In Situ Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Observations of Fracture at the Atomic Scale
Name
PhysRevLett.125.246102.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
5.18 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
46b5931fe2f7b31f1a376403bc875081
Author(s)
Huang, Lingli
Zheng, Fangyuan
Deng, Qingming
Thi, Quoc Huy
Wong, Lok Wing
Cai, Yuan
Wang, Ning
Lee, Chun-Sing
Lau, Shu Ping
Chhowalla, Manish
Date Issued
December 2020
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© 2020 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. The formation, propagation, and structure of nanoscale cracks determine the failure mechanics of engineered materials. Herein, we have captured, with atomic resolution and in real time, unit cell-by-unit cell lattice-trapped cracking in two-dimensional (2D) rhenium disulfide (ReS2) using in situ aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Our real time observations of atomic configurations and corresponding strain fields in propagating cracks directly reveal the atomistic fracture mechanisms. The entirely brittle fracture with non-blunted crack tips as well as perfect healing of cracks have been observed. The mode I fracture toughness of 2D ReS2 is measured. Our experiments have bridged the linear elastic deformation zone and the ultimate nm-sized nonlinear deformation zone inside the crack tip. The dynamics of fracture has been explained by the atomic lattice trapping model. The direct visualization on the strain field in the ongoing crack tips and the gained insights of discrete bond breaking or healing in cracks will facilitate deeper insights into how atoms are able to withstand exceptionally large strains at the crack tips.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.125.246102
