ABSTRACT

This article is concerned with the study of scale effects in Au nanopillars under compression. We propose that plastic yielding in these nanostructures is characterized by a critical length scale at which a transition from volumetric to surface-dominated plasticity takes place. This transition effectively sets a lower bound on the self-similar behavior commonly assumed in nanostrength models. Using quasi-continuum simulations, we study the subcritical regime and find that plasticity at these scales is governed by dislocation emission at surface irregularities.