The primary objective of the proposed research is the development of a thermo-mechanical framework for the analysis of large plastic deformation and failure modes in layered metallic crystalline materials on the physical scale required in the fabrication of microelectronic and opto-electronic devices. Cracks, voids, and surface flaws have severely limited the synthesis and the processing of layered structures needed in the fabrication of electronic components. The proposed thermo-viscoplastic theoretical and computational formulation will provide realistic predictions of damage accumulation and material instabilities in artificially structured materials. In the proposed analysis, an investigation of material failure modes that arise due to non- uniform large plastic deformation modes, the growth and the coalescence of voids, and the distribution of stresses, plastic strains, and temperatures near the interfaces of the layered single crystals will be undertaken. Based on the thermo-mechanical characterization of failure, methodologies will be suggested for the damage-free layering of metallic crystalline structures. A successful accomplishment of these proposed objectives would provide a more fundamental understanding of the inherent crystalline constraints on the layering of artificially structured materials.
