Dislocation-dominated void nucleation in shock-spalled single crystal copper: Mechanism and anisotropy

Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations are conducted on single crystal copper along eight representative orientations to investigate dislocation-dominated void nucleation during shock loading and spall failure, including mechanisms and anisotropy. Spall strength estimated from free surface velocity decreases in the order of group I ([001]), group IV ([012] and [011]), group III ([122] and [123]) and group II ([114], [112] and [111]), respectively, in good agreement with anisotropy of spall strength in previous experiments and simulations. A lower spall strength is statistically associated with a higher void nucleation rate and a higher density of stable immobile dislocations (1/6<110> and 1/3<100>) formed before void nucleation. Stable immobile dislocation plays a key role in void nucleation. The formation of stable immobile dislocations requires three conditions: high resolved shear stress for activating mobile dislocations, two or more main slip planes for dislocation reaction, and high angle between activated slip directions for high stability of immobile dislocations. Based on crystal elastic-plastic theory, resolved shear stress on all slip systems is calculated to analyze orientation effects on the three conditions. The three conditions can be fulfilled by group II orientations, but cannot by group I, III, and IV orientations, leading to anisotropy in void nucleation and spall strength.

Automated summary

Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations were conducted to investigate dislocation-dominated void nucleation in single crystal copper under shock loading and spall failure. The study found that the spall strength is influenced by the orientation of the crystal, with group II orientations showing the highest spall strength. The formation of stable immobile dislocations was found to play a key role in void nucleation.