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Atomistic and Continuum Modeling of Nanocrystalline Materials develops a complete and rigorous state-of-the-art analysis of the modeling of the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline (NC) materials. Among other key topics, the material focuses on the novel techniques used to predict the behavior of nanocrystalline materials. Particular attention is given to recent theoretical and computational frameworks combining atomistic and continuum approaches. Also, the most relevant deformation mechanisms governing the response of nanocrystalline materials are addressed and discussed in correlation with available experimental data.

The scope of this book is to identify and emphasize the successful link between computational materials modeling as a simulation and design tool and its synergistic application to experimental research and alloy development. The book provides a more balanced perspective of the role that computational modeling can play in every day research and development efforts. Each chapter describes one or more particular computational tool and how they are best used.

This book grew out of my desire to understand the mechanics of nanomaterials, and to be able to rationalize in my own mind the variety of topics on which the people around me were doing research at the time. The ?eld of nanomaterials has been growing rapidly since the early 1990s. I- tially, the ?eld was populated mostly by researchers working in the ?elds of synt- sis and processing. These scientists were able to make new materials much faster than the rest of us could develop ways of looking at them (or understanding them). However, a con?uence of interests and capabilities in the 1990s led to the exp- sive growth of papers in the characterization and modeling parts of the ?eld. That con?uence came from three primary directions: the rapid growth in our ability to make nanomaterials, a relatively newfound ability to characterize the nanomate- als at the appropriate length and time scales, and the rapid growth in our ability to model nanomaterials at atomistic and molecular scales. Simultaneously, the commercial potential of nanotechnology has become app- ent to most high-technology industries, as well as to some industries that are tra- tionally not viewed as high-technology (such as textiles). Much of the rapid growth came through the inventions of physicists and chemists who were able to develop nanotechnology products (nanomaterials) through a dizzying array of routes, and who began to interface directly with biological entities at the nanometer scale. That growth continues unabated.

Written by the leading experts in computational materials science, this handy reference concisely reviews the most important aspects of plasticity modeling: constitutive laws, phase transformations, texture methods, continuum approaches and damage mechanisms. As a result, it provides the knowledge needed to avoid failures in critical systems udner mechanical load. With its various application examples to micro- and macrostructure mechanics, this is an invaluable resource for mechanical engineers as well as for researchers wanting to improve on this method and extend its outreach.