Effect of Defects on the Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Graphene

Abstract

In this study, the mechanical and thermal properties of graphene were systematically investigated using molecular dynamic simulations. The effects of temperature, strain rate and defect on the mechanical properties, including Young’s modulus, fracture strength and fracture strain, were studied. The results indicate that the Young’s modulus, fracture strength and fracture strain of graphene decreased with the increase of temperature, while the fracture strength of graphene along the zigzag direction was more sensitive to the strain rate than that along armchair direction by calculating the strain rate sensitive index. The mechanical properties were significantly reduced with the existence of defect, which was due to more cracks and local stress concentration points. Besides, the thermal conductivity of graphene followed a power law of λ~L0.28, and decreased monotonously with the increase of defect concentration. Compared with the pristine graphene, the thermal conductivity of defective graphene showed a low temperature-dependent behavior since the phonon scattering caused by defect dominated the thermal properties. In addition, the corresponding underlying mechanisms were analyzed by the stress distribution, fracture structure during the deformation and phonon vibration power spectrum.