MD Simulations of Microstructure Evolution During High-Velocity Sliding Between Crystalline Materials

Tracking Microstructure of Crystalline Materials: A Post-Processing Algorithm for Atomistic Simulations

Atomistic simulations have become a powerful tool in materials research due to the extremely fine spatial and temporal resolution provided by such techniques. To understand the fundamental principles that govern material behavior at the atomic scale and directly connect to experimental works, it is necessary to quantify the microstructure of materials simulated with atomistics. Specifically, qu...

Velocity dependence of sliding friction on a crystalline surface

We introduce and study a minimal 1D model for the simulation of dynamic friction and dissipation at the atomic scale. This model consists of a point mass (slider) that moves over and interacts weakly with a linear chain of particles interconnected by springs, representing a crystalline substrate. This interaction converts a part of the kinetic energy of the slider into phonon waves in the subst...

Physical Vapor Deposition Simulations of Microstructure Evolution

Bridging simulations and experiments in microstructure evolution.

We demonstrate the importance of anisotropic interface properties in microstructure evolution by comparing computed evolved microstructures to final experimental microstructures of 5170 grains in 19 thin aluminum foil samples. This is the first time that a direct experimental validation of simulation has been performed at the level of individual grains. We observe that simulated microstructures...

Evolution of microstructure during shape memory cycling of a main-chain liquid crystalline elastomer

The field of shape memory polymers (SMPs) has been dominated by polymeric systems whose fixing mechanism is based on crystallization or vitrification of the constituent chains, rendering such systems stiff in comparison to elastomers, gels, and living tissues. Previously, we reported the synthesis and characterization of main-chain, segmented liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) that exhibit bo...