Achieving the ideal strength in annealed molybdenum nanopillars

The theoretical strength of a material is the stress required to deform an infinite, defect-free crystal. Achieving the theoretical strength of a material experimentally is hindered by the ability to create and mechanically test an absolutely defect-free material. Here we show that through annealing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta materialia 2010-09, Vol.58 (15), p.5160-5167
Main Authors: Lowry, M.B., Kiener, D., LeBlanc, M.M., Chisholm, C., Florando, J.N., Morris, J.W., Minor, A.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ANNEALING
Applied sciences
COMPRESSION
Compressive strength
Defect-free
ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
Exact sciences and technology
Focused ion beam
GEOMETRY
Ideal strength
In situ compression
ION BEAMS
MATERIALS SCIENCE
Metals. Metallurgy
MOLYBDENUM
Nanomaterials
Nanostructure
Pillars
Strength
Stresses
TESTING
Transmission electron microscopy
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Summary:The theoretical strength of a material is the stress required to deform an infinite, defect-free crystal. Achieving the theoretical strength of a material experimentally is hindered by the ability to create and mechanically test an absolutely defect-free material. Here we show that through annealing it is possible to employ the versatility of the focused ion beam (FIB) but recover a mechanically pristine limited volume. Starting with FIB-milled molybdenum pillars, we anneal them in situ in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) producing a molybdenum pillar with a spherical cap. This geometry allows for the maximum stress to occur in the interior of the spherical cap and is ideally suited for experimentally achieving the ideal strength. During in situ compression testing in the TEM the annealed pillars show initial elastic loading followed by catastrophic failure at, or very near, the calculated theoretical strength of molybdenum.
ISSN:1359-6454
1873-2453
DOI:10.1016/j.actamat.2010.05.052