Study on the strengthening mechanism of graphene and crystalline Cu₃Fe on amorphous Fe₃Cu

Abstract Metallic glasses are very strong and elastic because of their unique atomic structure. However, they often break suddenly and lack ductility. The study aims to investigate the reinforcement mechanism of amorphous Fe 3 Cu by molecular dynamics simulations. To achieve this, different lengths and orientations of graphene are introduced to explore their effects on amorphous Fe 3 Cu. Additionally, different thicknesses of crystalline Cu 3 Fe are incorporated on the basis of graphene embedding to examine their influence on the strength and ductility of amorphous Fe 3 Cu. It is shown that complete embedding of graphene with a zigzag pattern along the Z-direction considerably enhances the composite’s strength. Furthermore, with increasing crystal layer thickness, the composite’s yield stress gradually increases due to graphene inhibiting shear transformation zones in the amorphous layer and hindering dislocation movement in the crystal layer. Moreover, the occurrence of numerous dislocation reactions leads to a significant increase in the ductility of the composite when the crystalline Cu 3 Fe layer is thicker. The results elucidate the plastic deformation behavior of crystalline/graphene/amorphous composites at the nanoscale and offer theoretical guidance for designing amorphous-matrix composites with high strength and excellent ductility.