Deformation behavior of Cu nanowire with axial stacking fault

The aim of the present investigation is to study the effect of axial stacking fault on the tensile and compressive deformation behavior of Cu nanowires using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Cylindrical nanowires with an axial orientation of < 110 > and < 112 > containing a longitudinal stacking fault on {111} plane have been used for this study. < 110 > nanowire exhibited elastic and yield point asymmetries with respect to loading type, while the < 112 > nanowire has not shown any asymmetry. Under tensile loading, the presence of axial stacking fault in < 110 > nanowire introduced reorientation from < 110 > to < 100 > axial orientation, which was otherwise absent in its perfect nanowire (without stacking fault). The results also revealed that the ductility or strain to failure in < 110 > nanowire has been enhanced by the presence of axial stacking fault. In contrast to tensile loading, the influence of stacking fault was insignificant during compressive loading, except for a slight increases in yield stress (strengthening) of faulted < 110 > nanowire compared to its perfect nanowire. In addition to these, various microstructural features have been presented in this paper. At larger size, reduction in ductility and absence of reorientation has been noticed in faulted < 110 > nanowire whereas other deformation mechanisms remain same in both < 110 > and < 112 > nanowires. However, with increase in size, ductility in perfectv& faulted < 112 > nanowire has been increased. The conclusions derived from this study may contribute towards atomistic understanding of the effect of an axial stacking fault in FCC nanowires.