Multiscale simulation of nanoindentation on Ni (1 0 0) thin film

The multiscale simulations of nanoindentation by coupling molecular dynamics (MD) and finite element method (FEM) are performed on Ni (1 0 0) thin film. By means of the indentation curves and the deformation profiles induced by the tip, the coupling for the multiscale model, the indentation curve corresponding to atomic phases and the material properties are examined. The present results reveal that the indentation curve of multiscale simulations exhibits a trend agreement with the atomistic solution. The deformation profile of multiscale model passing from the MD region to the FEM region displays a consistent gradation. The strain energy of the thin film exerted by the tip is stored by the formation of the homogeneous nucleation, and is dissipated by the dislocation sliding of the {1 1 1} plane. As compared with the literature research, the pile-up pattern proves that the crystalline nickel also produces the pile-up phenomenon on the nanoscale. However, the material properties extracted from the indentation curve of multiscale simulations are still higher than the experimental values although a quantitative agreement with the atomistic results is achieved. By the use of multiscale simulations, the compensation of a large specimen for the limitation of MD simulations without significant increase in the problem size is meaningful.