Ideal Shear Strength of a Quantum Crystal

Author(s)

Landinez Borda, Edgar Josue ^[1] ; Cai, Wei ^[2] ; de Koning, Maurice ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, UNICAMP, Inst Fis Gleb Wataghin, BR-13083859 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Stanford Univ, Dept Mech Engn, Stanford, CA 94305 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Physical Review Letters; v. 112, n. 15 APR 17 2014.
• Web of Science Citations: 5

Abstract

Using path-integral Monte Carlo simulations, we compute the ideal shear strength (ISS) on the basal plane of hcp He-4. The failure mode upon reaching the ISS limit is characterized by the homogeneous nucleation of a stacking fault and it is found to be anisotropic, consistent with Schmid's law of resolved shear stress. Comparing the ISS of hcp He-4 to a large set of classical crystals shows that it closely fits the approximately universal modified Frenkel model of ideal strength. In addition to giving quantitative stress levels for the homogeneous nucleation of extended defects in hcp He-4, our findings lend support to assumptions in the literature that inherently classical models remain useful for the description of mechanical behavior in quantum crystals. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/08293-7 - CCES - Center for Computational Engineering and Sciences
• Grantee: Munir Salomao Skaf
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers - RIDC