Mechanical performance and morphological evolution of heat-treated nanoporous gold: A molecular dynamics study

The amorphization causes significant changes in the mechanical behavior of a structure and the consequences of this phenomenon are yet to be investigated for nanoporous metals. In this paper, the thermally induced amorphization of a nanoporous gold structure is investigated in the aspects of morphological evolution and mechanical performance by utilizing classical molecular dynamics simulations. For this purpose, two different heat treatment profiles with varied heating/cooling rates and durations are applied to the nanoporous gold. During the heat treatment, the morphology of the nanoporous gold evolves through merging and thickening of the ligaments while local amorphous regions are formed and preserved by controlling the parameters (i.e. temperature, rate and duration). Additionally, the mechanical behavior of the thermally treated nanoporous gold is examined by applying tensile and compressive loadings to the structure. The results of the thermally treated nanoporous gold are compared with the non-treated structure to determine the alterations in mechanical behavior.