Investigation on the tensile behavior of graphene-aluminum nano-laminated composites by molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

Graphene-aluminum (Gr/Al) composite laminated by aluminum (Al) and graphene sheets alternately has excellent mechanical properties thanks to the high strength, high Young's modulus and the two-dimensional atomic structure of graphene. In this study, the uniaxial tensile properties of Gr/Al nano-laminated composite are studied by molecular dynamics (MD) method. It is found that the thickness of Al layer has a significant effect on the tensile strength and Yang's modulus of the Gr/Al composite. Composite with a smaller thickness of Al layer shows better properties. Graphene not only block propagation of dislocations, but bear most of the loads, resulting in higher Young's modulus, tensile strength and failure strain of the composites than those of pure Al. The simulation of temperature-effect shows that the Gr/Al composite is difficult to arise plastic deformation at low temperature, which lead to a higher strength and modulus of the composite. In addition, the effect of graphene stacking on the properties of composites is investigated. Through tensile tests at the vertical and parallel interfaces, it is found that graphene stacking may lead to a reduced performance of the composite.