MATERIALS NANOMECH · Nanomechanics of defects in solids: applications to nanolayers, nanoparticles, nanocrystals and biomaterials

The central aim of the proposed project is to develop a general nanomechanics of defects framework for the understanding and prediction of structure-properties relationships of nanoscale materials, components, and devices. This framework will be suitable for metal nanoparticles and nanorods, nanolayered films and core/shell nanowires, ultrafine grained bulk nanostructures, as well as carbon nanotubes and protein membrane nanotubes. While standard continuum mechanics and dislocation theory have been useful tools for addressing scientific and technological problems at macro and meso scales, their direct use is not suitable for nanoscale problems. Molecular dynamics simulations and their variants is a commonly used approach but also prohibitively expensive for realistic applications due to current computational limitations. The proposed project serves as a compromising alternative by developing a new methodology for understanding the evolution and stability of structural defects at nanosized volumes and advancing new continuum nanoelasticity and nanoplasticity models for capturing the deformation and fracture behavior of nanosized objects, devices and components. The results will be applicable to a variety of nanoscience and nanotechnology areas, including micro/nano opto-electronics, micro/nano electromechanical systems, bulk nanostructured metal processing and forming, as well as the structural stability of proteins in nanomembrane and nanotubular configurations. These results will be part of a book already in progress, and they will also be compiled as Lecture Notes in an existing Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies Curriculum in the host institution. The various workpackages of the project will also be among the topics of two planned international conferences-summer schools.