MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATION OF INDENTATION ON SILVER COATED COPPER NANOSTRUCTURE

The effect of misfit on the indentation behaviour of silver coated copper multilayer was studied by molecular dynamics simulation. It was found that the misfit bands on interface formed by the mismatch of lattice structure between copper and silver in slip direction [110] and the dislocation band width depended on the mismatched lattice constants of materials. More dislocations were created and glided by indentation, which created a "four-wing flower" structure consisting of pile. up of dislocation at the interface. The size of "flower" depended on the thickness of silver layer. The critical thickness for "flower" was approximately 4nm above which the "flower" disappeared. As the result, deformation mechanisms such as dislocation pile-up, dislocation cross-slip and movement of misfit dislocation were revealed. Only silver atoms in the dislocation pile-up were involved in the creation of the "flower" while the dislocations in copper were glided in slip direction on interface.