Defect-free and defective adaptations of crystalline sheets to stretching deformation

Abstract

The elastic response of the crystalline sheet to the stretching deformation in the form of wrinkles has been extensively investigated. In this work, we extend this fundamental scientific question to the plastic regime by exploring the adaptations of crystalline sheets to the large uniaxial mechanical stretching. We reveal the intermittent plastic shear deformations leading to the complete fracture of the sheets wrapping the cylinder. Specifically, systematic investigations of crystalline sheets of varying geometry show that the fracture processes can be classified into defect-free and defective categories depending on the emergence of topological defects. We highlight the characteristic mechanical and geometric patterns in response to the large stretching deformation, including the shear-driven intermittent lattice tilting, the vortex structure in the displacement field, and the emergence of mobile and anchored dislocations as plastic excitations. The effects of noise and initial lattice orientation on the plastic deformation of the stretched crystalline sheet are also discussed. These results advance our understanding of the atomic level on the irreversible plastic instabilities of 2D crystals under large uniaxial stretching and may have potential practical implications in the precise engineering of structural instabilities in packings of covalently bonded particulate systems.