Deformation Mechanism of NiCoCrFe/Cu Multilayers

This study investigates the effect of the number of layers on the deformation mechanism and dislocation density of the $\mathrm{NiCoCrFe} / \mathrm{Cu}$ multilayers via the indentation process using molecular dynamics simulation. The results outcome that increasing the number of layers (decreasing the thickness of component layers) leads to an increase in total dislocation density, and distortion energy can propagate deeper. Moreover, deformation during the indentation process is completely locked at the boundary of NiCoCrFe-layer and Cu -layer in the case of the 2-layer sample. Also, von Mises stress can spread into the sample when the width of the Cu-layer is not thick enough. Besides, the number of atoms with high shear strain and the indentation force increase when the number of layers increases.