Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Ballistic Penetration of Pentagraphene Sheets

Abstract

The superior mechanical properties and low density of carbon nanostructures make them promising ballistic protection materials, stimulating investigations on their high-strain-rate behavior. Recent experiments and simulations revealed graphene possesses exceptional energy absorption properties. In this work, we analyzed through fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations the ballistic performance of a carbon-based material recently proposed named penta-graphene. Our results show that the fracture pattern is more spherical (no petals formation like observed for graphene). The estimated penetration energy for pentagraphene structures considered here was of 37.69 MJ/Kg, far superior to graphene (29.8 MJ/Kg) under same conditions. These preliminary results are suggestive that pentagraphene could be an excellent material for ballistic applications.