Molecular dynamics analysis on bending mechanical behavior of alumina nanowires at different loading rates

The molecular dynamics(MD)model ofα-Al_(2)O_(3) nanowires in bending is established by using LAMMPS to calculate the atomic stress and strain at different loading rates in order to study the effect of loading rate on the bending mechanical behaviors of theα-Al_(2)O_(3) nanowires.Research results show that the maximum surface stress−rotation angle curves ofα-Al_(2)O_(3) nanowires at different loading rates are all divided into three stages of elastic deformation,plastic deformation and failure,where the elastic limit point can be determined by the curve symmetry during loading and unloading cycle.The loading rate has great influence on the plastic deformation but little on the elastic modulus ofα-Al_(2)O_(3) nanowires.When the loading rate is increased,the plastic deformation stage is shortened and the material is easier to fail in brittle fracture.Therefore,the elastic limit and the strength limit(determined by the direct and indirect MD simulation methods)are closer to each other.The MD simulation result ofα-Al_(2)O_(3) nanowires is verified to be valid by the good agreement with the improved loop test results.The direct MD method becomes an effective way to determine the elastic limit and the strength limit of nanoscale whiskers failed in brittle or ductile fracture at arbitrary loading rate.

Polarization properties of porous anodic alumina with Y-branched Cu nanowires

Porous anodic alumina （PAA） templates with branch structure are fabricated by the two-step anodic oxidation processes, and then the Y-branched Cu nanowires are synthesized in the templates using an alternating current （AC） deposition method. We observe the morphology image of the samples by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, and measure the transmission spectrum and the polarization spectrum of the samples by the spectrophotometer. The results show that PAA films with Y-branched Cu nanowires have better transmittance in the near infrared region. An extinction ratio of 15 - 18 dB and an insertion loss of 0.1 - 0.4 dB are obtained in this region. Therefore PAA with Y-branched Cu nanowires can be used as a near-infrared micropolarizer, and this kind of micropolarizer would have a promising future in the field of photoelectricity integration.