Abstract

In this paper, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed on graphene-aluminum (GS-Al) nanocomposite. The mechanical properties of the nanocomposite are investigated by the application of uni-axial load on one end of the representative volume element (RVE) and fixing the other end. The interactions between the atoms of Al are modelled using Embedded Atom Method (EAM) potentials, whereas Adaptive Intermolecular Reactive Empirical Bond-Order (AIREBO) potential is used for the interactions among carbon atoms and these pair potentials are coupled with the Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential. The result shows that the incorporation of Gn into the Al matrix can increase the Young's modulus of the nanocomposite substantially. The nanocomposite containing 6.7 vol.%of GS exhibits Young’s modulus of 143.8 GPa and 116.8 GPa along longitudinal and transverse directions, respectively that are 82.8% and 46.5% higher than pure Al. Results from the molecular dynamics simulations are also compared with analytical results obtained from semi-empirical Halphin-Tsai (H-T) model and the Rule of Mixtures (ROM).