Graphene Engendered aluminium crystal growth and mechanical properties of its composite: An atomistic investigation

Abstract

Aluminium/graphene nanocomposite shows a combination of many useful properties, such as light weight, good mechanical, extremely high electrical and thermal properties. Crystal growth of aluminium at the aluminium/graphene interface highly influences the above mentioned properties. In this paper, the orientation of aluminium atoms along with mechanical properties of aluminium/graphene nanocomposite have been studied by using molecular dynamics simulation. The aluminium atoms were organized in face-centred cubic lattices in bulk. However, at the aluminium/graphene interface, aluminium atoms were organized in the {111} facet of the face-centred cubic. The aluminium/graphene nanocomposite shows significantly improved mechanical properties compared to pure aluminium. The Steinhardt-Nelson order parameters, adaptive common neighbor analysis, radial distribution function, and potential energy evolution have been used to characterize the orientation of aluminium in presence of graphene sheets. The main outcomes of this study may provide a detailed understanding of the interfacial properties of graphene–aluminium nanocomposites systems, which help to enhance the performance of graphene-based nanocomposites materials.