Tensile strength of < 100 > and < 110 > tilt bicrystal copper interfaces

l Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to model dislocation nucleation at or near symmetric tilt bicrystal copper interfaces with < 100 > or < 110 > misorientation axes. MD simulations indicate that orientation of the opposing lattice regions and the presence of certain structural units are two critical attributes of the interface structure that affect the stress required for dislocation nucleation. Boundaries that contain the E structural unit are found to emit dislocations at comparatively low tensile stress magnitudes. A simple model is proposed to illustrate the impact of interfacial porosity and stresses acting on the slip-plane in non-glide directions on tensile interface strength. Accounting for interfacial porosity through an average measure is found to be sufficient to model the tensile strength of boundaries with a < 100 > misorientation axis and many boundaries with a < 110 > misorientation axis. (c) 2006 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.