The stability of FCC crystal Ni under uniaxial loading

Taking Ni as an example, the structural stability and theoretical strength of FCC crystals under uniaxial loading were investigated by combining the modified analytical embedded atom method (MAEAM) with modified Born stability criteria. The results revealed that, under sufficient compression, there existed a stress-free instable BCC phase and then a stress-free metastable BCT phase corresponding to local maximum and minimum internal energy, respectively. The stable region ranged for the theoretical strength from −5.143 eV/nm3 with a corresponding strain of −9.94% under compression to 10.396 eV/nm3 with a corresponding strain of 9.66% under tension.