Particularities of changes in internal structure of nanocrystalline Ni under mechanical loading

Molecular dynamics study of the plasticity nucleation mechanisms in a Ni nanocrystalline sample under shear loading in the constrained conditions was carried out. The studied Ni sample consisted of nine grains of the same size with large misorientation angles relative to each other. In one of the directions, grippers were simulated, to which compressive forces and shear with a constant velocity were applied. In two other directions, periodic boundary conditions were used. It is shown that plasticity nucleation occurs in the region of the triple junction. At the same time, in the region of the triple junction, in the zone of which the stacking fault will be formed, tensile stresses are realized along one of the adjacent grain boundaries, and compressive stresses occur along the other. An increase in stresses in the triple junction zone leads to the formation of a stacking fault, which moves to the volume of one of the grains. Another mechanism of plasticity in nanocrystalline nickel is the migration of grain boundaries, which leads to a significant change in grain sizes.