Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Open Access Master's Report

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Advisor 1

Susanta Ghosh

Committee Member 1

Dibakar Datta

Committee Member 2

Sriram Malladi

Abstract

In this research, we have worked on the brittle fracture of graphene nano-ribbon to explore the behavior of crack propagation at different crack angles. We have performed classical Molecular Dynamics simulations using LAMMPS at ten different crack angles between 0 degrees and 45 degrees, in an increment of 5 degrees to observe the parameters that dominate the crack path. The graphene nanoribbon is loaded in the zigzag direction by pulling it in the armchair direction with a pre-existing crack in the center. We have used OVITO for the visualization of the simulation. AIREBO potential is employed in this work because it is extensively used in the fracture of graphene with different loading conditions and temperatures. The crack path is determined for all ten nanoribbons and the nanoribbon with a crack at 25° turned out to be the weakest because of the sharp crack tip and crack shape. The results are validated with the published results and are in accordance with them.

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