New Insights into Current Issues in Nanoindentation from Finite Element/Atomistic Multiscale Modeling

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9971429BrennerNanoindentation of gold substrates will be simulated using finite-element/atomistic multiscale modeling. The simulation, using techniques adapted from methods developed to study crack propagation, will treat the region around the indentation with an atomistic model. This region will be embedded in a continuum modeled with finite elements. The dynamics of nanoindentation may then be resolved to the atomic scale without the need for an excessively large number of atoms to model long-range stresses.Three series of simulations will be carried out, each of which are motivated by the results of an ongoing experimental collaboration at North Carolina State University and Sandia National Laboratory in which the indentation of gold substrates will be studied. In each of the simulations, the atomistic substrate region will be modeled with embedded-atom potentials using the public Sandia-Livermore code. Code to treat the continuum region of the substrate will be developed as a set of subroutines to the EAM code. At the end of this project, these routines will be made available to other researchers through the PI's web site.Nanoindentation of gold substrates will be simulated using finite-element/atomistic multiscale modeling. Nanoindentation occurs when a material of greater hardness, usually in the form of a pointed probe, impinges on the surface of another. The response of the substrate is a measure of the relative hardness. Modeling this nanoindentation involves coupling of atomistic and continuum length-scales. This grant supports theoretical research which attempts to model nanoindentation experiments being conducted at North Carolina State University and Sandia National Laboratory.