Investigation of the nanomechanical properties of β-Si3N4nanowires under three-point bending via molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

The nanowire with an aspect ratio of 3 : 1 possesses a higher bending stress of 15.85 GPa. It can be observed that the initial Si–Si bond and N atom defects with a coordination number of 2, subsequently evolving to 0 and 1, with Si evolving from 5 to 6 and 7, are mainly responsible for the final fracture.