Shear instability of nanocrystalline silicon carbide during nanometric cutting

作者：Saurav Goel, Xichun Luo, R.L. Reuben · 发表于：Applied Physics Letters · 年份：2012 · DOI：10.1063/1.4726036 · 被引用次数：93 · 研究领域：Advanced Surface Polishing Techniques、Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research、Metal and Thin Film Mechanics

The shear instability of the nanoscrystalline 3C-SiC during nanometric cutting at a cutting speed of 100 m/s has been investigated using molecular dynamics simulation. The deviatoric stress in the cutting zone was found to cause sp3-sp2 disorder resulting in the local formation of SiC-graphene and Herzfeld-Mott transitions of 3C-SiC at much lower transition pressures than that required under pure compression. Besides explaining the ductility of SiC at 1500 K, this is a promising phenomenon in general nanoscale engineering of SiC. It shows that modifying the tetrahedral bonding of 3C-SiC, which would otherwise require sophisticated pressure cells, can be achieved more easily by introducing non-hydrostatic stress conditions.