Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




TECH SPACE
From brittle to plastic in one breath
by Staff Writers
Dallas TX (SPX) May 05, 2015


Calculations by Rice University scientists show that a two-dimensional layer of molybdenum disulfide can become superplastic by changing its environmental conditions. In an atmosphere with sulfur and under the right temperature and pressure, the energy barrier is lowered, allowing dislocations along the grain boundaries to shift and changing the material's properties. S2 refers to a disulfur molecule; VS2 is a two-sulfur-atom vacancy. Image courtesy Xiaolong Zou/Rice University. For a larger version of this image please go here.

What if peanut brittle, under certain conditions, behaved like taffy? Something like that happens to a two-dimensional dichalcogenide analyzed by scientists at Rice University. Rice researchers calculated that atomically thin layers of molybdenum disulfide can take on the qualities of plastic through exposure to a sulfur-infused gas at the right temperature and pressure.

That means one can deform it without breaking it - a property many materials scientists who study two-dimensional materials should find interesting, according to Rice theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson and postdoctoral researcher Xiaolong Zou; they led the study that appeared in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters.

Molybdenum disulfide, the object of study in many labs for its semiconducting properties, interested the Rice lab because of the characteristics of its grain boundaries. Two-dimensional materials like graphene are actually flat, atom-thick sheets. But 2-D molybdenum disulfide is a sandwich, with layers of sulfur above and below the molybdenum atoms.

When two sheets join at different angles during growth in a furnace, atoms at the boundaries have to compensate by improvising "defective" arrangements, called dislocations, where they come together.

The researchers determined it may be possible to promote the movement of those dislocations through environmental control of the gas medium. This would change the material's properties to give it superplasticity, which allows it to be deformed beyond its usual breaking point.

Plastic materials can be rearranged and will hold their new shape. For example, a plumber can bend a metal pipe; that bendable quality is plasticity. Yakobson noted such materials can become brittle again with further changes in the environment.

"Generally, the coupling of chemistry and mechanics is quite rare and scientifically difficult to understand," said Yakobson, whose group at Rice analyzes materials by calculating the energies that bind their atoms. "Corrosion is the best example of how chemistry affects mechanical behavior, and the science of corrosion is still in development."

For molybdenum disulfide, they found two mechanisms by which boundaries could overcome activation energy barriers and lead to superplasticity. In the first, called direct rebonding, only one molybdenum atom in a dislocation would shift in response to external forces. In the second, bond rotation, several atoms would shift in opposite directions.

They calculated that the barrier for direct rebonding, while less dramatic, is much lower than for bond rotation. "Through the rebonding path, the mobility of this defect changes by several orders of magnitude," Yakobson said. "We know from the mechanics of materials that brittle or ductile qualities are defined by the mobility of these dislocations. What we show is that we can affect the tangible property, the stretchability, of the material."

Yakobson suggested it may be possible to tune the plasticity of dichalcogenides in general and that it may also be possible to eliminate the defects from a 2-D dichalcogenide sheet by treating the dislocations "to allow them to rapidly diffuse away and vanish or to form interesting aggregated states." That would likely open the way to the easier manufacture of dichalcogenides that need particular electrical or mechanical properties for applications, he said.

"We think of these two-dimensional materials as an open canvas, theoretically speaking," he said. "You can very quickly read and write changes to them. Bulk materials don't have this openness, but here, every atom is in immediate proximity to the environment."

Rice graduate student Mingjie Liu and Zhiming Shi, an exchange graduate student in Yakobson's group from Jilin University, Changchun, China, are co-authors of the paper. Yakobson is Rice's Karl F. Hasselmann Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, a professor of chemistry and a member of Rice's Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Rice University
Space Technology News - Applications and Research






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








TECH SPACE
New model for the thermo-elasto-plasticity deformation of crystals
Beijing, China (SPX) May 01, 2015
Researchers have proposed a new thermo-elasto-plasticity constitutive model based on the interatomic potential and solid mechanics for metal crystals. Through this new model, the material behavior at different temperatures could be described accurately and conveniently. The work, led by Professor Wang TzuChiang, together with collaborators Chen cen and Tang Qiheng at the State Key Laborato ... read more


TECH SPACE
NASA's LRO Moves Closer to the Lunar Surface

European Space Agency Director Wants to Set Up a Moon Base

Russia Invites China to Join in Creating Lunar Station

Japan to land first unmanned spacecraft on moon in 2018

TECH SPACE
UAE says on track to send probe to Mars in 2021

Student Mars Rover team will compete in Utah desert

4,000+ Martian Days of Work on Mars!

NASA Announces Journey to Mars Challenge

TECH SPACE
Aitech Provides Subsystem and Computing Boards for Commercial Crew

The language of invention: Most innovations are rephrasings of the past

NASA Confirms Electromagnetic Drive Produces Thrust in Vacuum

NASA pushes back against proposal to slash climate budget

TECH SPACE
3D printer making Chinese space suit parts

Xinhua Insight: How China joins space club?

Chinese scientists mull power station in space

China completes second test on new carrier rocket's power system

TECH SPACE
Manned mission to ISS to be delayed due to cargo spacecraft's failure

Progress Incident Not Threatening Orbital Station, Work of Crew

Russia loses control of unmanned spacecraft

Japanese astronaut to arrive in ISS in May

TECH SPACE
Successful SpaceX escape test 'bodes well for future'

'Team Patrick-Cape' supports Pad Abort Test

Local launch expertise; world-wide attention

ILS And Dauria announce Proton/Angara dual launch services agreement

TECH SPACE
Astrophysicists offer proof that famous image shows forming planets

Astronomers detect drastic atmospheric change in super Earth

New exoplanet too big for its star

Robotically discovering Earth's nearest neighbors

TECH SPACE
Scientists create cheaper magnetic material for cars, wind turbines

Space debris from satellite explosion increases collision risk for space craft

Damaging Radiation Effects on Travelers to Mars

Invisibility cloaks move into the real-life classroom




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.