Abstract
Molecular dynamics (MD) is a simulation method regularly used for examining the mechanical properties of materials on an atomic level. Despite many reasonable results obtained by this method, it remains unclear how well an MD simulation can reproduce the results of a specific experiment.
Thin aluminum-based films were deformed in-situ in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Grain boundary processes were identified as the primary deformation mechanism, and grain rotations during deformation were confirmed by automatic orientation maps.
Tensile deformation of Al-based thin films with columnar grains corresponding to the material structure observed in the experiment was then simulated using MD. Several main attributes of the simulation were found to match the experimental results.
The effect of grain orientation on intragranular dislocation activity was observed by TEM and confirmed by MD simulations.