Experimentally measuring weak fracture toughness anisotropy in graphene

Shizhe Feng; Ke Cao; Yue Gao; Ying Han; Zhanli Liu; Yang Lu; Zhiping Xu

doi:10.1038/s43246-022-00252-4

Experimentally measuring weak fracture toughness anisotropy in graphene

Shizhe Feng
, Ke Cao
, Yue Gao
, Ying Han
, Zhanli Liu^*
, Yang Lu^*
, Zhiping Xu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

82 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

The two-dimensional nature of graphene offers a number of interesting mechanical properties. Amongst these, fracture toughness has received substantial interest, yet computational works have not reached a consensus regarding anisotropy in its fracture energy when graphene is loaded in armchair or zigzag directions. Here, we resolve the steps involved during fracture of graphene by carrying out in situ tensile tests. Embryo cracks nucleated from the graphene edges are observed to deflect into major cracks with local kinking features, as explained by an evolving stress intensity factor during crack advance. Extended finite element analysis with the maximum energy release rate criterion is used to model the fracture process. We determine a weak degree of anisotropy in the fracture toughness, G_c(armchair)/G_c(zigzag), of 0.94, which aligns with previous predictions from first-principles calculations and observed growth kinetics of graphene crystals in experiments.

Original language	English
Article number	28
Journal	Communications Materials
Volume	3
Online published	4 May 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-022-00252-4
Publication status	Published - 2022

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China through grants 11825203, 11832010, 11921002, 11922215, and 52090032, and the Hong Kong Research Grant Council through grant RFS2021-1S05. The computation was performed on the Explorer 100 cluster system of Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology.

Research Keywords

STRENGTH REDUCTION
CRACK
INSTABILITY
STRESS
LAWS

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This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

RGC Funding Information

RGC-funded

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title = "Experimentally measuring weak fracture toughness anisotropy in graphene",

abstract = "The two-dimensional nature of graphene offers a number of interesting mechanical properties. Amongst these, fracture toughness has received substantial interest, yet computational works have not reached a consensus regarding anisotropy in its fracture energy when graphene is loaded in armchair or zigzag directions. Here, we resolve the steps involved during fracture of graphene by carrying out in situ tensile tests. Embryo cracks nucleated from the graphene edges are observed to deflect into major cracks with local kinking features, as explained by an evolving stress intensity factor during crack advance. Extended finite element analysis with the maximum energy release rate criterion is used to model the fracture process. We determine a weak degree of anisotropy in the fracture toughness, Gc(armchair)/Gc(zigzag), of 0.94, which aligns with previous predictions from first-principles calculations and observed growth kinetics of graphene crystals in experiments.",

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author = "Shizhe Feng and Ke Cao and Yue Gao and Ying Han and Zhanli Liu and Yang Lu and Zhiping Xu",

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journal = "Communications Materials",

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T1 - Experimentally measuring weak fracture toughness anisotropy in graphene

AU - Feng, Shizhe

AU - Cao, Ke

AU - Gao, Yue

AU - Han, Ying

AU - Liu, Zhanli

AU - Lu, Yang

AU - Xu, Zhiping

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - The two-dimensional nature of graphene offers a number of interesting mechanical properties. Amongst these, fracture toughness has received substantial interest, yet computational works have not reached a consensus regarding anisotropy in its fracture energy when graphene is loaded in armchair or zigzag directions. Here, we resolve the steps involved during fracture of graphene by carrying out in situ tensile tests. Embryo cracks nucleated from the graphene edges are observed to deflect into major cracks with local kinking features, as explained by an evolving stress intensity factor during crack advance. Extended finite element analysis with the maximum energy release rate criterion is used to model the fracture process. We determine a weak degree of anisotropy in the fracture toughness, Gc(armchair)/Gc(zigzag), of 0.94, which aligns with previous predictions from first-principles calculations and observed growth kinetics of graphene crystals in experiments.

AB - The two-dimensional nature of graphene offers a number of interesting mechanical properties. Amongst these, fracture toughness has received substantial interest, yet computational works have not reached a consensus regarding anisotropy in its fracture energy when graphene is loaded in armchair or zigzag directions. Here, we resolve the steps involved during fracture of graphene by carrying out in situ tensile tests. Embryo cracks nucleated from the graphene edges are observed to deflect into major cracks with local kinking features, as explained by an evolving stress intensity factor during crack advance. Extended finite element analysis with the maximum energy release rate criterion is used to model the fracture process. We determine a weak degree of anisotropy in the fracture toughness, Gc(armchair)/Gc(zigzag), of 0.94, which aligns with previous predictions from first-principles calculations and observed growth kinetics of graphene crystals in experiments.

KW - STRENGTH REDUCTION

KW - CRACK

KW - INSTABILITY

KW - STRESS

KW - LAWS

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U2 - 10.1038/s43246-022-00252-4

DO - 10.1038/s43246-022-00252-4

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 2662-4443

VL - 3

JO - Communications Materials

JF - Communications Materials

M1 - 28

ER -

Experimentally measuring weak fracture toughness anisotropy in graphene

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RFS: Nanomechanics of Covalent Crystals and Their Elastic Strain Engineering

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Experimentally measuring weak fracture toughness anisotropy in graphene

Abstract

Funding

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

Access Output

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RFS: Nanomechanics of Covalent Crystals and Their Elastic Strain Engineering

Cite this