The Effects of Thermal Loading on the Mechanical Properties of Interfaces of Dissimilar Materials by Nanoindentation Simulations

Heat transfer across the interfaces of dissimilar materials is a critical consideration in a wide variety of scientific and engineering applications. In this paper, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are conducted to investigate the effects of thermal loading on mechanical properties of Al-Cu and Cr-Cu interfaces. The mechanical properties are investigated by MD simulations of nanoindentation. Both the results of MD simulations and experiments show the Young's modulus decrease after thermal cycling, and the Cr-Cu interface is more sensitive to the thermal loading than the Al-Cu interface. The thermal loading and mechanical test models proposed here can be used to evaluate interfacial properties under the effects of heat transferring. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4003513]