Nanoindentation response of monocrystalline copper under various tensile pre-deformations via molecular dynamic simulations

The mechanical properties of a material can be positively or negatively affected by its applied or residual stress. In this article, a series of molecular dynamic simulations were adopted to investigate the nanoindentation response of monocrystalline copper under tensile pre-deformation. Nanoindentation simulation under stress-free condition was compared with those under pre-tension strain values of 1.2%, 2.4% and 3.6%. Load–displacement curves with hardness value and recovery rates of total work for nanoindentation based on various tensile pre-deformations were obtained and discussed. It indicated that tensile pre-deformations resulted in a higher potential energy in substrate and a lower external energy will be introduced to realize the same elastic or plastic deformation during indentation. Moreover, the evolution of interior defects during indentation was also observed and analysed. The results showed that tensile pre-strain can influence dislocation nucleation behaviour of material during indentation. This article proposed a special molecular dynamic simulation method to characterize the mechanical properties of the material under tensile pre-deformations via nanoindentation, which gives an effective approach to characterize residual stresses in micro- and nanoscale and will have promising application in mechanical characterization of Microelectro Mechanical Systems devices and structures. Further analysis based on experiments will be done in our further research work.