Mechanical properties of graphene, defective graphene, multilayer graphene and SiC-graphene composites: A molecular dynamics study

Abstract In this article, using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, several mechanical properties of graphene were calculated for pristine single layer graphene sheet (SLGS), defective SLGS, multilayer graphene sheets (MLGS) without defects and for composites of SiC and graphene. Firstly, the room temperature elastic moduli (Young's, shear and bulk), constants and Poison's ratios were simulated for the above structures and then their properties such as stress vs strain under tensile and compressive loading were simulated within the temperature range of 300K–2000K. The simulations were performed in both zigzag and armchair directions of graphene surface and differences were observed in the mechanical properties. Simulations revealed that the location of defects as well as their type influence the elastic moduli and constants at room temperature and that their tensile and compressive properties vary with temperature. For both MLGS, and SiC-graphene composites, the properties improved with increase in number of continuous graphene layers.