Atomistic simulations of chemomechanical processes in nanomaterials under extreme environments

Abstract

The complex chemomechanical behavior of nanomaterials under extreme thermal and mechanical environments is of interest for a range of basic science and defense applications. By the limitation of experimental approaches for objects of nanometer, novel computational methods have been developed to investigate such phenomena in nanomaterials under extreme environments. In this thesis, novel continuum and atomistic mechanical modeling and simulations are implemented and constructed for the analysis of the chemomechanical behavior of the dissimilar nano-scale metals, Nickel and Aluminum under a variety of thermal and mechanical stimuli. These studies form the basis of preliminary research on the predictive design principles for reactive polymer nanocomposites.