Nonlinear Fracture of Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Carbides (MXenes)
Abstract
As a newly discovered two-dimensional (2D) material group, MXene has exceptional thermal- electronic properties. However, its mechanical behavior, especially fracture, remains unexplored. In-situ SEM tensile experiments show that the fracture of MXene is quite nonlinear with a much-prolonged softening stage in comparison with other 2D materials, which is suspected to be caused by the anisotropy and relatively thick monolayer of MXenes. In this work, molecular dynamic (MD) modeling is conducted to investigate the anisotropic fracture behavior of two types of MXenes (Ti2C and Ti3C2) with different monolayer thickness. Both pristine and defected MXenes are investigated. Results show that: (1) MXene tends to fracture along zigzag direction, (2) atomic vacancies at the crack tip have limited effects on the overall fracture behavior, (3) a thicker monolayer can produce a larger cohesive zone due to the ‘thinning’ process, (4) complex fracture paths are to be expected for mixed-mode fractures.
Recommended Citation
C. Wei and C. Wu, "Nonlinear Fracture of Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Carbides (MXenes)," Engineering Fracture Mechanics, vol. 230, Elsevier, May 2020.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2020.106978
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Research Center/Lab(s)
Center for Research in Energy and Environment (CREE)
Second Research Center/Lab
Center for High Performance Computing Research
Keywords and Phrases
Fracture behavior; Molecular dynamics modeling; MXene
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0013-7944
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2020 Elsevier, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 May 2020
Comments
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. MoMS 1930881.