Impact on Wrinkled Graphene

Abstract We investigated wrinkle-free single layer graphene and graphene with various wrinkles to examine their fracture toughness during an impact with a silver nanoparticle using molecular dynamics simulations. The interaction between silver atoms is modeled using Embedded Atom Model (EAM) potential, while the interaction between carbon atoms in the graphene was modeled using 2nd generation Reactive Empirical Bond Order (REBO) potential. The interaction between silver atoms and carbon atoms is modeled by using the Lennard-Jones potential. The graphene is equilibrated at 300K. Three different amplitudes (0.4 nm, 2 nm, and 2.5 nm) and two different wavelengths (4 nm and 17 nm) are selected for the generation of wrinkles in graphene. Our simulations revealed that wrinkled graphene absorbs more kinetic energies of a silver particle during impact. The highest impact energy absorbed during the impact was 33 keV when the wrinkle has the wavelength of 17 nm and the amplitude of 2.5 nm. This indicates that wrinkled graphene possesses higher toughness compared to wrinkle-free graphene layers. The toughness against high-speed impact is shown to increase with an increase in wrinkle size in the graphene layer. In the case of wrinkled graphene, the kinetic energy of a silver particle was completely absorbed by the graphene when the particle failed to fracture the graphene layer while wrinkle-free graphene bounced back the silver particle with a finite amount of velocity when it couldn’t break the graphene layer. The results obtained from our research study will contribute to the accelerated development of futuristic, strong, lightweight materials for military applications.