Shear instability of nanocrystalline silicon carbide during nanometric cutting

Goel, Saurav and Luo, Xichun and Reuben, Robert L (2012) Shear instability of nanocrystalline silicon carbide during nanometric cutting. Applied Physics Letters, 100. ISSN 0003-6951 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4726036)

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Abstract

The shear instability of the nanoscrystalline 3C-SiC during nanometric cutting at a cutting speed of 100 m/s has been investigated using molecular dynamics simulation. The deviatoric stress in the cutting zone was found to cause sp3-sp2 disorder resulting in the local formation of SiC-graphene and Herzfeld-Mott transitions of 3C-SiC at much lower transition pressures than that required under pure compression. Besides explaining the ductility of SiC at 1500 K, this is a promising phenomenon in general nanoscale engineering of SiC. It shows that modifying the tetrahedral bonding of 3C-SiC, which would otherwise require sophisticated pressure cells, can be achieved more easily by introducing non-hydrostatic stress conditions.