Mechanical Properties and Fracture Mechanisms of Nanocomposites of Metal and Graphene with Overlapping Edges

The fracture mechanism and mechanical response of Ni/graphene nanocomposites under nanoindentation are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. We analyze the effect of the overlapping area on the microstructural transition, HCP atomic fraction, dislocation density, load-displacement relationship, and stress distribution. It was found that the maximum indentation depth of embedded graphene has a nonlinear dependence relation with the overlapping area, and it becomes smaller at the overlapping width comparable to the indenter diameter. The graphene layer is able to hinder the expansion of the dislocation into the interior of the Ni matrix in the initial stage. The densities of HCP atoms and dislocations in the composite gradually increase with increasing indentation depth. The stress concentration tends to cause nucleation of dislocations below the indentation surface. When the graphene is ruptured, the elastic recovery to some extent occurs in the deformed substrate. This work sheds light on modifying the mechanical properties of metal/graphene composites by tuning the overlapping boundary of graphene.