEAR PROPERTIES
SOLUTES
SULFUR
TENSILE PROPERTIES
CALCULATION METHODS
ELEMENTS
FAILURES
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
METALS
MICROSTRUCTURE
NONMETALS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS